Bodley 2013/14

Sparks

From the LCU website:

Bodley Cup Entries
26-Sep-2013 The closing date for entry into the Bodley Cup (Div 6) is Friday 4th October. Clubs who have not already confirmed their entry with the Leagues Controller, should do so immediately.

cdeb

Fixtures starting the week of the 21st of October, maybe even the week before.

Airbender

This is an early start. I remember it used to be the second week of November...

cdeb

Yeah, it's been that way the past few years alright. But it gave rise to a huge fixture congestion, typically in January, which was busy enough with the Leinster Junior Championships anyway, so this is better, I think.

Talk of maybe 20 teams in it this year.

Airbender

Of course, it is better.

20 teams is a lot... probably two groups of ten... this means each will play 18 matches, if I am not mistaken.

Ciaran

Airbender wrote: »

Of course, it is better.

20 teams is a lot... probably two groups of ten... this means each will play 18 matches, if I am not mistaken.

9 games is more likely I'd imagine. 18 would be overkill.

Airbender

Let's hope it will be 9.

cdeb

Also, apparently the one-hour league won't be coming in this season; it would have been convenient to have a 90 minute Bodley A and a 60 minute Bodley B division. But there may be mass relegation this season to form an O'Sullivan for next year (so if there's two groups of ten, you could relegate the bottom four in each division to division 7 for next season). An extra division is the next logical step for the game, I think.

Airbender

If this is the case, I hope the LCU won't forget to inform us well in advance about the number of teams to be relegated from the Bodley.

Airbender

The teams competing in the Bodley Cup will probably be announced next week. I still believe we'll have about 18 teams in this league rather than twenty.

Sparks

Yeah, but that's more a firm 18 with lots of subs (it could very easily have been a tenuous 20 without much sub cover). Seems like a healthy enough pool...

Airbender

It does, indeed. Actually, having subs saves teams from defaulting.

Sparks

True , but not quite what I meant - which was that rather than enter (say) three teams with barely enough subs to get by in case of emergencies or unforeseen problems, you're entering two teams with a nice big healthy pool of subs for each. If anything, we might be right on the balance point between those two scenarios. All of which is A Good Thing(tm)...

Sparks

Fixtures are now up on the Leinster Chess site for Bodley A and Bodley B. The pages for the player pools and results are up too but unpopulated yet.

First match is October 23, with the Blanchardstown away team playing Bray/Greystones.

Airbender

Mmm there's no team declaration pages for the Bodley Cup A and B on the LCU website. How are the captains going to declare the teams? If the first match is on 23/10, these pages must be created urgently.

mikhail

Airbender wrote: »

Mmm there's no team declaration pages for the Bodley Cup A and B on the LCU website. How are the captains going to declare the teams? If the first match is on 23/10, these pages must be created urgently.

You don't declare a team for the bottom division.

Bray/Greystones have pulled out of group A. Fixtures to be redrawn tonight.

Airbender

mikhail wrote: »

You don't declare a team for the bottom division

Didn't know that. Does this mean that the captains will be able to use any players from their club, without submitting not only a Team Declaration but also a Player Declaration?

Scorecards for the first match in the Bodley also don't seem to be available...

mikhail

Airbender wrote: »

Didn't know that. Does this mean that the captains will be able to use any players from their club, without submitting not only a Team Declaration but also a Player Declaration?
Scorecards for the first match in the Bodley also don't seem to be available...

They can use any player from their club providing:

• They haven't played for another club.
• They haven't been declared on a team in a higher division
• They haven't played 4 times in higher divisions.
• There are no players on a higher division team who are more than 150 points lower rated (Under 1200s all count as 1200 for this calculation.)

Also, clubs with more than one team in the bottom division can't have players move between those teams.

Airbender wrote: »

Scorecards for the first match in the Bodley also don't seem to be available...

I presume they'll be up in time - there's a couple of weeks to go.

Airbender

Thanks for that. I'll forward it to our Bodley team captain.

Sparks

mikhail wrote: »

Bray/Greystones have pulled out of group A. Fixtures to be redrawn tonight.

The new fixtures are now up for the Bodley A and Bodley B on the LeinsterChess.com website.

Airbender

cdeb wrote: »

We (St. Benildus) would have to expect to fall short of both Gonzaga and Wicklow (who are, as you say, an Ennis team)

In the Bodley Cup, only the division winners get promoted, I assume, to keep the two-up-two-down going. So second place is no good.

We do need the bottom four in each Bodley to be relegated to form a Division 7 next year; the teams are there for it now and I think it'd be beneficial. It'd give more to play for in the Bodley for starters, and there's a decent gap between the top and the bottom teams in the Bodley; a Division 7 would make for more closely-matched games.

I agree; there should be no more than 12 teams in the Bodley, so two teams get promoted. This year it is just one team that gets promoted from each subdivision, Bodley A and Bodley B.

Airbender

EnPassant wrote: »

I would have assumed that the top two in each section would play-off for the two promotion places. I think that was how it used to work previously when divisions had north and south sections.

Presumably this will be announced well in advance.

Last year four teams got promoted from the Bodley, this year there will be only two. What you suggest makes perfect sense. Otherwise Wicklow and Gonzaga are as good as promoted, and the other teams will have absolutely nothing to play for.

Airbender

Bodley Cup A and B team declaration pages are now available on the LCU website, although they don't seem to be working at the moment.

An update: team declaration pages are now working properly, so the Bodley captains can declare their teams.

Airbender

Bodley Cup B:

Inchicore 1.5 - Rathmines 3.5

A short write-up about the match on the Inchicore Chess Club website: http://www.inchicorechess.net/forum/8-competition/695-bodley-cup-rd-1-inchicore-15--35-rathmines#695

cdeb

Drogheda 3-2 St Benildus B

Drogheda have sourced a new team in the past few months; they had quite a strong side and while they mightn't be able to match Gonzaga over the season, they'll be definitely up the top of the table. We have to be quite pleased with taking two points in games where we were 500 or so points outrated.

L1m1tless

Curragh B 3.5 Blanchardstown 1.5

Sparks

Writeup on the Drogheda-v-Benildus Bodley match on the Benildus website:

Bodley B start with narrow defeat

Leaving Cert commitments and gaps on higher teams have made for a new-look Bodley B this season, but after their first outing, there’s every chance they can emulate the impressive performances of the last two Bodley B teams.

There was a bit of a surprise in store when Drogheda declared a team ranging from 947 up to 1227; an average of over 1100 compared to ours of just under 700 pointed to an expected score of a half. When, after an hour, nobody was in any particular trouble over the board, let alone actually finished, expectations started to rise!

An hour later, things were still looking good ...continues

Sparks

And the view from the other side of the boards on the Drogheda website (you have to like being able to see both sides of a game like this ):

Bodley off to flyer

A little piece of club history took place on Saturday last as our 3rd team made their debut in the Leinster League Bodley Division. It was a great start as they beat St. Benildus 3-2 in the Boyne Valley. Paul McDonnell made his own piece of history when he was the first to win with a nice smothered mate in the corner. The game had ebbed and flowed and in fact he looked in trouble at one stage. His opponent was on the front foot and may have won a pawn or two before Paul launched his own attack. However once he got the two rooks on the 7th rank he was in command. Captain Nick Rottiers followed soon afterwards...continues

cdeb

Interesting to see what we mutually missed. I didn't know their board 1 sacced a piece; I assumed we'd won it as we had the pawn. And they don't (yet!) know that their board 2 fixed our player's pawns, basically paving the way to victory for us.

TheKeenMachine

Gonzaga 5-0 Portmarnock

cdeb

Well there's a shock!

Malahide beat Skerries 3½-1½ in round 2, so the table at the moment is -

[B]Team	        MP	GW	GD	GL	Pts[/B]
Malahide	2	5	2	3	6    
Gonzaga	        1	5	0	0	5    
Curragh B	1	3	1	1	3 1/2
Skerries	2	3	1	6	3 1/2
Drogheda	1	3	0	2	3    
Elm Mount	1	3	0	2	3    
Naomh Barróg A	1	2	1	2	2 1/2
St Benildus B	1	2	0	3	2    
Blanchardstown	1	1	1	3	1 1/2
Portmarnock	1	0	0	5	0

Echecs

Dun Laoghaire 1.5 Wicklow 2.5 (one game adjourned)

L1m1tless

Curragh A 5 Bray 0

cdeb

I see Portmarnock only had two players against Gonzaga!

Benildus A 3½-1½ Enniscorthy. Bit disappointing. We were a bit lucky to get it too.

Chessrookie

Cdeb,
Enniscorthy have some promising players that just need experience. Robbie, Josh and Dean give them A core to build around and the even younger Dylan has also fared well in weekenders.
Was the Benildus team all > 1,000s?. This division is shaping up stronger than first thought as Dun Laoghaires squad have a lot of strong veteran players, Curragh look to also have a Batch of 900+ players and Wicklow..well as I say they are an Ennis team.
It will be interesting to compare the relative depths of both Bodley groups as the season develops.
The Gonzaga squad looks v strong and is actually stronger than their listed ratings. Their B1 was 1644 after malahide, whilst their B3 was 1269 after the city of Dublin. Portmarnock look to have only two players declared so far, so they will need reinforcements if they are to keep going in the league. Malahide and Drogheda look to have good squads in group A

L1m1tless

Elm Mount 3.5 Curragh B 1.5

cdeb

Chessrookie wrote: »

Cdeb,
Enniscorthy have some promising players that just need experience. Robbie, Josh and Dean give them A core to build around and the even younger Dylan has also fared well in weekenders.
Was the Benildus team all > 1,000s?

We had one 950; rest were all above 1100.

Agree Enniscorthy have potential, and with Darko and Mick Crowe coaching down there, the players will improve quickly. That's why we were quite pleased to get them in the first game, before they'd improved much more. Boards 2 and 5 were easy wins for us; we were better on 1 and 4 but in the end, we should have lost 1 and drew 4, while board 3 was a heavy defeat in an opening our player has a fair bit of experience in I think.

Still, next game on Tuesday. Against our strange bogey team - Naomh Barróg B...

Sparks

Writeup on the Benildus-Enniscorthy match on the Benildus website here:

Bodley A curse strikes again!

In the past two seasons, the Bodley B has exceeded expectations while the Bodley A have underperformed. One game into the 2013/14 season, and that pattern may well be repeating itself…

The Bs already excelled themselves in their opener last week, while on Saturday, the As’ first opponents were Enniscorthy, making their league debut and with no player who’d make it onto our team ratings-wise. Getting them in the opening game was a boost; with Darko Polimac and Michael Crowe behind the club, their results come the end of the season should be markedly better than at the start. As it was, we had two games effectively won within the opening ten moves, including Ger Healy on the bottom board, playing his first game in three years. He picked up two central pawns for nothing early on, added a piece by move 15 and converted with ease from there. Mihailo also picked up a piece early enough, added a second later and won with ease. All was going to plan!

It wasn’t as easy on the other boards though ...continues

cdeb

Naomh Barróg B ½-4½ St Benildus A is a result just in.

Got a bit lucky in the last game, but top of the league for now.

Sparks

Writeup on the Benildus-Naomh Barrog game now up on the Benildus website:

Bodley A go top

The Bodley A are top of the league, though not without another scare in their second game in four days.

For a long time, it looked like being an exact replica of Saturday’s game against Enniscorthy. Up against a team of 700s and 800s, we had a comfortable rating advantage, and Mihailo led the way by winning a piece early on, while Dan followed not long after reaching a rook ending a pawn up and with a comfortable advantage. Elsewhere, Finn was a pawn up, Jack was level-ish while Anastasija was struggling, having dropped a piece. When Jack took a relatively early draw (in the Bodley?!), it was looking like we might repeat our 3½-1½ score of the weekend, which would have been a disappointing start in a season where we’re aiming to challenge for the title.

...continues

Echecs

Bodley Cup B. The final result:

Dun Laoghaire 2.5 - 2.5 Wicklow

cdeb

Benildus B 1-4 Gonzaga.

Watch out for Alex Byrne in coming years. Learned to play the game this year; has beaten three 1200s in the past three weeks in the leagues.

midajoh

Does anyone know how Portmarnock v Naomh Barróg A went?

Irish Warrior

midajoh wrote: »

Does anyone know how Portmarnock v Naomh Barróg A went?

Portmarnock 4½ - ½ Noaomh Barróg A

Chess_Coach

Enniscorthy - Curragh A 3- 2

Irish Warrior

Irish Warrior wrote: »

Portmarnock 4½ - ½ Noaomh Barróg A

There were 2 mistakes on the scorecard.

Portmarnock 2½ - 2½ Naomh Barróg

Echecs

Bray 1½-3½ Dun Laoghaire is a result just in. Bray fielded a stronger team in Round 2.

cdeb

Benildus A 4-1 Rathmines.

A lickle bit lucky again, but still, bring on Wicklow next week!

Echecs

Bodley Cup B, standings after Round 2.


Team MP GW GD GL Pts
1. St Benildus A 2 7 2 1 8
2. Rathmines 2 7 1 2 7½
3. Curragh A 2 7 0 3 7
4. Wicklow 2 5 2 3 6
5. Dun Laoghaire 2 4 4 2 6
6. Enniscorthy 2 4 1 5 4½
7. Phibsboro 2 3 1 6 3½
8. Inchicore 2 2 2 6 3
9. Naomh Barróg B 2 2 2 6 3
10. Bray / Greystones 2 0 3 7 1½

Sparks

Writeup on the Benildus-v-Rathmines Bodley B match now up on the Benildus website:

Bodley A get out of jail

The Bodley A had a third big win of the season last night, but it was far closer than the 4-1 scoreline suggests!

Opponents Rathmines started the night half a point behind us in second place, but were missing two players who were each on 2/2, while we had – from boards 1 to 5 – the reigning Bunratty champion, the reigning Galway and Leinster u-14 champion, the 2011 Bunratty runner-up, a player who’d scored 6/10 in the O’Hanlon last season and another Leinster u-14 champion – arguably our strongest Bodley team ever. For the third game in a row, our opponents’ strongest player was lower-rated than our weakest player.

As with the two previous games, things started off well and went a bit pear-shaped before we snatched a result that we maybe didn’t deserve. Mihailo was first finished again, picking up a piece relatively early on, which became a rook and a piece when his opponent didn’t back out of the combination early enough; a storming start to the season has seen him already overtake last season’s points tally!

Finn was also a piece up, but then things went spectacularly wrong...continues

Echecs

Does anybody know the results from the Phibsboro vs Wicklow match?