The three CSC/Kingston teams experienced mixed fortunes in the fourth round of 4NCL matches, played in Coventry and Daventry on the weekend of 21/22 March

The photograph above shows members of CSC/Kingston 1 playing blitz on Saturday evening after the victory over Warwickshire Select. Jacob Templen Grave (left) and Vlad Larkin are in the foreground, with Luisa Bashylina watching on

Weekend 4 of 4NCL, played at two separate venues in Coventry and Daventry on 21/22 March, proved to be tough for CSC/Kingston’s three teams, all of which were flying high in their respective divisions. The teams are still well placed after the struggles of the weekend, but it was a salutary lesson in how challenging 4NCL can be.

On Saturday, Kingston 1 squeezed past a very competitive and youthful Warwickshire Select team. Supratit Banerjee, playing on board 1 for CSC/Kingston to give him the strongest possible opponent, fought hard against Indian IM Siva Mahadevan, but Siva played what one observer described as a “gem of a game” and prevailed with a blistering attack.

Warwickshire’s Lorenzo Fava had a memorable win against IM (soon, we hope, to be GM) Harry Grieve with Black on board 2, and Finlay Terry-Bowcott did the same against FM Ulysse Bottazzi on board 4. But IM Vlad Larkin started the ball rolling for CSC/Kingston with a win on board 3, and our players proved almost irresistible on the lower boards. Wins for Jacob Templen Grave, Adam Collins and Luisa Bashylina, and a draw for Roland Bezuidenhout, took us over the line by 4.5-3.5. Warwickshire were outrated by 100 points a board, so should be congratulated on their performance.

On Sunday, we were up against a highly motivated Sharks 1 team. They brought in GM Daniel Fernandez especially to play against us, and just had a touch too much firepower and nous, running out 5-3 winners. The high spot for CSC/Kingston was Supratit’s terrific victory over IM Rajat Makkar, but there were plenty of other strong performances, notably Ulysse’s draw with IM Peter Roberson and Adam’s draw against IM Tom Rendle – both the CSC/Kingston players had Black. Vlad Larkin drew with Dan Fernandez in a game in which both had chances of winning at different times before peace was declared.

The win on Saturday and loss on Sunday left CSC/Kingston 1 fourth in the table – a very satisfactory position after last season’s early struggles and one we hope to maintain at the final three-round weekend on 2-4 May, when the first team will again be playing in Daventry.

Current Division 1 table

In the very competitive division 3 (knights), where CSC/Kingston 2 have high hopes of promotion, we had a narrow 3.5-2.5 victory over Oxford 2 on Saturday, with wins for Peter Hasson and Chris Fegan. But Sunday proved to be a disaster against Rhyfelwyr Essyllwg – yes they are Welsh and Rhyfelwyr means warriors. On paper the match was very close, but the events on the board proved anything but, and the Warriors ran out easy 5-1 winners, with draws from Peter Finn on board 1 and Jim Stayt on board 5 saving our blushes.

The loss makes the promotion fight harder for CSC/Kingston 2, but they are still clear second and in with a good chance going into the final weekend, with two teams from each Div 3 pool promoted to division 2.

Current Division 3 (Knights) table

The third team had an even tougher weekend – the result of being close to the top of the 30-strong league and coming up against very highly rated sides. On Saturday, they faced 3Cs, whose average rating of 2119 would make them one of the strongest teams in division 3. They beat CSC/Kingston 5-1, but well done to Phil Stimpson and Charukgan Muhunthan on securing draws against much higher-rated opponents. It was especially commendable by Charukgan, who was making his 4NCL debut.

The unpoetically named TMNT, CSC/Kingston 3’s opponents on Sunday, were not quite as strong as 3Cs, but they still had an average rating advantage of almost 100 points a board and ran out 4-2 winners. CSC/Kingston’s hero was Mike Cresswell, who scored a tremendous win against a player who outrated him by more than 150 points. Despite the two defeats, CSC/Kingston 3 are still ninth from 30 in division 4, which is very respectable.

Current Division 4 table (top 12 teams of 30)

The final weekend takes place over three days from 2-4 May, culminating in the final round on bank holiday Monday. The first team will be in Daventry and the second and third teams in Coventry. The first team will be happy with a top four place and the third team with a top 10 position, so most eyes will be on the second team, who for the third year in a row are fighting for promotion to division 2. They have been denied twice over the past two seasons. Can they finally do it this year?

Stephen Moss is captain of Kingston Chess Club