Groundhog day

About a month and a half ago, the League Controller woke up one morning and decided it was time for him to make a decision about the "Divisional Split". Something along the lines of doing something unexpected, like 7-4. The next morning he woke up to find himself reliving the day again, and it kept happening, morning after morning. So he reckoned this must be occurring because of his decision on the composition of the Leagues after the preliminaries. So one morning he decided to change his mind and offer up a different scenario, but he was still stuck the next day, and the next day.....So he made another different decision, and then another. He tried everything, adding an extra team, then two, then three. However, nothing could get his League Controlling life going forward from that fateful day in early December 2013.

Meanwhile, in the real world, the chess players of Belfast and its environs were getting on with their lives. League matches were played, Christmas came and went and the New Year was welcomed in. League matches resumed, getting ever closer to the end of the preliminaries. Throughout all this, they were receiving the League Controller's increasingly desperate attempts to find his route into the future. The most recent announcement that permeated into the real world was the confusingly titled "7+7=12" - the poor lad must be in a terrible state by now.

Anyway ("Final answer?"), apparently it's to be the Magnificent Seven in Division 1 (he always did hanker after that) and a different, slightly less magnificent, seven in Division 2, with 3 of those starting from zero. However, I'd keep checking the Ballynafeigh blog, just in case the League Controller is still having trouble rejoining us in 2014.

The greater good

My last two posts had focussed on the divisional split in the Belfast and District League. Since then there has been a dizzying sequence of events apparently orchestrated by the League Controller. Like a music-hall conjurer producing rabbits out of a hat, he has foreshadowed and then announced the arrival of extra teams into the League. Well done to him for not merely adminstering the League, but going out of his way to expand the number of teams. Muldoons and Belfast South have each sprouted a second team and the Controller's own Ballynafeigh has gone as far as reaching a number 4.

Rumour has it (and seeing it emanates from the Controller himself, presumably it will come to pass) that there will be 8 teams in Division 1 after the split. So it seems, after all, that the Magnificent Seven will compete for the Silver King, along with plucky Bangor. This will then leave Division 2 populated by the bottom three from the preliminares plus the three "newbies".

The greater good may well be served by this increase in teams for the second part of the season. In recent years the League has diminished in size as clubs have shied away from entering more than one team. With his recent efforts the Controller has decisively reversed this trend and hopefully the future will see increased levels of competition in the League.

However, someone concerned with process (and your correspondent confesses to being such a person) cannot help point out that the League Controller (and/or the UCU Board) has driven a coach and horses through the League protocols. When a query was raised earlier ths season as to when the rules governing the League would be published the Controller trenchantly pointed out that they remained those propogated by the UCU Board on the 22nd October 2011. The assumptions underlying those rules no longer seem to apply and the bold step to jettison certain parts of them has been taken to what seems to be large-scale approval. Obviously a re-write will be needed next season.

However, it doesn't stop there. The revival of interest in team chess is bringing forward new ideas. The Champ (over at Off the Chest) has floated an interesting suggestion for an experimental half-hour League at the end of the regular season. At the same forum the League Controller has unveiled a few radical ideas for a Cup competition. I'm not sure about these: 3-player teams - sorry, no; genetically engineered line-ups - a bit too Brave New World for me. Still, the return of a Cup competition is definitely to be applauded, but my own view is that the emphasis here should not be so much on gimmicks (though I'm not against a sensible handicapping system) but in achieving a greater geographical spread with matches (or at least some of them) played at the weekend to facilitate this.

Anyway, seems like we live in interesting times!

An early morning Christmas present

The local chess population has been waiting with bated breath for the big decision. Where would the axe fall in the divisional split?

Well, very early on Christmas Day, Santa Claus (aka the League Controller) announced to the team captains that it is to be a 6-6 split. So one of the Magnificent Seven is to lose out on the kudos of playing for the Silver King but will then inevitably become the favourite for Division 2 glory. Looks like my previous blog hoping for that decider between Lagan and Ballynafeigh 2 will come to pass.

Hey, but hold on a minute, what's this about 6-6? Surely only 11 teams entered the League. There had been a few rumours, fuelled by some teasing by the League Controller over at the Ballynafeigh blog, that an extra team could be on the cards. So where's this mystery team coming from. The best clue appears at the Belfast South blog and so it looks like a second team from that quarter is entering the fray. Considering the number of players that have flocked there recently, they have the spare capacity.

From that blog we also learn that Belfast South teams will now be named BSI 1, BSI 2 etc. The "I" apparently stands for International. Still it seems a shame to go for an abbreviation that sounds like some disease found in cows or sheep. Much friendlier to my ear would have been Belfast South and Malone - after all their blog has the words "malonechessteam" in its web address. Maybe the émigrés don't want a copyright war with the team across the road!

One final point is how Division 2 will accommodate the newbie. League points gained from the preliminary all-play-all are carried over into the divisions. So does the new team start from scratch, effectively giving it no chance of winning Division 2 (admittedly that's probably the same hope that NICS and Ballynafeigh 3 have) or will the League Controller have come up with an imaginative solution?

Is a 7-4 League split coming?

This is now the fourth season in which the Belfast & District Leagues have had a preliminary section in which all teams compete, followed by a split into separate Divisions to decide the League titles. For the first two seasons, there was a 4-4-3 split while last season the Controller went for 2 Division 6-5 separation.

Whether the split was into 2 or 3 Divisions, there seemed to be a mathematical validity to it - equal sized Divisions, in so far as that can be managed with 11 competing teams. Your correspondent had assumed, albeit without any official word on it, that we would get something similar this year. 6-5 seemed the more likely with "newbies" Muldoons and Lindores, and a strengthened Belfast South, adding a greater competitive edge to the top of the preliminary section.

Everybody seems to agree that this is the most exciting League for some time with a number of teams keen to have a crack at Fisherwick, the Red Bull Racing of Ulster chess. However, with a 6-5 split could perhaps a genuine title contender find itself in Division 2, come separation-time? Seems this thought is doing the rounds in Belfast chess circles.

Nick at "Off the Chest" at the Ballynafeigh CC website raises this issue:

"Can the league split of either 7 4 or 6 5 be decided before the league season starts? It isnt fair to be decided in january."

Seems the League Controller, aka Ballynafeigh Chess, has already seen all this coming - here's an excerpt from his reply to Nick at "Off the Chest."

"the league controller must be allowed discretion to decide the separation line between teams that are or are not in contention, the controller must evaluate the prospects of team considering their points tally and proximity to the team above them if you want an exciting and competitive competition."

So, reading between the lines, 7-4 looks to be on the cards, particularly after Lagan, who were perhaps the most likely of the Magnificent Seven to miss out under 6-5, drew their match last night with Ballynafeigh 1.

Still a couple of points might be raised.

• How much more "exciting and competitive competition" could you have than the final week preliminary section match-up between Lagan and Ballynafeigh, 2 if sixth place and entry into Division 1 depended on it? 
• What about plucky Bangor and a possible 8-3 split - is the reward for the seasiders in being the only team this season to even share the points with Fisherwick to be a favourite's chance to win the silverware in Division 2 rather than have a few more shots at the big stars in Division 1?

Martin on the move - Rookie reports

Four days - eight games. That was the unlikely scenario for Martin Kelly, chess captain of Belfast South. Last Thursday, his team stormed to a 5.5-1.5 victory over Muldoons, with Rev. Ray Devenney "collaring" Gareth Annesley and Flying Dutchman Siebren Westra "nicking" a point from Nicholas Pilkiewicz. Martin lost in a friendly on board 6 against Rodney Orr - "orr" did he?

Last weekend, Martin won the Ulster Masters Junior title with 3.5/6, including draws with Damien Cunningham, Mark Newman and Robert Lavery. He also beat Stephen "Scarborough fair" and square! Some people wonder why Martin's rating is still only 1335 and they are quite right to wonder!

On Monday, Belfast South played champions Fisherwick with a second Dutchman, Maxim Le Clercq, "thrown into the deep end" against Michael Waters. With the Fisherwick big two top boards both winning and the other boards drawing, they won 5.5-1.5. Where was Martin? Across the road in the Belfast South Monday Tournament, drawing with Chris Armstrong. No rest for the wicked, as he heads off this weekend with Cathal Murphy and Philip Morrison - The Three Musketeers - to Kilkenny. A report will follow.

League begins, intensity and flexibility beckon

Monday night saw the Belfast and District League get underway with defending champions Fisherwick just getting the better of one of the three Ballynafeigh entrants. On Tuesday another Ballynafeigh team lost at home to Belfast South, the latter boosted by the acquisition of Bruce MacLean and with webmaster Sam Flanagan finally making his debut, Hat tip to the latter for alerting us to the presence of two new club websites - newbies Lindores and the imperious Fisherwick.

On Wednesday Lindores put out a strong line-up and thumped Fruithill 5-0 while on Thursday the revived Civil Service suffered a heavy 1-4 home defeat to Lagan. The third Ballynafeigh team was also in action on Thursday night against Bangor, but no word yet on the result from the furthest reaches of the League (err, that's Groomsport). One piece of good news from the grapevine is that despite my earlier concerns, it appears the seasiders will be putting out a very decent side this season. Further reaction to opening week coming here soon.

So the 2013-2014 season is now in full swing and tournaments are coming thick and fast. The intensity bit is this Sunday's (20th October) Civil Service Rapidplay and the flexibility is Belfast South's so-called "Autumn Tournament" which stretches a marathon 20 weeks from Monday 21st October until (and here's an intriguing choice for the finale) St Patrick's Day 2014.

New League Season

The fixture list for the 2013-14 Belfast and District Leagues has been posted at the Ballynafeigh CC website, the mouthpiece for League Controller, Damien Cunningham. Hats off to him for getting the whole thing started a week earlier than last year - with Easter 2014 at a late date, there should be no problem fitting in even 21 games before then. Good news is that there are an even number of 12 teams, one up from last year.

Two new entrants, from opposite ends of the Upper Newtownards Road, join the lists. An old name, Civil Service, returns. About 5 years ago the club members decamped to another multi-sports club, the Belfast Boat Club, where they now play under the Lagan designation. There hasn't been a mass return, because apart from UCU Chairman, Geoff Hindley, it's an entirely new group that has set up shop at the Maynard Sinclair Pavilion. At the other end of the road Calum Leitch has gathered a group of coffee house players for his team at the Lindores Cafe. Another watering hole, this time in the city centre (well more or less), Muldoon's Pub, provides another new name for the League, albeit this is the former Mallusk team in disguise, though we are promised that they have added 2 or 3 heavy-hitters to their squad.

New clubs and rejuvenated teams are very welcome news, but where have they got their players from? Answer, in the main, seems to be from Ballynafeigh. This club, still in infancy itself, has very rapidly become the big club in Belfast. It's perhaps not surprising that some of its members may want to try to do the same trick somewhere else, and we understand the leavers go with the good wishes of Ballynafeigh supremo Cunningham. Perhaps he was just delighted not to have to employ his carpentry skills to build a mezzanine floor in the Ballynafeigh clubroom to fit everyone in. Does all this mean Ballynafeigh will have to reduce its teams for the new season? Not at all - such is Cunningham's ability to attract new members, it will still be three teams turning out this season for the Ormeau Road club. How they all fare in the League will depend on whether one of their teams is loaded with their top-rated players.

Last year the new boys on the block were Belfast South, mainly made up of Fisherwick émigrés. They set up in the equally new Agape Centre on the Lisburn Road, but rumour has it that they were pining so much for the Malone Road, that they have moved back to just across the road from their old club in the Bankers Club, where the Summer Tournament was held this year. Despite the loss of players, Fisherwick easily retained the League title in 2012-13, though not without the schizophrenic situation of the new boys webmaster turning out for his "old" team. I expect Fisherwick to be once again the team to beat this season.

Fruithill were another "new" club last year, essentially a reincarnation of RVH, the big team of the "noughties". Their results were variable as they often put out under-strength teams but if, and it's a big if, they can get their best team out every week they could spring a surprise.

After Fisherwick, Bombardier and Bangor are the oldest-established clubs. Both are usually solid performers and it will be interesting to see if Bombardier can come ahead of their new east Belfast neighbours, Civil Service and Lindores. Bangor put out two teams last year, but there were worrying rumours that mass apathy might see them fail to enter the League, but the Groomsport-based club will after all have one team representing their interests. Hopefully, a bit of consolidation will lead to an improved commitment.

So, good luck to all the teams. With a lot of changes in the line-up of clubs in recent times, an interesting season beckons.

Kelly excels in Dublin

While many preferred the Ulster Rapidplay on Easter Monday, one hardy soul ventured South for the whole holiday weekend and picked up some prize-money for his efforts. Rookie reports:

At Easter in Dublin, Martin Kelly (Belfast South) followed up his 4/6 in the Gonzaga Under-1800s with 5/7 in the e2e4 Under-1750 Major. He was unbeaten in the 7 round event.

Final results of e2e4 Dublin Major

After a first round travelling bye, Kelly was full of the "joyce" of spring after a difficult draw with Stephen Joyce. After a win and draw in the next two rounds, he was able to "waltz" past Cathal Walsh in Round Five in the game below:

[Event "e2e4 Major"] [Site "Dublin"] [Date "2013.03.31"] [Round "5"] [White "Kelly, Martin"] [Black "Walsh, Cathal"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B90"] [Annotator "Kelly"] [PlyCount "74"] [EventDate "2013.03.29"] [SourceDate "2013.04.11"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. a4 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be2 Be6 9. Bg5 Nbd7 10. f4 h6 11. Bxf6 Nxf6 12. f5 Bd7 13. O-O Rc8 14. Kh1 Rxc3 $5 15. bxc3 Nxe4 16. Qd3 Nf6 17. Bf3 Qc7 18. Nd2 O-O 19. Ne4 Nxe4 ({Not} 19... Bxf5 {because} 20. Nxf6+ {wins a piece.}) 20. Bxe4 f6 {To avoid 21.f6.} 21. Qd5+ Kh8 22. Qxb7 Qxb7 23. Bxb7 a5 24. c4 Rb8 25. Ba6 Rb2 26. Bb5 $1 Bxb5 27. axb5 Rxc2 28. Rxa5 Rxc4 29. b6 Kh7 30. Ra7 Bd8 31. b7 Bc7 32. Rb1 h5 33. Ra8 Kh6 34. Rc8 $1 Kg5 35. Rxc7 Rxc7 36. b8=Q Rc4 37. Qxd6 Kxf5 $2 {38. Qd3 wins the Rook.} (37... Rf4) 1-0

In Round Six on Board Two, joint leader Ronan Murphy was "groanin'" after losing to Kelly in a swashbuckling, sacrificial game, not for the fainthearted. The final round saw Kelly on Board One face last year's winner, Bulgarian Atanis Kouthev, nicknamed "Attack" or "Attila the Hun", who was a half point clear and needed only a draw to win. Kelly remembered losing on Board Two in the last round at Gonzaga but knew a win this time would get him a first prize of 400 Euros. Instead, he chickened out with a Grandmaster draw to finish second. What would you have done in the final position in the game below? Answers on a postcard to......ROOKIE.

[Event "e2e4 Major"] [Site "Dublin"] [Date "2013.04.01"] [Round "7"] [White "Kelly, Martin"] [Black "Kouthev, Atanas"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B07"] [Annotator "Kelly"] [PlyCount "18"] [EventDate "2013.03.29"] [SourceDate "2013.04.11"] 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 c5 4. dxc5 Qa5 5. cxd6 $5 Nxe4 6. dxe7 Bxe7 7. Bd2 ({ White considered} 7. Qd5) 7... Nxd2 8. Qxd2 Be6 9. Bb5+ Nc6 1/2-1/2

Ulster Rapidplay Championship

Dennis the Menace gently enquired about the health of this blog at the recent Nigel Short simul. Well, good news, despite the unseasonal weather, its long hibernation has ended as your blogmaster ventured forth to the Ulster Rapidplay Championship at Ballynafeigh Chess Club.

I cannot remember the Ulster Chess Union putting on an event over the Easter weekend before, but this innovation seems to have been a success with numbers up on recent rapidplay events. Whether this was in fact due to the supposed emergency meeting at the event in support of the Hollywood Two (Clooney and Alba), no-one at the venue was prepared to admit to overlooking that Easter Monday this year was also April Fool's Day.

My own play confirmed once again that my brain requires a turbo-booster and that my black openings need a considerable overhaul. Of course, playing in a quickplay event means that you don't get much of a chance to see what's happening on the other boards, but I did catch the closing stages of the Round 5 game between the top two seeds Gareth Annesley and John Masterson, which was pivotal to the overall outcome of the Championship. My first look at the game came with Masterson down to his last minute and a half with Annesley having about three times that amount of time. However John is renowned for whipping up attacks with his flag hanging even in longer time limits and so it proved here also. About five minutes later it was clear, based on the constant bagging of pieces and clock, that both players were very short of time, and Masterson delivered checkmate with one second only left! (Don't you just love these digital clocks.) Going into the sixth and last round Masterson had a 100% score of 5 wins, a full point ahead of a trio of players from the host club - Danny Mallaghan and the two Damiens, Cunningham and Lavery.

Masterson was paired with Cunningham and the latter, finding himself in a difficult situation, cleverly offered a draw which guaranteed Masterson the Championship while also ensuring third place for himself. In the other battle for the top prizes, Mallaghan overcame Lavery to take the second spot on the podium. The under 1600 (or was it 1500?) Grading Prize was won by Steven Eachus, while even three tie-break methods could not separate Stephen Critchlow and Mond Parissis for the under 1200 equivalent.

The new date was not the only change for this year's Championship. Instead of starting play at 10.00am, registration for the event didn't even start until midday. Instead of having a lunchtime break, players could have a leisurely morning, get themselves a big breakfast and still get home at a decent hour for their evening meal. If by any chance anyone got a bit peckish, the traditional Ballynafeigh coffee and biscuits were available. The event was run very efficiently by Ballynafeigh's resident fairy tale teller Damien Cunningham and UCU Secretary Mark Newman and even finished about 10 minutes ahead of the scheduled 6.30 pm finish time. So, a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon's entertainment and the when the sun eventually came out in mid-afternoon, you could even gaze over to Ormeau Park at the host of golden daffodils, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

No Name                  Total  1    2    3    4    5    6   Prize

1  John Masterson        5.5   21:W 14:W  6:W  4:W  5:W  3:D First
2  Danny Mallaghan       5     27:W 15:L 20:W 11:W  8:W  4:W Second
3  Damien Cunningham     4.5   13:W  6:L 21:W 12:W 14:W  1:D Third
4  Damien Lavery         4     20:W  8:W 15:W  1:L  7:W  2:L
5  Gareth Annesley       4      0:D  9:W 12:W  7:W  1:L  6:D
6  Steven Eachus         4     26:W  3:W  1:L 17:W  9:D  5:D Grading
7  Ian Woodfield         4     19:W 11:W 16:W  5:L  4:L 15:W
8  Thomas Donaldson      4     23:W  4:L 31:W 13:W  2:L 16:W
9  Paul McLoughlin       4     22:D  5:L 27:W 16:W  6:D 13:W
10 Mark Newman           4     18:W 16:L 13:L 29:W 19:W 14:W
11 Mohamed Saad          4     28:W  7:L 24:W  2:L 25:W 20:W
12 Chris Armstrong       3.5   24:W 17:W  5:L  3:L 20:D 22:W
13 Mathew Chapman        3      3:L 25:W 10:W  8:L 17:W  9:L
14 Karina Kruk           3     25:W  1:L 19:W 15:W  3:L 10:L
15 Tony Redden           3     29:W  2:W  4:L 14:L 18:W  7:L
16 Robert Lavery         3     30:W 10:W  7:L  9:L 26:W  8:L
17 David McAlister       3     31:W 12:L 18:W  6:L 13:L 25:W
18 Steve Critchlow       3     10:L 26:W 17:L 22:W 15:L 24:W Grading
19 Mond Parissis         3      7:L 28:W 14:L 24:W 10:L 26:W Grading
20 William Storey        2.5    4:L 23:W  2:L 30:W 12:D 11:L
21 Colin Fenton          2.5    1:L 22:W  3:L 25:L 28:W 23:D
22 Stephen Scarborough   2.5    9:D 21:L 29:W 18:L 31:W 12:L
23 David Seaby           2.5    8:L 20:L 26:L 27:W 30:W 21:D
24 Adrian Dornford-Smyth 2     12:L  0:W 11:L 19:L 29:W 18:L
25 Ram Rajam             2     14:L 13:L 28:W 21:W 11:L 17:L
26 Patrick Magee         2      6:L 18:L 23:W 31:W 16:L 19:L
27 Iza Bujak             2      2:L 29:L  9:L 23:L  0:W 30:W
28 Dayna Ferguson        2     11:L 19:L 25:L  0:W 21:L 31:W
29 Paul Anderson         2     15:L 27:W 22:L 10:L 24:L  0:W
30 Daniel Ferguson       1     16:L 31:L  0:W 20:L 23:L 27:L
31 Honor Parissis        1     17:L 30:W  8:L 26:L 22:L 28:L

Ballynafeigh Super Series 2012 finale

The final event in the Ballynafeigh Super Series took place last night. Many of the usual suspects had returned but there were a couple of newcomers too. 27 souls in total eventually turned up, the second-best attendance of the four tournaments. These included Gareth Annesley, who just happened to be walking past the Ballynafeigh Community House, saw the lights in the upstairs windows, remembered it was Tuesday night and reckoned "there be chess players up there". The Beard welcomed him like a long-lost relative and asked yours truly was there any way we could squeeze Gareth into the draw. Even though we'd been going nearly half-an-hour, I was up for the challenge and gave the big man a travelling bye for Round 1. Trouble was, with the accelerated draw already underway, there was a danger of him stomping all over a couple of 1100s for the next two rounds, but after fiddling with the innards of SwissPerfect, I found a solution that allowed him to roam with the other big beasts without troubling the impalas.

Anyway, enough of the preliminaries, the first few rounds seemed to have less shocks than some of the previous editions, and in this calm state it looked as if the Round 4 showdown between the top two seeds, Michael Waters and Steve Scannell, would decide the winner.

Throughout the evening, I had become aware of rock music seeping through the windows but it was very difficult to pinpoint exactly where it was coming from. It was almost as if Chris Millar, fabled promoter of the quick chess-background music combination, was influencing events. When I raised this conundrum with the Sultan, Ballynafeigh's eminence grise, he informed me that the music was drifting over from the other big event of the evening in Belfast, an open air concert being given by the Foo Fighters to 30,000 fans in Boucher Road.

Back in our own little Nirvana, things had taken an unexpected turn. Scannell had beaten Waters in the battle of the giants and general expectation was that he would go on serenely to take the top prize. But we had reckoned without Stephen Morgan, making his debut in the Ballynafeigh Super Series. After a theoretical Gruenfeld Defence (something of a rarity in Ulster chess) Scannell seemed to have Morgan in a spot of bother in the endgame (two bishops, passed pawn) but the latter had other ideas, creating a passed pawn of his own which was to cost Scannell one of his bishops and ultimately the game. When I mentioned to Scannell that he seemed to have lost a theoretically won ending, he good-naturedly put this patzer in his place by telling me I needed to study some of the 1990 World Championship Gruenfeld endgames before making such sweeping statements.

So instead of a single winner and a nice easy prize allocation, we had four players tied first. Oh, dear, only two main prizes to give out, so recourse had to be made to the dreaded tie-breaks. Unfortunately for the gallant Morgan, the tie-break placed him third and therefore out of the prizes. Scannell had just hung on for first with Waters second. Ian Woodfield, who had beaten Super Series One winner Damien Lavery in the final round in a flurry of hands moving pieces and pressing clock-levers, was fourth in this tie-break evaluation but had the considerable consolation of winning the under 1900 Grading Prize.

The other two Grading Prizes also went to tie-break with Niall Troughton just edging out Tony Redden for the under 1600 Section with Ram Rajan marginally ahead of John Monaghan in the under 1300s. In what I hope is a small consolation for missing out in a prize by the slimmest of margins in each case, our three unlucky tie-break losers were offered free entry next time they come to a Ballynafeigh-organised event. Hopefully, we can give them that opportunity next Summer when, all other things being equal, the Beard and I plan to run the Super Series again. However, before that comes around, we are hoping to do something in October before the league season starts, something a little different which hopefully will be sufficiently interesting to attract our faithful participants back to the Ormeau Road. Look our for details here or at the Ballynafeigh CC website (or possibly a personal e-mail from the Beard himself).

Having finished the prizegiving and made a desultory attempt to help in putting away the tables and chairs, it was time to wend my way home. As I drove up the Malone Road and then on to Balmoral Avenue and Stockmans Lane I passed many happy concert-goers walking home from their night-out listening to Dave Grohl and co. Hopefully our own little events have given our paying customers an equally good time.

No Name              Rtg  Total  1    2    3    4    5   Prize

1  Stephen Scannell  2046 4     12:W 15:W  4:W  2:W  3:L First
2  Michael Waters    2132 4      5:W 23:W  3:W  1:L  6:W Second
3  Stephen Morgan    1969 4     17:W  6:W  2:L  7:W  1:W
4  Ian Woodfield     1689 4      9:W  8:W  1:L 13:W  5:W Grading U1900
5  Damien Lavery     1725 3      2:L 13:W 11:W 10:W  4:L
6  Damien Cunningham 1649 3     16:W  3:L 15:W 14:W  2:L
7  Gareth Annesley   1921 3      0:D 16:W  8:W  3:L  9:D
8  Mark Newman       1781 3     10:W  4:L  7:L 19:W 18:W
9  Eamonn Walls      1954 3      4:L 18:D 14:W 25:W  7:D
10 John McKenna      1633 3      8:L 19:W 23:W  5:L 21:W
11 Niall Troughton   1562 3     15:L 12:W  5:L 16:W 17:W Grading U1600
12 John Bradley      1723 3      1:L 11:L 22:W 27:W 20:W
13 Tony Redden       1537 3     22:W  5:L 26:W  4:L 15:W 
14 Mathew Chapman    1345 2.5   26:W 17:D  9:L  6:L 24:W
15 Danny Mallaghan   1780 2     11:W  1:L  6:L 22:W 13:L
16 Desmond Moreland  1801 2      6:L  7:L 19:W 11:L 27:W
17 Sam Flanagan      1706 2      3:L 14:D 20:W 18:D 11:L
18 Steven Eachus     1546 2     23:L  9:D 21:W 17:D  8:L
19 Colin Fenton      1356 2     27:W 10:L 16:L  8:L 25:W
20 William Storey    1329 2     24:D 25:W 17:L 21:D 12:L
21 Ram Rajan              2     25:D 24:W 18:L 20:D 10:L Grading U1300
22 John Monaghan     1110 2     13:L 27:W 12:L 15:L 26:W
23 Callum Ormerod    1756 2     18:W  2:L 10:L 26:W  0: 
24 Paul Anderson     671  1.5   20:D 21:L 25:L  0:W 14:L
25 Gary Johnston     1167 1.5   21:D 20:L 24:W  9:L 19:L
26 Paul Logan        1007 1     14:L  0:W 13:L 23:L 22:L
27 Patrick Magee     1039 1     19:L 22:L  0:W 12:L 16:L

Third Ballynafeigh Super Series quickplay

The June 2012 edition of the Ballynafeigh Super Series was slotted neatly between the Euro2012 football semi-finals, and for July it was placed between the end of the Tour de France and the start of the Olympic Games. This time quality and quantity were even better than before; 32 players taking part, with big-hitters like Michael Waters, Stephen Scannell, Eamonn Walls and Gareth Annesley vying with quickplay specialists Des Moreland, Damien Lavery and Damien Cunningham plus strong Intermediate players like Danny Mallaghan, Mark Newman, Ian Woodfield and Sam Flanagan. Throw into the mix a host of competitors fighting for three grading prizes and an exciting tournament was almost guaranteed. There were plenty of upset wins by lower-rated players (as a careful perusal of the crosstable below will show) but most of the usual suspects rose to the top in the battle for first place. In the end the tight nature of the contest was shown when three players - Scannell, Waters and Walls - tied for first on 4 points from 5 games. Scannell, Ballynafeigh's principal standard-bearer, had the best tie-break and was awarded first place, while even the tie-breaks couldn't separate the two Fisherwick players, Waters and Walls, who therefore shared the second prize. Grading prizes went to David Conlon, Matthew Chapman (both of the host club) and RVH's John Monaghan.

No Name                  Total  1    2    3    4    5   Prize

1  Stephen Scannell      4      7:W  4:W  2:D  3:W  6:D First
2  Michael Waters        4     15:W  8:D  1:D 21:W  7:W Second equal
3  Eamonn Walls          4     11:W 16:W 20:W  1:L 10:W Second equal
4  Desmond Moreland      3.5   26:W  1:L  8:W  5:D 16:W
5  David Conlon          3.5    6:W 15:L 12:W  4:D 17:W Grading U1700
6  Damien Lavery         3.5    5:L 18:W 23:W 24:W  1:D
7  Ian Woodfield         3      1:L 10:W 21:W 20:W  2:L
8  Gareth Annesley       3     23:W  2:D  4:L 25:D 15:W
9  Mark Newman           3     16:L 17:W 11:W 10:L 21:W
10 Mathew Chapman        3     32:W  7:L 27:W  9:W  3:L Grading U1500
11 Damien Cunningham     3      3:L 22:W  9:L 26:W 25:W
12 John Monaghan         3     24:W 23:L  5:L 19:W 20:W Grading U1200
13 Tony Redden           3     17:D 20:L 28:W 14:D 22:W
14 Colin Fenton          3     22:L 32:W 18:D 13:D 24:W
15 Sam Flanagan          2.5    2:L  5:W 16:D 29:W  8:L
16 Niall Troughton       2.5    9:W  3:L 15:D 28:W  4:L
17 Danny Mallaghan       2.5   13:D  9:L 25:W 18:W  5:L
18 Robert Lavery         2.5   30:W  6:L 14:D 17:L 29:W
19 Ram Rajan             2.5   29:D 25:L 26:W 12:L 28:W
20 Richard Gould         2     27:W 13:W  3:L  7:L 12:L
21 Martin Kelly          2     31:W 27:W  7:L  2:L  9:L
22 Paul Anderson         2     14:W 11:L 24:L 23:W 13:L
23 Paul McLoughlin       2      8:L 12:W  6:L 22:L 30:W
24 Mohamed Saad          2     12:L 31:W 22:W  6:L 14:L
25 Chris Armstrong       2     28:D 19:W 17:L  8:D 11:L
26 Dennis Wilkinson      2      4:L 30:W 19:L 11:L 31:W
27 Callum Ormerod        2     20:L 21:L 10:L 30:W 32:W
28 Paul Logan            1.5   25:D 29:W 13:L 16:L 19:L
29 Garry Johnston        1.5   19:D 28:L 31:W 15:L 18:L
30 Adrian Dornford Smith 1     18:L 26:L 32:W 27:L 23:L
31 Patrick Magee         1     21:L 24:L 29:L 32:W 26:L
32 Charlie Logan         0     10:L 14:L 30:L 31:L 27:L

Top seeds Waters and Scannell fought out an entertaining draw in Round 3.

[Event "Ballynafeigh Super Series 3"] [Site "?"] [Date "2012.07.24"] [Round "3"] [White "Waters, Michael"] [Black "Scannell, Stephen"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A04"] [PlyCount "68"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1997.11.17"] 1. b3 c5 2. Bb2 d6 3. e3 Nc6 4. Nf3 e5 5. d4 e4 6. Nfd2 d5 7. c4 Nf6 8. cxd5 Qxd5 9. Bc4 Qf5 10. O-O cxd4 11. exd4 Bd6 12. g3 O-O 13. Re1 Re8 14. Nf1 Qh3 15. Ne3 Bg4 16. Bf1 Qh5 17. Nxg4 Nxg4 18. h3 Nf6 19. Qxh5 Nxh5 20. Nd2 f5 21. g4 fxg4 22. Nxe4 Bb4 23. hxg4 Bxe1 24. Rxe1 Nf6 25. Nxf6+ gxf6 26. Bc4+ Kg7 27. Rd1 Rad8 28. d5 Ne5 29. g5 fxg5 30. Bb5 Re7 31. d6 Re6 32. Bc4 Ree8 33. Bb5 Re6 34. Bc4 Ree8 1/2-1/2

Ballynafeigh Super Series - June edition

With the European Football Championships taking a short break before their semi-finals, we cunningly scheduled the second edition of the Ballynafeigh Super Series for Tuesday 26th June. Interest is high in the Series so Damien Cunningham tries to ensure we don't overtax the capacity at Ballynafeigh Community Centre. So it was a disappointment that four players had to cry off on the night but Damien still conjured up four replacements.

I was again controlling the event and decided on experimenting with an accelerated draw in the five-round Swiss to get the main contestants for the first prize to meet each other a little earlier and also give the lower rated players a more equitable list of opponents in their search for grading prizes. Overall, I think it worked quite well and more than likely I will give the system another chance next time.

Ulster Champion Michael Waters had one of his rare off-days at the May Super series event but looked in determined mood from the off this time, in particular showing good time management, and raced to four wins out of four. Nearest pursuers were on three points so Waters only needed a draw in the final round. Despite this he didn't go for safety first and rolled out the risky Albin Counter Gambit - game on! Waters had clearly equalised by move 12 but then Masterson "started sacrificing pieces like Tal" as his opponent put it. It didn't look sound (but then Tal's attacks often didn't) and Waters, with his eye firmly fixed on overall victory, decided discretion is the better part of valour and allowed a perpetual check which Masterson had no option but to take.

Now to the grading prizes: Damien Lavery, winner of the May event, conceded draws in Rounds 1 and 3 to Steven Eachus and Damien Cunningham, but wins in the final two rounds, brought him the over 1700 Grading Prize and he was the only other unbeaten player after Waters. Karina Kruk beat Ballynafeigh Rascals team-mate Robert Lavery in the final round to secure the 1400-1700 Prize. However Robert's overall efforts (which included a brave attacking effort against May runner-up Des Moreland) secured the Under 1400 Prize on tie-break from Chris Armstrong.

Ballynafeigh Super Series - June 2012
Final Crosstable

No Name                  Total  1    2    3    4    5   Prize

1  Michael Waters        4.5    8:W 15:W 14:W 12:W  5:D Winner
2  Karina Kruk           4     20:W 10:W  7:L  6:W  9:W 1400-1700 Grading
3  Damien Lavery         4     13:D  4:W 12:D 16:W 11:W Over 1700 Grading
4  Gareth Annesley       3.5    0:D  3:L  8:W 15:W 12:W
5  John Masterson        3.5    6:W 12:L 18:W 17:W  1:D
6  Sam Flanagan          3      5:L 11:W 15:W  2:L 14:W
7  Desmond Moreland      3     12:L 17:W  2:W  9:L 18:W
8  John Bradley          3      1:L 16:W  4:L 22:W 17:W
9  Robert Lavery         3     23:W 18:L 13:W  7:W  2:L Under 1400 Grading
10 Danny Mallaghan       3     14:L  2:L 21:W 19:W 16:W
11 Chris Armstrong       3     22:   6:L 20:W 14:W  3:L
12 Damien Cunningham     2.5    7:W  5:W  3:D  1:L  4:L
13 Steven Eachus         2.5    3:D 14:L  9:L 21:W 20:W
14 Chris Black           2     10:W 13:W  1:L 11:L  6:L
15 Mark Newman           2     18:W  1:L  6:L  4:L 23:W
16 Mohamed Saad          2     21:W  8:L 19:W  3:L 10:L
17 Richard Gould         2     19:W  7:L 22:W  5:L  8:L
18 Paul McLoughlin       2     15:L  9:W  5:L 23:W  7:L
19 Dennis Wilkinson      2     17:L 23:W 16:L 10:L 22:W
20 Garry Johnston        1.5    2:L 21:D 11:L  0:W 13:L
21 Patrick Magee         1.5   16:L 20:D 10:L 13:L  0:W
22 Adrian Dornford Smith 1     11:L  0:W 17:L  8:L 19:L
23 Paul Anderson         1      9:L 19:L  0:W 18:L 15:L

[Event "Ballynafeigh Super Series"] [Site "Belfast"] [Date "2012.06.26"] [Round "5"] [White "Masterson, John"] [Black "Waters, Michael"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D08"] [PlyCount "47"] [EventDate "2012.06.26"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1997.11.17"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 d4 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. a3 Bg4 6. Nbd2 Qd7 7. g3 Nge7 8. Bg2 Ng6 9. O-O Be7 10. b4 O-O-O 11. c5 Ncxe5 12. Nxe5 Nxe5 13. f4 d3 14. fxe5 dxe2 15. Qb3 Qd4+ 16. Kh1 exf1=Q+ 17. Nxf1 Qxa1 18. Qa4 Kb8 19. Bxb7 Qxc1 20. Bg2 Qc4 21. Qc6 Kc8 22. Qb7+ Kd7 23. Qc6+ Kc8 24. Qb7+ 1/2-1/2

Ballynafeigh May Rapidplay results

Tuesday 22nd May saw the first in a summer series of rapidplay tournaments at Ballynafeigh Chess Club. A strong field included Michael Waters, Stephen Scannell, Eamonn Walls and Gareth Annesley, but there were shocks from an early stage and in the end Damien Lavery and Desmond Moreland rose to the top. The latter two won their first four games before drawing with each other in the fifth and final round. Lavery took first prize on tie-break. Grading prizes went to Ballynafeigh pied-piper Damien Cunningham and Mohamed Saad.

Final Crosstable

No Name                  Total  1    2    3    4    5   Prize

1  Damien Lavery         4.5   17:W  5:W  3:W 10:W  2:D First
2  Desmond Moreland      4.5   13:W 15:W  6:W  7:W  1:D Second
3  Gareth Annesley       4      9:W 11:W  1:L 14:W  8:W
4  Eamonn Walls          4     14:L 21:W 18:W  6:W  7:W
5  Stephen Scannell      3.5   18:W  1:L 11:D 12:W 15:W
6  Damien Cunningham     3     12:W  8:W  2:L  4:L 11:W Under 1800 Grading
7  Danny Mallaghan       3     21:W 16:W 14:W  2:L  4:L
8  Calum Leitch          3     19:W  6:L  9:W 15:W  3:L
9  David Conlon          3      3:L 17:W  8:L 20:W 16:W
10 John Bradley          3     16:L 20:W 22:W  1:L 14:W
11 Ian Woodfield         2.5   22:W  3:L  5:D 13:W  6:L
12 Michael Waters        2.5    6:L 13:D 21:W  5:L 19:W
13 Mohamed Saad          2.5    2:L 12:D 23:W 11:L 20:W Under 1400 Grading
14 Karina Kruk           2      4:W 23:W  7:L  3:L 10:L
15 Sam Flanagan          2     20:W  2:L 16:W  8:L  5:L
16 Robert Lavery         2     10:W  7:L 15:L 18:W  9:L
17 Paul Anderson         2      1:L  9:L 19:L  0:W 22:W
18 Paul McLoughlin       2      5:L 19:W  4:L 16:L 23:W
19 Chris Armstrong       2      8:L 18:L 17:W 22:W 12:L
20 Adrian Dornford-Smyth 1     15:L 10:L  0:W  9:L 13:L
21 Martin Kelly          1      7:L  4:L 12:L 23:W  0:-
22 Ram Rajan             1     11:L  0:W 10:L 19:L 17:L
23 Paul Adamson          .5     0:D 14:L 13:L 21:L 18:L

Rapidplay at Ballynafeigh

Ballynafeigh Chess Club are running some rapidplay tournaments over the summer at their clubroom on Tuesday evenings. Planned schedule is to have one a month. Damien Cunningham has modestly christened this addition to the local chess calendar as the Ballynafeigh Super Series.

I'm going to be controlling at the first one on Tuesday 22nd May. There will be five rounds, 15 minutes each player per game. Players need to be there by 7.30 pm and the whole thing should be wrapped up by 11.00pm. I'm reliably informed places are going fast and there's already a good field entered for the series opener, so if you're thinking of playing get in touch pronto with Damien - his contact details are at the Ballynafeigh CC website.

Waters wins Williamson centenary edition

Michael Waters continued his right vein of form to win the 2012 Williamson Shield, 100 years on from its first edition. Crucial to his overall victory was a round 5 win over nine-time Williamson champion, Stephen Scannell. Waters went into the game with full points from his previous four games, with Scannell a half-point behind after taking a half-point bye on Saturday night. Waters with the Black pieces was content with a draw but was clever enough to offer the possibility of a pawn race between rival a- and h-pawns in a bishop and 4-pawn endgame. Scannell decided to grasp the opportunity to leap-frog his main rival for the title and played a move which looking like forcing Waters to give up his bishop to prevent the White a-pawn queening. But Waters countered immediately with a push of his h-pawn - he could afford to let his bishop go because now his pawn would queen first. Scannell immediately resigned.

Waters eventually finished with 5.5 points out of 6 after drawing with Danny Mallaghan, the only person who could still catch him, in the final round. That draw looked like securing Mallaghan one of the minor prizes; he had 4.5 points along with Ian Woodfield, who emerged the winner from a short but brutal battle with third-seed Gareth Annesley in the last round. The only other players who could reach 4.5 were Scannell and Callum Ormerod.  They were paired against each other and their game looked a certain draw from the time quite early in the game that a Queen and 5-pawn ending was reached. There were no obvious weaknesses to exploit or breakthroughs to make so it looked like the only thing Mallaghan and Woodfield had to worry about was who took second and who took third on tie-break.

However Scannell still had ambitions to make the prize-list and decided to try to tease out a win. The inexperienced Ormerod showed he had very strong nerves, worthy of a seasoned campaigner, and after a lot of careful manoeuvring, Scannell decided to take a very big risk to create complications, but in reality all he was doing was signing his own death warrant. Ormerod snaffled up the full-point to join those on 4.5. When the tie-break standings were calculated, it turned out that Ormerod was second, Woodfield third and despite his draw with the centenary champion, Mallaghan was remarkably out of the prizes.

Ross Harris won the 1300-1600 grading prize. Along the way he drew with the much higher- rated Mallaghan and Annesley and finished off his weekend by beating early pace-setter Damien Cunningham. Harris has just broken through the 1500 barrier and looks to be making strong strides towards 1600. He has the makings of a strong Intermediate player if he can continue to progress at his current rate. Raymond Smith took the under 1300 Grading Prize. Smith is one of those players who seems to raise his game against higher-rated opposition and he played a strong field in reaching 3.5 to win his prize on tie-break from the unlucky Gary Johnston.

Williamson Shield in early March

This year's Williamson Shield is a about a month later than usual. A few scheduling difficulties have pushed it back to the first weekend in March, but it's at its normal venue - the Maynard Sinclair Pavilion. You can find more details at the UCU website.

It will be interesting to see whether this time-slot proves popular with players. UCU Chairman John Cairns tells me that the entries so far are very encouraging with 5 of last year's top 7 already confirmed in the field. That 5 doesn't include last year's champion, Stephen Scannell, but he usually like to leave his entry late and it would be a big surprise if Scannell didn't turn up to defend his title. Main rival is likely to be Ulster champion, Michael Waters, who seems to be winning everything these days, but former winners Cairns and Gareth Annesley, the latter just back from a good performance in Bunratty, will no doubt be in the mix too.

I'm controlling the Williamson so I'm looking forward to seeing some excellent competition at close quarters.

Submarine gambit brings success for Annesley

The Bunratty weekender was held 17-19 February. The main event, the Masters,  had its strongest ever field and was won by English GM Michael Adams after a blitz play-off with former World Championship challenger Nigel Short. IM Mark Orr,  resident now for many years in Scotland, was the only Ulster player in that section and finished on 3.0 points.

There were four separate tournaments at Bunratty and four Ulster players competed in the second-tier Challengers section. Unfortunately two of them met in round one with Danny Mallaghan turning the rating list on its head by beating second seed Gareth Annesley. However Gareth shrugged off that setback to win his remaining five games and secure himself an equal first place with three others, though Jan Heinrich took the Challengers title on tie-break. Danny lost in rounds 2 and 3 but finished strongly by beating fourth seed Pete Morriss in the final round. The other two Ulster players were Cecil Sloan and Paul McLoughlin. Cecil finished on a very creditable 3.0 after playing a strong field, rated an average 161 points higher - he also beat the afore-mentioned Mr Morriss. Unfortunately Paul, who tends to blow either hot or cold, couldn't raise the temperatures of his opponents this time.

Check out the complete results at the Bunratty website

Blitz, Williamson, and Black is the new Black

The first ever Ulster Blitz Championship was held at the Belfast Boat Club on the 27th December. I popped in about 4pm to see how the final rounds unfolded. New UCU supremo (please note the alias el presidente is copyrighted) John Cairns had magically arranged that the four contenders for the title, the Robbin brothers, Cal Leitch and the veteran (at least in this company) speedster Damien Lavery were encountering each other in the final rounds. In round 13 Leitch and Kiran Robbin had "contrived" a grandmaster draw and once again proved the maxim "discretion is the better part of valour" when they ended up tied for first place. An Armageddon game was ordered to break the tie. Leitch had Black and less time but only needed to draw. After a complicated middle game that needed a proper amount of time rather a few seconds contemplation, Leitch came out a pawn ahead and carefully hoovered off the remaining material to leave K and P v. K. Just as I was trying to work out if he had the opposition (a lengthy process for me at the best of times) Leitch calmly offered the pawn up to his opponent - after all, he only needed a draw! 


For those who want an entertaining if fictionalised account of the event I warmly recommend the Beard's gossip column at the Ballynafeigh Chess Club website. I see the Beard is concerned about the embarrassment of not resigning when you've been completely mashed and provides video evidence of this phenomenon. I understand the Ulster Chess Union had arranged extensive video coverage of the event (coming to YouTube some time soon) so I look forward to examples of the equally embarrassing spectacle of some bozo having a completely won position and simply sitting there until his time runs out.


At the closing ceremony John Cairns announced that the next UCU competition will be the Williamson Shield. Although not absolutely confirmed as yet, expect it to be held on the first weekend in February at its normal venue, the Maynard Sinclair Pavilion in the Stormont estate. If I'm wrong, you didn't hear it from me!

Finally, those who have not lost the will to live (or at least visit these pages) due to my rather infrequent blogs will note that the website has had a makeover - Black is the new Black in Ulster chess circles as I now realise I have come dangerously close to plagiarising Sam Flanagan's house-style over at his Malone Chess Team website. Still it has to be better than the purple shag pile over at Ballynafeigh. BTW, congrats to my team-mates on the Angels for topping the League table at Christmas (my absence from the team-sheet obviously  instrumental!)

Rookie rides again

It took three seasons after 5 consecutive 5-2 defeats, but at last Malone beat Bangor in the UCU League on 8/12/11. Despite those defeats, Malone had won UCU League Division Two in the last two campaigns. How ironic it would be if Bangor go on to win it this season.

Groomsport was the windswept setting for the match and Bangor got "the wind up" when captain Martin Kelly's favourite Vienna Gambit "waltzed" to victory against young "ashen-faced" Ashley McWhinney. The 2011 Henderson Cup winner was able to "make winning" moves against McWhinney as shown below.

R. Proctor "gambled" and lost to J. Bryars, while D. Ruben avoided a "drubbing" by drawing against P. McLaughlin. P. McGuigan said "play it again, Sam" after beating Sam Flanagan to keep Bangor's hopes alive but it was "alan a day's work" for Stephen Morgan as he clinched victory for himself and Malone against Alan McConnell! The final score was Bangor 1.5-Malone 3.5.

[Event "UCU League prelim"] [Site "?"] [Date "2011.12.08"] [Round "7"] [White "Kelly, Martin"] [Black "McWhinney, Ashley"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C29"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "2011.10.??"] [EventType "team"] [WhiteTeam "Malone"] [BlackTeam "Bangor"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 Nc6 4. fxe5 Nxe5 5. d4 Ng6 6. e5 Ng8 7. Nf3 Bb4 8. Bc4 h6 9. O-O d6 10. Bxf7+ $1 Kf8 ({If} 10... Kxf7 11. Ng5+ ({or} 11. Nh4+ { wins.})) 11. Bxg6 Ne7 12. Ng5+ Kg8 13. Nf7 Qd7 14. Nxh8 Kxh8 15. Rf8+ Ng8 16. Bf7 dxe5 17. Rxg8+ Kh7 18. Qd3+ Qf5 19. Qxf5+ Bxf5 20. Rxa8 exd4 21. Nd5 Bc5 22. Kf1 c6 23. Nf4 1-0

Ulster Masters

The Ulster Chess Union has announced a new event on their calendar: the 2011 Ulster Masters, to be played on the weekend of the 10th-11th December at the Belfast Boat Club.

EDIT 07/12/2011: Entry fee reduced from £20 to £12 (£10 if entered by 09/12/2011)

Full details at the UCU website