MK Phoenix 4NCL Team

4NCL Rapidplay 2014

MK Phoenix Results                                                             Date Played : 8th October 2014

A brief report on the rapidplay as far as MK Phoenix is concerned:

As last year, we were paired against Barbican 1 in the first round, and the result was, not surprisingly, exactly the same, 0-4. Avoiding the bye, we had an easy win in round 2, 4-0 against Midland Monarchs. We then kept up our 50% score with a 2-2 draw against Witney Brown Jack. This was followed by a convincing 3.5-0.5 win over West is Best 3, although it would have been 4-0 if Paul had seen the win of a piece that the kibitzers saw. Even so, we reckoned that scoring close to 50% over the last three rounds would result in us retaining the U-175 title from last year – everything was based on game points, not match points.

Round 5 saw us against Leeds University Old Boys 1, and although we had our chances, we lost marginally 1.5-2.5. We then had an excellent result against Oxford 1 (average grade 197), winning 2.5-1.5. So with 13.5 out of 24, we didn’t need much out of the last round. Somehow, though, we got paired against Barbican 2 (average grade 212), and although both Mac and Richard got good positions, they were unable to convert them even into draws, and we lost 4-0. This boosted Barbican 2 into fourth place overall, saw us finishing in 20th place out of 27, and let Leeds University Old Boys 2 take our U-175 crown from us.

However, because of the strong average opposition, I think we all improved our grades as a result of the play. Especially Mac, who was the star of the team with 4 out of 6, but thanks to all who played. We should really try to raise two teams next year, it’s a great opportunity to play some very strong players and still have a chance of a result.

Richard Freeman

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