For the first time in many years Bangor does not have a team in Division 1 of the UCU Belfast & District Leagues with three of its players - Steve Scannell, David Grzymek and Damien Lavery - defecting to the newly promoted QUB squad. The latter pulled a surprise in week one with star Leinster player Karl McPhillips featuring on board 1 and Ulster champion Scannell only on board 2. However a default on Board 5 by Grzymek, due to a misunderstanding over dates, saw them lose 3-2 to defending champions Clifton House.
Perennial contenders Fisherwick withdrew at the last moment from last season's top division, but are back this year and have started strongly. A number of former Civil Service players have formed a new club called Lagan, playing out of Belfast Boat Club. News reaches me that it's a tight squeeze to fit everyone into their matchroom, so those players who like to get up and wander about will either just have to sit where they are or risk causing chaos.
Concerns about numbers led to a decision by the UCU to amalgamate Divisions 2 and 3, but in the end 10 teams have entered the second tier leaving the overall number of teams only one down on last season. Fears that Portadown might not enter turned out to be unfounded and they have returned to their old venue at the Town Hall after a season at the local Rugby Club. Considering the size of its membership it was surprising that RVH only fielded one team last season, but I'm pleased to report they have entered 2 teams in Division 2 this time. With so many teams it will be a long, hard battle to come out on top. Because of their strength in depth, the probable favourites are Fisherwick B.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Irish Championships
These are being held in Dublin from 30th June to 8th July. About 3 years ago the Irish Chess Union decided to open up their championships to non-Irish players in an attempt to attract grandmasters and increase GM and IM norm opportunities.
With significant sponsorship, this year's event has realised that ambition with the English GMs Stuart Conquest, Mark Hebden and Nick Pert competing alongside the Lithuanian GM Eduardas Rozentalis. Ulster IMs Brian Kelly and Mark Orr are both playing in the event. Kelly needs one final norm for his GM title and is currently leading on 3/3 after beating Orr in Round 3. There have been plenty of shocks already with Hebden and Rozentalis both losing to untitled Irish opponents.
Less of a surprise was the performance of QUB captain Chris Millar in the Irish Junior Championship held over the first weekend of the Championships. Fresh from his victory in the Henderson Cup at the Belfast Boat Club only 2 weeks earlier, Millar squeezed into this under 1500 event as number 2 seed, due to his ICU rating being lower than his UCU one of 1536. He started with 4 straight wins and had the luxury of being able to agree a draw in the fifth and final round to clinch an outright first place.
Calum Leitch competed in the Irish Intermediate (under 1900) and "played some of the best chess I've ever played" but unfortunately lacked that bit of luck every player needs. His final score of 2.5/5 didn't reflect the quality of his chess, a point confirmed by Millar in his article on the event on the QUB Chess Club website.
You can follow the action at the Irish Chess Union's official website. Former Irish champion Colm Daly is not only competing in the championships but also reporting on them. Colm's articles are always well worth a read.
With significant sponsorship, this year's event has realised that ambition with the English GMs Stuart Conquest, Mark Hebden and Nick Pert competing alongside the Lithuanian GM Eduardas Rozentalis. Ulster IMs Brian Kelly and Mark Orr are both playing in the event. Kelly needs one final norm for his GM title and is currently leading on 3/3 after beating Orr in Round 3. There have been plenty of shocks already with Hebden and Rozentalis both losing to untitled Irish opponents.
Less of a surprise was the performance of QUB captain Chris Millar in the Irish Junior Championship held over the first weekend of the Championships. Fresh from his victory in the Henderson Cup at the Belfast Boat Club only 2 weeks earlier, Millar squeezed into this under 1500 event as number 2 seed, due to his ICU rating being lower than his UCU one of 1536. He started with 4 straight wins and had the luxury of being able to agree a draw in the fifth and final round to clinch an outright first place.
Calum Leitch competed in the Irish Intermediate (under 1900) and "played some of the best chess I've ever played" but unfortunately lacked that bit of luck every player needs. His final score of 2.5/5 didn't reflect the quality of his chess, a point confirmed by Millar in his article on the event on the QUB Chess Club website.
You can follow the action at the Irish Chess Union's official website. Former Irish champion Colm Daly is not only competing in the championships but also reporting on them. Colm's articles are always well worth a read.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Portadown Rapidplay
Usually I would act as a Tournament Controller at about half a dozen Ulster chess tournaments a year. However this season other commitments have got in the way and it was therefore a pleasure to get back into the swing of things at the rapidplay event organised by the Portadown club at the weekend.
When I arrived, the Portadown players already had the tournament room fully prepared so all I had to do was plug in my computer and start taking the names of those wanting to play. There was a very good turnout from the host club and while Belfast players were conspicuous by their absence, there was a contingent from Bangor and Lathish Nair had made the journey all the way from Letterkenny.
The theoretical high point of the tournament was the refutation of the infamous "Proctor gambit." For those unfamiliar with this beast, the gambit is deployed by Bangor player Richard Proctor in time scrambles. It consists of Richard making a non-obvious check. If his opponent fails to notice the check, he is met with the time-honoured words "That's an illegal move, I claim two extra minutes." On this occasion the gambit was sprung on Tony Redden, who was somewhat bemused by the claim, particularly as Richard had not in fact made a checking move. When he pointed this out to Richard, I stepped in to inform the players that in fact Tony would get extra time because his opponent had disturbed him. Richard, who was lost on the board anyway, then promptly resigned, making profuse apologies and keeping repeating the phrase "I was sure it was a check." All this accompanied by general hilarity among the bystanders, with Richard seeing the funny side of it as well.
Players from the Portadown club took three of the four prizes on offer, but the winner of first prize was Adam Giermaniuk, competing in his first Ulster tournament. Adam is from Poland but now works in Northern Ireland. He beat Gerald Rogan in their individual encounter in Round 2 but conceded draws in Rounds 3 and 5 to Lathish Nair and John Canning, allowing Rogan to catch him up. But Germaniuk had faced stronger opposition and therefore was awarded the victory on tiebreak.
When I arrived, the Portadown players already had the tournament room fully prepared so all I had to do was plug in my computer and start taking the names of those wanting to play. There was a very good turnout from the host club and while Belfast players were conspicuous by their absence, there was a contingent from Bangor and Lathish Nair had made the journey all the way from Letterkenny.
The theoretical high point of the tournament was the refutation of the infamous "Proctor gambit." For those unfamiliar with this beast, the gambit is deployed by Bangor player Richard Proctor in time scrambles. It consists of Richard making a non-obvious check. If his opponent fails to notice the check, he is met with the time-honoured words "That's an illegal move, I claim two extra minutes." On this occasion the gambit was sprung on Tony Redden, who was somewhat bemused by the claim, particularly as Richard had not in fact made a checking move. When he pointed this out to Richard, I stepped in to inform the players that in fact Tony would get extra time because his opponent had disturbed him. Richard, who was lost on the board anyway, then promptly resigned, making profuse apologies and keeping repeating the phrase "I was sure it was a check." All this accompanied by general hilarity among the bystanders, with Richard seeing the funny side of it as well.
Players from the Portadown club took three of the four prizes on offer, but the winner of first prize was Adam Giermaniuk, competing in his first Ulster tournament. Adam is from Poland but now works in Northern Ireland. He beat Gerald Rogan in their individual encounter in Round 2 but conceded draws in Rounds 3 and 5 to Lathish Nair and John Canning, allowing Rogan to catch him up. But Germaniuk had faced stronger opposition and therefore was awarded the victory on tiebreak.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Tom Clarke
Today a Memorial Service was held for Tom Clarke in St Patrick's Parish Church, Upper Malone, Belfast. Tom had moved to Wales, where his wife Chrissie hails from, not long before his untimely death, so this was an opportunity for Ulster chess players to pay tribute to him. It was wonderful (but hardly surprising considering the respect in which Tom was held) to see so many people there. Also present were many of Tom's work colleagues, including Val Srewart, who gave a fine eulogy. Damien Cunningham, Tom's friend and Clifton House teammate, also delivered a heartfelt tribute in his own inimitable style. Damien had us all laughing about a journey to the famous Kilkenny Congress, when anything that could go wrong did.
As well as the local chess players, too many to mention individually, who attended the Service, two of Tom's international colleagues and long-time rivals, Mark Orr and Keith Allen, had travelled respectively from Scotland and the Isle of Man especially for the occasion. Making the journey from Dublin was Gearoidin Ui Laighleis, a member of the ICU Executive Committee and one of Ireland's top women players.
Chrissie, with the help of David Blair has located all the score-sheets Tom had kept and given them to the UCU. Currently there are about 500 of Tom's games in the public domain and I expect this will bring the total up to something like 1350. I am in the process of transferring the games into a database and hopefully in the not too distant future Ulster chess players will be able to see many fine previously unpublished examples of Tom's play, particularly from his early career.
The photograph shows me presenting the Dr McSparran Cup to Tom (on the right), after his win in the 2003 Ulster Championship.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Another Malahide raider
Kevin O'Neill also ventured south to compete at Malahide - in the Challengers (under 1600) section. Kevin has only been playing competitive chess for about 2 years, but has already won a tournament - the Fisherwick 50th Jubilee Handicap, where he made good use of his time advantage in every game.
With a rating of only 919, Kevin could be expected to find it hard going at Malahide, but he punched well above his weight scoring 3 points from 6 games against much higher rated opposition, including draws against players rated 1224 and 1315.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Malahide raiders
A quartet of Northern raiders visited Malahide for the annual May Bank Holiday weekender, with three of the four ending up in the prizelist. Stephen Scannell, Nicholas Pilkiewicz and Gareth Annesley tied second on 4.5 points, just a half-point behind perennial weekend king Colm Daly.
Danny Mallaghan, the fourth member of the Ulster contingent, told me at the Civil Service tournament last night that he had his worst tournament in a long time - he kept losing his Bishops apparently. Still we agreed it was better to get your bad games out of the way in a single tournament.
Danny will be hoping for better luck when when he heads for Las Vegas early next month for a big weekender in the company of fellow Ulster players Sam Moore, Cecil Sloan and John Bradley. Danny is competing in the under 2000 event, while the other three all get into the under 1800 section.
Danny said if his luck is still out, he'll try a few hands of Texas Hold'em, which you blogmaster considers one of the most boring variants of Poker.
Danny Mallaghan, the fourth member of the Ulster contingent, told me at the Civil Service tournament last night that he had his worst tournament in a long time - he kept losing his Bishops apparently. Still we agreed it was better to get your bad games out of the way in a single tournament.
Danny will be hoping for better luck when when he heads for Las Vegas early next month for a big weekender in the company of fellow Ulster players Sam Moore, Cecil Sloan and John Bradley. Danny is competing in the under 2000 event, while the other three all get into the under 1800 section.
Danny said if his luck is still out, he'll try a few hands of Texas Hold'em, which you blogmaster considers one of the most boring variants of Poker.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Irish University Team Championship
Stephen Stokes, Secretary of the Irish University Chess Association invited me to present the prizes at their Team Championship, hosted this year by Queen's University Chess Club.
I decided to come early to see some of the action and just after I arrived at the venue in the Students' Union was greeted by Chris Millar, President of the QUB Club, with the news that Queen's had just qualified for the final.
Defending champions Trinity College Dublin (or Dublin University if you prefer) awaited them in the final. This was going to be a very tough task. Because there had been an odd number of teams, Trinity had received a bye in the final qualifying round, giving them a nice long rest. Meanwhile Queen's had to battle past Trinity's B team, no slouches in their own right, and now had only 10 minutes to prepare for the final. Also the toss of a coin had given Trinity 2 games with the White pieces in the 3-board match. Not to mention the fact that the Trinity players were much higher rated.
Still QUB were determined to reverse the result of the 2006 final when it looked like they were going to beat Trinity 2-1 before time trouble turned the match into a 3-0 loss.
Claudio Mendicute faced the Leinster Senior Champion Karl McPhillips on Board 1. The Spaniard's Dutch Defence brought about a position in which he had equalised comfortably and was perhaps even a bit better, but it was a good practical decision to agree a draw against such a formidable opponent.
However as the other 2 games continued, Queen's looked in trouble. John Masterson's attack against Fanny Gaudron ran out of steam and he had to enter an endgame that looked bad for him. If Masterson lost, even if Millar won on Board 3, Queens would lose the final on board count. However, Millar himself was in a very passive position. An earlier time advantage was gone and he had to be very careful to avoid defeat.
Down to the last three or four minutes of the playing session now and all the players had to play quickly. Despite this Mark McGovern, the Trinity Board 3 kept getting up and looking round at the Board 2 game, more than once twisting round to play a move instantaneously in his own game.
Masterson was 3 pawns down now in a Rook ending but had set a clever trap - the most natural move by his opponent allowed an instant checkmate. Her hand hovered over a pawn, moving it a square forward was the decisive mistake. But no, she saw the danger at the last moment and instead moved her King out of danger. It looked like Queen's last chance had gone. But there was yet to be a reprieve for Masterson, because both players' flags fell without a claim for a win on time against the player whose flag fell first, and so Board 2 was declared a draw. No sooner had this happened than McGovern, pressing for the win, walked into a checkmate in mid-board.
So victory for Queen's and sweet revenge for last year and it was particularly fitting that Millar, who has done so much to revive QUB chess, should score the winning point.
I decided to come early to see some of the action and just after I arrived at the venue in the Students' Union was greeted by Chris Millar, President of the QUB Club, with the news that Queen's had just qualified for the final.
Defending champions Trinity College Dublin (or Dublin University if you prefer) awaited them in the final. This was going to be a very tough task. Because there had been an odd number of teams, Trinity had received a bye in the final qualifying round, giving them a nice long rest. Meanwhile Queen's had to battle past Trinity's B team, no slouches in their own right, and now had only 10 minutes to prepare for the final. Also the toss of a coin had given Trinity 2 games with the White pieces in the 3-board match. Not to mention the fact that the Trinity players were much higher rated.
Still QUB were determined to reverse the result of the 2006 final when it looked like they were going to beat Trinity 2-1 before time trouble turned the match into a 3-0 loss.
Claudio Mendicute faced the Leinster Senior Champion Karl McPhillips on Board 1. The Spaniard's Dutch Defence brought about a position in which he had equalised comfortably and was perhaps even a bit better, but it was a good practical decision to agree a draw against such a formidable opponent.
However as the other 2 games continued, Queen's looked in trouble. John Masterson's attack against Fanny Gaudron ran out of steam and he had to enter an endgame that looked bad for him. If Masterson lost, even if Millar won on Board 3, Queens would lose the final on board count. However, Millar himself was in a very passive position. An earlier time advantage was gone and he had to be very careful to avoid defeat.
Down to the last three or four minutes of the playing session now and all the players had to play quickly. Despite this Mark McGovern, the Trinity Board 3 kept getting up and looking round at the Board 2 game, more than once twisting round to play a move instantaneously in his own game.
Masterson was 3 pawns down now in a Rook ending but had set a clever trap - the most natural move by his opponent allowed an instant checkmate. Her hand hovered over a pawn, moving it a square forward was the decisive mistake. But no, she saw the danger at the last moment and instead moved her King out of danger. It looked like Queen's last chance had gone. But there was yet to be a reprieve for Masterson, because both players' flags fell without a claim for a win on time against the player whose flag fell first, and so Board 2 was declared a draw. No sooner had this happened than McGovern, pressing for the win, walked into a checkmate in mid-board.
So victory for Queen's and sweet revenge for last year and it was particularly fitting that Millar, who has done so much to revive QUB chess, should score the winning point.
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