4NCL Weekend One was on October 18th/19th. Three teams under the Ashfield banner competed with Ashfield 1 in all-play-all Division Three Knights and the other two teams in Division Four which is a Swiss competition. All the games will be available on the 4NCL website in due course so comments are limited to some details of what occurred.
Ashfield 1
Our campaign started with a match against old enemy The MASCeeters, a team we have met every season since the League resumed after Covid. This time young players Senith Gunarathne, Benji Humphreys and Frank Richmond occupied upper boards and their contribution of 2½ points coupled with some decisive play ensured a local win, with further contributions from Richard and John to make the final score 4-2. The games from this round are already available and are well worth a look. In Round Two we faced the Welsh team with the unpronounceable name, Rhyfelwyr Essyllwg and the match ended in a 3-3 draw. All the middle boards were halved, Chris Cumbers had to substitute on Board 6 and with a big rating difference lost however the match was drawn after son Paul beat FM Tim Kett on Board One. So altogether a satisfactory start
Ashfield 2
Apparently we are the 7th seeds in this Division and so had what looked like an easy match in Round One against War and Piece “B”. Not so – two games ended quickly in draws, we then drew on the bottom board which was in our favour for most of the match. Then we suffered a loss on a Board where we had turned down draw offers and finally we also drew a further board where we had struggled. This left Alex’s board where the next day he told us that he was the luckiest player ever. His opponent obviously agreed as he didn’t show up for his Sunday game and defaulted. Sunday saw a match against Oxford 3 and although they were first on the scorecard, the remaining games soon turned firmly in our favour and we finished with a series of wins.
Ashfield 3
War and Piece “A” finished in a promotion spot last season but did not take up their place in Division Three for some reason. Consequently it was a little surprise when they saw off our third team by 5-1. Two consolation draws for the two Bobs – Taylor & Willoughby. Sunday saw a match against The GoodKnights which is a spin-off team from the She Plays to Win stable. This was only five boards and after an excellent win from Miheli plus a draw, the scene was set for two marathon games; the last in the room to finish. Firstly Phil ground down his opponent to score the full point and Stefan, with the longest game of the round, held onto a draw in the ending – so we won the match by the narrowest margin of 3-2.
So overall three wins, two draws and a loss was a satisfactory result for Weekend One.
Neil Graham