4NCL is an acronym, standing for Four Nations Chess League; the four nations being England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The league is however truly international, with players from as many as 27 different countries taking part.

It is therefore the United Kingdom's foremost chess league, run independently as a limited company and outside of the control of the individual nations' chess governing bodies.

The format of the 4NCL might be described as a prestigious team tournament, held annually, over a number of (October to May) weekends, at a variety of venues in the South and Midlands of England. It is run on a league basis, containing four divisions and about 600 players. As an event, it is in many ways comparable to the French Nationale and long established German Bundesliga

Chess Bundesliga

The term Chess Bundesliga , normally refers to the premier league of team chess in Germany. It is arguably the strongest and longest running league of its kind, attracting many top grandmasters from Europe and beyond....

.

Some prize money is on offer, but the top teams seek to attract outside sponsorship and this occasionally allows them to secure the services of the world's leading grandmasters, typically for critical end of season clashes. Players of the calibre of Michael Adams, Nigel Short

Nigel Short

Nigel David Short MBE is an English chess grandmaster earning the title at the age of 19. Short is often regarded as the strongest English player of the 20th century as he was ranked third in the world, from January 1988 – July 1989 and in 1993, he challenged Garry Kasparov for the World Chess...

, Viktor Korchnoi

Viktor Korchnoi

Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ; pronounced in the original Russian as "karch NOY"; Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, born March 23, 1931 is a professional chess player, author and currently the oldest active grandmaster on the tournament circuit...

, Alexander Morozevich

Alexander Morozevich

Alexander Morozevich is a Russian chess Grandmaster. In the November 2011 FIDE list, he had an Elo rating of 2762, making him the 9th-highest rated player in the world, although he has previously ranked as high as second, in the July 2008 list....

, Alexei Shirov

Alexei Shirov

Alexei Dmitrievich Shirov is a Soviet-born Latvian chess grandmaster. He has consistently ranked among the world's top players since the early 1990s, and reached a ranking as high as number four in 1998...

 and Peter Svidler

Peter Svidler

Peter Veniaminovich Svidler is a Russian chess grandmaster.He is six-time Russian champion ....

have participated in recent years.