Mark down 24 April 2026 as a special evening, when Divisions A and B of the North Circular League were both retained, while only Wanstead 1 were in action.
23 April 2026, NCCL Division A: Barking 2½-3½ Wanstead 1 At Barking. At the start of play, Barking 1 had a one point lead (two points for a win) and this was their last match; Wanstead 1 have a match in hand. Put simply, Barking would win the league with a victory in this match. Wanstead 1 would be League Champs if they should win. However, Wanstead 1 also had the luxury of a draw preventing Barking winning while Wanstead had a match in hand.
What transpired was the expected tense match and close-quarter fighting, but board after board concluded as a draw. The pick of these results was Partha on top board holding David Sands to a draw, while there were one or two inferior positions saved. Two games left and one topsy turvy encounter swinging Wanstead’s way when Ashley won the ending against Roman Ismailov. Peter Jaszkiwskyj then offered Steve a draw and Wanstead had won by 3-2 to retain the Callaghan Board with a match to spare.
22 April 2026, NCCL Division B: Wanstead 2 3-2 Ilford 2 At Wanstead. Wanstead 2 extended their lead at the top of the table to six points in beating Ilford 2 by 3-2. Having reached 2½ points, however, Wanstead found the last half point difficult to realise. The Board 1 game went Ilford’s way – 2½-1½ – then Wanstead got lucky when Vincenzo offered Ian a draw in a game Vincenzo was winning; draw accepted for the match; 3-2!
Wind on a day, playing alongside the above Division A encounter was Barking 2 against Chingford 2 in Division B. At the start of play, Barking 2 still had a mathematical chance of catching runaway leaders Wanstead 2, if they (Barking 2) could win all five of their remaining matches. But Chingford 2 travelled well to win by 3-2 confirming Wanstead 2’s retention of the Division B title.
Congratulations to both squads!
Links: NC1 page | NCCL Div A table | NC2 page | NCCL Div B table