Community chess initiative

City of Belfast Day 2

The Nemtzov Cup was opened wide open on Sunday morning when leader Gareth Annesley lost with the white pieces to Modestas Razbadauskas. A further player withdrawal left an uneven number of players going into Round 5 but Mark Newman stepped into the breach to avoid a bye in the final two rounds.

Annesley closed out the tournament with two wins to secure the Nemtzov Cup for the second time. Stephen Rush, winner of the tournament last year, won all three of his games on Day 2 to slot into second place. Modestas Razbadauskas was the winner of the Grading Prize.

The final round of the Nemtzov Cup gets underway.
In the foreground Gareth Annesley contemplates his first move.

Nemtzov Cup Final Crosstable

No Name                  Rtg  Total  1    2    3   4    5    6  

1  Gareth Annesley       1908 5      6:W 10:W  2:W 3:L  5:W  4:W
2  Stephen Rush          1799 4.5    4:W  8:D  1:L 5:W  7:W  3:W
3  Modestas Razbadauskas 1412 3.5    8:L  6:W  9:W 1:W  4:D  2:L
4  Daniil Zelenchuk      1463 3      2:L  5:D  6:W 7:W  3:D  1:L
5  Danny Roberts         1830 2.5    7:L  4:D 10:W 2:L  1:L 11:W
6  Robert Lavery         1601 2.5    1:L  3:L  4:L 0:W 11:W  7:D
7  Richard Morrow        1530 2      5:W  9:L  8:D 4:L  2:L  6:D
8  Damian Marchlewicz    1948 2      3:W  2:D  7:D 0:   0:   0: 
9  Danny Mallaghan       1778 1.5   10:L  7:W  3:L 0:D  0:   0: 
10 Kamil Marchlewicz     2068 1      9:W  1:L  5:L 0:   0:   0: 
11 Mark Newman           1720 0      0:   0:   0:  0:   6:L  5:L

In the Henderson Cup overnight leader Pat McKillen added a further 2.5 points to his total on Day 2. This was more than enough for him to take his fourth Henderson title, equalling the record of Karina Kruk who won four in a row betwenn 2010 and 2013. William Storey, the 2009 Champion, finished second while there were grading prizes for veteran Geoff Hindley and two newcomers to Ulster chess this year - Vincent O'Brien and Louie McConkey.

Louie McConkey receives his prize from Mark Newman

Vincent O'Brien receiving his prize

Henderson Cup Final Crosstable

No Name                  Rtg  Total  1    2    3    4    5    6  

1  Patrick McKillen      1311 5.5   13:W 11:W 10:W  2:W  3:D  8:W
2  William Storey        1343 4.5    9:W  7:D  4:W  1:L 10:W  3:W
3  Martin Kelly          1359 3.5   10:D  4:D 11:W  6:W  1:D  2:L
4  Cathal Murphy         1329 3.5    8:D  3:D  2:L  0:D 12:W  6:W
5  John McKenna          1526 3.5    0:D 10:L  9:W  7:W  6:L 12:W
6  Dmitry Zelenchuk      1354 3      7:L  8:W 13:W  3:L  5:W  4:L
7  Geoff Hindley         1050 3      6:W  2:D  0:D  5:L  8:L 11:W
8  Vincent O'Brien       919  3      4:D  6:L 12:D 13:W  7:W  1:L
9  Louie McConkey        1030 3      2:L 12:L  5:L 11:W  0:W 13:W
10 Tyrone Winter         1060 2.5    3:D  5:W  1:L 12:W  2:L  0: 
11 Nived Binu Daniel     700  2     12:W  1:L  3:L  9:L 13:W  7:L
12 Adrian Dornford-Smith 1148 1.5   11:L  9:W  8:D 10:L  4:L  5:L
13 Paul Anderson         882  1      1:L  0:W  6:L  8:L 11:L  9:L

At the prizegiving ceremony

My thanks to Brendan Jamison for keeping me updated on the progress of the tournament and for providing the photographs that accompanied my text.

Final standings, full details of prizewinners and photographs of the two Champions with their trophies can be found in the Results and Reports Section.

City of Belfast Day 1

The provisional starting list published in my previous post saw some changes come Saturday morning. Overall there were five "withdrawals" but also one addition with Richard Morrow entering the fray in the Nemtzov Cup. Richard started very well overcoming a 300 point deficit to defeat Danny Roberts and later in Round 3 he held second seed Damian Marchlewicz to a draw.

Play underway in Round 3 with Daniil Zelenchuk (left)
and Robert Lavery in the foreground

After Day 1 in the Nemtzov, Gareth Annesley (winner of this event in 2011) leads with a 100% score after defeating Ulster Champion Stephen Rush in Round 3 and is already at least a full point ahead of his rivals.

Nemtzov Cup Crosstable after Day 1

No Name                  Rtg  Total  1    2    3  

1  Gareth Annesley       1908 3     10:W  8:W  4:W
2  Damian Marchlewicz    1948 2      3:W  4:D  5:D
3  Modestas Razbadauskas 1412 2      2:L 10:W  9:W
4  Stephen Rush          1799 1.5    7:W  2:D  1:L
5  Richard Morrow        1530 1.5    6:W  9:L  2:D
6  Danny Roberts         1830 1.5    5:L  7:D  8:W
7  Daniil Zelenchuk      1463 1.5    4:L  6:D 10:W
8  Kamil Marchlewicz     2068 1      9:W  1:L  6:L
9  Danny Mallaghan       1778 1      8:L  5:W  3:L
10 Robert Lavery         1601 0      1:L  3:L  7:L

The draw for Round 4 showed some absentees and it looks like the two Marchlewicz brothers have withdrawn from the tournament.

In the Henderson Cup the lower ranked players faced opponents 300-400 rating points above them. They performed well above expectations in four of the seven games with Geoff Hindley and Nived Binu Daniel taking the full point while Tyrone Winter and Vincent O'Brien secured draws.

In Round 2 the surprises continued with Geoff Hindley holding 2009 Champion William Storey to a draw. Even bigger news was that 1060-rated Tyrone Winter beat top seed John McKenna.

The results in Round 3 were along more predictable lines and at the end of Day 1 three-time winner Pat McKillen was leading on three points with Storey just a half-point behind.

Henderson Cup Crosstable after Day 1

No Name                  Loc  Total  1    2    3  

1  Patrick McKillen      1311 3     10:W  9:W  6:W
2  William Storey        1343 2.5   13:W  3:D 11:W
3  Geoff Hindley         1050 2      5:W  2:D  0:D
4  Martin Kelly          1359 2      6:D 11:D  9:W
5  Dmitry Zelenchuk      1354 2      3:L 12:W 10:W
6  Tyrone Winter         1060 1.5    4:D  7:W  1:L
7  John McKenna          1526 1.5    0:D  6:L 13:W
8  Adrian Dornford-Smith 1148 1.5    9:L 13:W 12:D
9  Nived Binu Daniel     700  1      8:W  1:L  4:L
10 Paul Anderson         882  1      1:L  0:W  5:L
11 Cathal Murphy         1329 1     12:D  4:D  2:L
12 Vincent O'Brien       919  1     11:D  5:L  8:D
13 Louie McConkey        1030 0      2:L  8:L  7:L

Here's the pairings for Round 4

In the margins of the tournament, there was some significant news about the Chess NI organised summer trip to Saint Petersburg. Here's Chess NI's Brendan Jamison on the latest development:

We offer our sincere thanks to Daniel Roberts and Joanne Ritchie from Language Training Solutions who share our passion for the educational merits of a cross-cultural chess match in Saint Petersburg, interweaving the role of play and creativity with learning new language skills and improving communication techniques. When chess players from around the world move to Northern Ireland and have little grasp of the English language, many begin their integration process by joining our local chess community. We get extremely excited by players from overseas who join us at Belfast tournaments as they greatly enrich the cultural life of the city. In recent years, we have welcomed players from China, India, Egypt, Russia, Kazakhstan, Poland, Lithuania, Hungary and The Phillipines. Hopefully this trend will continue and expand over the next decade as Belfast enjoys a rebirth as a vibrant cosmopolitan city." 

L to R: Danny Roberts and Joanne Ritchie from Language Training Solutions
presenting the travel sponsorship to Brendan Jamison of Chess NI on behalf of
the children travelling to Saint Petersburg, two of whom are pictured here:
8 year old Dexter Harris and 13 year old Daniil Zelenchuk.

City of Belfast Championships

The City of Belfast Championships started this morning and will conclude on Sunday evening after 6 rounds have been played. After the deadline for receipt of entries passed, Brendan Jamison, one of the controlling team, sent me the list of players .

Nemtzov Cup

No  Name                  Rtg  Club        

1.  Kamil Marchlewicz     2068             
2.  Damian Marchlewicz    1948             
3.  Gareth Annesley       1908 Muldoons    
4.  Danny Roberts         1830 NICS        
5.  Mikhail Pavlov        1799 Ballynafeigh
6.  Stephen Rush          1799 QUB         
7.  Danny Mallaghan       1778 Muldoons    
8.  Pat Coleman           1668 Drogheda    
9.  Dayna Ferguson        1601 Drogheda    
10. Robert Lavery         1601 Ballynafeigh
11. Daniil Zelenchuk      1463 Ballynafeigh
12. Modestas Razbadauskas 1412             

Henderson Cup

No  Name                  Rtg  Club         

1.  John McKenna          1526 Belfast South
2.  Ram Rajan             1390 QUB          
3.  Martin Kelly          1359 Belfast South
4.  Dmitry Zelenchuk      1354 Ballynafeigh 
5.  William Storey        1343 Belfast South
6.  Cathal Murphy         1329 Belfast South
7.  Patrick McKillen      1311 Muldoons     
8.  Paul Seacroft         1150              
9.  Adrian Dornford-Smith 1148 NICS         
10. Tyrone Winter         1060 Ballynafeigh 
11. Geoff Hindley         1050 NICS         
12. Louie McConkey        1030              
13. Vincent O'Brien       919  Ballynafeigh 
14. Paul Anderson         882  Ballynafeigh 
15. Nived Binu Daniel     700               

It looks like there are going to be two very competitive sections with the traditional separation point of 1600 being used. However two players have opted and/or been allowed to move up to the Nemtzov Cup. It will be interesting to see how they will do because both teenager Daniil Zelenchuk and Modestas Razbadauskas have been in excellent form recently. The top seeded Marchlewicz brothers from Poland, who I think reside in Derry, previously competed in the Ulster Blitz Championship in December 2015 but this is their first time competing in Belfast in a standard time tournament. Overall the Nemtzov has a fresh look about it with the experienced Danny Roberts, new to Belfast chess events this year, plus two visitors from Drogheda CC - Pat Coleman and Dayna Ferguson (2nd in last years Henderson) - also competing.

In the Henderson top seed John McKenna will be aiming to retain his title. Three other former winners, Pat McKillen (2006. 2014, 2015), William Storey (2009) and Martin Kelly (2011) will be among those trying to stop McKenna scoring a brace.