Ulster Chess Union

Ulster Chess News 1999 Number 2

1999/2000 TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Ulster 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

Belfast Civic Festival 20/21 May 2000

KNOCK-OUT CUP

The competition is to have a new format this season. Instead of being played during the week at individual clubrooms throughout the season, it will now be played at the weekend on only two separate dates at a central venue. First round losers will have the chance to play in a subsidiary competition.

Originally it had been planned to hold the first two rounds of this competition before Christmas and the final two rounds in the New Year. However the UCU Committee have been unable to find a suitable date and venue pre-Christmas, and so the first two rounds will now be held, subject to confirmation, on Sunday 20^th February 2000 at the QUB Staff Common Room. The final two rounds will probably be held shortly after Easter. Look out for more details in future issues of Ulster Chess News.

CORRESPONDENCE

Richard McMaster writes in with an interesting idea:
"How about an Ulster Matchplay Championship – whereby, say, the top 16 rated Ulster players play Knock out rounds (2 games one white, one black) resulting in a 4 game final.

Tied games would be decided by rapid play – 2 games, and if still tied then by blitz – white 4 minutes and black 5 minutes.

It could be broadened for say the Irish Matchplay Championship.

It would certainly have my support."

Ulster Chess News would be interested in your opinions on what could be an exciting addition to our calendar.

CIVIL SERVICE SUMMER CHESS TOURNAMENT

As usual this "go as you please" tournament was held throughout the summer months with the final round on Wednesday 22^nd September. To be eligible for a prize you had to play at least 10 games and to play in at least 2 of the last 3 weeks. Prizes were decided on the basis of players’ percentage scores. Alex Beckett was again the Controller of the event, this year assisted by Sam Moore of the host club.

First place went to Steve Scannell ( 2193 ) with 76.4% ( 13½/17 ).

Second place went to David Collins ( 1424 ) with 68.7% ( 11/16 ).

Grading prizes were won by:

Band A (1650 – 1899) Sam Moore ( 1776 ) 64.7% ( 11/17 ).

Band B (1400 – 1649) Alex Beckett ( 1551 ) 55.2% ( 10½/19 ).

Band C (1000 - 1399) Ian Woodfield ( 1262 ) 59% ( 6½/11 ).

NEWTOWNARDS CHESS CLUB

After a nomadic existence last year Newtownards CC have new premises at Clandeboye Golf Club, Tower Road, Conlig. The club plays its home league matches on Monday nights.

BANGOR CHESS CLUB20^TH ANNUAL CHESS CONGRESS

(SPONSORED BY COOPER TECHNOLOGY) 23^RD OCTOBER 1999

This event, held at Bangor Grammar School, was a 6 round Swiss Rapidplay (30 minutes for each player) with 2 sections. The event was controlled by Neil Green, assisted by Bangor members Richard Proctor, Martin Rogers and Tony Beckett.

SENIOR: 16 COMPETITORS

1^ST STEVE SCANNELL 5½/6

2^ND= GARETH ANNESLEY, MICHAEL HOLMES AND RICHARD MCMASTER 4½

(GARETH ANNESLEY RECEIVED THE GRADING PRIZE)

5^TH= JOHN STRAWBRIDGE, PAUL MCLOUGHLIN AND RAY DEVENNEY 3½

8^TH= NEIL FISHER, TONY PARKER AND STEVE MCCANN 3

JUNIOR: 19 COMPETITORS

1^ST= DAVID COLLINS, LOUIS HOLMES AND SEAN LINTON 5/6

(PRIZE MONEY SHARED; TROPHY TO SEAN LINTON ON TIE-BREAK)

4^TH= NEIL COOPER, IAN WOODFIELD AND JONATHAN WOODFIELD 4

7^TH SAM LYNN 3½

8^TH= MARK SEIDMAN, ED MORGAN AND KENNY MCCARTAN 3

GRADING PRIZES TO IAN WOODFIELD AND NICOLA HOOD

Report and annotated games from Steve Scannell:

I was fortunate enough to win the Senior Section for the third successive year with five wins and a draw. However there were a couple of tense moments; a fourth round dramatic time scramble with John Strawbridge and a tough final round draw with Gareth Annesley. My thanks on behalf of all the competitors to Cooper Technology for kindly sponsoring the event, to the members of Bangor Chess Club for all their hard work and to Bangor Grammar School for hosting the event for the last three years. Also congratulations to Alan Burns of CIYMS who has attended the Congress every year. Way to go, Alan!

Going into a rapidplay tourney like this I always ask myself "What does it take to do well." I always feel that more emphasis is placed on your instincts since lengthy analysis is out of the question. Quick opening play is essential combined with good endgame knowledge which enables you to switch on to auto-pilot with seconds to spare. Also the intangibles like space, pressure and the initiative tend to make themselves felt in quicker time controls. I also feel a more classical style of play with direct occupation of the centre is maybe more suitable under such conditions. For me, it takes more time to find that subtle positional move in a hypermodern opening than in say a Queen’s Gambit.

Enough theory, here are two of my games from the event.

Newman,M - Scannell,S [B20]
Bangor (2), 23.10.1999
[Notes by Scannell]
1.e4 c5 2.d3 Nc6 3.Nf3 g6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 e6 6.Nbd2 Nge7 7.0–0 0–0 8.a4 Rb8 9.Nc4 Now I must do something about my d-pawn 9...d6 I haven't had much success with d5 setups with my Rook on a8 in this opening. Also if I am going to get in b5 I can't push too many pawns to the fourth rank 10.Bf4 e5 11.Bg5 [11.Be3] 11...Be6 12.Re1 [If 12.Nfd2 b6 (12...a6? 13.a5!) 13.Be3 a6 14.f4 A) 14...b5 15.f5!? is complicated; B) 14...exf4?! 15.gxf4 (15.Bxf4 b5! 16.Nxd6? g5 wins) 15...b5 16.axb5 axb5 17.f5 Bxc4 18.dxc4 Bxb2 19.Rb1 Bd4 (19...Bf6) 20.Bxd4 Nxd4 21.c3 Ndc6 22.f6 Nc8 23.Qg4! h5 24.Qg5 Kh7 25.Bf3 wins; C) 14...f5 ] 12...b6 13.Qd2 a6 14.c3 f6 Bolstering e5 15.Bh6 b5 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.Ne3 d5 Making headway 18.exd5 Nxd5 19.c4 Nxe3 20.Qxe3 Nd4 21.cxb5 [21.Nxe5? fxe5 22.Qxe5+ Qf6 23.Qxc5 Qxf2+ 24.Kh1 Nc2 wins] 21...axb5 22.Nxd4 cxd4 23.Qd2 bxa4 24.Rxa4 Qb6 25.Rea1 Qxb2 26.Ra7+ Rf7 27.Qa5 Qc2 [My first reaction would be to try and trade Queens with 27...Qc3 or; 27...Qb6 but my King is safe so I can be aggressive] 28.Bd5 Rb2 [RR28...Rb1+ may have been better; if 29.Kg2 (29.Rxb1 Qxb1+ 30.Kg2 Bxd5+ 31.Qxd5 Rxa7) 29...Rxa1 A) 30.Rxf7+ Bxf7 31.Qxa1 Bxd5+; B) 30.Bxe6 Rxa5 31.Rxf7+ Kh6 (31...Kg8 32.Rc7+) ; C) 30.Qxa1 30...Bxd5+ 31.Kg1 Qxd3] 29.Rxf7+ Bxf7 30.Rf1 Bxd5 31.Qxd5 Qc7 No perpetual please 32.f4 [32.Ra1 is better but we were short of time] 32...Qb7 The win is easy with Queens off 33.Qxb7+ Rxb7 34.fxe5 fxe5 35.Re1 [35.Rf3 Rf7] 35...Kf6 36.Re2 Rb3 37.Rd2 Ke6 38.Kf2 Kd5 39.g4 Rc3 40.h4 Rc1 White exceeded the time limit 0–1

Annesley,G - Scannell,S [A50]
Bangor (6), 23.10.1999
[Notes by Scannell]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 e5 4.e3 Bb4 5.Nf3 d6 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 0–0 8.Qc2 b6 9.Bd3 Re8 10.e4 Na5?! 11.Bg5 Ba6 12.Qe2 c5 [Nimzovich must be turning over in his grave! He never did like this sort of move, but I felt desperate because of my pinned Knight . Perhaps 12...Qe7 13.0–0 and 13...Qe6! to provoke 14.d5 is better] 13.d5 h6 14.Bh4 g5 Can I do this before White Castles? 15.Bg3 Nh5 Giving the Queen access to f6 which holds the Kingside. 16.0–0 Nf4 17.Bxf4 exf4 [The other way was 17...gxf4 with possibly 18.Rfb1 Bc8 and 19.Rb2 Bg4] 18.e5!? A nice pawn sac 18...dxe5 19.Qe4 Qf6 20.Rfe1 Qg7 21.Nd2 Nb7?! [I didn't want to complicate with 21...Bc8 22.d6 Bb7 23.Qf5 Rad8 24.d7 but 24...Re6 25.Be4 Rxd7 wins] 22.Qf5 Nd6 23.Qd7 Qf8 24.Re2 Bc8 [24...Qe7 25.Qh3 Kg7 26.Nf3 Bc8 27.Qh5 e4! 28.Rae1 f5 and 29.Nd2 Qf6 wins] 25.Qc6 Bb7 26.Qa4 a6? [This is all wrong. I just didn't want to drop my a-pawn in a time scramble. 26...Re7 is non-committal and better] 27.Rae1 f6 28.Qc2 Qg7 I just don't like the look of my b-pawn. We were both short of time and a draw helped both of us ½–½

FUTURE ISSUES OF ULSTER CHESS NEWS

My thanks to Alex Beckett, Neil Green, Richard McMaster and Steve Scannell for their help in putting together this issue. Contributions in the way of news, views, results and games (with or without annotations) for future issues should be sent to David McAlister (e-mail rct26@dial.pipex.com.)