tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61918977730559635572012-02-16T15:15:15.435-08:00This blog documents Fat and Mad's observations on the chess world and his own games.Fat And Madhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12247661659611702180noreply@blogger.comBlogger11100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6191897773055963557.post-58623088286729331192009-05-07T09:55:00.000-07:002009-05-07T14:06:17.407-07:00<span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;" >Hello there and welcome to my chess blog. Last year I discovered that YouTube is a wonderful medium for publishing videos on chess and now I'm adding a blog to complement my YouTube material.</span> <span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:130%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;" >I have been playing chess in the UK for almost thirty years. In that time it has seen some ups and downs, mostly downs, but the most positive development I have seen is the development of the 4 Nations Chess League ("4NCL" - check out their website: www.4ncl.co.uk </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:130%;" >)<br /><br />What started out as a single league competition in 1993, has grown into a 4 division contest that draws around 600 players from the length and breadth of the country. Well organised, it continues to draw most of the strongest British players (something which the British Championships sadly fails to do) so participation is a must if you want to play at the heart of British chess. <br /><br />This year, I returned to the competition for the first time in six years playing for a new team, the Jutes of Kent. This happy side contains some close drinking buddies of mine and in the last two seasons had consecutively won the fourth and third division titles. This year, the dizzy prospect of promotion to division one promised a tense season and, as it turned out, the Jutes secured promotion by the slimmest of margins thanks to a last round victory by Alexis Harakis. Although the Jutes lost the match, Alexis' victory meant that the Jutes had a fractionally higher board count than their rivals for the fourth promotion spot, King's Head.<br /><br />The triumph for the Jutes is that we are a real "team". Often, the sense of unity in chess team competitions is undermined by self-interest. You know how it is; Board 2 secretly, or sometimes even openly, relishes Board 1's misfortune as he believes that the position of top dog belongs to him. It's not for nothing that chess is seen as a game that feeds the ego ...<br /><br />Luckily for the Jutes, not only are we a friendly team, the position of Board 1 is beyond discussion with our genial GM, Simon Williams, easily the strongest player in the team. We will need him next year as we compete with the strongest players in the country and from beyond.<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6191897773055963557-5862308828672933119?l=fatandmadschessblog.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Fat And Madhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12247661659611702180noreply@blogger.com0