An early morning Christmas present

The local chess population has been waiting with bated breath for the big decision. Where would the axe fall in the divisional split?

Well, very early on Christmas Day, Santa Claus (aka the League Controller) announced to the team captains that it is to be a 6-6 split. So one of the Magnificent Seven is to lose out on the kudos of playing for the Silver King but will then inevitably become the favourite for Division 2 glory. Looks like my previous blog hoping for that decider between Lagan and Ballynafeigh 2 will come to pass.

Hey, but hold on a minute, what's this about 6-6? Surely only 11 teams entered the League. There had been a few rumours, fuelled by some teasing by the League Controller over at the Ballynafeigh blog, that an extra team could be on the cards. So where's this mystery team coming from. The best clue appears at the Belfast South blog and so it looks like a second team from that quarter is entering the fray. Considering the number of players that have flocked there recently, they have the spare capacity.

From that blog we also learn that Belfast South teams will now be named BSI 1, BSI 2 etc. The "I" apparently stands for International. Still it seems a shame to go for an abbreviation that sounds like some disease found in cows or sheep. Much friendlier to my ear would have been Belfast South and Malone - after all their blog has the words "malonechessteam" in its web address. Maybe the émigrés don't want a copyright war with the team across the road!

One final point is how Division 2 will accommodate the newbie. League points gained from the preliminary all-play-all are carried over into the divisions. So does the new team start from scratch, effectively giving it no chance of winning Division 2 (admittedly that's probably the same hope that NICS and Ballynafeigh 3 have) or will the League Controller have come up with an imaginative solution?

Is a 7-4 League split coming?

This is now the fourth season in which the Belfast & District Leagues have had a preliminary section in which all teams compete, followed by a split into separate Divisions to decide the League titles. For the first two seasons, there was a 4-4-3 split while last season the Controller went for 2 Division 6-5 separation.

Whether the split was into 2 or 3 Divisions, there seemed to be a mathematical validity to it - equal sized Divisions, in so far as that can be managed with 11 competing teams. Your correspondent had assumed, albeit without any official word on it, that we would get something similar this year. 6-5 seemed the more likely with "newbies" Muldoons and Lindores, and a strengthened Belfast South, adding a greater competitive edge to the top of the preliminary section.

Everybody seems to agree that this is the most exciting League for some time with a number of teams keen to have a crack at Fisherwick, the Red Bull Racing of Ulster chess. However, with a 6-5 split could perhaps a genuine title contender find itself in Division 2, come separation-time? Seems this thought is doing the rounds in Belfast chess circles.

Nick at "Off the Chest" at the Ballynafeigh CC website raises this issue:

"Can the league split of either 7 4 or 6 5 be decided before the league season starts? It isnt fair to be decided in january."

Seems the League Controller, aka Ballynafeigh Chess, has already seen all this coming - here's an excerpt from his reply to Nick at "Off the Chest."

"the league controller must be allowed discretion to decide the separation line between teams that are or are not in contention, the controller must evaluate the prospects of team considering their points tally and proximity to the team above them if you want an exciting and competitive competition."

So, reading between the lines, 7-4 looks to be on the cards, particularly after Lagan, who were perhaps the most likely of the Magnificent Seven to miss out under 6-5, drew their match last night with Ballynafeigh 1.

Still a couple of points might be raised.

• How much more "exciting and competitive competition" could you have than the final week preliminary section match-up between Lagan and Ballynafeigh, 2 if sixth place and entry into Division 1 depended on it? 
• What about plucky Bangor and a possible 8-3 split - is the reward for the seasiders in being the only team this season to even share the points with Fisherwick to be a favourite's chance to win the silverware in Division 2 rather than have a few more shots at the big stars in Division 1?