Ulster Chess Union

Ulster Chess News 2003 Number 1

UCU RAPIDPLAY BELFAST 20TH OCTOBER 2002

There was a very encouraging turnout of 42 for this Rapidplay, 50% up on the equivalent event last year. Stephen Scannell won the Open with 5.5 points out of his 6 games. Arlo White, Ian Davis and Michael Holmes came equal second with 4.0 points each. In the Challengers Joe Clarke and Chris Black were equal first with 5.5 points each and Damien Lavery and Calum Leitch finished equal third on 4.5.

Crosstables for both sections

ULSTER SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIPS R.B.A.I. BELFAST 9TH NOVEMBER 2002

Under 19
1st. Jonathan Clifford (RBAI)
2nd. Chris Millar (MCB)
3rd. James Gill (St. Columb's)

Under 16
1st. David Symington (RBAI)
2nd. William Stewart (RBAI)
3rd. John Gill (St. Columb's)

Under 14
1st. David Grzymek (Sullivan)
2nd. Eddie McCaffrey (RBAI)
3rd. Shane Keers (Sullivan)

Under 13
1st. Kieran McGlinchey (St. Columb's)

Under 12
1st. Mark Shepard (RBAI)

Under 11
1st. Leah McCourt (Cairnshill PS)

Senior Girls
1st. Nicola Hood (MCB)

Junior Girls
1st. Jayne McCourt (Cairnshill PS)

ULSTER INTERMEDIATE AND JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
PLUS ALEX BECKETT TROPHY 23rd-24TH NOVEMBER 2002

Jonathan Brown won the Intermediate Championship for the second year in succession. He finished with 4.5 points from his five games. Desmond Moreland and Paul McLoughlin finished equal second a half-point behind. The Junior Championship ended in a four-way tie between Brendan McGrath, Derek Truesdale, Calum Leitch and David Collins.

Final crosstables for both events plus some photographs

Tournament winner Jonathan Brown (White) blundered a piece
against John McKenna in their Round 4 game. However, he had
some compensation for it and when John failed to find the correct
plan, Jonathan eventually forced a win with his queenside pawns.

Tom Alcorn (1786) - Damien Lavery (1525) Round 4 [A37] View this game in Palview

1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nf3 Nd4 6.e3 Nxf3+ 7.Bxf3 Nf6 8.0-0 0-0 9.d4 d6 10.b3 Rb8 11.Bb2 b6 12.Qd2 Bb7 13.d5 Nd7 14.Bg2 a6 15.f4 Nf6 16.e4 Qc7 17.Rad1 e5 18.fxe5 dxe5 19.Rf3 Rbd8 20.Rdf1 Rd6 21.h3 Bc8 22.Qe3
22.Qe2 would have been better.
22...Ne8 23.g4 Nf6 24.Nb5 axb5 25.Bxe5
White's attempt to complicate matters rebounds on him after black's next move.
25...Nxg4
Capitalising on White's 22nd move.

26.Bxd6 Qxd6
The twin threats of 27...Qh2 mate and 27...Bd4 winning the Queen are decisive.
27.Qf4 Be5 28.hxg4 Bxf4 29.Rxf4 bxc4 30.bxc4 Ba6 31.Rf6 Qe5 32.d6 Kg7 0-1

Alongside the two Championship events Stephen Scannell beat Michael Holmes by 2.5 points to 1.5 in a four-game match for the Alex Beckett Trophy. Crosstable and Photograph

KILKENNY CONGRESS 29 NOVEMBER-1 DECEMBER 2002

Twelve Ulster players competed in the big annual tournament in Kilkenny. IMs Brian Kelly and Mark Orr played in the Masters, which was won by GM Alexander Baburin. Nicholas Pilkiewicz came equal second (with 5.0 points from his 6 games) in the Major (1600-1999), half a point behind the winner, 1996 Irish champion Richard O'Donovan. In the first round, O'Donovan dropped his only half-point to Robin Triggs of QUB.

Robin Triggs - Richard O'Donovan: Kilkenny Major 2002 (Round 1) [A57] [Annotations by Triggs]
Play through this game in Palview

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.b6
Giving back the gambit pawn, but preventing the queenside attack usually seen in the Benko - a nice, relatively modern line.
5...Qxb6 6.Nc3 e6
Now all the action is about control of the crucial centre squares.
7.e4 Bb7 8.Bc4 exd5 9.Bxd5 Nc6 10.Nf3 d6 11.0-0 Be7 12.Bg5 0-0
The b-pawn is poisoned - 12...Qxb2 13.Rb1 Qxc3 14.Rxb7 and white has excellent compensation for the material.
13.Qd2 Rab8 14.Rab1 Rfe8 15.Qf4
The point! The knight on f6 is pinned, and the d-pawn is under attack. Black comes up with a great reply, though, and the game becomes very sharp.
15...Nd4! 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Nxd4 cxd4 18.Bxb7!?
Now the game is all about which is more powerful - the central knight or the black bishop.
18...Qxb7 19.Nd5 Be5
And black is fine - the doubled pawns cannot be dug out.
20.Qd2 g6
Anticipating 21.f4. Now white is struggling to find a plan.
21.Rfe1 Rbc8 22.Re2 Rc5 23.b4 Rc4 24.Qd3 Rec8 25.f4 Bg7 26.g4!? Kh8 27.f5 Qb5 28.Kf2
28.f6?? Rc1+ and the Queen is lost.
28...Rc1 29.Qxb5 axb5 30.Rxc1 Rxc1 31.Rd2
Black has taken the advantage.
31...Be5 32.f6 g5! 33.Ke2 h6 34.Kd3 Kh7 35.Rf2 Rd1+ 36.Rd2 Rg1
White loses a pawn, and the game should be over. Black, however has only 15 minutes left (out of 105) and time becomes a major factor.
37.Rb2 Rxg4 38.Nc7 d5 39.Nxd5
39.Nxb5 dxe4+ and black has an easy win.
39...Rh4 40.a4 Rh3+? 41.Kc2 Rxh2+ 42.Kb3 Rh3+
Taking off the Rooks should leave black with a straightforward victory - but with only 4 minutes on the clock, he starts to lose his advantage. There is still plenty of play in the game.
43.Ka2 bxa4 44.b5 d3 45.Rd2 Rh1 46.Ka3
46.Rxd3?? Ra1#
46...Ra1+ 47.Kb4 a3 48.Nc3 Bxc3+ 49.Kxc3 a2 50.Kxd3 Rb1 51.Rxa2 Rxb5 52.Ke3 Kg6 53.Rf2 Rb3+ 54.Kd4 g4 55.e5 Rb6 56.Ke4 h5 Draw agreed
Who has the advantage here? Black is a pawn up, but must guard against e6, and the g- and h-pawns may well be less powerful than they look. A draw was agreed at this point - black only had 20 seconds left, and white felt that he was losing on the board. With hindsight, however, white may have been better to force the win. The draw was the fairest result, however, as black surely would have queened if it were not for mistakes made under pressure of time.

UCU HANDICAP AND NOVICES BLITZ 8th DECEMBER 2002

Handicap: 1st equal Tom Clarke, Stephen Scannell and Damien Lavery 6.0/8
Grading prizes: Damien Cunningham (1500-1700) and Chris Black (under 1500)

In this event players were time handicapped according to their relative strength. Players within 200 rating points of each other both had 15 minutes for their game. If the difference was between 201 and 400 points the higher rated player had 10 minutes against 20 for his opponent. If the difference was more than 400 rating points the stronger player had 5 minutes against 25.

Novices: 1st equal Jonathan Woodfield, Ed Morgan and Jonathan Clifford 6.5/8

There was a large contingent of junior players from the North-West playing in the Novices. They had their own prize-list and the Trophy for best performance went to 8-year-old Conchobhar Kerr. The silver medal went to Rachel McDermott and the Bronze medal to Liam Kelly. There was no handicapping in this section. Both players had 15 minutes for the game.

Final crosstables for both section plus some photographs

ULSTER CHAMPIONSHIP FORTWILLIAM GOLF CLUB 27-30 DECEMBER 2002 

Place Name                Rtg  Club          Score

  1   TOM CLARKE          2139 R.V.H.        6    
 2-3  ROD NIXON           2004 DUBLIN        5    
      FRED Mac DONALD     1806 Q.U.B.        5    
 4-6  MICHAEL HOLMES      2112 R.V.H.        4.5  
      PAUL Mc LOUGHLIN    1690 R.V.H.        4.5  
      DANNY MALLAGHAN     1710 R.V.H.        4.5  
 7-8  STEPHEN P. SCANNELL 2128 R.V.H.        4    
      ARLO WHITE          1838 BANGOR        4    
9-12  DESMOND MORELAND    1743 R.V.H.        3.5  
      SAMUEL MOORE        1782 CIVIL SERVICE 3.5  
      TONY PARKER         1825 R.V.H.        3.5  
      CECIL SLOAN         1729 UNATTACHED    3.5  
13-18 TOM ALCORN          1786 FISHERWICK    3    
      GARETH ANNESLEY     1878 R.V.H.        3    
      DERMOT MURTAGH      1795 UNATTACHED    3    
      DAMIEN LAVERY       1525 R.V.H.        3    
      TIMOTHY DOUGLAS     2035 UNATTACHED    3    
      JONATHAN BROWN      1825 CIVIL SERVICE 3    
19-20 DAMIEN CUNNINGHAM   1612 R.V.H.        2.5  
      MOHAMED SAAD             Q.U.B.        2.5  
 21   ADRIAN SKELTON      2032 NORTH BELFAST 1.5

Clarke,T - MacDonald,F [B07] Ulster Championship Belfast (Round 1), 27.12.2002

Black has been defending a difficult Rook and pawn ending very well for about 15 moves, when he makes the fatal mistake of exchanging Rooks. 43...Rg5 44.Rxg5 Kxg5 45.b4 After 45.b4 axb4+ 46.Kxb4 White's a-pawn cannot be prevented from queening. 1-0

Murtagh,D - Scannell,S [B13] Ulster Championship Belfast (Round 1), 27.12.2002

18.e6 fxe6 19.Nd4 Scannell was more concerned about 19.Ne5 Qe8 (19...Qa4 20.Nxg6) 20.Ng4 Bg7 21.Rxe6 when White regains his pawn with a better game. 19...Ng7 20.Re2 Rf8 21.Rae1 Rf7 22.g4 Rcf8 23.Nxe6 Nxe6 24.Rxe6 Rf3 25.Qd4 Bg7 26.Qc5 Rxh3 27.Qxe7 Qa4! 28.Qxb7 In time trouble White goes astray. He had to play 28.Qg5 though after 28...Rhf3 Black has the better chances. 28...Qxg4+ 29.Bg3 Qf3 Checkmate cannot be prevented. 0-1

White,A - Clarke,T [C00] Ulster Championship Belfast (Round 2), 28.12.2002

16.Nxd5! exd5 17.Bxd5 Bxf4 18.Qxf4 0-0 19.Bxa8 Clarke had foreseen the sacrifice on d5 and thought his counterplay more than sufficient. However here White missed the intermediate move 19.Qa4 when after 19...Bxd3 20.Bxa8 Bxc2 21.Qxc2 Qxa8 he is winning. 19...Qxa8 and Clarke won after 52 moves.

Clarke,T - Nixon,R [D00] Ulster Championship Belfast (Round 3), 28.12.2002

White has a clear advantage and now finishes off in style. 25.Rxd5! exd5 26.Nxd5 Qd8 26...Qf7 (or g7) 27.Nf6+ Kd8 28.Rd2+ Bd6 (28...Ke7 29.Qd7#) 29.Nxg8 Qxg8 30.exd6 27.Qe6+ Checkmate cannot be avoided. 27...Be7 28.Nf6+ Kf8 29.Qxg8# or 27...Qe7 28.Nf6+ Kd8 29.Rd2+ Qd6 30.Qe8#1-0

Nixon,R - Holmes,M [B23] Ulster Championship Belfast (Round 4), 29.12.2002

30.Rbb7 30.Qe3 here would be the conservative way to play the position, but Nixon treats the onlookers to an unusual but very effective finish. 30...Qg1+ 31.Kg3 Qf2+ 32.Kg4 h5+ 33.Kg5 Rc5+ 34.Kh6 Qf6 35.Rg7+ 1-0

Scannell,S - Clarke,T [A80] Ulster Championship Belfast (Round 4), 29.12.2002

1.d4 f5 2.Bg5 c5 3.d5 Qb6 4.Qc1 g6 5.c4 Bg7 6.Nc3 Nf6 7.f3 0-0 8.e3 e6 9.Bd3 Na6 10.a3 Nc7 11.e4 fxe4 12.fxe4 exd5 13.exd5

13...Nfxd5 An enterprising sacrifice typical of Clarke's play throughout the Championship. 14.cxd5 c4 15.Be4 Qf2+ 16.Kd1 d6 17.Nge2 Bg4 18.h3? A mistake, but Black was probably winning against any defence. 18...Qd4+ 19.Ke1 Bxe2 20.Be3 Qe5 21.Kxe2 Nb5 22.Qc2 Nxc3+ 23.bxc3 Rae8 24.Bxa7 Qxd5 25.Qd2 Rxe4+ 26.Kd1 Qh5+ 27.g4

27...Rxg4 28.Kc2 Qf5+ 29.Kc1 Rg3 30.Bd4 Rd3 31.Qc2 Bh6+ 32.Kb1 Qb5+ 33.Qb2 Qf5 34.Qc2 Qd5 35.Rd1 Rff3 36.Ka2 Rg3 37.Rg1 Rxg1 0-1

Nixon,R - Scannell,S [E70] Ulster Championship Belfast (5), 29.12.2002

Nixon continues in close pursuit of Clarke, but this loss effectively ended Scannell's chances of winning the Championship for a fourth time in five years.

22.e5 Nxf4 23.Rxf4 dxe5 24.Nf5 exf4 25.Nxe7+ Kf8 26.Nxc8 Rxe2 27.Nxb6 axb6 28.d6 Ke8 29.b4 Nd7 30.Rc1 Ne5?? 31.Rc7 Rd2 32.d7+ If Rxd7 33.Rc8+ and mate next move.1-0

MacDonald,F - Nixon,R [B12] Ulster Championship Belfast (Round 6), 30.12.2002

19.Bxf6 Qxf6 20.Nxe6 Qxe6 21.Bxf7+ Rxf7 22.Qxf7+ Qxf7 23.Rxf7 Kxf7 24.Rxd7+ Kf6 25.Rxb7 Rd8 26.Rc7 Rd6 27.Kf2 g5 28.a4 h5 29.a5 a6 30.c4 Ke5 31.Ke3 Re6 32.Kd3 Kd6 33.Ra7 Kc5 34.Rxa6 Re1 35.Ra8 Rg1 36.g3 Rd1+ 37.Kc3 Rd4 38.Rb8 h4 39.Rg8 Rxc4+ 40.Kb3 Rb4+ 41.Ka3 Rg4 42.gxh4 Rxh4 43.Rxg5+ Kd6 44.Rg2 Kc5 45.Rg5+ Kd6 46.a6 Rxh2 47.a7 Rh8 48.Rg4 Ra8 49.Rg7 Rh8 50.Rb7 Ra8 51.Ka4 1-0

After Clarke had drawn with Holmes in Round 6, this loss for Nixon virtually guaranteed Clarke first place. Clarke had White against Paul McLoughlin in Round 7 and after a handful of moves a draw was agreed to secure Clarke the Championship for the second time.

Scannell,S - McLoughlin,P [B01] Ulster Championship Belfast (Round 6), 30.12.2002

The biggest shock of the tournament. Not just for the result, but the manner of it. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.dxe6 Bxe6 5.d4 Bb4+ 6.Nc3 0-0 7.Nf3 Re8 8.Be3 Ne4 9.Qc2 Bg4 10.Ne5 Bh5?! Inviting complications. An interesting alternative was 10...Nxc3 11.bxc3 Bf5 12.Qxf5 Bxc3+ 13.Ke2 Bxa1 14.Qxf7+ 11.Qxe4 f6 12.Qxb7 Better was 12.Qh4 fxe5 13.Qxh5 exd4 14.Rd1! (or 14.0-0-0! ) 12...fxe5 13.Qxa8 exd4

14.Qd5+?? White had to play 14.c5 dxe3 15.Bc4+ Kh8 16.0-0 exf2+ 17.Rxf2 (probably better than 17.Kh1 Bxc5) 17...Bxc5 18.Raf1 Bxf2+ 19.Rxf2 with some advantage. 14...Qxd5 15.cxd5 dxc3 16.a3 cxb2+ 17.axb4 bxa1Q+ 18.Kd2 Qb2+ 19.Kd3 Bg6+ 20.Kc4 Re4+ 0-1

SAM LYNN 12th DECEMBER 1908-1st NOVEMBER 2002

The Bangor Chess Club player Sam Lynn has died at the age of 93 after a short illness. Sam had competed as recently as this summer's CIYMS Tournament, where he belied his years by scoring 7.5 points from his 12 games. Sam was a universally popular player and his enthusiasm for the game was infectious. In earlier years he had been an organiser as well as a player. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him. DMcA

A Tribute to Sam Lynn by Richard Proctor

David McGrath's article "Sam Lynn's 90th Year"

ARTHUR COOTES 1907-2002

It is with considerable sadness that I have to announce that Arthur Cootes has died on 1st December 2002 exactly one month after his great friend Sam Lynn passed away. Arthur played chess for Cambridge University in the mid-1920s, but largely gave up the game for many years until his retirement. I believe he started playing in earnest again in the mid-1960s and his fearless attacking style made him a handful for even the best players. He won the Williamson Shield in 1973. He was also a former President of the Ulster Chess Union, and was responsible for the revival of the both the CIYMS and Civil Service Chess Clubs. Like Sam, he will be greatly missed. DMcA.

Obituary of Arthur Cootes by Gerald Harvey

Jack Killane - Arthur Cootes Irish Championship (Round 8) Cork 1971

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 5.Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6.Kf1 Qe7 7.Nxh8 d5 8.exd5 Nd4 9.c3 Bg4 10.Qa4+ Nd7 11.Kxf2 Qh4+ 12.Kg1 Qe1+ 0-1