The first 2014-5 Junior 4 Nations Chess League weekend took place in Daventry on 4-5 October. The name proved to be a bit of a misnomer as, although England and Wales were both well represented, none of the 28 teams came from Scotland or Northern Ireland.

 

The J4NCL is an elite under-18 event and, even though few 16- and 17-year-olds were in evidence, presumably preferring to play in the adult events, the Watford team (average age, 9) was among the youngest. Unfortunately, our strongest junior was unable to represent Watford, due to a prior commitment to another team. Despite all that, Watford was seeded as 16th strongest team.

 

Daventry Court Hotel

The event took place in scenic surroundings at the Daventry Court Hotel

 

Each of the five rounds was played over four boards – three games on Saturday, two on Sunday. We had foreseen that our top boards, in particular, faced an uphill struggle against higher-rated opponents and agreed a rotation system with a travelling squad of five, each of whom would take a break in one of the five rounds.

 

These fears proved well-founded when we discovered our first-round opponents, the second seeds, were headed by juniors with gradings of 166 and 159 respectively.  Their average grade was 136, ours was 93. The match was a good deal closer than the final 4-0 scoreline suggested and our top board, in particular, was a shade unlucky to lose after going into a better rook-and-pawn ending.

 

The second round was a complete reversal, with Watford playing probably the weakest team in the event. We raced into a 3-0 lead and were pegged back only after our last player, who had turned down a series of draw offers from a desperate opponent, walked his king into what proved a mating net.

 

Saturday’s last round, against the sixth seeds with an average 127 grading, was the closest so far. After an hour or so, Watford looked to be better-placed. However, when the dust finally settled, we had lost the match 3-1.

 

Our top three boards had each had a round off on Saturday, and consequently were due to play both games on Sunday, so we approached the second day with some optimism, particularly as our fourth-round opponents were – on paper, at least -- slightly weaker than ourselves. However, the optimism proved misplaced as we lost this match, again by a 3-1 scoreline.

 

The final round saw Watford paired against a team from local rivals, Barnet Knights, with very similar gradings (average, 95) to our own players. We went 2-0 up fairly early on but it was not until late in the playing session that we clinched the win with another 3-1 scoreline but this time in our favour.  So, two matches won and three lost.

 

All our players played well although special mention goes to Yueyang Han and Dhruv Radhakrishnan who each won three of their four games.  They were well supported by Jeff Tomy, Divyesh Bansal and Harshil Mehta with Kian Shah as non-travelling reserve.

 Roger Lancaster, 7 October 2014

 

The second  2014-5  weekend took place on 22-23 November at the Hinckley Island Hotel

This second weekend, unlike the first at Daventry, saw two separate divisions, with the higher taking in those teams with an average ECF grade above 100.     Twelve teams qualified for Division 1 with 20 teams, including Watford with an average grade of ECF 93, taking part in Division 2.   More than 128 juniors - 32 teams of four plus reserves - took part.

Matches were played over 4 boards and the Watford junior squad comprised Jeff Tomy, Yueyang Han, Divyesh Bansal, Dhruv Radhakrishnan and Harshil Mehta.   The team won 3-1 in the first round, lost 3-1 in round 2 but came back to win 3-1 in round 3 and 4-0 in round 4 before drawing its final match 2-2 to finish third overall.

 

Team members (left to right, Dhruv, Jeff and Harshil) collect their trophy from ECF Junior Director Traci Whitfield in November

Notably, although they did not meet eventual winners North London Collegiate, Watford faced consistently strong opposition, playing the teams which finished 2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th and 11th.

Roger Lancaster, 27 November 2014

 

The third  2014-5  weekend took place on 24-25 January, again at Hinckley

The Watford team for the final 5 rounds of the 2014-15 Junior 4 Nations Chess League comprised Yueyang Han, Divyesh Bansal, Dhruv Radhakrishnan, Harshil Mehta, Kian Shah and non-travelling reserve Om Deshpande.

Opposing Watford in Division 2 were three teams from Barnet, five from Wales,  two from Manchester and one each from Kent, Lincolnshire, the Midlands, Nottinghamshire and Wiltshire.

Round 1, Watford beat Manchester "B" 3-1 with Yueyang, Divyesh and Harshil winning.   

Round 2, Watford  lost 1.5-2.5 against Brown Jack (Swindon) with Dhruv winning and Harshil drawing. 

Round 3, Watford beat Welsh Dragons Orange 2.5-1.5.  Divyesh and Dhruv both won and Harshil drew.  Yueyang had a tough tournament on top board - over 5 rounds, his opponents averaged ECF 125.

Round 4, Watford drew 2-2 with Welsh Dragons Yellow, with wins from Divyesh and Dhruv, Kian having replaced Harshil overnight. 

Round 5, Watford lost 1.5-2.5 to Welsh Dragons Red.   Kian was the only Watford winner, with Dhruv drawing.  

The last-round loss resulted in Watford slipping down the league table to finish 8th.  Still, a commendable result from a very young team which included two 7-year-olds in an event open to under-18s.

Roger Lancaster, 29 January 2015

 

The first weekend of 2015-16 took place at the Holiday Inn, Birmingham Airport, on 3-4 October 2015 with 30 teams competing:

 

When the 2015-16 J4NCL rules were published, they set out stricter entry requirements – evidently, one or two teams in 2014-15 had been felt to be below the necessary standard.

To compete in Division 1, the average ECF grade of the top four players in any team had to exceed 100 and the average grade of the entire team, including reserves, had to exceed 90.   The comparable figures for Division 2 were 75 and 65, instead of 100 and 90.   With a much increased number of juniors, Watford decided to field three teams.

 

Even at an early stage, we could count a dozen juniors with grades of 65 or more so our initial hope was to enter two teams in Division 1 and one in Division 2.   This may indeed prove possible for later weekends but, in October, we were hit by a number of forced withdrawals with the result that our second team played in Division 2 instead.

 

In addition to the dozen 65+ (grade, not age!) juniors, a number of less experienced reserves volunteered to stand by in case needed.   In the event, they all found themselves playing and I am very grateful to them – otherwise our third team would have had to  withdraw!  As it was, 12 teams played in Div 1, 18 in Div 2.

 

Our first team comprised Dhruv Radhakrishnan, Avi Gogna, Jeff Tomy and Aman Gogna, all graded in the mid-120’s.   Any of them could have played on top board but Dhruv was selected to give him some strong practice ahead of the World Youth Championships in Greece a few weeks later.   He duly got his wish, starting with a 181-rated opponent in round 1.

 

After losing their first match, the team won its next three.   This left them, entering the last round, needing to win their final match to finish joint first.   Unfortunately, this did not happen and our team finished joint third, nevertheless a good performance by a team much younger than most of its opponents.

 

Our second team comprised Jacob Yoon, Kian Shah, Michael Lee, Roshan Gurjar and Theo Hurrell.   (Michael played the Saturday games, Theo the Sunday games).   Again, this was a very young side, average age 8, but it was only a last-round loss which set them back to mid-table.   Kian had a particularly good time with a 5/5 score.

 

Our third team comprised Yueyang Han, Harshil Mehta, Conrad Dickinson and Karan Bhagat.   Some of the team could not make every round and a last-minute withdrawal through influenza meant our team would have defaulted the occasional game, so the organizers lent us a guest player.   Our top two boards were experienced but the others were new to competitive chess so the team struggled somewhat, although avoiding propping up the Division 2 table.

 

 

 DIVISION 1

P

W

D

L

GP

TieBk

MP

 

 

 DIVISION 2

P

W

D

L

GP

TieBk

MP

Midland Monarchs 1

5

5

0

0

13½

60

10

 

 

Welsh Dragons Blue

5

5

0

0

14

68½

10

Kent Kestrels

5

4

0

1

14

51½

8

 

 

Barnet Knights 2

5

3

1

1

13

61½

7

Welsh Dragons Red

5

1

4

0

12

42

6

 

 

Midland Monarchs 2

5

3

1

1

13½

57

7

Watford 1

5

3

0

2

11½

38

6

 

 

Barnet Knights 3

5

2

2

1

13

52

6

Brown Jack

5

2

1

2

11½

50

5

 

 

Maid Marians

5

3

0

2

10

47

6

Robin Hoods

5

1

2

2

9½

50½

4

 

 

Desert Penguins

5

3

0

2

10½

45

6

Barnet Knights 1

5

1

2

2

8

33

4

 

 

Heathside Preparatory B

5

2

2

1

11

43½

6

Westminster School

5

2

0

3

9

31½

4

 

 

Watford 2

5

2

1

2

10½

43½

5

Essex Dragons

5

2

0

3

8½

29½

4

 

 

Manchester A

5

1

3

1

10½

41

5

Welsh Dragons Yellow

5

1

2

2

8

27

4

 

 

Essex Dragons II

5

1

3

1

10

38

5

Leicester Gambits A

5

1

1

3

6½

21

3

 

 

Barnet Knights 4

5

2

1

2

10

29

5

Bury Knights

5

0

2

3

8

26

2

 

 

Midland Monarchs North

5

2

1

2

10

28

5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leicester Gambits B

5

1

2

2

8½

27

4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welsh Dragons Green

5

1

2

2

9

24½

4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heathside Preparatory A

5

1

2

2

8

21

4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watford 3

5

0

2

3

7

23

2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Manchester B

5

1

0

4

5½

17½

2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barnet Knights 5

5

0

1

4

6

19

1

 

 

Although the juniors all reported enjoying the weekend, some parents were far from enchanted.   Feedback from our parents, and those of other teams, indicated that Holiday Inn had been hopelessly underprepared for the numbers.   Meal service, for example, was slow verging on non-existent.   The hotel, in what I take to be a pre-emptive strike, in turn complained of the behaviour of some parents and children.  

 

At time of writing, I can’t be sure where this leaves us as regards later J4NCL weekends.

 

Roger Lancaster, 15 October 2015