Round-up of 2016-17 League season

This season has had it's usual ups and downs, now the dust has settled we can take a quick overview.

This season we ran 5 teams in the Notts league and one in the Derby and District league.

Following last season's relegation of WN1, we were pleased to see the return of our board 1 Alex Posazhennikov, and recruited a new strong player in Zhe Kang Law, fresh from his triumph at the Sheffield Congress in June. They shared Division 2 with our top junior team. With the exception of a good Newark 1 team, our teams were clearly stronger than the rest. WN1 promoted despite a hiccup against Newark 2 and a penalty match loss against Central 1, meaning they had to beat Newark 1 in the final match of their season to stop WN2 overtaking them. This they did and so fully deserve their promotion. WN2 were just one point behind and had a fantastic season except for a bad 5-0 loss to Newark 1.

Division 3 had a 'promoted' WN4 team taking over from Alan's old team. This was a hard battle, but despite being outgraded frequently they managed to survive by improbably beating champions Nomads 1 in the last match of the season, helped by the temporary return of Russell O'Brien. Alex Ward scored some fine victories on the bottom board and his grade is moving up fast.

Division 4 hosted our second junior team, who promoted last season. Despite the longer time control they performed well, and were unlucky to be denied the points gained against Mansfield 2 when that team withdrew. They will be better and stronger next season.

In Division 5 we concentrated on playing our older Fernwood girls with support from a few others. Although it was hard for them, they never gave up and this was excellent practice for their successes in the U19 Schools Championships.

Finally, we had a team in Division 2 of the Derby league. Although we would have hoped for promotion, some results slipped away and just having 4 players made it harder to recover from an early loss. Still, by the end of the season we were comfortably mid-table and will regroup for next year.

So thank you to the many players (and parents) who gave their time to support the club over the last 8 months. And spare a thought for the tireless work of the team captains, frequently scrabbling around for last minute replacements, providing lifts and then often having to play an actual game of chess! 

So enjoy your summer break - September will be here before you know it!