Final Four Nations League – Final report

The Four Nations League is a team tournament over three divisions, with over 850 players
registered to take part and over £10,000 in cash prizes on offer. It is the most prestigious
team chess event held in the United Kingdom. It is held over various weekends from
Oct to May 2013/14, in several venues (for the 2013/14 season).

Final 4NCL Weekend Report

By John Saunders

We dealt with the major battles of the promotion section last time, but that left the so-called Demotion Pool, where eight teams struggled to avoid the drop to Division Two for the 2014/15 season. Two teams, King's Head and Grantham Sharks 2, were already doomed as the weekend began, but none of the other six were completely safe from finishing in the final relegation place. As we shall see, such was the importance of staying in the top division that some clubs had dug deeply in their pockets to fund the acquisition of strong grandmasters.

Demotion Pool

Wood Green 2 5-3 Barbican 1: the honour of finishing first in this pool went to Wood Green 2, thereby displacing their opponents from the head of the table. There wasn’t a big differential in the ratings of the teams and this was reflected in the fairly close score. Two of the Wood Green side won, with Nick Pert defeating Matthew Turner, while Juan Manuel Bellon Lopez beat Isaac Sanders. Incidentally, the Spanish GM’s colourful scoresheet filling-in caused a flutter of interest when I published a photo of one on social media.

Juan Manuel Bellon Lopez's colourful scoresheet

Blackthorne Russia 4½-3½ 3Cs: as things stood at the close of round 10, all the other teams in the division were either already relegated (the pointless pair King’s Head and Grantham Sharks 2) or else still in with a mathematical chance of going down. It was 3Cs’ misfortune that they met the Russians at the zenith of their playing strength. Even so, they only lost by one point when they really needed both match points to save themselves. My commiserations and good wishes to this well-organised club; I’m sure they will bounce back soon. Konstantin Landa proved a godsend to the Blackthorne club, beating Stephen Gordon and completing 3/3 on the weekend. Danny Gormally and Adam Hunt also provided full points for the side, whilst Alan Walton and Daniel Abbas beat much higher rated opposition for 3Cs. Adam Ashton suffered a lengthy loss to Gormally but his consolation was knowing that he had scored an IM norm as he sat down to play – congratulations to him.

The battle for the Division’s wooden spoon was won by King’s Head, despite conceding yet another default. That brought them their first match points of the season, while Grantham Sharks 2’s fate was to leave with nothing (as Anne Robinson used to say on The Weakest Link). They were a bit unlucky, with their fate turning on a couple of transitions into a king and pawn endgame, which are never easy. Half a point more in either of the games would have reversed the match result.

Oxford 3-5 Cambridge University: the tensest match of the pool was a sort of unofficial Varsity match (though Oxford don’t carry the ‘university’ handle to their name, and the 4NCL very sensibly eschews anachronistic eligibility rules about who can play for which team). Oxford started the day two match points clear of their opponents but a loss would send them into Division 2 on game points and save the Cantab bacon. When I went to watch the match, it getting towards the sixth hour of play and boards 4-6 were still in progress and the match all square at 2½-2½. Long before, first blood had gone to Oxford when Justin Tan won and clinched his IM norm (actually I think he did it with a point to spare, but of course the point was vital to his team).

But thereafter things swung back in Cambridge’s favour, with Karl Mah beating David Zakarian and the last three games to finish being won 2½-½ by the Light Blues. The Eckersley-Waites twins were playing on opposite sides, with the impressively-named French FM Guillaume Camus de Solliers playing an existentialist endgame to beat Tom of Oxford (though careful not to allow him any outsider passed pawns), while Adam the Cantab twin drew an arid minor piece endgame. Dickenson-Bisby was the key game of the match, with both players having chances but the Cambridge finally imposing himself. But there was a curious and well-hidden opportunity for the Oxford man which went begging not far from the end.

Division 1, Demotion Pool, Final Scores

Title Norms

James Adair and Peter Roberson, both England, scored final IM norms and already achieved their rating threshold, so they should get their titles at the next FIDE meeting. Other IM norms: Alberto Suarez Real (Spain), Sue Maroroa (England – also a WGM norm), Adam Ashton (England), Justin Tan (Australia). Hope I haven’t missed anyone out – and, remember, this is subject to official confirmation.

Division 2, Championship Pool, Final Table

This was about as tight a competition as can be imagined, with seven teams still in with a shout of promotion as they sat down to play the final round. The first four named are promoted to next year’s Division 1, with the tie-split for third and fourth places based on the game points over the whole season (rather than just the final pool). Commiserations to the four teams who missed out, all of whom could point to the odd extra half a point here or there that might have seen them promoted.

Division 2, Demotion Pool, Final Table

Another very tight finish, and West Country club Brown Jack will probably be a deep shade of blue after being demoted on account of a second tie-breaker (fewer points over the entire season). The top four live to fight again in Division 2, while the other four drop into the vast expanses of Division 3.

Division 3, Top Four Placings

Epilogue

If you’re still with me, 8,000 words on from my preamble, you’ll recall I had a spot of bother registering at the hotel on the first day. There was a minor hassle on the way out, too, as the hotel presented me with a bill for twice the 4NCL discount rate. Actually, it was 100% more than I was expecting as a bill for a lesser amount should have gone directly to the league’s man with the cheque book. Tempted though I was to re-enact a scene from Fischer’s notorious exit from the 1967 Sousse Interzonal (tearing up the bill for extras that the hotel unwisely presented to him), I passed this on to our genial tournament director who has no doubt sorted the problem out in his usual unflustered and efficient manner.

I think that’s it from me this year. Lastly, I must thank all the league officials who were unfailingly helpful to me and made my time in the back room an enjoyable one.

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN You can use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.