The inaugural Ulster Matchplay Championship was originally planned as a knock-out event but the format was changed to a double-round all-play-all. The draw gave the white pieces in the first two rounds to Stephen Scannell against his two main rivals, Tom Clarke and David Houston. He took full advantage of this and won both those games. He then went on to win his next 3 games to lead at halfway by 1.5 points. In rounds 6 and 7 he drew with Clarke and Houston to virtually ensure victory. After another draw in Round 8 against Adrian Skelton, he finished off with wins against Mark Newman and Nicholas Pilkiewicz to record a very impressive final score of 8.5.
|
PLAYER |
Rating |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
Pts |
Place |
|
S. SCANNELL |
2171 |
XX |
1= |
1= |
11 |
11 |
1= |
8.5 |
1st |
|
D. HOUSTON |
2252 |
0= |
XX |
1= |
11 |
11 |
=0 |
6.5 |
3rd |
|
A. SKELTON |
2024 |
0= |
0= |
XX |
1= |
=0 |
00 |
3.0 |
4th= |
|
N. PILKIEWICZ |
1966 |
00 |
00 |
0= |
XX |
11 |
0= |
3.0 |
4th= |
|
M. NEWMAN |
1826 |
00 |
00 |
=1 |
00 |
XX |
0= |
2.0 |
6th |
|
T. CLARKE |
2191 |
0= |
=1 |
11 |
1= |
1= |
XX |
7.0 |
2nd |