Sheffield & District Chess Association

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01/09/2023

Summer League Report

 

Ahead of the AGM next Tuesday, 5th September 2023, at the Sheffield Chess Centre, 329A Coleford Road, Sheffield, S9 5NF, Summer League controller, Alan McIntosh, has sent his report to the meeting.  It is included here for a wider airing.  It reads as follows.

 

2023 Summer League Report

For the second year running, the summer league attracted a larger than usual number of entrants. Before Covid there would normally be 13 to 15 teams, spread over three divisions. This year 22 teams took part, spread over four divisions. This provided 100 matches and, because many were five or six board matches, there were well over 400 games.

Chesterfield A romped away with the division 1 title. They gained 14 points from 12 matches and finished a clear 5 points above Nomads A. Nomads had however split their forces and were fielding a second team in the same division, otherwise the race for the top spot would have been much closer. But the summer league is not all about winning titles and by entering two first division teams, Nomads B filled a vacant slot in the division.

SASCA A won division 2 with 14 points from 8 matches. They were undefeated and finished 4 points above D&H A. With hindsight, placing SASCA A in division 1 and Rotherham in division 3 would have made the second division a closer affair. However, when compiling the divisions, I didn’t realise that SASCA A would be so strong or that Rotherham would find the division such a struggle. Yet, as Chesterfield B drew both their matches against SASCA and Rotherham only lost each of theirs by one game point, it was perhaps closer than it looked.

Woodseats A won division 3 with 14 points from 10 matches. Despite gaining only one point from their first three matches, they slowly and quietly crept up the table. Then, in their very last match, they overtook Nomads C by one point to go top.

Nomads D won division 4 with 13 points from 10 matches. They were looking like comfortable winners until they lost their two penultimate matches and were overtaken by Sheffield Deaf. In their final match they needed a win over Woodseats B, who would also go top, along with Sheffield Deaf, if they won. But Nomads gained a convincing win, to take the title by one point.

Like last year, not only did the summer league prove popular because it provided clubs with the means to maintain interest over the summer, many clubs used it to introduce new players to competitive over the board chess. Consequently, I think, yet again the summer league has made an important and useful contribution to what the S&DCA provides.

Alan McIntosh.