Epsom Salties: 4NCL Online - Season 13, Round 1

4NCL Online - 20th January 2026 - Division 3 and 4 - Round 1

4 boards, Online

Epsom Salties 1    1.5 - 2.5   Bromley

Epsom Salties 2    3 - 1    Isle of Wight B

Epsom Salties 3    1 - 3 Watford

So the first match of the season. Salties 1 outrated our opponents but narrowly lost. Salties 2 were outrated and comfortably won. Salties 3 were outrated – but put up a fight in their loss, we had opportunities in that match. We have noted this before, that the ratings used in these matches need to be taken with a pinch of salt.

When writing these notes, I look for patterns and themes in the games and in Round 1 the pattern was the patterns themselves that we need to recognise to spot the tactics. I have a few examples from Leia’s game – she outplayed her opponent, but her life would have been easier if she had spotted some of these tricks – it was in the nature of her game that there were lots of tactics, we enjoyed watching her game, even with the twist in the tail of a mouse-slip and then nearly losing it.

In this position, black dreams of a pawn on e4 – and yes it is possible, 13……e5 and white needs to exchange the Bishop for the pawn or allow e4. Two pieces on the same rank a space apart are just asking for a pawn fork	Here Daniel was heading for defeat, but he hastened it with f5 allowing a standard checkmate. Rooks on the 7th are deadly.
Leia went defensive here by Bc4. While Ng5 takes advantage of 2 potential forks – with a knight going to e6 or f7. Knights and Bishops can coordinate well in attack and can dance around the pieces and ultimately give material advantage..	It is known that it can be very useful to line your rook up with the queen – here black helped by moving their Queen to e8. e5 then remove the Bishops defender and allows the white bishop to c5 – where the double attack on the bishop will win material.
This position contains one of my favourite patterns that often surprises opponents – it usually wins a pawn (often a central important pawn) but sometimes the prize is a piece. Sometimes the tactic is called the elastic band – the N takes an apparently defended piece, and then depending on the opponent, can then ping back and take the bishop or the Bishop take the undefended bishop. We saw a version in Round 7 in the last season (https://www.epsomchessclub.com/post/epsom-salties-4ncl-online-season-12-round-7) where Alex was lucky his opponent missed it. Here are two example of it being missed. Vtwin1 missed Nxd5 – to win a pawn: if BxBe7 then NxBe7 or if NxNd5 then BxBg5, though Leia’s position would still have been better. Lucy’s position was more complex due to White’s knight on c3. Now when 13. NxNd4 cxNd4 ….the N on c3 is being attacked, simply solved by Qxd4. Lucy would have pulled back a pawn and left black with an isolated pawn.

Snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory

A football team winning 6-0 with 5 minutes to go is assured of victory and the team can relax and perhaps do some showboating. But with Chess, a massive lead in the latter stages of a game can be over-turned with one wrong move – we can never relax. Here we had some examples of potential last minute turnarounds. We have all been there (well I have at least) – occasional in our favour, it can be completely devastating

After a horrible mouseslip and a lost rook, she was still ahead here. Leia could have lost a deserved victory: 40. Rxa5?? allowed Qe1. The only way to stop checkmate would be 41. Nc1 – then Rxb2+ 42. Ne2 Rb1 and forced 3 fold repetition. Leia should have played Rd4.	Black missed the opportunity for a draw But it could have gone worse for Leia, as she next played Be4??. There is another pattern, Rf1+! to distract the K from the queen. The queen is lost irrespective if KxR or Kg2 and checkmate can be forced. Strangely Black went for Kh7, Leia didn’t take long to get victory with QxQ+.
	Here White missed Rxg7+ and forks the queen and King. Instead did e4xR?, Allowing Alex to fork the Rook and King with Qd1+ and onto victory.

Star moves of the day

After a lot of missed moves, it is worth looking at some of the great moves of the match. We highlight two very difficult moves to spot and highlights the skill of Mike Wickham, he is excelling in this format.

Here Sammy’s opponent found a fantastic move. Nxf7! Black cannot take the Knight or face Rxh7! and a vicious attack.	Here Mike continued his successful Salties run. Nxh5! If gxN then Qg5 and white checkmates next move.

Alistair Mackenzie