Ulster Chess News 1999 Number 1
THE SMITH AND WILLIAMSON CHAMPIONSHIPS SCARBOROUGH 2-13 AUGUST 1999
The 1999 Championships had three Ulster entrants. Steven Scannell and James McDonnell had qualified through the Ulster Championship, while Tom Clarke was one of two ICU nominees. Although five top English players were not competing due to a clash with the FIDE World Championships in Las Vegas, the field of 92 players was still very strong overall. Final scores for the Ulster players in this 11 round event were Scannell 5½, Clarke 3½ and McDonnell 2½ . Steven played a number of English players rated between 2200 and 2300 and he was surprised to find that they were weaker than he had expected in tactical play.
D'Costa,L (2215) - McDonnell,J (2051) [B63]
BCF-ch Scarborough (3), 04.08.1999
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 Be7 8.0–0–0 0–0 9.Nb3 Qb6 10.f3 Rd8 11.Kb1 a6 12.h4 Qc7 13.h5 h6 14.Bf4 Ne5 15.Qf2 b5 16.g4 Nh7 17.Bc1 Bd7 18.f4 Nxg4 19.Qg3 b4 20.Qxg4 bxc3 21.Rd3 cxb2 22.Bxb2 e5 23.Qg2 Bf6 24.Rg1 Kh8 25.Bc3 a5 26.Rg3 a4 27.Nd2 Be6 28.f5 Rab8+ 29.Ka1 Bd7 30.Bc4 Ng5 31.Qe2 Bc6 32.Rd3 Rb7 33.Ba6 Qb6 34.Rdg3 Rbb8 35.Bd3 Qc5 36.Nc4 Rdc8 37.Bb2 Bxe4 38.Ba3 Bxd3 39.cxd3 Qd4+ 40.Bb2 Qd5 41.Ne3 Qa5 42.a3 Rb3 43.Rb1 Be7 44.Ka2 f6 45.Rg4 d5 46.Nc2 Qb5 47.Nb4 e4 0–1
Haslinger,S (2267) - Scannell,S (2069) [B16]
BCF-ch Scarborough (4), 05.08.1999
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ gxf6 6.c3 Bf5 7.Nf3 e6 8.g3 Qc7 9.Bg2 Bg4 10.Qc2 Nd7 11.a4 Bxf3 12.Bxf3 h5 13.h4 c5 14.Be3 cxd4 15.Bxd4 Ne5 16.Qe4 Nxf3+ 17.Qxf3 e5 18.Qxf6 Rh6 19.Bxe5 Qc5 20.Qg5 Re6 21.f4 Qe3+ 22.Kd1 Rd8+ 23.Bd4 Rxd4+ 24.cxd4 Qxd4+ 25.Kc1 Rc6+ 0–1
Scannell,S (2069) - Smith,A (2275) [A61]
BCF-ch Scarborough (7), 09.08.1999
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nf3 g6 7.Nd2 Nbd7 8.Nc4 Nb6 9.Na3 Bg7 10.Bg5 h6 11.Bh4 g5 12.Bg3 Nh5 13.e3 Nxg3 14.hxg3 a6 15.Qd3 Qe7 16.Nc2 Nd7 17.a4 Ne5 18.Qd2 b6 19.Be2 Bd7 20.Ra3 0–0 21.Rb3 b5 22.axb5 axb5 23.Nxb5 Rfb8 24.Ra3 Bxb5 25.Bxb5 Qb7 26.Qe2 Qxd5 27.0–0 c4 28.Rxa8 Rxa8 29.Nd4 Ra5 30.f4 gxf4 31.gxf4 Nd3 32.Bc6 Qc5 33.Qg4 Qh5 34.Qc8+ Bf8 35.Bf3 Qg6 36.Qxc4 Rc5 37.Qb3 Rc8 38.f5 Qg5 39.Qxd3 Re8 40.Nc2 Bg7 41.Bd5 Be5 42.Qc4 Rf8 43.Rf3 Qh5 44.Ne1 Kh8 45.Rh3 Qxf5 46.Rxh6+ Kg7 47.Qh4 Bf6 48.Qh5 Bg5 49.Rh7+ Qxh7 50.Qxg5+ Qg6 51.Qxg6+ Kxg6 52.b4 Rc8 53.Kf2 f5 54.Ke2 Kf6 55.Nd3 Rb8 56.Kd2 Ke7 57.Bc6 Kd8 58.Kc3 Kc7 59.b5 Rg8 60.Kd4 Rg4+ 61.Nf4 Kb6 62.Kd5 Rg3 63.Kxd6 1–0
Scannell,S (2069) - Jackson,O (2242) [A57]
BCF-ch Scarborough (8), 10.08.1999
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.Nc3 axb5 6.e4 b4 7.Nb5 d6 8.Bf4 g5 9.Bxg5 Nxe4 10.Bf4 Bg7 11.Qe2 Nf6 12.Nxd6+ Kf8 13.Nxc8 Qxc8 14.Qf3 Nbd7 15.Bb5 Ra5 16.Bc6 Ne8 17.Ne2 Ne5 18.Bxe5 Bxe5 19.0–0 Bxb2 20.Nf4 Qf5 21.Bxe8 Kxe8 22.Rae1 Be5 23.Re4 Rxa2 24.Rfe1 Bd6 25.Rxe7+ Bxe7 26.d6 Qd7 27.dxe7 Ra6 28.Nh5 Re6 29.Rxe6 Qxe6 30.Ng7+ Kxe7 31.Nxe6 fxe6 32.Qc6 Rd8 33.Qxc5+ Kf6 34.Kf1 Rb8 35.Qc4 Rb7 36.Qd4+ e5 37.Qd5 Re7 38.Qd6+ 1–0
Heidenfeld,M (2368) - Scannell,S (2069) [B10]
BCF-ch Scarborough (9), 11.08.1999
1.e4 c6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 Qc7 4.g3 Nf6 5.Bg2 dxe4 6.dxe4 e5 7.h3 Be6 8.Ngf3 h6 9.0–0 Nbd7 10.b3 Bd6 11.Qe2 Nb6 12.Bb2 0–0 13.Ne1 Nfd7 14.Rd1 a5 15.Nd3 a4 16.f4 f6 17.Nf3 axb3 18.axb3 Ra2 19.fxe5 Nxe5 20.Nfxe5 Bxe5 21.Bxe5 fxe5 22.Rxf8+ Kxf8 23.Rf1+ Kg8 24.Qh5 Qe7 25.Qxe5 Rxc2 26.Nf4 Rxg2+ 27.Nxg2 Nd7 28.Qc3 Bxh3 29.Re1 Bxg2 30.Kxg2 Ne5 31.Rf1 Qe6 32.Rf5 Ng4 33.Rf4 g5 34.Rf3 Qxe4 35.Qd3 Qxd3 36.Rxd3 Ne5 37.Re3 Ng6 38.Re6 Kf7 39.Rd6 h5 40.Rd7+ Ke6 41.Rg7 Kf6 42.Rxb7 h4 43.Rb6 Ne7 44.gxh4 gxh4 45.Rb4 Nf5 46.Re4 c5 47.Kh3 Nd6 48.Rxh4 Ke5 49.Kg2 Ne4 50.Rh3 Kd4 51.Kf1 c4 ½–½
McDonnell,J (2051) - Clarke,T (2204) [C06]
BCF-ch Scarborough (10), 12.08.1999
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ne2 cxd4 8.cxd4 Qb6 9.Nf3 f6 10.exf6 Nxf6 11.0–0 Bd6 12.Nc3 0–0 13.Be3 Bd7 14.Re1 Kh8 15.h3 Be8 16.Na4 Qd8 17.a3 Bh5 18.Be2 Ne4 19.Rc1 Rc8 20.Nh2 Qh4 21.f3 Ng3 22.Nc5 Nf5 23.Bf2 Bxh2+ 24.Kxh2 Qxf2 25.Bf1 0–1
JULY 1999 FIDE RATINGS FOR ULSTER PLAYERS
IM Brian Kelly 2417 IM Mark Orr 2350 Adrian Gillen 2264 Stephen Gillen 2248 Kieran Greer 2235 Keith Allen 2233 Tom Clarke 2204 Michael Holmes 2150 Arthur Pinkerton 2105 Steven Scannell 2069 James McDonnell 2051 John Nicholson 2023
NATIONAL CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP SEPTEMBER 12-13
RVH hosted this event very efficiently at their clubrooms. Unfortunately they were unable to avoid the wooden spoon over the board, while the other Ulster team North Belfast, competing because of the absence of a Connacht representative, took second place behind a very strong Bray team.
Round 1 Bray 5-1 Limerick, North Belfast 4-2 RVH.
Round 2 Bray 6-0 RVH, North Belfast 4½-1½ Limerick.
Round 3 Bray 4-2 North Belfast, Limerick 3-3 RVH.
Final standings lst Bray 15 2nd North Belfast 10½ 3rd Limerick 5½ 4th Royal Victoria Hospital 5.
1999/2000 TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Williamson Shield
6/7 November 1999Ulster intermediate/Junior 4/5 December 1999
Ulster Senior 27/30 December 1999
Ulster Open 5/6 February 2000
City of Belfast 1/2 April 2000
FUTURE ISSUES OF ULSTER CHESS NEWS
We would welcome contributions in the way of news, views, results and games (both annotated and unannotated) for future issues. Please e-mail
rct26@dial.pipex.com with your contributions.