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.