Wood Green Win 4NCL
The 4 Nations Chess League (4NCL) is the premier team event in the United Kingdom, with teams from the 4 Home Nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
The 2008/09 season recently concluded with the Wood Green first team emerging as Divison 1 champions, narrowly edging out their nearest rivals, the previous champions, Guildford in a thrilling climax.
Wood Green needed to at least draw the match to win the title against their rivals, and reached their goal thanks to Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant's (pictured) win in the final game to finish against 2008 British Champion, Stuart Conquest.
| GUILDFORD-A&DC 1 | v | WOOD GREEN HK 1 | ||||
| 1 | w | Kurnosov, Igor | 2658 | 1 - 0 | Lalic, Bogdan | 2508 |
| 2 | b | Pert, Nicholas | 2537 | ½ - ½ | Baburin, Alexander | 2541 |
| 3 | w | McShane, Luke | 2596 | 1 - 0 | Gordon, Stephen J | 2540 |
| 4 | b | Howell, David W L | 2613 | ½ - ½ | Cramling, Pia | 2528 |
| 5 | w | Plaskett, James | 2491 | 1 - 0 | Berczes, David | 2513 |
| 6 | b | Conquest, Stuart C | 2549 | 0 - 1 | Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan | 2492 |
| 7 | w | Hebden, Mark L | 2510 | 0 - 1 | Szabo, Krisztian | 2518 |
| 8 | b | Lalic, Susan | 2342 | 0 - 1 | Greet, Andrew N | 2431 |
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | GP | MP | |
| 1 | Wood Green HK 1 | xxx | 4 | 4½ | 7 | 4½ | 5 | 7 | 5½ | 37½ | 13 |
| 2 | Guildford-A&DC 1 | 4 | xxx | 3 | 6 | 7 | 5½ | 8 | 6 | 39½ | 11 |
| 3 | Guildford-A&DC 2 | 3½ | 5 | xxx | 2½ | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4½ | 29½ | 9 |
| 4 | White Rose 1 | 1 | 2 | 5½ | xxx | 2 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 24½ | 7 |
| 5 | Barbican 4NCL 1 | 3½ | 1 | 3 | 6 | xxx | 3½ | 4 | 5 | 26 | 5 |
| 6 | Pride and Prejudice | 3 | 2½ | 3 | 4 | 4½ | xxx | 4 | 3½ | 24½ | 4 |
| 7 | Wood Green HK 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | xxx | 4 | 20 | 4 |
| 8 | The GAMBIT ADs | 2½ | 2 | 3½ | 3 | 3 | 4½ | 4 | xxx | 22½ | 3 |
A short video from the event, courtesy of British Chess Magazine editor, John Saunders.
