It is now a tradition to hold a handicap tournament alongside the prizegiving for the Civil Service Summer Tournament. This year on Wednesday 5th October 20 players battled against each other, with the amount of time each player being allocated in any individual game dependent on the difference in the two players' ratings. Games were of 20 minutes duration, with the maximum time difference being 18 minutes against 2.
Frank Wu's published rating is 894, but this rapidly improving player is already much stronger than that. After his performances at June's Belfast Summerfest and the Civil Service Summer tournament, his next rating will be much higher. So it was no surprise to see players finding it very difficult to give him a large time advantage. However in Round 5 Damien Lavery, with his vast experience in the faster versions of the game, produced a blistering kingside attack which finally ended Wu's 4 game winning streak.
Lavery had perhaps the most exciting tournament of anybody. A piece down in the endgame against Robin Brown in Round 2 he managed to force the game down to King and Knight against King with only 3 seconds left on his clock. With insufficient mating material for either player a draw was agreed. Against Brown, Lavery had been conceding time, but in this Round 3 encounter with top seed Stephen Scannell, he had the advantage of having 16 minutes to 4.
White: Damien Lavery (16 minutes) -v- Black: Stephen Scannell 4 minutes
.1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.d4 d5 4.e5 Nc6 5.a3 Bf5 6.f4 bxa3 7.Bd3 Bxd3
7...Nxd4 could have been played.
8.Qxd3 e6 9.Nf3 Qb6 10.0–0 Nh6 11.Nxa3 Nf5 12.Rb1 Qc7 13.g4 Nh6
Black could have won a pawn here with 13...Nfxd4 14.Nxd4 Nxd4 because 15.Qxd4 loses to 15...Bc5 winning the White Queen.
14.h3 Nb4? 15.Qb5+
The wrong move order. Better was 15.Rxb4 Bxb4 16.Qb5+ Qc6 17.Qxb4
15...Qc6?
Correct was 15...Nc6 16.Qxb7 Qxb7 17.Rxb7 but even here White has the advantage.
16.Rxb4 Bxb4 17.Qxb4
Now White has transposed into the note given at White's move 15. He has a clear advantage.
17...f6 18.Nb5 Nf7 19.Ba3! Qd7 20.f5! a6 21.fxe6 Qd8
Not 21...Qxe6 when 22.Nc7+ forks Black's King and Queen.
22.exf7+ Kxf7 23.Nd6+ Kg8 24.Qxb7
White's forceful play has produced a clearly won game and the top seed is given no opportunity to wriggle off the hook.
24...h6 25.Qf7+
25.exf6 was possibly even stronger. If 25...Qxd6 (or 25...gxf6 26.Qf7 mate) 26.Qxg7 mate]
25...Kh7 26.Nh4 Rf8 27.Qg6+ Kg8 28.Nhf5 Qd7 29.Nxh6+ Kh8 30.Ndf7+ Rxf7 31.Nxf7+ Kg8 32.Nh6+ Kh8 33.exf6 gxh6
And now a nice quiet move to finish with.
34.f7 1–0
Place Name Rtg Club Score
1-2 WU, FRANK 894 Methodist College 5
LAVERY, DAMIEN 1710 BANGOR 5
3 SRINIVASAN, ANANDA 1314 FISHERWICK 4.5
4-5 BROWN, ROBIN 1317 Sullivan Upper 4
WOODFIELD, IAN 1699 FISHERWICK 4
6-7 GOULD, RICHARD 1532 RANDALSTOWN 3.5
PROCTOR, RICHARD 1558 BANGOR 3.5
8-14 MALLAGHAN, DANNY 1809 CLIFTON HOUSE 3
MILLAR, CHRIS 1498 FISHERWICK 3
SCANNELL, STEPHEN 2169 BANGOR 3
O'NEILL, KEVIN 800e UNATTACHED 3
MURPHY, CATHAL 800e UNATTACHED 3
SEABY, DAVID 1073 FISHERWICK 3
MOORE, SAMUEL 1728 CIVIL SERVICE 3
15 NEWMAN, MARK 1768 BANGOR 2.5
16-17 GRZYMEK, DAVID 1772 BANGOR 2
HINDLEY, GEOFF 1032 CIVIL SERVICE 2
18-20 DARDIS, CHRIS 800e RANDALSTOWN 1
BECKETT, ALEXANDER 1359 FISHERWICK 1
MARTIN, INNIS 800e HILLSBOROUGH 1