FISHERWICK WINTER TOURNAMENT OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2006
Held on Monday nights between October 2nd and December 18th, this lengthy 10-round swiss competition was won by QUB player John Masterson. John sealed his victory in the 10th round, reaching 7.5 points to lead the rest of the field by a full point.
John Masterson receiving a book prize from
Alex Beckett, the doyen of Fisherwick chess
After drawing with his teammate Masterson in Round 1, fellow Queen's player Chris Millar (seen below with Alex Beckett) finished the only other unbeaten player to win the under 1600 grading prize with 6 points.
From Alex's expression it looks like
Chris has got a very firm handshake
The remaining prizes were won by two Fisherwick stalwarts, Gerry Pollock and James Fairley. Gerry showed fine form to finish 2nd overall with 6.5 points, collecting some impressive results against higher-rated members of his own club along the way. James Fairley also played above his rating to claim the under 1100 grading prize.
James Fairley being congratulated by Alex Beckett
The final standings are illustrated below:
|
PLACE |
PLAYER |
RATING |
CLUB |
POINTS |
|
1 |
John Masterson |
1902 |
QUB |
7.5 |
|
2 |
Gerry Pollock |
1481 |
Fisherwick |
6.5 |
|
3-4 |
Chris Millar |
1492 |
QUB |
6.0 |
|
|
David Ruben |
1627 |
Fisherwick |
6.0 |
|
5-7 |
Neil Green |
1714 |
Fisherwick |
5.5 |
|
|
Chris Kelly |
1651 |
Civil Service |
5.5 |
|
|
Ray Devenney |
1875 |
Fisherwick |
5.5 |
|
8-9 |
Ian Woodfield |
1655 |
Fisherwick |
5.0 |
|
|
Sam Ferris |
1684 |
Fisherwick |
5.0 |
|
10-14 |
Stewart McConaghy |
1502 |
Shorts |
4.5 |
|
|
Bernard Jaffa |
1525 |
Fisherwick |
4.5 |
|
|
John Bryars |
1194 |
Fisherwick |
4.5 |
|
|
James Fairley |
1028 |
Fisherwick |
4.5 |
|
|
Ananda Srinivasan |
1478 |
Fisherwick |
4.5 |
|
15-19 |
Alex Beckett |
1344 |
Fisherwick |
4.0 |
|
|
Cathal Murphy |
780 |
RVH |
4.0 |
|
|
Owen Wilson |
955 |
Bangor |
4.0 |
|
|
Richard Gould |
1483 |
Fisherwick |
4.0 |
|
|
Sam Flanagan |
1536 |
Fisherwick |
4.0 |
|
20 |
David Seaby |
1047 |
Fisherwick |
3.5 |
|
21 |
Kevin O'Neill |
835 |
Civil Service |
2.0 |
|
22 |
Eddie Lie |
U/g |
MCB |
1.5 |
The Fisherwick Spring Tournament is provisionally scheduled to commence on January 15th, quite possibly with a shortened format. The winner of that competition will then play-off with John Masterson to decide who will lift the coveted Alex Beckett Trophy.
My thanks to Chris Millar for the report and photographs.
ULSTER RAPIDPLAY CHAMPIONSHIP BELFAST BOAT CLUB SATURDAY 30 DECEMBER 2006
During the holiday season, there was a chance to get in some competitive play at the Belfast Boat Club. 35 players took part, an increase of very nearly 30% on the equivalent event last season. Winner of the event was Stephen Scannell, with second place going to Michael Waters. Nicholas Pilkiewicz was third on tie-break.
WILLIAMSON SHIELD 20-21 JANUARY 2007
Stephen Scannell won the Williamson Shield for the 6th time. Due to a double booking with a wedding reception, the tournament could not be held as usual in the Maynard Sinclair Pavilion but at short notice Geoff Hindley of the Civil Service CC secured the use of the adjacent Bowling Pavilion, which proved adequate if a little cramped.
Prizewinners:
Winner:
Final crosstable
3 Games from the event
QUB RAPIDPLAY OPEN JOHN MERCER HALLS SATURDAY 3 FEBRUARY 2007
After 3 rounds of the QUB Rapidplay, the top two seeds, Stephen Scannell and Stephen Morgan, were the only players with 100% scores. After drawing their round 4 encounter, they remained a half-point ahead of their closest challengers. Scannell however went down to defeat in the final round against Utkarsh Joshi while Morgan registered a win against Frank Wu to claim first prize. Joshi then lost to Wenceslao Torres in an Armageddon play-off game to decide second place, but had the consolation of winning the Under 1900 Grading Prize. The other two Grading Prizes went to Phrzemek Gazywcz (Under 1600) and Philip Chen (Under 1300).