After our second and third teams won promotion from their respective divisions the previous month, April saw the first team play their final two matches in their attempt to return to the top flight of Notts chess for the first time since 2003. Our second, third and fourth teams played their final matches of the league season.
Of the five matches played in the month, we won three and lost two…
First team (Division 2)
On 7 April the first team won a nail-biting fixture away against West Bridgford 2 by the narrowest of margins, 2.5-1.5. This meant that, a week later, they went into their final match of the season against Nomads 2 needing to win by 3-1 to secure promotion. Happily, that’s precisely the result they achieved, ending the season with a playing record of P14 W8 D3 L3 Pts19.
The tight finish at the top of Division 2 meant that three teams finished tied on 19 points. The top two gaining promotion were Beeston 1 and Radcliffe and Bingham 1 with a ‘goal difference’ of +11 and +10 respectively; in third place Ashfield 1 were unlucky to lose out with a goal difference of +9.
Second team (Division 3)
Our second team were evidently ‘on the beach’ for their final match of the season, losing 3.5-0.5 against Gambit 4. However, their playing record of P14 W9 D1 L4 Pts19 Goal difference +6 means that next season they will be playing in Division 2 for the first time since 2001.
Third team (Division 5)
The third team finished the season with a 2.5-1.5 win against Grantham 4 to end with a tremendous record of P12 W11 L1 Pts22 GD+27.
Fourth team (Division 5)
The fourth team’s final fixture was also against Grantham 4, which resulted in a 2.5- 1.5 defeat. However, over the season as a whole they more than held their own with a playing record of P12 W5 D2 L5 Pts 12 GD+6.
2024/25 season Overall Results
Played 52, Won 33, Drawn 6, Lost 13, Match points 72 (2 points for a win, 1 for a draw).
Individual game points (1 point for a win, 0.5 for a draw) were 128.5 for, 79.5
against, producing a ‘goal difference’ of +49, a 62% success rate.
All match results can be viewed via the ‘League’ link on the RBCC website’s main menu.