4NCL – Northern Division

The latest rounds of 4NCL Div 3 North were held a week in advance of the rest of the league in the splendid surroundings of the Barcelo Majestic Hotel in Harrogate.

Play took place in the “Drawing Room” under magnificent chandeliers, and amongst memorabilia of famous previous guests of the hotel, such as Errol Flynn and Winston Churchill.

The weather was unkind, but the worst of the snow was falling during play on Saturday afternoon and evening, and everyone made it to the venue on time. Those who weren’t staying the night were faced with a very tricky journey home, and those Bradford and Jorvik players who were coming back on Sunday will have had to shovel a lot of snow in the morning. Well done to everyone who made it.

Once again nearly all the matches were close run affairs.

On Saturday, Bradford DCA B held leaders North East England to a 3-3 draw, with wins for Robert Dean on board 6 and David Barlow on 1 against FM David Walker.  David Barlow now has an extremely impressive 3/3 on board one. Jorvik went down 2-4 to Cheddleton 2.

On Sunday the games were in a jamboree format with each team playing a mixture of all the others, except the team they’d faced on Saturday.  Congratulations are in order to controllers Alex McFarlane and Lara Barnes for working out the draw.

It was still necessary to get up to 3.5 pts to score 2 points for a match “win”, and 3pts would mean a “draw” and 1 match point.

Jorvik bounced back by compiling 3.5 pts while Bradford DCA B managed 3pts with 4 draws and a win from Mike Bramson.

The standings at the end of 6 rounds are :-

• North East England – 11 points
• Bradford DCA B – 8
• Cheddleton 2 – 8
  
• Jorvik - 8
  
• Holmes Chapel – 2
• Manchester Manticores – 0
  

Div 3 North now merges with Div 3 South for the remaining 5 rounds.

North East England will clearly have a serious chance of promotion and all three teams on 8pts, including both Yorkshire teams, will still be in the mix if they can push on.