News and Views: 2019–20 Season – Week 14 – 11 February 2020

Results

Nine of the eleven games this week were won by the teams that went "first first"; the exceptions were the two Nags Head teams. There were no really close games however, so it's debatable whether any losing team can be justified in blaming the questions!

Tables

With just four weeks to go, some issues are moving towards resolution. The Nags Head 'B' still have a good lead in the A League, but at the other end of the table the Royal Oak are very much "at risk". Meanwhile, two of the current top three in the B League will surely be moving in the opposite direction.

At the other end of the B League, the Chester Road Tavern seem all but sure to return to the C League next season.

It's much tighter at the top of the C League, where any two of the top four could still go up.

Individual

Top scorers this week were Mark Watson and Liz Horrocks, with 48 each. There were also 45s for Laurence Plant, Bob Langstaff and Malcolm Asquith. Top scorer in the C League was Wynne Keith-Davies with 36.

There were 20 personal bests this week – not bad for this stage of the season. Only nine people failed to beat their lowest scores of the season.

We are now at that stage of the season where some players have played the maximum number of games that count in the tables (11 in the A and B Leagues, 12 in the C League). This is where your season's total might not have increased as much as you expected it to; and it's also where games in hand become more crucial – until you've reached that stage yourself!

It's very tight at the top of the A League table, where none of the top three played, and this allowed Mark Watson to move back into first place. Best placed however is probably Ashton Davies, who is currently fourth but has a game in hand on the three people above him – and even his lowest score of the season could be more than enough to put him top.

In the B League, Dave Partington is in pole position and the people below him will have their work cut out to catch him despite having games in hand. In the C League, Andy Ridgway and the two Johns (Poyser and Green) have a useful lead, but Wendy Brown is perhaps best placed, in fourth place but with games in hand.

A League

Results

Table

Individual Top Ten

B League

Results

Table

Individual Top Ten

C League

Results

Table

Individual Top Ten

Cars & Van 4U Question Setters' Trophy

For the full spreadsheet, please click here.

Specialist Rounds

General Knowledge Rounds

Overall

To summarise the above tables: most teams found the Dolphin's questions easier than average, with 14 of the 22 teams registering higher–than–average scores. They were however (according to the spreadsheet) easier for the teams that went "first first", who scored on average 111% of their average scores while those that went "second first" scored only 101%. This apparent bias was more pronounced in the General Knowledge questions, and this is perhaps reflected in the Entertainment marks. On this criterion the Specialist questions are currently 5th (out of 28) but the General Knowledge only 18th.

The bias detected by the spreadsheet is borne out in the match results, where only two teams won by going "second first". These were the two Nags Head teams.

The General Knowledge questions went down least well in the C League; in the A and B Leagues the difference in the marks for the two sets was noticeably less.

In the overall Cars & Vans 4U Ltd Trophy table, the Specialist questions are ranked 6th and the General Knowledge 19th.

On an average team score of 140, the 10% bias in favour of the teams that went "first first" may have made a difference of 14 points. There were three games that might have been affected by this – one in each League. The winning margins in these games were however 14, 14 and 15 points, so (as suggested at the top of this page) it's debatable whether either losing team can be fully justified in blaming the questions!

© Macclesfield Quiz League 2020