The second Junior 4NCL weekend in the 2019/2020 season is now behind us. Three Oxfordshire Junior teams were entered into the competition: Ojays A in Division 1 (Arya Cont, Dimitrios Zakarian, Kenneth Hobson, Pawel Murawski and Amaan Kassey), Ojays B (Alex Hertog, Marco Domingo, Jamie Masacorale, Alex Kroening and Kristin Domingo) and Ojays C (Jan Murawski, Harris Byrom, Guven Genc, Tom Webb and Thomas Gascoyne) in Division 2.
Division 1 only had 8 teams and their competition was set up into two stages, on Saturday all played in groups of four teams and on Sunday the top teams from each group and the bottom ones played against each other. Ojays A did very well on Saturday and finished in the top group. They encountered very strong teams: Manchester A and Five Young Oysters. With the former they won, the match with the latter ended in a draw with a fantastic win from Kenneth over a very strong opponent.
In Division 2 teams played the usual Swiss team tournament. Ojays B came 4th and only narrowly missed the third place (half a point would do). Ojays C came 9th, as the last round’s loss pushed the team significantly down.
Our reserve players did very well, especially on the second day by not losing any of their games!
All results are available here (including reserve parings and results): http://www.4ncl.co.uk/j4ncl/jn_news.htm
For some families, the weekend started on Friday as the venue was 2h away from Oxford this time and, very wisely, they decided to come a day earlier. Parents, while waiting for their players, enjoyed coffees, teas and chats. FM David Zakarian analyzed games with the players as they were returning from the playing hall, which was a very valuable experience for all (including adults). On Saturday evening a big group of us went to the nearby shopping centre for dinner.
Another J4NCL weekend is coming sooner then usual - 15-16 February 2020! Join us then!