Return of a legend. Former Irish News chess columnist ‘Rookie’ comes out of (far too early) retirement to present his inimitable view of the Ulster tournament scene.
Eighteen hours of drama, tension and confrontation near the Castle, where everything was black and white - no, not the political talks but the Williamson Shield at the Stormont Pavilion on January 30-31, 2010. Let’s look at the shock results in each round.
Round one: the biggest shock of all involved a Whiteside win, not for Steady Eddie, but for Garry, playing the white side of a French.
Round two: there were two surprises this time. Alex Beckett (1322) gave his opponent a filip to his morale when conceding the exchange and a loss to Phillip Morrison (1051), while Alan was burnt by Cathal’s “fried liver” attack.
Round three: the results here were predictable, except when Karina Kruk (1483) krumbled to a draw with Geoff Hindley (996).
Round four: here’s a storey - Peter Storey (721) who beat Alex a Beckett (1322), martyred by a knight. Meanwhile Martin “gunslinger ned” Kelly had the fastest draw in the West, sorry East Belfast, against Steady Eddie’s own Bangor opening:
Round five: the only shocks were two unlikely draws. R. Kaczarowski (1641) felt like a “new man” after his draw with Mark Newman (1781) and, by george, Jackson (1276) was happy after drawing with draw specialist Martin Kelly (1442).
Round six: the last round saw O’Brien (1149) “pearse” Alex Beckett’(1322)’s defence. Also, Kaczarowski (1641) ”knocked down” E. Walls’ (1882) defence to claim a shock third place on 4.5 points, a point behind joint winners, Fisherwick duo John Cairns and Michael Waters. Grading prizes went to John Phillips and Alan Burns on 4 points and Phillip Morrison on 3 points. Rumours that Alan’s final opponent, Martin Kelly, also aiming for a grading prize, was “tired and emotional” are wildly off the mark.
6 comments:
A very 'punny' man ye are Martin,always entertaining,always amusing,long may you continue.Its always a pleasure to see you.I enjoyed all the games i viewed at Stormont and your take on them,and if they need a Justice Minister in the 'big house',,i should like to nominate you for your fairness!
My overall view of the tournament was that it was very keenly contested,very entertaining,well run under the stewardship of David McAlister as usual.Whilst i congratulate my friends from Fisherwick,Michael Waters & John Cairns on their joint wins,i must say some of the games i enjoyed watching most were from the lower order.I missed Garrys win over Eddie due to me being 'dads taxi',congrats Garry,very impressive!.Whilst i was pleased to see a nice finish from Gareth v William,i had some sympathy for William that he deserved to get something for his efforts against a much stronger player.Karina Kruk v Kevin Agnew,another entertaining game,was looking very drawish,i think Kevin thought that too,but this young lady Karina, under time pressure,managed the endgame beautifully to secure a well deserved win,and im sure Kevin was left feeling Krushed!.Cathal Murphy v Ian Woodfield, another 'Samson v Goliath' encounter,in this game Cathal played very well and believed he had secured a drawn position and claimed so,but was told by David he must play on until he had less that 2 minutes on his clock before he could make a claim.I think this ruling disturbed Cathals concentration,and he made a fatal error and duly lost.Cathal is a very fine player,he is a much stronger player than his rating suggests,i can never understand why his rating of 1076 is so low!And finally Alan Burns v Martin Kelly !,,Who says Chess is dull?,,its never dull when 'Ned' Kelly is present,in this game a situation had arisen when Kelly was in check,but both players had not seen it,and played on for a few moves,,rightly or wrongly,i felt compelled to point this out,,but Kelly,with a dismissive wave of his hand said to me,,'Aye,we know,but sure its ok',.Nuff said!!,,lol. Last but not least i must say well done to Geoff Hindley for his draw v Karina Kruk,this young lady is a very fine player,one for the future no doubt!
Postscript re;my previous comment where i commented 'Samson v Goliath',,apologies,i did mean 'David v Goliath',,i trust David u will amend that comment.I can only put this down to my many years working as a welder in Harland&Wolff,,must have been the fumes that pickled my brain!,lol,,thnx
Another well run tournament, when's the next David? Enjoyed Dennis's comments. Well done to all winners especially Phil Morrison for finding his "facus" and sneaking in under the radar to scoop the U1100 prize. Also, well done to newcomer Brian McAllister (no relation to David)for taking part in his first tourne.
A funny aside came from another newcomer Paul Wilson, who when seeing his opponent on the sheet in round 1 asked the question, "Who's this girl Kelly Martin I'm playing?" of course referring to Martin "Rookie" Kelly. Hope Paul enjoyed his games and that we'll see him again at future tournaments.
Enjoy reading NI chess blog and the chronicle. Thanks to David and other contributors for taking the time and making the effort
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