Ulster Chess News 2003 Number 4
22nd BANGOR CONGRESS 20th SEPTEMBER 2003
Senior:
1st equal Tom Clarke and Stephen Scannell 5.5/6. The Grading Prize went to Paul McLoughlin, who finished in third position with 4.0. 14 competed.Junior: 1st equal
Chris Black and Michael Kane 5.0/6: 3rd Philip Todd 4.5; Grading Prize David Grzymek. 20 competed.The
Bangor Chess Club website has extensive coverage, including games and photographs, of the Congress hereNATIONAL CHESS WEEK FOR BARNARDO'S 20th-26th OCTOBER 2003
Barnardo's, The British Land Company PLC and Chess Academy joined forces to launch the first-ever National Chess Week. The aim was for more than half a million children and young people throughout the UK to have the opportunity to play at least one game of chess during the week and to raise £500,000 for Barnardo's at the same time.
The Ulster Chess Union in association with Methodist College, Belfast organised a one-day tournament for National Chess Week on Saturday 25th October with all proceeds going to Barnardo's. Results
hereThere was an adult competition running alongside the children's events.
Alongside the childrens' events, there was an adult tournament that was won jointly by Tom Clarke, Michael Waters (making a welcome comeback) and Stephen Scannell with 5.5 points out of 7.
The crucial last round game between the two top rated players.
Tom Clarke - Stephen Scannell National Chess Week Rapidplay 25/10/2003
1.d4 g6 2.h4 h5 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Bg5 d6 6.e4 Nc6 7.d5 Ne5 8.f4 Bg4 9.Be2 Bxe2 10.Ngxe2 Neg4 11.Qd3 0-0 12.0-0 c6 13.dxc6 bxc6 14.c5 Nh7 15.f5 Nxg5 16.hxg5 dxc5 17.Qh3 Bd4+ 18.Kh1 Nf2+ 19.Rxf2 Bxf2 20.Rf1 Bd4 21.fxg6 fxg6 22.Qe6+ Kg7 23.Nf4 Qd6 24.Qxd6 exd6 25.Ne6+ Kg8 26.Nxf8 Rxf8 27.Rxf8+ Kxf8 28.Kh2 Bxc3 29.bxc3 Ke7 30.Kg3 Ke6 31.Kf4 d5 32.c4 d4 33.a3 a6 34.a4 a5 35.g3 Kd6 36.e5+ Ke7 37.Kf3 Ke6 38.Ke4 d3 39.Kxd3 Kxe5 40.Ke3 Kf5 41.Kf3 Kxg5 42.Ke4 Kg4 43.Ke5 Kxg3 0-1
Real hand-to hand combat with a sting in the tail. (How's that for mixed metaphor)
Ian Woodfield - Damien Lavery National Chess Week Rapidplay 25/10/2003
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.d4 e5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Be2 e4 7.Ne5 Bxe2 8.Qxe2 Qxd4 9.Qb5+ c6 10.Qxb7 Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 Qxc3+ 12.Ke2 Qxe5 13.Qxa8 Ne7 14.Rb1 0–0 15.Ba3 Qc3 16.Bxe7 Qxc2+ 17.Ke3 Qd3+ 18.Kf4 Qd2+ 19.Kg3 f5 20.h3 g5 21.Kh2 Qf4+ 22.Kg1 e3 23.Rf1 e2 24.Re1 Qd2 25.Bxf8 Qxe1+ 26.Kh2 Qxh1+ 27.Kxh1 e1Q+ 28.Kh2 Qe5+ 29.Kg1 Kxf8 30.Qxa7 h5 31.Qh7 Qe1+ 32.Kh2 Qxf2 33.Qh8+ Ke7 34.Qg7+ Kd6 35.Qf6+ Kd5 36.Qf7+ Kc5 37.Qa7+ 1–0
WORLD YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIPS GREECE 22nd OCTOBER-3rd NOVEMBER 2003
Belfast schoolboys Calum Leitch and Eamonn Walls competed in the Boys Under 14 section in the World Youth Chess Championships in Greece. Full details of the Championships at the excellent
official websiteCalum Leitch reports:
WYCC was very hard, the standard was unbelievably high. The Irish team did great, everybody managed to scrape a few points together. I even managed 3 myself but that doesn't tell the whole story, Luck was against me, I came very low down but it was all about experience and for that I'm glad I got no walkovers or byes.
In my first game I was drawn against a 2135 rated player from the Czech Republic and I battled and battled and went the exchange up but due to accurate play from the Czech he got a draw - great game anyway.
Rojicek,V (2135) - Leitch,C (1649)
World Youth Championship 2003 Boys U14 (Round 1)
[Annotations by Calum Leitch]
1.e4 b6 Another tournament, another b6. 2.d4 Bb7 3.Nc3 e6 4.Bd3 Nf6 5.Nf3 d6 White spent loads of time on these moves and they were all theoretical. I decided to play d6 slightly more defensive than usual, I didn't want to be crushed so I played the defensive line. 6.0–0 Be7 7.h3 h6 8.Qe2 0–0 9.Be3 [9.Re1] 9...Re8 10.Rad1 a6 11.a4 a5 12.Nh2 Nbd7 13.Bc1 e5 14.d5 Qc8 [14...Nc5] 15.Rfe1 Nf8 16.Bb5 c6 17.dxc6 Bxc6 18.Nf1 Ne6 19.Be3 Qb7 20.Ng3 Rad8 [20...Rab8] 21.Qc4 Bxb5 21...Nc5 was another idea. 22.Qxb5 Rb8 23.Nf5 Bf8 23...Nxe4 is too dangerous. 24.Nd5 Nxd5 25.Rxd5? Nc7 26.Qc4 Nxd5 27.exd5 Rbc8? Much better was 27...b5 but I was in time trouble and I just wanted to create space but I missed 28.Qg4. 28.Qg4 Kh7 29.c4 f6 Awful, my plan was to play Qg6 but this just makes it easy for white to draw. 30.b3 Rb8 [30...g6] 31.Bc1 Qf7 32.Qh4 g5 [32...Qg6] 33.Qe4 Qg6 34.g4 Red8 1/2-1/2
In my second round I was drawn against a Peruvian FM, I could see the Czech I played in the first round laughing at me from the board beside, with a face saying that will teach you for drawing with me.
Anyway it was good game I had a draw but his technique prevailed
Calum Leitch (1649) - FM Garri Pacheco (2307)
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bb5 I chose Bb5 instead of Bc4 because it is sharper and more in use these days. d6 5...Nd4 can also be played here. 6.0-0 e6 7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.d3 Ne7 9.Qe1 0-0 10.Qh4 f5 Darn he got f5 in before me 11.e5 Nd5 12.Qf2 exd6 was also possible. 12...Ba6 13.Be3 Nxc3 14.bxc3 c4 15.d4 d5 16.Rfb1 Qa5! Hmm nice move, both players have played the game perfectly according to Fritz. White was +0.5 up until this which makes it equal. 17.Bd2 Rfb8 18.Qe1 Qa4 19.Qd1 Rb6 20.Rxb6 axb6 I was in time trouble, it looked good at the time, his pawn structure is doing fine now and c5 becomes that little bit easier for black to play. 21.Qb1 b5 22.Ne1 Bc8 23.h3 Qa7 24.Nf3 Qb7 25.Nh2 Ra4 26.a3 I was right down in time. I had to make a move and it was a poor one in the long term. 26...Qa7 27.Qb2 Bf8 28.Bc1 Bd7 29.g4 c5! I missed he could play this now, quite annoying actually because I tried to stop him playing it for the whole game. 30.Nf3 b4 31.Kf2 cxd4 32.Nxd4 Bc5 33.Ke3 bxc3 34.Qxc3 Bb4 Game over, black knew what he was doing for most of that game, he played it very well. 0-1
ULSTER SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIPS 15th NOVEMBER 2003
The 2003 Ulster Schools Chess Championships were held in the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. Numbers were up considerably from last year, with a total of 94 competing.
Report on the Ulster Schools Championship
ULSTER INTERMEDIATE & JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS 22nd-23rd NOVEMBER 2003
PRIZEWINNERS:
INTERMEDIATE: 1st
John Cairns 5.0/6 2nd Gareth Annesley 4.5 Grading Prize Charles McAleenanJUNIOR: 1st
Hannah Lowry-O'Reilly 5.0/6 2nd Shane Keers 4.5 Grading Prize (shared) Paul Russell & James Wright