4NCL

Horsham 1 were up against Celtic Tigers, who are easily the highest rated team in the group. The top three games were close and Nick won a cracking game on board 4 for it to end up as a 2-2 draw.

Horsham 2 were outgraded against Braunstone (average grade difference of 33 ECF). In the end all 4 white players won, particularly impressive was Guy's queen sac and Marian's smooth victory. The other two games were close, so Horsham 2 were unlucky to only draw 2-2.

Horsham 3 scored an astonishing victory. Heavily outgraded on every board Andrew, Charlie, and Alex won and Harry completed a mammoth 108-move draw.

Horsham 2 lost against a very strong team that would give the 1st team a challenge with their IM on board 1. Nonetheless, Guy had a great win on board 4, turning down a draw offer which meant a couple of pawn sacs, then finishing with a nice attack.

Horsham 1 took on Wimbledon 2. Horsham looked hot favourites with a 70-point average grade advantage.

With Horsham having had just one team in the inaugural (I think?) 4NCL online league season recently concluded (as previously reported) the new online season has begun with three teams entered.

Horsham's first team remained where they were previously (division 3) whilst teams 2 and 3 have been placed in the new division 6 where the sheer number of teams indicates the interest that this has generated in the absence of 'normal' chess.

In the penultimate round Horsham were up against the Four Horseman, fortunately they were not bringing the apocalypse too.

The online 4NCL is a series of matches on Tuesday evenings between teams across the country. Its one of the biggest chess competitions ever.

A couple of weeks ago Horsham were pitted against MK Phoenix 2 in the Online 4NCL. MK Phoenix 2 were a team we aimed to beat with our team being noticeably higher graded and a win would put us comfortably into mid-table. The bottom two teams in each group get demoted so we are aiming to stay well above that.
Disaster struck straight away as one team member forgot about the game and defaulted their board. This meant that we not only lost the game but got a 1-point penalty on top for the default. This meant we were effectively 2-0 down with 3 games going.

Two weeks ago, Horsham faced Crewe in the online 4NCL.
On board 4 Marian was in a bit of trouble after his opponent managed to grab a couple of queen side pawns with tactics. Unfortunately, those pawns marched and Marian had to surrender.

Last Tuesday Horsham faced Warley Mighty Quinborne in round 2 of the 4NCL online league and we had white on even boards. Warley Mighty Quinborne are ranked first in our group on initial seeding so this was going to be a tough match.

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.