Wrapping up

 On 15th February, I played a 4NCL game that began a very long blog queue - and with my degree intervening, I have only been able to attack it piecemeal ever since. But now, over three months later, I am delighted to finally get back up to date, and it seems only fitting to do so with another 4NCL game.

 I wasn't at the final, 3-day, 4NCL weekend to play - simply put, I had come to see Downend get promoted. If you really are in a team, rather than a group of individuals, then just being there is enjoyable enough. The previous game, among many others, showed that I don't cope with high-pressure situations, so with promotion up for grabs I was glad not to be playing. I even turned down a game on Sunday when offered. But the control team had other ideas! Before getting drafted in as a games-inputter on Sunday and Monday, I was 'asked' on Saturday to be a filler in a rated friendly, covering for a default. I have plenty of experience as a filler from CCF, and it was a useful distraction for a few hours. My opponent was Ethan Sanitt, who is 12 years old but already graded 142/1543. It didn't feel entirely comfortable at the time, but I took my chance when it was offered to bring my season to a profitable conclusion:

 It looks quite comfortable in the end, but didn't feel that way at the time. I was concerned to miss even the existence of 13. c5; Nf4-d5 could have given white some chances. Instead the disastrous oversight 18. Nd4?? allowed me to efficiently close it out. Even when you play a system opening, eventually you have to play chess - in that sense this game was quite typical. It also marked the end of the grading list for me. It was a nice atonement for the drought between February and April to win 3 of my last 4 games, leaving me with a 174 performance for this half. How interesting that I should meet my old 170+ target as soon as it is no longer a target! But that's for another day...

 Downend did the business in the end, although not with any more conviction than their Bristol League win! A victory on Saturday followed by two nervy draws was enough for outright third, snagging perhaps the biggest prize in English amateur chess - promotion to Division 2. Birmingham is a much easier location than Telford, and we get to see the fruits of the 4NCL's unparalleled ability to attract the top English players - our captain in particular sees Division 3 as a bit of a ghetto. It's also good news for me: with more boards per team (and no degree!) I hope to play more often next season.

 After this, it was time for exam hibernation again. I've used the lull between my last formal exam and the 24-hour essay/exam hybrid next week to write the last two posts, and after I've taken the latter it will finally be time to follow through on my threats to expurgate my appallingly bad endgame play. The first step will be to understand the problem.