Warrington make 4NCL debut

by Ste Potter – St Helens

The 4 Nations Chess League has been in existence since 1993, but there has never until now been an entry from the Warrington League or a team playing in it.

Now that has changed with the entry of the Warrington Mates. The team is made up of experienced players from some of the strongest clubs in the Warrington League.

Most of the players already have experience of playing in the 4NCL with other teams such as the Manchester Manticores.
The 4NCL offers a much longer time control than is usual in local league chess. The time control was 90 minutes for 40 moves, then an additional 40 minutes with an extra 30 seconds per move.

Arbiters are present, no mobile phones are allowed, no smart
watches either, this is proper, competitive chess.

Round 1
The 4NCL did not play at Peterborough last season in the 4NCL, so this was not just a new adventure for The Mates, but for the other teams too. The unbeaten victory does not tell the true story. Not all the wins were straight forward, but an unbeaten win is an unbeaten win. The games are included below. A good start to the league and our adventure in the 4NCL, which in division 4 is a Swiss System, so that guaranteed a team in round 2 who had also won.

Warrington Mates Watford B
(w) E Norris 1-0 J Edwin
(b) L Kay 1-0 S Sujan
(w) P Mulleady 1/2 E Davids
(b) R Newton 1-0 M Dairi
(w) D McCarthy 1-0 L Kunz
(b) S Potter 1-0 D Dairi

The Evening Meal
For any 4NCL weekend to be complete it needs a team meal on the Saturday night.

Damian got a tip from hotel reception that The Gurkha Lounge was fairly good. It was better than that, the best chicken tikka Bob had ever tasted. All agreed.

Round 2
We were expecting to be on the other side of the draw and to have colours reversed
from the first round. For whatever reason the computer chose otherwise, so some of us
ended up with two whites over the weekend, the others got two blacks. Again another
strong showing, three wins and three draws, so again unbeaten.

Warrington Mates CSC/Kingston 3
(w) E Norris 1/2 P Vachtfeidl
(b) L Kay 1-0 P Stimpson
(w) P Mulleady 1-0 H Evans
(b) R Newton 1/2 B Attwell
(w) D McCarthy 1/2 C Cooke
(b) S Potter 1-0 J Denning

Summary
A good first weekend to our 4NCL adventure. 12 games played, 8 won, 4 drawn and 0 losses.
As Damian pointed out there was probably some significance in the two drivers having the most troublesome games on Saturday. After a good night sleep though both players got good wins on Sunday.
There are currently 6 teams on 4 points, well be playing one of them in round 3, next time in Coventry.

The Games
Click on the links to view

Round 1
Ethan https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3ShPIl7Wad9GQgyMdCor0valmcKTrKIH9hh7rQDszqbar
Lee https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3SpvCzRlS2ukZmDlD5/Nq5otSHbkhIiajhBMmf8AHh+6m
Peter https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3SsNDF/H/pvuLA+tL2x0FULida5Httvmj1SFblMz94/do
Bob https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3SkVUwyIO5k8Fbn++yZefo5LUYNcgEeanuaizTTMKNtJA
Damian https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3SmQ6hN5y+AzeXubZ+lBkQnS98hsCjRM3tvRwJH9kmi2o
Ste https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3SmOy4Ji8pkLAj3CWyuc1xVhGhW3Kn2yhYw07uupq1ds0

Round 2
Ethan https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3StXfRIJAQYSzLc76BJur4m+Tsjd0GnxASB8DvNfHihcE
Lee https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3Sg7CQ4fA0eN9glauAqtki0i3E/wefY6i68KQ61JUSneD
Peter https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3SgjXbt8TrHqSKyKzjEiZAFFicQVvSNJ46XzFQh6au+kW
Bob https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3SvSzi43pyHYdLaN7j4EmCeAUV2TT95rHCa8T+wyhnK4z
Damian https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3SviTCGAmp/9CVdsrLYhnAbkxZaVIv2cku1Bb2OjGMUjQ
Ste https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3SmHhDhDCBEOT3At2uaFya3lGKhD8cariSGGU7JgIJX4z