4NCL Easter Congress

by Nigel Davies

The 4NCL Easter Congress was brilliantly organised as usual, and this time had GM and IM norm tournaments going on as well. The Daventry Mercure Hotel provides a great venue, and there are plenty of places to eat nearby. I didn’t do as well as I’d hoped, and struggled with the black pieces against young and very well-prepared opponents. It went better in this game against someone who’s just a few years younger than myself.

Cook, Philip (1944) – Davies, Nigel (2290)
Four Nations Chess League Easter Congress 2026 – Open, Daventry, Round 6, 06.04.2026

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Bd3 g6 I have previously played 3...e5, which is also very reasonable.

4.Nf3 Bg7 5.0–0 0–0 6.Re1 Nc6 7.d5 Taking space seems reasonable here. The most popular move is 7.c3, reinforcing White’s centre.

7...Nb4 8.Bf1 e6

8…e6 is apparently quite rare. 8...Bg4 has been Black’s main move, but I wouldn’t want to part with the light-squared bishop.

9.a3 Na6 10.dxe6 Bxe6 11.Bxa6 I was somewhat surprised by this committal move, because I thought that Black’s bishops offer plenty of compensation for the damaged pawn structure. It’s rarely good in Modern Benoni structures, so I was even more surprised to discover that Stockfish likes it too.

11...bxa6 12.Nc3 Qb8 Looking to put the queen on b7 and then centralise the rooks. It also makes it hard for White to develop the c1-bishop.

13.h3 Qb7

14.Rb1 Rad8 15.Bg5 h6 16.Bh4 g5 17.Bg3 d5

18.e5 Quite an ambitious move, which is risky because it leaves his bishop out of play. 18.exd5 would have been about equal.

18...Ne4 19.Nd4 The first mistake. I thought that 19.Bh2 might be best, preserving the bishop which protects the valuable e5 pawn.

19...Nxg3 20.fxg3 c5 21.Nxe6 fxe6 Black is better here because of the pawn’s weakness on e5.

22.Qg4 Qf7 23.Re2 Qf5 24.Rbe1

I thought this was another mistake because White’s kingside pawns are very weak. It may not matter just yet, but in the long term it can be a serious problem.

24...Qxg4 25.hxg4 Kf7 26.Na4 Rc8 I should have played the immediate 26...c4, as now White can play c2–c4 himself.

27.Rf1+ Ke7 28.Rf3 c4!, A bit late but still good.

29.b4 a5 Looking to exchange off my weak a-pawns.

30.c3 axb4 31.axb4 Rb8 32.Kf2 Rb5 The idea of ...a7–a5 already gives Black a decisive advantage.

33.Rxf8 Bxf8 34.Ke3 a5 35.bxa5 Rxa5 36.Nb2 Kd7 37.Nd1 Kc6 38.Rb2 Bc5+ 39.Ke2 d4

Creating a passed c-pawn and giving my king a square on d5.

40.cxd4 Bxd4 41.Rc2 Kd5 42.Ne3+ Bxe3 43.Kxe3 Ra3+ 44.Kf2 Kd4 White has no good moves.

0–1