Grantham Sharks 4NCL Website

It was brought to my attention that Grantham Sharks 4NCL has already new website and new logo.
Please visit this new website and link is here.

Grantham clowns 1 and 2

Colin Crouch has recently published on Google+ his comments on the merge of Pandora Box Grantham and Sambuca Sharks under headline "Grantham clowns 1 and 2" which you can read in full below:

"It is at the moment far from clear what is happening in two of the teams in division 1 of the 4NCL chess league. These happen to be Grantham Sharks 1 and Grantham Sharks 2. As the names imply, there was a sudden cut-and-paste between two pre-existing teams. There is the additional implication that the two team captains feel that they will be unable to hold a position in division 1, and that possibly they can just about salvage something if they join forces.
But then what happens with their second team? Quite simply, their team will be vastly weakened, all the more so in that various players, including myself, who are capable of holding their own in the top division have been kicked out. And why would this have happened? The answer is not immediately obvious, until one notes the Sharks second second team was dropped for the new season, and that captain Ben Purton, rated well below 2200, would not be strong enough on merit to justify a place on team. Watch out for an easy demotion.
Meanwhile, I am suddenly looking for a division 1 teams, as does Chris Ross, Britain's leading blind player."

Nottingham University 1 Surprises Grantham 1

The NCA league championship defender - Grantham 1 - played last Tuesday another match against rather unpredictable but strong team of Nottingham University.

Nottingham University 1		2½:2½	Grantham 1
Whitefield C	-	0:1	Mangione C	203
Lee D	166	0:1	Birtwistle N	196
Walker A	166	½:½	Payne N	180
Poole T	156	1:0	Prior S	181
Le, Nguyen	161	1:0	Hebert A	160

Grantham top players - Claudio Mangione and Nigel Birtwistle - did their duties on the board 1 and 2 and gained 2 points for Grantham.
Nick Payne drew on the board 3, so the the match had to be decided on the bottom boards.
Steve Prior was playing on board 4. He has had very good season so far and he qualified himself recently for British Championship. In this match however, he slipped and lost the game against Tim Poole.

Poole vs Prior, after 30.b4=

The Black's position was not so bad and as you can see on diagram above after 30.b4 it seems to me rather equal.
However, the position on the diagram below, after 59...Rf4, is obviously lost for Black.

Poole vs Prior, after 59...Rf4 +-

Also Andy Hebert, who has had an excellent season so far as well, lost to Nguyen Le on the bottom board.

Chris Dorrington Drew With GM Zvjaginsev!

And now a very good news for British Chess!
Chris Dorrington, who used to play for Lincolnshire County team, is currently playing in the European Club Cup in Rhodes, Greece. He is representing his 4NCL team Barbican 4NCL. 
Chris's FIDE rating is 2313 and he had a brilliant first day when he drew with GM Vadim Zvjaginsev rated 2659! 
When you have a look at this game you can be surprised that it was GM Zvjaginsev who slipped in 18th move and had to fight for equality till 28th move!

Nottinghamshire vs Lincolnshire - 10 : 6

It was a "Black Saturday" for Lincolnshire County Chess Team. Travelling to the Bramcote our players faced very strong opposition of Nottinghamshire and they were outgraded on most but top two boards.
The final result is not what we exactly wanted but it is perhaps a fair expression of the current strength of both teams.

Section:  Open
Home Team: Nottinghamshire	Away Team: Lincolnshire
Venue:  Bramcote	Date: 19th October 2013
Team having White on odd boards:  Lincolnshire	Result reported by:  Nigel Birtwistle

Board	ECF Code	Grade	Home team players’ names	Score	Score	Away Team players’ names	Grade	ECF Code
1	106259B	201	Michael Barnes	½	½	Claudio Mangione	203	280480H
2	119931G	169	John Swain (res)	½	½	Nigel Birtwistle	196	106801F
3	246346F	199E	Alex  Posazhenikov	1	0	Nick Stead	192	119269H
4	258610B	196	Pablo Padilla Cabrero	1	0	Samuel Milson	190	247736J
5	117916A	190	Robert Richmond	0	1	Paul Cumbers	189	103734B
6	191288E	187	Alexander Combie	1	0	Kevin McCarthy	170	244268B
7	165575K	171	Richard Truman	0	1	Keith Palmer	169	116655E
8	113252A	170	Steve Hunter	0	1	Andrew Hebert	160	190995H
9	259443C	170	Daniel Broughton	½	½	Ivan David	159	772821E
10	107648L	169	Steve Burke	1	0	Steve Allott	159	152031D
11	120954B	166	Andrew Walker	1	0	Graham Ladds	158	113979E
12	271898E	167	Mark Kenyon	½	½	Ian McDonald	157	222114H
13	174274H	165	Brian Thompson	1	0	Stuart Macdonald	151	277271G
14	119873H	164	Drag Sudar	½	½	Denis Georgiou	149	111157H
15	105357H	160	Nick London	½	½	Chris Holt	148	222114H
16	104365B	158	David Levens	1	0	Ben Mason	140	139887J
				10	6