Ulster Masters finale

Senior Section

On the top two boards in Round 5 Gareth Annesley and Calum Leitch won respectively against Soren Jensen and Brendan Jamison, leaving them a full point ahead of Jensen, Gabor Horvath and Mark Newman going into the final round.

Normally players on the same points total play each other in a Swiss but the two leaders had already played earlier in the tournament - Leitch apparently had a winning advantage but Annesley conjured up a check and Leitch chose the wrong King move and went on to lose. Therefore they both floated down to players on 3 points, leaving five players still in with some sort of shout at winning the Alex Beckett Trophy. Making things interesting was that the leaders would both have to play the Black pieces, Leitch against Jensen and Annesley against Newman.

Horvath, the third player on 3.0 points, floated down to Robert Lavery and won to end the tournament on 4.0. Any chance of the defending champion making a successful defence was scuppered when Jensen-Leitch was agreed drawn in an endgame where neither player could risk more.

Now if Annesley could draw, his tie-break would almost certainly be better than Leitch's. However Mark Newman was not playing ball, having won an exchange and also having a dangerous passed pawn. Both players had little time left, Leitch was too nervous to watch his rival's game, fearing that Annesley would turn the tables but Newman found a quick way through to a victory.

So the 2014 Ulster Master title went to Leitch with Annesley having the consolation of taking second prize on tie-break from Horvath and Newman.

The Alex Beckett Trophy was in hiding on the day...

... but I was able to get this close-up of the impressive Des Forson Memorial Trophy

Intermediate Section

In Round 5 the sole leader Peter McGuckin lost to Pat McKillen. So going into the final set of games, McKillen, Matthew Chapman and Andrew Todd were in the lead on 4.0. McGuckin, William Storey and Martin Kelly, last year's Intermediate champion, were half-a-point back and still in with a chance for the prizes.

The three top games all ended in White wins. McGuckin beat Todd, but the young Bangor player had the consolation of picking up a grading prize. McKillen got the better of Chapman to secure outright victory and possession of the Des Forson Memorial Trophy for a whole year.

In the final game to finish in this section, Kelly had lured Storey into grabbing a poisoned pawn and went on to join McGuckin on 4.5, but there was to be no prize this year for Kelly with McGuckin's front-running securing second prize on tie-break.

Final Crosstables and photographs of the Senior and Intermediate winners

Ulster Masters prizewinners

(l to r) Leitch, Rush, Annesley, UCU Chairman Hindley, McKillen and McGuckin

Senior
First Calum Leitch
Second Gareth Annesley
Grading Stephen Rush

Intermediate
First Pat McKillen
Second Peter McGuckin
Grading Andrew Todd, Joshua Geary

Ulster Masters on the up

I paid a flying visit to the Ulster Masters today. The event has been moved a month earlier this year. and whether it was the change in date or the generally vibrant club scene at the moment, numbers were well up on the three previous editions.

Play in the Senior section during Round 4

There are 12 players in the senior section, headed by Ulster champion Gabor Horvath, defending the title he won in this event last year. In Rounds 1 and 3 he was held to draws by Brendan Jamison and Gareth Annesley. The latter went into Round 4 on 2.5 points, just ahead of a chasing posse of Horvath, Jamison, Soren Jensen, Calum Leitch and Mark Newman.

I arrived just as the Round 4 games were reaching a climax. First Jamison and Annesley drew in a Queen and 5 pawn ending. Then Jensen with Rook, Bishop and 2 pawns versus Newman's Rook and 2 pawns was saved any technical difficulties, when Newman, short on time, blundered away his Rook.

Final game to finish was between Lindores team-mates Horvath and Leitch. Horvath had an open h-file for his two Rooks aiming at Leitch's h7-pawn. Calum was trying to counter with his two Rooks and Queen lined up on the e-file. Gabor piled further pressure on the h7 pawn with a Knight going to g5. In a surprising but effective manoeuvre Leitch abandoned the pawn, moving his own Knight, stationed at f6, to g4 and then f2, which ultimately allowed a decisive penetration by his Queen and Rook, forcing resignation from the defending champion.

Going into Round 5 Annesley has been joined in the lead by Jensen and Leitch on 3.0 points, with Jamison on 2.5 and Horvath in a group of four on 2.0.

In the Intermediate section, 25 players are taking part. Top seed Peter McGuckin is in the lead after 4 rounds with 3.5, only half-a-point ahead of a group of six, comprising of John McKenna, Paddy Magee, Andrew Todd, Stewart McConaghy, Matthew Chapman and Pat McKillen.

Top boards in the Intermediate section during Round 4

In through the out door

A story often has two sides, as Michael Waters' comment to Whither Fisherwick tends to confirm. However, it's not my intention to get into any polemics. Rather it is to run with the idea of what should be the essence of local club chess today.

If we concentrate on extremely lengthy competitions (however popular), is there sufficient variety and enough space for clubs to provide their own product to attract newcomers, returners or even current players looking for something different.

So, whatever the precise circumstances of Fisherwick taking a new path, here is an opportunity to see if renewal and regrowth will work by concentrating on building a sound club structure and offering more variety. Waters' final throwaway line might even be the most revolutionary thought. Will the first club to open its doors on a Saturday hit the jackpot?

Whither Fisherwick

It's not surprising that people are annoyed about Fisherwick's sudden jumping ship from the UCU Leagues. There's also talk about ulterior motives. Before everyone gets worked up into a frazzle, it might just be worth pointing out a few things.

Nobody complained when Fisherwick used to run its open-to-all club championship during the League season - and nobody does now, when its near-neighbour does the same thing now. If Fisherwick CC wants to run its own competition(s), let them get on with it. If the UCU is confident that it's putting together a good programme of events, what is there to be concerned about? If Fisherwick's events go down like a lead balloon, nothing will have been lost. On the other hand if they complement the UCU ones, that will be a bonus and the UCU might even learn something useful.

Fisherwick CC has made (and can still make) a significant contribution to Ulster chess. It has had a long-held reputation as a strong club in both quality and quantity but it might now need a period of regrowth. About eights years ago Fisherwick opted not to play in the Silver King (though in those days they still had a "second" team) but the following season they were back. Let's hope that will happen again (and indeed encourage them to re-engage rather than treating the club as some sort of pariah).

All change

After Fisherwick's sudden exit from Division 1 subsequent to the fixture list being published, League Controller Calum Leitch has acted very swiftly to the collateral damage, in particular the issue of too many byes week-on-week in both Divisions.

Fruithill has been moved up to compete for the Silver King producing a sensible 7-8 split between the Divisions. The League Controller has also rejigged fixtures to eradicate those pesky byes that had suddenly appeared like green balls on an Australian beach.

While I'm on record about the Leagues being overlong, I would concede that it was also logical in the changed circumstances to add a third round of fixtures in the Strawbridge Cup so that the two Divisions now dovetail nicely together.

Interesting times

About a week ago the new fixtures for the 2014-2015 local league season were posted at the Ballynafeigh CC website. Of course, we were used to official UCU announcements appearing there when its supremo was also the League Controller. Obviously old habits die hard.

A couple of days later the fixture list then appeared at the Lindores CC website, home of the dynamic duo who have taken over control of UCU team and individual tournaments. Obviously continuing the privatisation of their predecessor.

Finally the Division 1 and Division 2 fixtures did appear at the official website. A day or so later there was even an announcement there which, however, bizarrely referred the reader back to the Ballynafeigh CC website for the details.

Anyway the good news was that (despite the hibernation of Lagan CC) with the revival of the Queen's University Chess Club (or to be precise, now re-branded Society) and an extra couple of "second teams", total entries amounted to 16.

When planning this piece, I was going to inquire what was wrong with 8 teams in each Division rather than the announced 7+9 (with the top Division adding a third round of fixtures). Under the UCU plan there will be a total of 21 weeks for Division 1 and 18 for Division 2.

With an even split of teams we could have had a double-rounder for each Division over only 14 weeks. The advantage of this would have been to leave time for some further team competitions with a different format (eg all-NI, rapidplays, handicap, knock-out) which the chattering classes seemed keen on in the Spring.

Still, the announcement over at Fisherwick CC puts this all into perspective. Despite being the reigning Silver King champions and announced as an entrant on all those outlets mentioned above, Fisherwick CC "will not be participating in the Ulster Chess Union organized Belfast & District Chess League 2014-15". However, this is not some Lagan-style hiatus because a full programme events is planned, including "inter club competition."

"Cat among the pigeons" springs to mind.