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!
