4 NATIONS CHESS LEAGUE - DIVISION 4

The  8-9 February weekend was a good one for Watford teams playing in the 4NCL at Maidenhead.   After drawing 3-3 with Celtic Tigers 2 on Saturday, Watford 'A' notched up 5.5 points in beating Cambridge university 3 next day, a result which left Watford in fourth place overall.   Watford 'B' went one better, beating Celtic Tigers 3 4.5-1.5 on Saturday and then Crowthorne 2 3-2 next day.

Next two 4NCL rounds are at the Mercure Daventry Court Hotel in Northamptonshire on 4-5 April followed by three rounds played at the same venue over the public holiday weekend of 8-10 May.

We're still looking to increase the size and quality of our squad, ideally with a view to promotion out of Division 4, and those interested are invited to contact the club committee - as an option to personal contact, anyone can use the 'Contact us' tab at the top of the page.

Main points to note are that 4NCL entails one round each day, with the rate of play 40 moves in 100 minutes (plus 30 second increments from move 1) followed by the rest of the game in 50 minutes (again with 30 second increments). That means a 60-move game could conceivably take as long as 6 hours, far longer than local league chess.  

Starting times for the April weekend are 2.0 on the Saturday followed by 11.0 for Sunday's games.   For the May weekend, Friday's games start 2.0, Saturday's games at 12.0 and Sunday's games at 11.0.

All games are ECF-graded and, subject to meeting the usual conditions, FIDE-rated.

More information about 4NCL appears on its website.  

 

Division 4 table after round 6:  

			P		W	D	L		GP		MPts
1		Sussex Martlets 2	6		6	0	0		27		12
2		Fischer's Catch	6		5	0	1		21½		10
3		Wood Green Youth	6		5	0	1		20		10
4		Watford A	6		4	1	1		23½		9
5		CSC 2	6		4	0	2		24½		8
6		The Full Ponty	6		4	0	2		22		8
7		MK Phoenix 2	6		4	0	2		20½		8
8		Warwickshire Select 2	6		4	0	2		19½		8
9		CSC 3	6		4	0	2		19		8
10		Iceni 2	6		4	0	2		17½		8
11		Celtic Tigers 2	6		3	1	2		21½		7
12		All Anands on Deck	6		3	0	3		20		6
13		Throw in the Tal	6		3	0	3		20		6
14		Sussex Martlets 3	6		3	0	3		19½		6
15		Oxford 4	6		3	0	3		19		6
16		Cambridge University 3	6		3	0	3		18½		6
17		Wessex C	6		3	0	3		18		6
18		War and Piece	6		3	0	3		17½		6
19		Poisoned Pawns - Next Generation	6		3	0	3		16½		6
20		Surbiton 2	6		3	0	3		15		6
21		Watford B	6		3	0	3		14½		6
22		Ashfield 2	6		2	0	4		17		4
23		Barnet Knights 2	6		2	0	4		16		4
24		Crowthorne 2	6		2	0	4		15		4
25		The Pitstop	6		2	0	4		13		4
26		Banbury Bulldogs	4		2	0	2		13		4
27		Wessex D	6		2	0	4		12½		4
28		West is Best 3	6		2	0	4		12		4
29		Iceni 3	6		1	1	4		12½		3
30		Celtic Tigers 3	4		1	1	2		9		3
31		Barnet Knights 3	6		1	0	5		12		2
32		Barnet Knights 4	6		0	0	6		5		0
33		Oxford 5	2		0	0	2		3½		0
34		Warwickshire Select 3	2		0	0	2		1½		0

 

CLUB SHIRTS

Club polo shirts can be bought, in various adult and junior sizes, at  https://myclothing.com/ costing £5.50 to £6 [juniors] or £7 [adults] with £3 delivery charge.   T-shirts also available, junior sizes only, £5 to £5.50.

 

 

CLUB NEWS IN BRIEF:

South of England u-7, 25 January:  Aarav Arora 4.5/6 [5th]

Hampstead u-1700, 18-19 January:  Avy Dasgupta 4/5 [jt 1st]

Price Cup [club championship] round 4 pairings are at http://chess-results.com/tnr488577.aspx?lan=1&art=2&rd=4

Watford match results are now reported on this site by team captains - a change from the past 5 years.

London junior finals: Avy Dasgupta 5/7 in u-10 major [14-15 December] and 5.5/9 in u-12 major [28-30 December]

 

Claudius v Hamlet, Denmark, c1250 - Black to move

[b2 or not b2, that is the question]

"I told my friend, 'I hate backgammon.  And draughts.'

He said, 'Hate chess, too?'

I said, 'Don't even get me started on that damn rail project'".

A hotel manager kicked out two arrogant chess players, explaining that he couldn't stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer.

 

ARCHIVE:

Club rapidplay, 30 December 2019, results at  http://chess-results.com/Tnr501649.aspx?lan=1

3rd Watford Junior (u-12) Rapidplay, 29 July 2019, results at http://chess-results.com/tnr457143.aspx?lan=1

Club rapidplay, 8 July 2019, results at http://chess-results.info/tnr453784.aspx?lan=1

Price Cup (2018-9 club championship), October 2018 to June 2019, results at  http://chess-results.com/tnr382758.aspx?lan=1

2nd Watford Junior (u-12) Rapidplay, 27 May 2019, results at http://chess-results.com/tnr435032.aspx?lan=1

Club rapidplay, 13 August 2018, results at http://chess-results.com/tnr374277.aspx?lan=1

1st Watford Junior (u-12) Rapidplay, 30 July 2018, results at http://chess-results.com/tnr373197.aspx?lan=1

 

 

 

 

 

 

JUNIOR 4 NATIONS CHESS LEAGUE   

Third and final J4NCL weekend was 15-16 February at Mercure Daventry Court Hotel where two Watford teams were among the 22 teams taking part.   We couldn't assemble a sufficiently strong team for Division 1 so our two teams [Watford Blues and Watford Reds] were competing against 12 other teams in Division 2.  

Watford Blues were paired against top seeds Desert Penguins in round 1 with the result being in the balance until the very end when the favourites scraped through.   The team recovered with a round 2 whitewash of Barnet Knights 3 before a 2-2 draw with Manchester B.

Everything went wrong for Watford Reds in their first round match against third seeds Warwickshire B, with the Reds taking only a half-point from the encounter.   This was followed by a 2-2 draw with Oxfordshire B but the team then lost narrowly to Barnet Knights 2.

Sunday started badly with Watford Blues losing 1.5-2.5 to Barnet Knights 2 and Watford Reds 1-3 against Barnet 2 - the latter being a regional side as opposed to the Barnet Knights club.   The event ended with our teams drawing with Oxfordshire C and Manchester C respectively.

 

Watford Blue team [L to R, Avy, Siena, Anirvin, Ishaan] at the J4NCL February 2020 weekend

First J4NCL weekend for 2020-21 will be 26-27 September at Holiday Inn, Birmingham Airport.  To be eligible, juniors must be under 18 on the date of the game in question.    More background on J4NCL appears on the 4NCL website

 

OTHER JUNIOR MATCHES

Watford juniors play twice a year against Uxbridge juniors in a double-round rapidplay where virtually the entire Watford junior membership is invited to take part.    There were two well-contested matches in January and June 2019, with Watford running out winners on both occasions.   Watford also won the third match, on 9 December, by 18 points to 10.

Watford juniors also now play an annual match against St Albans juniors to coincide with the longstanding Cheshire Trophy match between the two clubs - but at the opposite venue.   The first, in September 2019, was a close affair contested over 2 rounds of rapidplay with St Albans emerging 12.5-11.5 winners.

 

 

HERTFORDSHIRE CHESS LEAGUE

 

The 2019-20 competition began on 30 September.   See 'Fixtures' page for a list of fixtures up to 15 April and 'Results' page for reported results.    No recent results reported here for Watford 1.

Watford 2 are well-placed in Division 2 and promotion back to Division 1 is not out of the question.

 

		P		W	D	L		MPs		For	Agst
1	Watford 2	7		5	1	1		11		23	12
2	B Stortford 1	7		4	2	1		10		21.5	13.5
3	H Hempstead 2	8		3	2	3		8		19.5	20.5
4	Borehamwood 1	6		3	0	3		6		13.5	16.5
5	Stevenage 1	7		1	3	3		5		16.5	18.5
6	Welwyn H'f'd 1	7		0	4	3		4		14	21
7	St Albans 2	6		1	2	3		4		12	18

 

In Division 3, Watford 3 is also doing well with three wins, three draws and one defeat, from its first seven completed matches.   Watford 4, in the next division, is in mid-table with two wins, two draws and four losses from its eight matches to date.    In the separate under-120 league, the Watford u-120 team has won five and lost two of its first seven matches.

Annual General Meeting

held at

West Herts Sports Club, Park Avenue, Watford WD18 7HP

on Monday 16th September 2019 at 7:30pm 

 AGENDA

1.  Receive apologies for absence

2.  Approve minutes of September 2018 AGM (copies are attached)

3.  Receive report from the President on the 2018-19 year, and to approve the Accounts for the financial year ending 31st July 2019

4.  Agree Club membership subscriptions for 2019-20. The Committee proposes:

Adults Full £60, Associate £40 and Social £20. 

Juniors and students Full £35 Social £20.

Full membership entitles a member to participate in all Club activity.

Associate membership: a member can take part in the Club’s inter-club competitive activities (but not the Price Cup) but not otherwise use the club’s facilities on club nights, except for designated special events.

Social membership entitles a member to full use of the Club’s facilities on club nights but not to participate in any of the club’s competitive activities (including the Price Cup), except for designated special events.

The subscriptions represent an increase on last year because the club will pay next year for all (adult and junior) 4NCL fees. There will be a £2 discount in all categories for everyone who pays by bank transfer, with the member’s name as a reference, before 1 October 2019.

5. Present trophies to winning individuals 

6.  Elect Officers, Secretaries and Committee for 2019-20:

7.  Any Other Business  

Paul Littlefair

Secretary

 

Jennifer Hurrell presents Ernest Karumazondo, joint winner with Andrew Stone, with the Price Cup

 

 

Everyone is welcome (to access, click on pictorial below) at Geir Erik Nielsen's YouTube channel at

 

USEFUL CONTACTS AND WEBSITES
Watford Chess Club email address	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  (allow up to 2 days for reply)
English Chess Federation	www.englishchess.org.uk/
Hertfordshire Chess Association	http://www.hertschess.com/
Hertfordshire Chess League results	http://chess-results.e2-e4.co.uk/
Hertfordshire Schools Chess Association	http://hsca-chess.com/
4 Nations Chess League (incl. J4NCL)	http://www.4ncl.co.uk/
Tournament chess results (main site for this)	http://chess-results.com/Default.aspx?lan=1

 

PLAY AN AI (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE)

 

 

Tired of playing the boring old computers that always beat you or play so weirdly you can't understand what is going on, asks webmaster Geir Erik Nielsen? Read our article on Artificial Intelligence and how you can install it at home

 

Also embedded in the updated article is now a video of how to get the best of Arena and Leela at home.

 

As a teaser for it all, and as an incredibly instructive game, here is how Leela deals with the Benoni