From our Nottingham Correspondent (3)

A touch later than I planned, but I thought I'd let you know how things are going "north of the border".

Gambit 3 are looking on course to achieve the pre-season aim of avoiding relegation, standing 2nd in Division 2 after 8 matches. Things are a bit tight, though, as just three points separate six teams between 2nd and 7th. Two more wins from the remaining six matches should see us home and dry. I've had a mixed bag of results so far - winning against a clubmate with a grade of 177 probably the highlight, after a couple of poor results in the autumn.

The table and fixtures can be found here: http://nottschess.org/2012_13/d2.html# We are, of course, grateful to Gambit 2 who have kindly gifted us four of the nine points gained so far - the second win coming despite their captain drafting in members of the first team!

The county championships were held in mid-January (last year's had been postponed to June). Being four points over the upper limit for the Minor section meant that a repeat of last year's performance (5/5) was unlikely, but I was disappointed with 2/5, especially having missed an easy win in the first round (a game I drew). The weather put a few people off coming, so ultimately the Open section was an all-play-all with six players. Mike Barnes won the title, his sixth overall.

The Nottingham Congress will be in April, a few weeks after Easter. I'll be there physically, though as it's less than a week after I fly back from Sri Lanka, I have a ready-made excuse of jetlag should I play badly!

See you there!

Rob.