Our 2nd team travelled to div 1 relegation rivals Newark 1 without two regulars, Onos & John H, knowing that a loss would send us down. Newark 1 were also missing two regulars, Keith Aiton & Richard Myers.
First to finish was Drag after an uneventful draw with David Coates. This was followed by a draw between Nikolai and Graham Ladds. Felipe dropped an exchange but Nigel Bowler returned it in the endgame and Felipe managed to queen immediately before Nigel Bowler did and secured a draw by repeated checks. Steve had calmly defended Alex Combie’s attack and after the queens came off Steve was better but let Alex off the hook and they settled for a draw.
Meanwhile Pete G-M had broken into Martyn Winn’s kingside with Martyn scrambling his king to the queenside. Both players got very low on time with fewer than 60 seconds left and it was Martyn who cracked first, allowing Pete to sweep up his pieces. There was a worrying moment when Pete seemed transfixed with both hands stationary in the air as his clock counted down from 9 seconds to 8, to 7, to 6, and then Pete moved. Phew!
This result has completely transformed the relegation picture. WB 1 have 9 points and a ‘goal difference’ of -14. New 1 have 7 points and -15, while Gam 2 also have 7 points and -16.
Newark 1 will have a tricky looking away match at Nomads 1 the day before we host WB 1.
If our 2nd team beat WB 1 we will stay up regardless of what Newark 1 do against Nomads 1. If we win 3.5 – 1.5 or better we’ll get the better ‘goal difference’ (or games points) than WB 1. If we win 3 – 2, then game points will be the same and, as both matches were 3 – 2 home wins, we would finish above WB 1 because they have defaulted 1 board this season and we haven’t defaulted any.
If our 2nd team draws we’ll stay up if Newark 1 lose at Nomads 1.
If our 2nd team lose then we also need Newark 1 to lose for it to go down to game points. If the game points are the same then, as both our matches were 3 – 2 away wins and neither team has defaulted any boards, the league rules demand a playoff, maybe the 1st one ever in the league?