The Annual Citi Charity Rapidplay took place on July 24th 2025.

Some 42 players gathered to raise money for Air Ambulance Northern Ireland. Organised by Citi's chess team captain Michael Devine.

Michael Devine, myself and Oisin Cinnsealach setup the Citi Canteen for the chess tournament - with 24 sets and clocks spread out across the room. Awaiting an event to raise money for Citi's charity of choice - Air Ambulance Northern Ireland. It takes a team effort to organise such an event, many thanks to Citi Security, Canteen Staff and the Building Management team. Coffee and tea and water were supplied. Edward Khanzharov ( A FIDE National Arbiter) assisted as deputy Arbiter.

As people arrived they were checked-in by security and Citi employees brought them up to the canteen.

An evening of brilliant chess followed with five rounds of 12min each player as a time control. Mark Newman was the arbiter. After each round the results were placed into the Swiss Master pairing system and the next round drawn and placed on the wall. Players finding their tables and with a polite "lets start the round shake-hands and start the clocks" from the controller and the chess was away with the room full of silent concentration - a beautiful noise. With players of all abilities and ages and from numerous chess clubs.

With 42 players we split the final standings with grading awards for Under 1700 and Under 1550.

We raised some £468 for Air Ambulance Northern Ireland - many thanks to all those who contributed.

https://justgiving.com/page/citi-belfast-133

Round 1.

Table		Score		Score	Result

1	Tahmankar, Mandar	0	Gunning, Joe	0	1-0
2	Campbell,Peter	0	McClean, Caleb	0	0-1
3	Jeffers, David	0	Armstrong, Chris	0	1-0
4	Mounsey, Hamish	0	May, Peter	0	0-1
5	Cole, Ethan	0	Neill, Chris	0	1-0
6	Dumigan, Owen	0	Campbell, Andrew	0	0-1
7	Kher, Aashay	0	Micheal, Alangara	0	1-0
8	Corr, Jonah	0	Edens, Jack	0	1-0
9	Jackson, David	0	Murphy, Peter	0	0-1
10	Shambharkar, Ashish	0	Lavery, Robert	0	0-1
11	Blair, David	0	Quinn, Ronan	0	1-0
12	Corr, Freddie	0	Devine, Shane	0	0-1
13	Khanzharov, Edward	0	Cullen, Michael	0	1/2
14	Browne, Geoff	0	Reaney, Paul	0	0-1
15	Garvin, David	0	Ganja, Abhiram	0	1-0
16	Kinsella, Emmet	0	Corr, David	0	0-1
17	Cinnsealach, Oisín	0	McKeown, Alex	0	1/2
18	McLean, Jim	0	Banerjee, Aharshi	0	0-1
19	Neill, John	0	McKinley, Daniel	0	1-0
20	Park, Brendan	0	Murphy, Cathal	0	0-1
21	Devine, Michael	0	Ganja, Naja	0	1-0

Round 1 and this is possibly the hardest round for the lower rates players. I always enjoy playing tougher opponents. This gives you the opportunity to play past Ulster Champions like Mandar Tahmanakar and also up and coming players like the young Caleb McClean, Andrew Campbell and even younger Ethan Cole. Following the results from board 1 down we, they should follow a pattern 1-0, 0-1, 1-0, 0-1 ... if they fall to highest rating. We see an upset on board 8 where Jonah Corr gets an excellent win against Jack Eden. Also on board 9 another upset with Peter Murphy beating David Jackson. Other upsets are the draws, Micheal Cullen draws against Edward Khanzharov and the young Alex McKeown draws against Citi player Oisin Cinnsealach.

Round 2

Table		Score		Score	Result

1	Devine, Shane	1	Tahmankar, Mandar	1	0-1
2	McClean, Caleb	1	Garvin, David	1	1-0
3	Reaney, Paul	1	Jeffers, David	1	0-1
4	May, Peter	1	Neill, John	1	0-1
5	Corr, David	1	Cole, Ethan	1	0-1
6	Campbell, Andrew	1	Devine, Michael	1	1-0
7	Banerjee, Aharshi	1	Kher, Aashay	1	0-1
8	Lavery, Robert	1	Corr, Jonah	1	1-0
9	Murphy, Cathal	1	Blair, David	1	0-1
10	Murphy, Peter	1	Khanzharov, Edward	0.5	0-1
11	Cullen, Michael	0.5	Cinnsealach, Oisín	0.5	0-1
12	McKeown, Alex	0.5	Jackson, David	0	1-0
13	Edens, Jack	0	Corr, Freddie	0	1-0
14	Gunning, Joe	0	Browne, Geoff	0	1-0
15	Quinn, Ronan	0	Campbell,Peter	0	0-1
16	Armstrong, Chris	0	Kinsella, Emmet	0	1-0
17	Ganja, Abhiram	0	Mounsey, Hamish	0	0-1
18	Neill, Chris	0	McLean, Jim	0	1-0
19	McKinley, Daniel	0	Dumigan, Owen	0	0-1
20	Micheal, Alangara	0	Park, Brendan	0	0-1
21	Ganja, Naja	0	Shambharkar, Ashish	0	0-1

Round 2 see Alex McKeown continues his success by beating David Jackson. John Neill gets a good win against Peter May. The top players continue to add points.

Round 3

Table		Score		Score	Result

1	Tahmankar, Mandar	2	Campbell, Andrew	2	1-0
2	Kher, Aashay	2	McClean, Caleb	2	0-1
3	Jeffers, David	2	Lavery, Robert	2	0-1
4	Cole, Ethan	2	Blair, David	2	1-0
5	Neill, John	2	Cinnsealach, Oisín	1.5	1-0
6	Khanzharov, Edward	1.5	McKeown, Alex	1.5	1-0
7	Gunning, Joe	1	May, Peter	1	0-1
8	Campbell,Peter	1	Edens, Jack	1	0-1
9	Mounsey, Hamish	1	Devine, Shane	1	0-1
10	Dumigan, Owen	1	Reaney, Paul	1	0-1
11	Garvin, David	1	Armstrong, Chris	1	0-1
12	Corr, Jonah	1	Corr, David	1	0-1
13	Park, Brendan	1	Banerjee, Aharshi	1	0-1
14	Shambharkar, Ashish	1	Murphy, Cathal	1	1-0
15	Devine, Michael	1	Murphy, Peter	1	0-1
16	Cullen, Michael	0.5	Neill, Chris	1	1/2
17	Jackson, David	0	Ganja, Abhiram	0	1-0
18	Kinsella, Emmet	0	Micheal, Alangara	0	0-1
19	McLean, Jim	0	Quinn, Ronan	0	1-0
20	Corr, Freddie	0	McKinley, Daniel	0	1-0
21	Browne, Geoff	0	Ganja, Naja	0	0-1

Over half-way and Robert Lavery gets a good win against David Jeffers. We end with 5 players on full points. As the top players move in position to play each other. The leaders are Mandar Tahmankar, Caleb McClean, Robert Lavery, John Neill and Ethan Cole.

Round 4

Table		Score		Score	Result

1	Lavery, Robert	3	Tahmankar, Mandar	3	0-1
2	McClean, Caleb	3	Neill, John	3	1-0
3	Khanzharov, Edward	2.5	Cole, Ethan	3	1-0
4	Devine, Shane	2	Jeffers, David	2	0-1
5	May, Peter	2	Reaney, Paul	2	1/2
6	Campbell, Andrew	2	Corr, David	2	1-0
7	Armstrong, Chris	2	Kher, Aashay	2	1-0
8	Edens, Jack	2	Murphy, Peter	2	1-0
9	Blair, David	2	Shambharkar, Ashish	2	0-1
10	Banerjee, Aharshi	2	McKeown, Alex	1.5	1-0
11	Cinnsealach, Oisín	1.5	Neill, Chris	1.5	1-0
12	Micheal, Alangara	1	Jackson, David	1	0-1
13	Corr, Jonah	1	Garvin, David	1	0-1
14	Corr, Freddie	1	Devine, Michael	1	0-1
15	McLean, Jim	1	Gunning, Joe	1	0-1
16	Campbell,Peter	1	Cullen, Michael	1	1-0
17	Park, Brendan	1	Mounsey, Hamish	1	1-0
18	Ganja, Naja	1	Dumigan, Owen	1	0-1
19	Quinn, Ronan	0	Kinsella, Emmet	0	0-1
20	Ganja, Abhiram	0	Browne, Geoff	0	1-0


0	McKinley, Daniel	0			1 bye(PA)

With a player withdrawing a player at the bottom of the standings gains a full point bye. As we are left with an odd no of players. Mandar Tahmankar beats Robert Lavery. Caleb McClean beats John Neill ( whos been doing brilliantly) whilst Edward Khanzharov gets a good win against Ethan Cole.

Round 5

Table		Score		Score	Result

1	Tahmankar, Mandar	4	McClean, Caleb	4	1/2
2	Jeffers, David	3	Khanzharov, Edward	3.5	1/2
3	Cole, Ethan	3	Banerjee, Aharshi	3	1-0
4	Neill, John	3	Campbell, Andrew	3	0-1
5	Shambharkar, Ashish	3	Edens, Jack	3	0-1
6	Armstrong, Chris	3	Lavery, Robert	3	0-1
7	Reaney, Paul	2.5	Cinnsealach, Oisín	2.5	0-1
8	Kher, Aashay	2	May, Peter	2.5	1-0
9	Jackson, David	2	Devine, Michael	2	1/2
10	Gunning, Joe	2	Blair, David	2	0-1
11	Murphy, Peter	2	Devine, Shane	2	1/2
12	Garvin, David	2	Campbell,Peter	2	0-1
13	Corr, David	2	Park, Brendan	2	1-0
14	Neill, Chris	1.5	Dumigan, Owen	2	1-0
15	McKeown, Alex	1.5	Micheal, Alangara	1	1-0
16	Mounsey, Hamish	1	McLean, Jim	1	1-0
17	McKinley, Daniel	1	Corr, Jonah	1	0-1
18	Kinsella, Emmet	1	Corr, Freddie	1	1-0
19	Cullen, Michael	1	Ganja, Abhiram	1	1-0
20	Quinn, Ronan	0	Ganja, Naja	1	1-0


0	Browne, Geoff	0			1 bye(PA)

The final rounds sees some tough matches on the top boards. Caleb McLean draws against Mandar Tahmankar and both end up undefeated with 4.5 points out of 5. The final standings will depend on the tie breaks. Edward Khanzharov so close to getting into the lead draws against David Jeffers and joins the group of 5 players ending with 4 points. Its been a good tournament with excellent chess.

The final standings after round 5.

Champion : Mandar Tahmankar

2nd Caleb McClean

3rd Robert Lavery

Under 1700: 1st Oisin Cinnsealach

Under 1700: 2nd John Neill

Under 1700: 3rd Chris Armstrong

Under 1550: 1st Ashish Shambharkar

Under 1550: 2nd Peter Murphy

Under 1550: 3rd Alex McKeown

Thanks to all the players and organisers we had a brilliant event and raised some £468 for Northern Ireland Air Ambulance

https://justgiving.com/page/citi-belfast-133. See you next year....

Rank	Name	Score	Buchholz	PS	TPR Mixed
1	Tahmankar, Mandar	4.5	17	14.5	2171
2	McClean, Caleb	4.5	15.5	14.5	2144
3	Lavery, Robert	4	16	13	1975
4	Cole, Ethan	4	15.5	13	1926
5	Campbell, Andrew	4	15	12	1960
6	Khanzharov, Edward	4	14.5	12	1893
7	Edens, Jack	4	11.5	10	1777
8	Jeffers, David	3.5	16	11.5	1877
9	Cinnsealach, Oisín	3.5	12.5	9.5	1721
10	Neill, John	3	15	12	1835
11	Armstrong, Chris	3	14.5	9	1799
12	Kher, Aashay	3	14	10	1815
13	Shambharkar, Ashish	3	14	9	1764
14	Corr, David	3	14	9	1682
15	Campbell,Peter	3	13.5	7	1781
16	Banerjee, Aharshi	3	12.5	10	1664
17	Blair, David	3	12	10	1701
18	Murphy, Peter	2.5	15.5	8.5	1750
19	McKeown, Alex	2.5	14	7.5	1687
20	Devine, Shane	2.5	13.5	8.5	1723
21	May, Peter	2.5	12.5	9	1670
22	Neill, Chris	2.5	12.5	6.5	1602
23	Reaney, Paul	2.5	12	9	1686
24	Devine, Michael	2.5	11	7.5	1624
25	Jackson, David	2.5	9.5	5.5	1505
26	Cullen, Michael	2	14	5	1526
27	Garvin, David	2	13.5	7	1560
28	Corr, Jonah	2	13.5	6	1605
29	Gunning, Joe	2	11.5	6	1645
30	Park, Brendan	2	11	6	1541
31	Dumigan, Owen	2	10.5	6	1520
32	Mounsey, Hamish	2	9.0	5	1501
33	Kinsella, Emmet	2	9.0	3	1495
34	Murphy, Cathal	1	12.5	5	1440
35	Micheal, Alangara	1	12	3	1336
36	Corr, Freddie	1	11.5	3	1358
37	McLean, Jim	1	10.5	3	1341
38	Quinn, Ronan	1	10	1	1288
39	Ganja, Naja	1	9.0	3	1280
40	Ganja, Abhiram	1	9.0	2	1355
41	McKinley, Daniel	1	8.5	2	759
42	Browne, Geoff	1	6.5	1	746

winners