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.