City of Dublin Round up: Murphy pipped to 2nd place in Juniors by Chestnut69

Cathal Murphy shrugged off the disappointment of relinquishing his Ulster Junior title at the Europa Hotel on bank holiday weekend, by storming to 2nd place at the City of Dublin Junior six days later. His score of 5/6 at the Ambassador Plaza was a half point better than his performance at the corresponding event last year when he finished in a three-way tie for 1st spot.

Cathal as top seed played board 1 for the first five games, but on 4/4 lost his place in round 5 to the eventual winner Alan Lau. In a tight Budapest gambit declined, Lau had blundered on move 36 to which Cathal, whether under time pressure, or perhaps momentary loss of concentration, blundered immediately back overlooking a Q x R check to hand the game to his opponent. It was the only mistake Murphy made all weekend and as he went on to beat Dublin mate Sean McGowan in round 6 proved to be a costly one at 100 euros (the difference between 1st and 2nd).

His round 2 game is below. Check out the overlooked “mate in 1” on move 23, which preceded quite a neat finish on move 26. Of course all those "good" Ulster players are welcome to comment/analyse.

The Ulster triumvirate, or as they are increasingly known down south as "Three Musketeers" was completed by Philip Morrison in his third appearance in Dublin finishing with 2/6 in the Juniors, (incidentally Henry the Horse has made a new friend - a lovely Camel called Humphrey) and of course Martin Kelly who narrowly missed out in the Challengers section with 3.5/6. Martin was up material in round 5 against eventual winner Pat Coleman, before eventually losing. There was a good deal in the nearby bar on pitchers of beer for 9 euros, not that this had any interest for Martin of course!!

Check out Rookie’s regular blog for further “tongue in cheek” reports/gossip.

See Leinster Chess Union tournament website for full results/tables.

Queens “dethroned” at AGM while Hawks “soar” to the top

It’s official! RVH Hawks are League Division One champions on 82.5 points ahead of Queen’s on 81 points after a decision at the recent UCU AGM overturning the result from Board 1 in one of the big two matches.

We await eagerly an update on the QUB chess website, which is usually quick off the mark with results. I assume the huge pictures of their team, which adorned Queens’ Naughten Gallery, have been taken down, leaving “naughten” its walls!

Meanwhile, Martin Kelly recently followed up his second place in the City of Belfast Junior with second spot in the Irish Junior and a grading prize in the Irish Weekender-at which Stephen Scannell finished joint second. It means Martin’s recent record is: Pl16 w9 d5 l2. He kept his lifelong unbeaten record against Irish-born ladies by beating Johanna Lowry- O’Reilly (Oh really? No, O’Reilly!), whose daughter Hannah is a woman FM, and Nicola Benson, who has been selected for the 2010 Irish Women’s Olympiad team in Russia and whose son Oisin is a top Irish junior. Incidentally, Cork’s Alex Lopez is this year’s Irish champion.

Don’t forget this year’s Ulster Championship at the Europa Hotel, Belfast from August 28 to August 30 - more details on the Ulster Chess Union website. See you there!

Stateside results: Murphy grabs joint fourth by Chestnut69

Three Ulster players took part in the recent Las Vegas International Chess Festival at the South Point Casino in Las Vegas Nevada. CJ Murphy in his stateside chess debut managed to claim a share of fourth place in the "unrated" section with a score of 3.5/6. This section was nominally unrated, but all the players in it had played before, albeit not in official tournament play in the states. To demonstrated the relative strength of the section, Murphy actually played up in round 2 to the U1200 section and claimed his easiest win of the tournament in only 20 moves.

All the unrated players will now have official USCF ratings.

Two experienced American campaigners Danny Mallaghan and Cecil Sloan, made up the Ulster/Irish contingent. Danny scored 2.5/6 in the U2000 section and Cecil matched this score in the U1800.

All results cross tables can be found here.

Karina Kruk “steals” the limelight

It’s been an eventful few days in Ulster chess-where do I begin? Last weekend at Stormont, Karina Kruk “kruised to a krushing konquest” in winning the Henderson Cup on 5/6, a half-point ahead of joint seconds Martin Kelly and newcomer Ross ”Rolf” Harris. Cathal Murphy was consistent again, picking up the grading prize on 4/6, despite losing the first game below against Martin Kelly.

Rumours that Karina might not have won if she had to play Kelly are unfounded surely? Incidentally, it appears that Karina might also pip Martin for the season-long Tom Clarke Grand Prix by 44.5 points to 40.5, though the latter might have the consolation of winning the Junior Grand Prix like last year.

At the same time and venue, Dubliner Gordon Freeman won the Nemtzov Cup on 5/6, a point clear of Michael Waters in second, with Mark ”Paul” Newman getting the grading prize on 3.5 points. Interestingly, Ryszard Kaczorowski lost his game when his mobile phone went off under new FIDE rules. He did not try to make “phoney” excuses and the other players gave controller David McAlister a “ringing” endorsement of his decision.

QUB might propose the above-named Gordon be made a “freeman” of the city after helping them beat Fisherwick 6-1 at Queen’s on Tuesday night to clinch league division one for the third consecutive time but runners-up RVH Hawks might not agree. Firstly, he was parachuted in midseason from Dublin and secondly there is still a dispute about one of the QUB players using a computer while playing a league game earlier this year. This may well be brought up at the UCU AGM at North Belfast CC, Antrim Road, on Wednesday 2nd June. at 7.30pm. Get there early to avoid the crowd-the AGM should prove “a gem”!

Rookie

UCU LEAGUE DIVISION ONE

TEAM	PL	W	D	L	PTS	%
QUB	16	14	0	2	82.5	88
RVH HAWKS	16	12	1	3	81.0	78
FISHERWICK	16	7	2	7	57.0	50
THE AWAY TEAM	16	3	2	11	33.0	25
LAGAN	16	1	1	14	26.5	9

Anand on top of the world

Yesterday, World Champion Anand retained his world championship crown in Sofia, beating Bulgarian challenger Topalov in game 12 to win 6.5-5.5. For Viswanathan, ”nothing” was too difficult - if an “and” was expected at this point of the sentence, you’re not getting one because this is the end of the sentence!

Don’t forget the City of Belfast Championships this Saturday and Sunday, 15-16/5/10, at Maynard Sinclair Pavilion, Stormont.over six rounds. It is split into the Nemtzov Cup for those 1600 and over and the Henderson Cup for those under 1600. For more details, ring David McAlister at 92638857 - remember it’s free for females, under 18s and newcomers - which reminds me of last year’s prizegiving for the Henderson Cup where I beat Karina Kruk in the last round to deprive her of the cup as we finished joint second behind William Storey (but that’s another “storey”) .I announced then:”I didn’t want a “kruk” winning the tournament”!

Finally, Queen’s University play Fisherwick next Tuesday, 18/5/10, at QUB Students Union, knowing a win would win them their third consecutive league division one title. Anything less will hand the title to RVH Hawks. May the best team win!

Rookie

“Oils well” that ends well for Malone

In view of the recent Gulf of Mexico disaster, I shouldn’t use any “slick” puns about Malone plucking victory from defeat last week against Bangor Wannabees to win the UCU league division two title, but I couldn’t help it! In the end, it all hinged on the excellent game below, where Ruben’s technique was as skilful and beautifully crafted as any of his namesake’s oil paintings. Perhaps this will be the “platform” for greater success next season. I hope I’m not being a “bore” but I hit a rich “vein” of humour! When Derek Truesdale won a 1980’s game, I said in the “Irish News” that “Derek lifted his game”-get it (Derek=derrick)!

Don’t forget the Summer Tournament every Wednesday starting tomorrow night at 7.45pm and the City of Belfast Tournament from Saturday May 15thto Sunday May 16th,both at Maynard Sinclair Pavilion, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast. Contact Mark Newman (tel.no.91-456638) and David McAlister (tel.no.92-638857) respectively for more details.

Finally, Anand leads Topalov 4-3 in Sofia after 3 consecutive draws-The first to 6.5 points wins the World Championship.

Rookie

Magnificent Malone make brave Bangor wannabees for another season

Report by Rookie; pics by Dennis the Menace

BD	MALONE	VS	WANNABEES
1	S.FERRIS	0.5-0.5	P.MCGUIGAN
2	N.GREEN	0-1	A.MCCONNELL
3	S.FLANAGAN	0.5-0.5	P.MCLAUGHLIN
4	D.RUBEN	1-0	W.MCGRATTAN
5	N.MCFARLAND	0-1	R.PROCTOR
6	A.BECKETT	1-0	B.BELSHAW
	TOTAL	2.0-3.0
	+BONUS	2.0-5.0

AT GROOMSPORT, 29/4/2010
BOARD 6 NOT PART OF THE OFFICIAL LEAGUE MATCH

Having promised to eat his hat if Wannabees won league division two, Malone “cap”tain, Martin Kelly, cap in hand, turned up with his team at the idyllically-situated Groomsport Church Hall to play Bangor Wannabees in the top of the table clash. Kelly cleverly switched his two S.F.s - Sam Ferris and Sam Flanagan - around from their usual board order to flummox the opposition. On board one, Sam’s draw against a stronger opponent was as “ferris” as his anxious captain could have expected. The next game to finish saw Proctor “gamble” and succeeding in a risky opening on board five and Neil turn “green” after losing on board two. Suddenly, Wannabees only needed a point from the last two games to win the league. By this stage, Kelly had returned from watching Liverpool lose and his quiz team win in the nearby pub. On board three, Paul McLaughlin, behind on material, offered his short-of-time opponent a draw, which was eagerly accepted. With an explosive finish on board three, David’ was “ruben” salt into Wannabees’ wounds as he grabbed a win to guarantee Malone are division two champions, despite losing twice to Wannabees this season.

TEAM	PL	W	D	L	PTS	%
MALONE	14	10	1	3	67.0	75
WANNABEES	14	10	3	1	66.5	82
WINSTON	14	8	2	4	60.5	64
BOMBARDIER	14	8	1	5	55.0	61
FORTWILLIAM	14	6	4	4	54.0	57
HENDERSONS	14	3	2	9	34.5	29
RANDALSTOWN	14	0	4	10	28.0	14
RAVENS	14	1	3	10	26.5	18

The packed hall, Bangor supporters to a man (apart, that is, from guest star Dennis the Menace), were very sporting in defeat as they joined in the group photo taken by our Dennis.

Finally, the Catalan opening is bound to get a revival in popularity after Anand’s second win with it over Topalov in round four.