With the League title already secured by Nigel Gardner’s D team, they continued their 100% record with win number 9 against our C team on Wednesday. Wins from Rick Renegade, David Lambton and Nigel together with a draw by Pawel Stanny (against Mike Keenan) were enough to outweigh Dave Price’s lonely win for the Cs.
Tuesday night was Round 5 of 4NCL online and resources were stretched. The AOL team suffered another narrow defeat 1.5-2.5 with Karl Lockett doing everything he could to save the match but could only muster a draw to add to Dave Lambton’s win by default, as his opponent never turned up (online). The BOL team faired better, as normal !, and grabbed a 2-2 draw as Harry Gardiner outgunned the opposition and Andrew Crosby converted a long-term advantage into a comfortable win. The B team are in 7th place out of 8 in their division 3 mini group while the A team languish 8th in their division 2 group without a point to show. The AOL team face Bude in Round 6 who have GM Dr John Nunn in their ranks !
In our internal competitions, Harry Gardiner overtook Martin Burns to move into pole position in Div 1 after his latest win sent him to 7.5/9 ahead of Martin’s 7/10 and David L in the frame with 6.5/9. With a possible 18 games for all to play, it is too early to rule out other contenders making a run for the trophy.
Division 2 has seen very little activity since the turn of the year, but there is plenty of time for members to get a shake on, and track down leader Nigel Gardner (6/7) and 2nd placed Lee Tilton (5/7).
Division 3 saw youngster Oskar Jarzynski take the lead on Wednesday night, with a further win to take his tally to 4/4. He should face stiff competition as Mike Keenan (3/3) and Chris Marais (2/2) all have 100% records, and I would expect top seed Phil Wright to push this trio all the way.