Best of British (part 1)
Submitted by
CM streetfighter on Wed, 01/21/2009 at 9:01am.
Rounds 5 & 6 of the Four Nations Chess League -better known as the 4NCL- took place at the weekend in the beautiful, upmarket Sunningdale Park Hotel complex near London.
This team tournament is traditionally a fiercely contested event, and the latest instalment was no exception with more than 20 GM's and some 30 IM's turning up to do battle, joined by scores of lesser lights (including your author's debut in the 2nd division!)
Perennial favourites Guildford A&DC1, headed by 3-time British Champion GM Jonathan Rowson, put the boot in once again winning both matches by huge margins (7-1 followed by 71/2-1/2) and leaving the rest of their group trailing in their wake.
Meanwhile, in the other half of the top tier, WoodGreen Hilsmark Kingfisher went one better and produced a stunning 8-0 clean sweep on the Saturday, before edging out a 4 1/2 - 3 1/2 victory on the Sunday against a very plucky Richmond side who were facing an average 200 rating point deficit on every board.
The most interesting game of the weekend was surely former British Champion and 'Winning with the Sicilian Dragon' author Chris Ward's defeat by a player rated some 200 points beneath him.
| 1174 reads | 9 comments |
3 votes: