The third weekend of the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) took place over the weekend of 10th & 11th February 2018, with divisions 1 & 2 playing in Northampton, and division 3N again in Bolton.

The Yorkshire-based teams participating are White Rose 1, White Rose 2, Jorvik, and Bradford DCA Knights A, B and C. Results in these teams’ matches are given below. (Left-hand team had White on odd numbered boards.) There are also Leeds University Old Boys in Division 3A, and the Slovakia-based Castleford Roses whose captain lives in Castleford.

Barnsley’s Gary Hinchcliffe, who originally played for Shropshire 2 as an emergency substitute, is now a regular player for his new-found county. Meanwhile former Sheffield University player now-60-year-old Charlie Higgie (Charles Lowick Higgie), whom older Sheffield players will remember, but who has been resident for most of his life in Malpas, Cheshire (where he was a parish councillor for about 23 years), also appeared playing for Shropshire 1.

In round 5, White Rose 1 nearly whitewashed Spirit of Atticus A, but White Rose 2 were on the receiving end of a similar fate against Manx Liberty. Jonathan Arnott (MEP for the North East England with his base in Hartlepool, who quit UKIP three weeks ago), scored a win, albeit his team’s only win, while Jim Burnett secured the only draw.

In round 6 White Rose 2’s last game to finish was Jim Burnett’s against Samuel Milson. This was Jim’s personal “all-time record” as regards the duration of his game which lasted 7 hours (without a break), and 120 moves. Jim eventually won a Q+P ending, thereby drawing the match. By that time everybody else had gone home!

A “no show” by Enniscorthy (from County Wexford in the Irish Republic) necessitated 3 teams in division 3N (Holmes Chapel, Ashfield-Breadsall 1, and M/c Manticores 3) playing Jamboree pairings, with, in effect, half of team A playing half of team B, the other half of team B playing half of team C, and the other half of team C playing the other half of team A. This led to the amusing consequence that in round 5 these teams scored two half-match results, such as half a won match and half a drawn match. Round 6 saw the second half of the Jamboree pairings being played, so completing three matches between three teams in two rounds. Neat, but it led to ½’s in the match-point column of the result table in Division 3N after round 5!

Results in round 5 and 6 were as below.

Division 1a

	Round 5		Sat. 10/02/2018			Round 6		Sun. 11/02/2018

	White Rose 1	7½‑½	Spirit of Atticus A			Grantham Sharks 1	2½‑5½	White Rose 1
GM	Vojtech Plat	1-0	John J Carleton		IM	Peter T Roberson	0-1	Vojtech Plat	GM
IM	James R Adair	1-0	D Brett Lund		IM	Thomas E Rendle	1-0	Daniel Alsina Leal	GM
GM	Colin A McNab	½‑½	Martin Mitchell		CM	Adam Bremner	½-½	Richard J D Palliser	IM
GM	Daniel Alsina Leal	1-0	Glenn L House	FM	WIM	Mihaela‑Veronica Foisor	0-1	James R Adair	IM
GM	Peter K Wells	1-0	Nicholas W Ivell			Rupert Willis	0-1	Peter K Wells	GM
FM	Iain Gourlay	1-0	Sheila Jackson	WGM		Ben J Purton	½-½	Iain Gourlay	FM
IM	Richard J D Palliser	1-0	David Latham			Hugh W Murphy	0-1	Colin A McNab	GM
WFM	Svetlana Sucikova	1-0	Peter J E Ackley			Charles M Linford	½-½	Svetlana Sucikova	WFM

Division 2a

	Round 5		Sat. 10/02/2018			Round 6		Sun. 11/02/2018

	Manx Liberty	6½‑1½	White Rose 2			White Rose 2	4-4	Grantham Sharks 2
GM	Constantin Lupulescu	1-0	M Paul Townsend			M Paul Townsend	0-1	Daniel McGowan
GM	Mircea‑Emilian Parligras	1-0	Samuel Chow	FM	FM	Samuel Chow	1-0	Paul Cumbers
GM	Lukasz Cyborowski	1-0	Peter Shaw			Peter M Gayson	1-0	Nigel Birtwistle
GM	Piotr Bobras	0-1	Jonathan W Arnott	CM		Jim Burnett	1-0	Samuel A Milson
IM	Miklos Galyas	1-0	Peter M Gayson			Peter Shaw	½-½	Liam D Varnam
IM	Ruediger Seger	½‑½	Jim Burnett		CM	Jonathan W Arnott	0-1	Graeme Kafka
IM	Dietmar Kolbus	1-0	Harry Li			Harry Li	½-½	Martin P Burrows
	Robert Akeya-Price	1-0	Imogen A L Camp	WCM	WCM	Imogen A L Camp	0-1	A.N.Other

Division 3 North

Round 5		Sat. 10/02/2018	Round 6		Sun 11/02/2018

Bradford DCA Knights A	3½‑2½	Manchester Manticores 2	Warwickshire Select 2	2½-3½	Bradford DCA Knights A
Phil R Watson	0-1	John D Lyth	Mark E Page	1-0	Phil R Watson
Adam R Lang	1-0	Paul F Timson	Andrew I Paterson	½-½	Richard Allis
Julian R Chapman	0-1	Thivyaa Rahulan	Mark A Cundy	0-1	Christopher Bak
Roger W Jennings	1-0	Tim Hilton	Keith R Ingram	½-½	Roger W Jennings
Jim W R Nicholson	1-0	Glenn Trueman	Finlay Bowcott-Terry	0-1	Jim W R Nicholson
Eric D Gardiner	½‑½	Richard A Collins	Devan Patel	½-½	Eric D Gardiner

Shropshire 1	3-3	Bradford DCA Knights B	Bradford DCA Knights B	3½‑2½	Manchester Manticores 4
Gavyn Cooper	½‑½	Mike Bramson	Andrew Bak	1-0	John Grindrod
Ian Jamieson	0-1	David A Patrick	David A Patrick	½-½	David F Newell
Kevin Hurney	1-0	Robert A Dean	Robert A Dean	1-0	Martin Gawne
Brian G Whyte	0-1	Tony J Slinger	John K Holliday	½-½	R Nigel Livesey
Charles L Higgie	½‑½	David W Adam	David W Adam	0-1	Niamh Bridgeman
Richard B E Bryant	1-0	Paul A Johnson	Paul A Johnson	½-½	Matthew Bridgeman

Bradford DCA Knights C	2½-3½	Jorvik	Castleford Roses	3½‑1½	Bradford DCA Knights C
Harold Baxter	1-0	Martin Carpenter	Natalie Kanakova	1-0	Harold Baxter
Paul R H Clarke	0-1	Mark W White	Peter Palecek	1-0	Mike Bramson
Peter Braham	0-1	Steve R Hodge	Daniel Abrahams	1-0	Peter Braham
Bill Tait	½-½	Richard M Cowan	Filip Kanak	1-0	Paul R H Clarke
Nicholas Mahoney	0-1	Martina Flint	Tomas Lancaric	½-½	Nicholas Mahoney
David Grobler	1-0	Paul W Anderson	default (penalty = -1)	0-1	David Grobler

			Jorvik	2-4	Shropshire 1
			Martin Carpenter	0-1	Kevin Hurney
			Mark W White	½-½	Brian G Whyte
			Steve R Hodge	1-0	Charles L Higgie
			Richard M Cowan	0-1	Ian Jamieson
			Martina Flint	0-1	Nathanael Paul
			Paul W Anderson	½-½	Richard B E Bryant

4NCL League Tables after 6 Rounds

Division 1a							^Top^	Division 2a

	P	W	D	L	G	Pts			P	W	D	L	G	Pts
Guildford 1	6	6	0	0	44	12		Manx Liberty	6	6	0	0	35½	12
White Rose 1	6	5	0	1	31	10		Celtic Tigers	6	4	1	1	28½	9
Oxford 1	6	4	0	2	26	8		Wood Green Monarchs	6	4	1	1	28	9
Grantham Sharks 1	6	2	2	2	21	6		Grantham Sharks 2	6	2	1	3	22	5
3Cs 1	6	2	1	3	23	5		Kings Head	6	2	1	3	20½	5
Spirit of Atticus A	6	1	1	4	16	3		Sussex Martlets 1	6	2	0	4	20	4
Barbican 4NCL 2	6	1	0	5	16½	2		White Rose 2	6	1	1	4	21½	3
The ADs	6	0	2	4	14½	2		Barbican Youth	6	0	1	5	15	1

Division 3 North

	P	W	D	L	G	Pts
Gonzaga	6	6	0	0	28	12
3Cs 2	6	6	0	0	27	12
Shropshire 1	6	4	2	0	23	10
Bradford DCA Knights A	6	5	0	1	22½	10
Spirit of Atticus B	6	4	0	2	20½	8
Cheddleton 2	6	4	0	2	20½	8
Holmes Chapel	6	4	0	2	19½	8
Warwickshire Select 2	6	3	1	2	21	7
Jorvik	6	3	1	2	18	7
Ashfield-Breadsall 1	6	2	1	3	19½	5
Bradford DCA Knights B	6	2	1	3	15	5
Manchester Manticores 2	6	2	0	4	17½	4
Manchester Manticores 3	6	1	2	3	17	4
Castleford Roses	6	2	0	4	13½	4
Enniscorthy	4	2	0	2	11	4
Ashfield-Breadsall 2	6	1	1	4	11	3
3Cs 3	6	1	1	4	10	3
Shropshire 2	6	1	0	5	13½	2
Bradford DCA Knights C	6	1	0	5	11	2
Manchester Manticores 4	6	0	0	6	9	0