Horsham play first round of 4NCL online

Submitted by Alex Taylor on 7 April, 2020 - 22:39

The 4NCL has set up an online tournment taking place every Tuesday over the next ten weeks. Horsham's team is in the third division and today we faced our first opponents, 3 Smarties 1 Tube, who are one of the top teams in our division. Things got off to a smooth start with every game starting on time with no technical issues.
On board 4 Richard had a tough game against someone rated 35 grading points higher. His Caro-Kann was level until he traded off his dark-squared bishop leaving potential holes around his fianchettoed king's pawn structure that his opponent ruthlessly exploited.
On board 2 Chris' Tarrasch was being heavily tested and his opponent launched a sacrificial attack that brought down his king.
On board 1 Dix's King's Indian was going well with him gaining a strong iniative. Unfortunately, his opponent found a clever tactice to win the exchange and grab the iniative. After this the game was decidely double-edged but Dix's opponent found the right moves to bring home the win.
The final board going was board 2 with Nick's King Indian and some tactics giving him an edge going into the middlgegame. In the resulting messy middlegame both players missed tactics and it headed into a single Rook endgame. His opponent overpressed to give away a slight advantage and the position was dead-level. With both players in time-trouble Nick's opponent found some tactics to win pawns and from there converted it for a win.
Overall this was a tough first match against a team much higher rated in a completely new format, we look forward to the match next Tuesday.

Final result: Horsham 0 - 4 3 Smarties 1 Tube.
Full results of the round are available here: http://www.4nclresults.co.uk/2019-20/online/1/3/export/

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Ian Comley's picture

Ian Comley

8 April, 2020 - 11:20

Sounds like some excellent chess - well done to everyone , especially against such a tough team

Chris Heath

8 April, 2020 - 17:09

Thanks Alex for organising this and also, (with others?), for organising the twice weekly blitz.

It's quite interesting comparing the three different formats of internet chess.

I'm sure that in more normal times we've all had a go at blitz over the internet and obviously that's not changed.

Last night's time control of 45 mins plus 15 second increments was approaching a classical time limit but I for one certainly found it quite difficult to get beyond a superficial thought process (akin to blitz) just looking at a screen...anyway, that's my excuse! It may be something which comes with time.

The third format which is being played between several Horsham players (and possibly others?) is a 3 day time limit for each move. That doesn't mean you have to wait 3 days for each move(!), simply that you are not defaulted on basis that you make your move within that period. In practice the game can be stop and start but then a flurry of moves if both players on line at the same time...and indeed you may be playing several games at once. On occasion when position particularly interesting or challenging and I have time on my hands I set it up on a board though the unlimited time for the move sadly doesn't stop the normal problem of getting lines mixed up and going round and round in circles. At the other end of the scale is sitting on the settee watching TV after dining with Bacchus and making moves on a tiny phone screen. Not always does the former result in better chess than the latter! Anyway, good fun if anyone else wants to join.