Ulster Chess Union
Ulster Chess News 2004 Number 1
ULSTER CHAMPIONSHIP FORTWILLIAM GOLF CLUB, BELFAST 27-30 DECEMBER 2003
There were only 14 entrants in the Ulster Senior Championship, the smallest since the current format was introduced in 1982. However, although lacking in quantity this was still a strong field in terms of quality, including 5 FIDE rated players and 3 former champions.
Stephen Scannell finished unbeaten to win his fourth Championship.
Leading scores:
1st: Stephen Scannell 6.0/7
2nd: Michael Waters 5.0
3rd equal: Gareth Annesley, Tom Clarke, Mark Newman 4.5
(Newman won the Grading Prize)
Complete Final Standings
Download all the games from the Championship
WILLIAMSON SHIELD MAYNARD SINCLAIR PAVILION, DUNDONALD 24-25 JANUARY 2004
It is 100 years since the Williamson Shield was presented for competition. However because of a dispute about the format for the tournament the first actual competition was not until 1912, so it's an interesting debating point whether this year's renewal marked the Shield's centenary. Stephen Scannell completed a hat trick of victories, with a final score of 5.5/6, with Michael Waters finishing 2nd on 4.5. The Grading Prize was won by Eamonn Walls. He was one of a trio of young players (the others being Calum Leitch and David Grzymek) who performed very well against seasoned opposition.
This final round game decided the winner of the tournament, and fittingly it was the last game to finish, with a large number of players crowding round the board to see the final outcome.
Stephen Scannell - Gareth Annesley [E06] Williamson Shield (Round 6), 25.01.2004
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1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.g3 d5 4.d4 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.Nf3 c6 7.b3?!
An inaccuracy. White should first play 7.0-0 and only then 8.b3. Capturing the c-pawn with 7...dxc4 is met by 8.Ne5
7...Ne4 8.Bb2?!
8.Bd2 would have prevented Black's plan of utilising a pin on the c3-Knight.
8...Bb4 9.Qc2 Qa5 10.Rc1 Qxa2 11.0-0 Bxc3 12.Bxc3 Qxc2 13.Rxc2 Nxc3 14.Rxc3 Nd7 15.c5 Nf6
Annesley is a pawn up, but he had already used 53 of his 90 minutes for the game, while Scannell had only taken 23 minutes to this point. Here Scannell thought 15...f6 planning e5 was best.
16.Ne5 Nd7 17.Nd3 f6 18.f4 f5?!
Allowing the position to be come blocked. White now has compensation for the pawn minus.
19.Ra1 Nf6 20.b4 a6 21.Bf3 Bd7 22.Ne5 Be8 23.Kf1
The beginning of a daring King march.
23...Ne4 24.Bxe4 fxe4 25.Ke1 Rf6 26.Kd2 Rc8 27.Kc2 g5 28.e3 Rc7 29.Kb3 Rg7 30.Ka4 Kf8 31.Ka5 gxf4 32.exf4 Ke7 33.Kb6 Kd8 34.b5 cxb5
34...axb5 35.Ra8+ Ke7 36.Kxb7 with roughly equal chances.
35.c6 Bxc6
Scannell still had 20 minutes left, while Annesley was down to his last 6.
36.Nxc6+ bxc6 37.Rxc6 Ke8 38.Rxa6 Re7 39.Kxb5 Kf7 40.Kc5 Rh6 41.f5 Rf6 42.g4 e3 43.fxe6+ Rfxe6 44.Rxe6 Rxe6 45.Ra1 Re4
45...e2 forcing 46.Re1 was possibly better.
46.Kxd5 Rxg4 47.Rf1+ Kg6 48.Re1 Rg2 49.Rxe3 Rxh2 50.Ke6 Rd2
Annesley was now down to his final minute while Scannell still had 5 minutes left. The position is also now almost certainly winning for White.
51.d5 Ra2 52.Rg3+ Kh5 53.d6 Re2+ 54.Kf6 Rd2 55.Ke7 Re2+ 56.Kd8 Kh4 57.Rd3 Kg4 58.d7 h5 59.Kc7 Rc2+ 60.Kb6
Although this does lead to victory, the killer move here was 60.Kd6!
60...Rb2+ 61.Kc5 Rb8
61...Rc2+ 62.Kb4 Rb2+ 63.Kc3 Rb8 64.d8Q Rxd8 65.Rxd8 would lead to a similar finish to the one that occurred in the game.
62.d8Q Rxd8 63.Rxd8
Unfortunately for Black, this pawn needed to be one rank nearer to promoting to save the game.
63...h4 64.Kd4 h3 65.Ke3 Kg3 66.Rg8+ Kh2 67.Kf2 Kh1 68.Kg3 h2 69.Rh8 1-0
Winning the pawn and the game, but in fact there was a mate in two with 69.Ra8 Kg1 70.Ra1#
In the supporting Challengers event for under-1600 rated players, Dublin player Jack McCann scored 5.5/6 to take first place with Alan Burns 2nd, a full point behind. John Phillips from Enniskillen took the Grading Prize.
Complete final standings in both sections
CITY OF BELFAST CHAMPIONSHIPS 13-14 MARCH 2003
Numbers competing were up on last year, with a sizeable contingent of young players, which augurs well for the future. Competition was particularly close in both sections.
In Round 2 of the Nemtzov Cup defending champion Tom Clarke (Clifton House) was beaten by Sam Moore (Civil Service), but he recovered to win all his other games to finish a half -point ahead of Gareth Annesley (RVH), who after a slow start, finished with three straight wins. Top seed Stephen Scannell (Bangor) was handicapped by work commitments over the weekend. For the second tournament in a row, Eamonn Walls (Fortwilliam) took the Grading Prize.
Clarke also has a narrow escape in his Round 1 encounter with David O'Donnell
David O'Donnell - Tom Clarke [C56] Nemtzov Cup (Round 1), 13.03.2004
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.Nc3 Nxc3
Safer than 6...dxc3 when 7.Bxf7+ gives White a very dangerous attack, e.g. 7...Kxf7 8.Qd5+ Ke8 9.Re1 Be7 10.Rxe4 d6 11.Bg5 cxb2 12.Rae1 Rf8 13.Bxe7 (13.Qxc6+ bxc6 14.Rxe7+ Qxe7 15.Rxe7+ Kd8 16.Rf7+ with perpetual check Brueckner-Hecht, Germany 1960) 13...Nxe7 14.Qh5+ Kd7 15.Nd4 c5 16.Qg4+ Kc7 17.Rxe7+ Qxe7? (after 17...Kb8 18.Nc6+ bxc6 19.Qxg7 Rf4 "a position is reached that is extremely difficult to assess" - Neishtadt, "Catastrophe in the Opening" Pergamon 1980) 18.Rxe7+ Kd8 19.Qg5 h6 20.Rxb7+ hxg5 21.Nc6+ Ke8 22.Re7# 1-0 E.Sokolov-Rushnikov, correspondence 1966-7
7.bxc3 d5 8.Re1+ Be7 9.Bb5 0-0 10.cxd4
10.Nxd4 Nxd4 11.cxd4 Bf5 12.Bd3 Bxd3 13.Qxd3 Bf6 14.Rb1 Re8 15.Bf4 Rxe1+ 16.Rxe1 Qd7 17.h3 c6 18.Qe3 h6 19.c3 Kf8 20.Be5 Bxe5 21.dxe5 b6 22.Qd3 Kg8 23.f4 Re8 24.f5 c5 25.f6 g6 26.c4 d4 27.Re4 Qf5 28.g4 Qg5 29.Qe2 Qc1+ 30.Kg2 Re6 31.Qf3 Qxc4 32.Rxd4 Qxd4 33.Qa8+ Kh7 34.Qf8 Rxf6 0-1 Heidenfeld-Myagmarsuren, Havana Olympiad 1966
10...Nb8 11.Ne5 c6 12.Bd3 Nd7 13.Re3 Nxe5 14.dxe5 f5 15.exf6 Bxf6
15...Rxf6 was the correct move.
16.Qh5 g6 17.Rg3 Bg7 18.Bh6
White could have obtained a winning advantage with 18.Rxg6 hxg6 19.Bxg6 Rf6 20.Qh7+ Kf8 21.Ba3+ Qd6 (21...Rd6 22.Re1 and the threat of Re8+ is decisive) 22.Bxd6+ Rxd6
18...Qf6 19.Bxg7 Qxf2+ 20.Kh1 Qxg3 21.hxg3 gxh5 22.Bxf8 Kxf8 23.Bxh7 Bg4 24.Rf1+ Kg7 25.Bd3 Rf8 26.Kg1 Rxf1+ 27.Kxf1 Kf6 28.Kf2 Bf5 0-1
In the Henderson Cup John Orchin (Hillsborough) finished on 5 points out of 6, with Alex Beckett (Fisherwick) and Tom O'Sullivan (Malahide) second equal on 4.5. Perhaps the crucial moment in this section was the Round 3 encounter between Beckett and Orchin. With both players very short of time Orchin offered Beckett a draw, which the Fisherwick player declined only to lose on time with his opponent having precisely one second left on the clock. The Grading Prize went to Paul Russell (Armagh). An indication of how well Paul played can be gauged by the fact that his expected score based on the rating of his opponents was 0.84, while he actually scored 3.5.
Complete final standings in both sections