WATERFRONT HALL SPEEDCHESS SATURDAY 8TH JANUARY 2005
In May 2004 the Waterfront Hall hosted a rapidplay tournament as part of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival. At that time the possibility of playing further events there was mentioned. That has now become a reality with the event played on the 8th January and which the UCU hopes will be the first of a series at the Waterfront Hall.
Play was over 5 rounds with players having 20 minutes each for all their moves. Ulster's two most prolific tournament winners, Tom Clarke and Steve Scannell, were unavoidably absent due to a previous commitment to play in a Leinster League match, but Michael Waters, the winner of the recent Bangor Rapidplay was competing, as was London-based twice Ulster champion, James McDonnell.
Final standings
1=2. Stephen Morgan, Michael Waters 4.5
3=4. John Bradley, David O'Donnell 4.0
5=6. Danny Mallaghan, Stef van Kesteren 3.5
7=12. Damien Lavery, Sam Moore, Ian Woodfield, James McDonnell, Phillip Todd, Anandagopal Srinivasan 3.0
13=15. Steven Eachus, David Grzymek, Chris Millar 2.5
16=22. Gareth Annesley, Chris Armstrong, Alexander Beckett, Raymond Luscombe, Patrick McKillen, Drew Ferguson, Geoff Hindley 2.0
23=25. Richard Gould, Nigel Telford, David Seaby 1.5
26=27. Aran O'Hare, Alexander Arrell 1.0
WILLIAMSON SHIELD 29-30 JANUARY 2005
The Williamson Shield was hosted by the Civil Service Chess Club. Played alongside the Shield was a Challengers event for players rated under 1600 and unrated. Both events were over 6 rounds.
Final Standings
Williamson Shield
Williamson Challengers
CITY OF BELFAST CHAMPIONSHIPS 12-13 MARCH 2005
With the QUB Staff Common Room no longer available, the Belfast Boat Club was the new venue for the City of Belfast Chess Championships, held on the weekend of the 12th and 13th March. There were two rated sections. The Nemtzov Cup was won by a German competitor, Bernhard Kern, who was working in Belfast. The Henderson Cup was won by Richard Proctor, his third victory this season in UCU competition.
Final Standings
Nemtzov Cup 2005
Henderson Cup 2005
ULSTER CHAMPIONSHIP BELFAST BOAT CLUB 30 APRIL-2 MAY 2005
A small but select field turned out for the principal event of the chess season, the Ulster Championship. Winner and holder of the Dr McSparran Cup for the third time was Tom Clarke with second prize going to Michael Waters. Mark Newman took the Grading Prize.
Final Standings
1. Tom Clarke 5.5
2. Michael Waters 4.5
3=4. Stephen Scannell, James McDonnell 4.0
5. Mark Newman 3.5
6. David Grzymek 2.5
7. Gareth Annesley 1.0
8=9. Damien Lavery, John Cairns (1 Round) 0.0
Tom Clarke with the winner's trophy
BELFAST SUMMERFEST 11-12 JUNE 2005
The Belfast Summerfest tournament was held at Belfast Boat Club. The tournament was played in two sections, both over 6 Rounds. The Arthur Cootes Memorial Open was won by Stephen Scannell (Bangor) while the Summerfest Challengers ended in a tie for first between Ciaran Marron (RVH) and John Kelly (Phibsboro, Dublin).
Final Standings
Arthur Cootes Memorial Open
Summerfest Challengers
1=2. John Kelly, Ciaran Marron 5.0
3=5. Chris Millar, Leon Hulleman, Frank Wu 4.0
6=10. Anandagopal Srinivasan, Richard Proctor, Tony Beckett, Shane Keers, Stewart McConaghy 3.5
11=13. Richard Morrow, Stephen Roe, Owen Wilson 3.0
14=16. Patrick McKillen, Alexander Beckett, John Monaghan 2.5
17=18. Geoff Hindley, William Storey 1.5
19=20. Pete Storey, Pearse O'Brien 1.0
Frank Wu won the
Summerfest Open 2005 Highlights
John Masterson - Gareth Annesley (Round 2)
Masterson now sacrificed his Rook with 32.Rxh6+ gxh6 32...Kg8 was better but after 33.Bc4+ Kf8 34.Rh8+ Ke7 35.Rxc8 Rxc8 36.Qxb4+ Kd7 it's an easy win for White. 33.Qxh6+ and Black resigned because after Kg8 34.Bc4+ leads to checkmate. 1-0
Danny Mallaghan - Michael Waters (Round 3)
White now tried to open up the position around the Black King with 20.f5. The game continued Rc4. 20...gxf5 leaves Black in a lot of trouble after 21.Rh4 when Black's best hope seems to be to give up the exchange with 21...Rxc3 22.Qxc3 (but not 22.bxc3 Qxc2 when 23.Rxh7 fails to 23...Qxg2+). 21.f6 Kh8. If 21...h5 22.Qe3 Kh7 23.Bd2 and mate in two. 22.Qh6 Rg8 23.Rd3 Rg4. The saving clause for Black is 23...g5 with 24...Rh4 to follow. Post-mortem analysis showed that best for White was now 24.Qh5, but that eventually Black will come out better. Now White sacrificed his queen with 24.Qxh7+ After Kxh7 25.Rh3 Rh4 25.Rxh4 checkmate so Black resigned. 1-0
Stephen Scannell - Damien Lavery (Round 3)
After 15.Qh5 Kg7 16.g4 f6 Scannell had a lucky escape when Lavery offered a draw because after 17.Bb3 the exchange of Bishops that Scannell had relied on can be avoided by 17...Bd7! (threatening 18...Be8) 18.Ba4 c6 (The best White can hope for is to escape with just the loss of a piece after 18.Bf7 Rxf7 19.Ne2 Rf8 20.Ng3 and now Black should play 20...Qe8 (because 20...Be8 21.Nf5+ Kg8 22.Qxh6 gives White some compensation). Draw agreed.
John Masterson - Danny Mallaghan
(Round 4)
Mallaghan had just played Rd8-d6 with a double attack on the e-pawn. Masterson now played 26.Re1. After the game he showed what he had planned if the b-pawn had been captured - 26...Qxb2 27.Qxc5 Qxa2 28.Qxd6 exd6 29.e7. Mallaghan went instead 26...Bh6 27.b3 Bd2 28.Rd1 Bf4 29.Re1 Bd2 30.Rd1 and the players agreed a draw with a three-fold repetition looming. Draw agreed.
Nicholas Pilkiewicz - Stephen Scannell (Round 4)
Now things got complicated after 20...Bg4 21.f3 Qc7 22.Na4 Qc4. Here Pilkiewicz decided to counter-attack with a Knight sacrifice 23.Nxe5 dxe5 24.Qxe5 Re8 25.Qxf4 Bd7 26.Nc5 Nxc5 27.bxc5 Qxc5+ 28.Kh1
Scannell now had a good think and decided that the passed central pawns looked dangerous and returned the Knight for a better endgame. 28...Nxd5 29.exd5 Qxd5 30.h4 Bc6 31.Rc1 Rf8 32.Qc4. 32.Qe3 looks the best chance for White 32...Qxc4 33.Rxc4 Bxf3 34.Rb4 Bxg2+ 35.Kxg2 Rf7 and Black expertly converted his advantage into a win. 0-1
Stephen Scannell- Danny Mallaghan (Round 5)
Black has a strong Knight at e5 and immediate capture of it by 26.Bxe5 Rxe5 leaves the pawn on e4 under pressure so White played 26.Ne3 instead. When Black played 26...Kg8 the capture on e5 was now very much playable because if Black plays 26...Rxd5 27.Ng4 forks the Black Rooks. Play continued 27.Bxe5 dxe5 28.Ng4 Rf4 29.Re3 Kg7 30.Rb3 Rxe4 31.Rxb7+ Kg8 31...Kh8 had to be played but the White d-pawn is very strong 32.Nh6+ Kh8 33.Nf7+ with Nd6 forking the two Rooks to follow, so Black resigned. 1-0