Other than the possibility of relegation for Downend 1, there wasn't a great deal riding on the final round of the 4NCL Online. Nevertheless, the players uncorked some great games.
** Poisoned Pawns 2 - 2 Downend 1**
Volovich, Julia vs Thompson, Robert
It was a heck of a grind for Rob, who saw the position get stodgy very early on. Needless to say, once it came down to a rook and pawn ending the ball was very much in black's court, both in terms of experience and the active king.
Meadows, Michael vs Trivedi, Aarnavh
The only dull game of the night, but be warned it is very dull.
Srivastava, Arnav vs Saunders, Aron
Aron, becoming a specialist with black due to the unfortunate way grades dictate board order in the 4NCLO, went for a trappy line but white took all the fun out of it and clamped down for a horrible position.
Williams, Stephen vs Zheng, Harry
Stephen's game was wild. Pieces got trapped all over the place and black missed a good change to grab some material (maybe because the position was so odd). Fortune then swung back our way and Stephen had a great endgame, only for time trouble to level the position out for a draw.
** Downend 2 4 - 0 Crowthorne 2**
Ash, Thomas vs Adhikari, Aanya
Thomas scored an excellent win for the team, which was all but nailed on from the opening. Black mistakenly allowed a material-losing fork and despite trying hard to wriggle free, white always had an answer that tightened the screws.
McKean, Matthew vs Morris, Mark
Mark had a great opening as black and was gaining some good pressure thanks to an ambitious black c-pawn, but once white dropped a rook to a fork the position fell apart immediately.
Walsh, Shaun vs Coates, Benjamin
You would never guess from the opening that on a night with wild games, this would one of the wildest. Black gave up a number of queenside black pawns for the stormiest of pawn storms, but Shaun was confident of weathering it. This one is well-worth a play through to see white defend so brazenly and then march the king off to the safety centre of the board while queens and rooks are still on.
Elliott was back to his winning ways, working his way to an endgame with a full pawn advantage. It would have been trickier as a rook and pawn ending if not for black's eagle eyes spotting the check discovery to claim black's last piece.
Sadly the draw means that Downend 1 were overtaken at the last moment by Sussex Social Isolators, who retain the Division 1 spot. Downend 2 finished in the top half of their table, thanks in no small part to their excellent win here. As for us, we'll see what interest we have when the next season is announced! Thanks again to all the players that gave up their evenings to sit in front of a computer and support the online league!