It’s getting interesting in division 3. Our 3rd team, on 17 points after 11 matches, lead by 2 points from Uni 2 and RB 2 with just 3 matches to go: Central 1, RB 2 and Newark 2. RB 2 still have to play all three Gambit teams. Newark 2, lying 6th but with two games in hand, can catch Gambit 3 if they win their remaining matches, starting with Uni 2 next week, who also have to play our 5th team. Our 4th and 5th teams are in mid table, with just one or two more points needed to stay up.
In division 1 our 2nd team came close to drawing with Mansfield 1. Felipe outplayed Peter Ackley, about 250 points higher graded than him. Onos continued his impressive form with a draw against Jon Tait, also about 250 points higher. Paul, making his debut in division 1, drew with Kevin Simpson, ‘only’ 200 points higher, and then beat Newark 2’s Keith Aition this week playing for the 5th team. This defeat leaves our 2nd team on just 4 points with 3 matches left and with only an outside chance of catching Newark 1 or WB 1. These two both still have to play Uni 1, Mansfield 1, Grantham 1 and our 2nd team, so it’s not all over yet. After last night’s narrow loss at Grt 1, our 1st team are 3rd and cannot now win the title.
In division 4, our 6th team are 6th out of 7, just behind 5th place WB 3 on ‘goal difference’. They are now in ‘must win’ territory, having to win their remaining two matches (one is against WB 3), and hoping WB 3 don’t pick up more than 4 points from their remaining 4 matches; even then it would be decided by ‘goal difference’.
Our 7th team are 6th out of 7, 5 points behind 5th placed Beeston 2. They are heavily out graded by all the other teams except bottom placed Central 2. One reason for this is that while we enter as many teams as possible, some clubs don’t so their lowest team’s squad includes higher rated players.
In the club Rapidplay, after three rounds Nikolai led with 5 points, closely followed by Mike B and Florian on 4.5 and Mike N-E on 4. Nikolai had to face Mike B in round 4 and put up a good fight before losing 2-0. Drag, on 3 points, had two surprisingly comfortable wins over Felipe, who was also on 3 points. The other games will be played in March, including an exciting looking battle between Florian and Mike N-E.