The Ulster Championship 2024/25 at Queens University.

The Champions of Ulster Chess were crowned over the Bank Holiday Weekend of August 24th/25th/26th 2024. Hosted by Queens University. Belfast. A brilliant 3 days of top chess.

Many thanks to Paddy Magee and Queens University Chess Club for organising Queens to host the Ulster Championships. Several players expressed their enjoyment of playing chess is such a brilliant location. Within the confines of the beautiful Queens grounds. Next to the Botanic Gardens and the Ulster Museum and having the city centre just down the road.

Adrian Dornford-Smith and myself setup the room the previous night - after the brilliant Simultaneous by Alex Lopez. So the first morning was to register players taking money for entry fees and this year Ulster Chess Union membership fees. With some 49 players we split the sections into two groups combining the intermediate and junior sections into one group. The first tournament I had run since the FIDE changes to the rating (uplifting approx 100 points meant there was more grouping and it was challenging to find a good Junior split). Hopefully next year we might split into the usual 3 sections. However it did mean a well attended Senior section.

Too allow the playing of chess once players had completed the round and so that they didnt interfere with games still being played. We placed some tables next to the building and whilst it was dry here was an excellent place to play with some passers by joining in and playing.

The intelligent boards were setup and a camera giving a view of the room - so interested people could watch online. Many thanks to Adrian Dornford-Smith for setting these up and for correcting the games on the boards when there were problems - several times I interrupted his games to ask if he could fix an issue - many thanks Adrian.

The live games can be replayed at : https://www.ulsterchess.net/2024-08-26/

The results can be found at : https://www.ulsterchess.net/results/2024-08-26/

The results were emailed to players after each round and the next rounds draw was also sent, whilst these were also uploaded to our website.

Below are the results round by round and some photos from each round and a few interesting positions from the live boards.

Seniors Round 1

Table	White	Score	Black	Score	Results
1	Crockart, Scott	0	McClean, Caleb	0	1-0
2	Razbadauskas, Modestas	0	Tahmankar, Mandar	0	0-1
3	Scannell, Stephen	0	Barbals, Gatis	0	1-0
4	Crothers,Toby	0	Annesley, Gareth	0	0-1
5	Roberts, Daniel	0	Dougherty, Matthew	0	1-0
6	Sandrey Jade	0	Neary, Graham	0	1/2
7	Mallaghan, Danny	0	Ruben, David	0	1/2
8	Rushe, Adam	0	Cole, Ethan	0	0-1
9	Harris, Leroy	0	Cummins, Finn	0	1-0
10	Robinson, Mark	0	Campbell, Andrew	0	0-1
11	Sheerin, Michael	0	Tripathi, Anayraj	0	0-1
12	Liszewski, Mikolaj	0	Gould, Richard	0	1-0

The games go to rating. On board 6 Jade Sandrey gets a good draw against Graham Neary and on the next board David Ruben also draws against higher rank Danny Mallaghan, Whilst Anayrai Tripathi wins against Michael Sheerin.

modestas-mandar-rd1

Mandar threatens the Rook. The position is very interesting with both

Kings looking vunerable.

scott-caleb-rd1

Scott has just pushed a3. and goes on to win the Rook endgame.

Intermediate/Junior Round 1

Table	White	Score	Black	Score	Results
13	Saad, Mohamed	0	Corr, David	0	1-0
14	McConnell, Rory	0	Smylie, Sam	0	1-0
15	Micheal, Alwin	0	McCracken, David	0	1-0
16	Dorrian, Chris	0	Hill, Daniell	0	1-0
17	Torres, Wenceslao	0	Campbell, Peter	0	0-1
18	Murphy, Peter	0	Thoke, Amol	0	1-0
19	Banerjee, Aharshi	0	Doody, Odhran	0	0-1
20	Magee, Paddy	0	Dimitrov, Nicolai	0	1-0
21	Talyor, Alex	0	Thoke, Shlok Amol	0	1-0
22	Tahmankar, Advait	0	Karpagavinayagam, Karthike	0	0-1
23	McClelland, George	0	Devine, Michael	0	0-1
24	Dornford-Smith, Adrian	0	McDermott, Stephen	0	1-0
25	McKeown, Alex	0	Dumigan, Owen	0	0-1
26	Kher, Aashay	0	Stinson, James	0	0-1
27
-	Murphy, Cathal	0			0.5 bye

Upsets all round on the top boards with Rory McConnell beating Sam Smylie and Chris Dorrian winning against Daniell Hill.

Seniors Round 2

Table	White	Score	Black	Score	Results
1	Cole, Ethan	1	Crockart, Scott	1	0-1
2	Tahmankar, Mandar	1	Harris, Leroy	1	1/2
3	Campbell, Andrew	1	Scannell, Stephen	1	0-1
4	Annesley, Gareth	1	Liszewski, Mikolaj	1	1-0
5	Tripathi, Anayraj	1	Roberts, Daniel	1	1/2
6	Neary, Graham	0.5	Mallaghan, Danny	0.5	1-0
7	Ruben, David	0.5	Sandrey Jade	0.5	1-0
8	Dougherty, Matthew	0	Sheerin, Michael	0	0-1
9	Gould, Richard	0	Crothers,Toby	0	1-0
10	McClean, Caleb	0	Rushe, Adam	0	1-0
11	Cummins, Finn	0	Razbadauskas, Modestas	0	1-0
12	Barbals, Gatis	0	Robinson, Mark	0	1-0

Leroy Harris gets a good draw against Mandar Tahmankar whilst Anayra Tripathi continues to do well and gets a draw against Danny Roberts. Its a very tough section.

andrew-steve-rd2

Andrew moves his Queen to prevent its loss. But Steve replies with

an excellent Nd3+. Both Kings are exposed.

mandar-leroy-rd2

Leroy looks to have a slight attack. But Mandar responds with an

excellent Rf4 and after further play a draw is agreed.

Intermediate/Junior Round 2

Table	White	Score	Black	Score	Results
13	Dumigan, Owen	1	McConnell, Rory	1	0-1
14	Campbell, Peter	1	Dornford-Smith, Adrian	1	1-0
15	Karpagavinayagam, Karthike	1	Murphy, Peter	1	1-0
16	Doody, Odhran	1	Saad, Mohamed	1	1-0
17	Stinson, James	1	Magee, Paddy	1	0-1
18	Devine, Michael	1	Micheal, Alwin	1	0-1
19	Murphy, Cathal	0.5	Talyor, Alex	1	1-0
20	Corr, David	0	Torres, Wenceslao	0	1-0
21	McCracken, David	0	Thoke, Amol	0	0-1
22	Dimitrov, Nicolai	0	Banerjee, Aharshi	0	1-0
23	McDermott, Stephen	0	Tahmankar, Advait	0	0-1
24	Thoke, Shlok Amol	0	Kher, Aashay	0	0-1
25	Smylie, Sam	0	McClelland, George	0	1-0
26	Hill, Daniell	0	McKeown, Alex	0	1-0
27
-	Dorrian, Chris	1			0.5 bye

owen-rory-rd2-inter

This move allows Black Rory McConnell to swap off the major pieces.

peter-adrian-rd2-inter

Peter Campbell sacrifices his Rook for an attack that leads to a win.

Seniors Round 3

Table	White	Score	Black	Score	Results
1	Crockart, Scott	2	Annesley, Gareth	2	1-0
2	Scannell, Stephen	2	Tahmankar, Mandar	1.5	1-0
3	Roberts, Daniel	1.5	Ruben, David	1.5	1-0
4	Harris, Leroy	1.5	Neary, Graham	1.5	1-0
5	Cole, Ethan	1	Tripathi, Anayraj	1.5	1-0
6	Liszewski, Mikolaj	1	Campbell, Andrew	1	0-1
7	Sheerin, Michael	1	McClean, Caleb	1	1/2
8	Barbals, Gatis	1	Gould, Richard	1	1-0
9	Mallaghan, Danny	0.5	Cummins, Finn	1	1-0
10	Sandrey Jade	0.5	Razbadauskas, Modestas	0	0-1
11	Crothers,Toby	0	Rushe, Adam	0	1-0
12	Robinson, Mark	0	Dougherty, Matthew	0	1-0

This round had top players against each other on board 1 and 2. Scott beating Gareth and Steve beating Mandar. Whilst Ethan Cole put a stop to Anayraj Tripathi excellent run of results.

steve-mandar-rd3

Excellent ending with same coloured Bishops and pawns. With not much time.

Intermediate/Junior Round 3

Table	White	Score	Black	Score	Results
13	McConnell, Rory	2	Karpagavinayagam, Karthike	2	1-0
14	Magee, Paddy	2	Campbell, Peter	2	1-0
15	Micheal, Alwin	2	Doody, Odhran	2	1-0
16	Dorrian, Chris	1.5	Murphy, Cathal	1.5	0-1
17	Kher, Aashay	1	Corr, David	1	1/2
18	Murphy, Peter	1	Smylie, Sam	1	0-1
19	Saad, Mohamed	1	Dimitrov, Nicolai	1	1-0
20	Tahmankar, Advait	1	Hill, Daniell	1	0-1
21	Thoke, Amol	1	Devine, Michael	1	1/2
22	Dornford-Smith, Adrian	1	Stinson, James	1	0-1
23	Talyor, Alex	1	Dumigan, Owen	1	0-1
24	McClelland, George	0	McCracken, David	0	0-1
25	Torres, Wenceslao	0	McDermott, Stephen	0	1-0
26	Banerjee, Aharshi	0	Thoke, Shlok Amol	0	1-0
27
-	McKeown, Alex	0			1 bye(PA)

Karthike Karpagavinayagam as a lower rated player is on board 1 and is doing well but looses to Rory McConnell who goes into the next round on full points as does Paddy Magee and the young Michael Alwin.

Seniors Round 4

Table	White	Score	Black	Score	Results
1	Scannell, Stephen	3	Crockart, Scott	3	0-1
2	Annesley, Gareth	2	Harris, Leroy	2.5	1/2
3	Campbell, Andrew	2	Cole, Ethan	2	1-0
4	Neary, Graham	1.5	Barbals, Gatis	2	1/2
5	Tahmankar, Mandar	1.5	Tripathi, Anayraj	1.5	1-0
6	Ruben, David	1.5	Sheerin, Michael	1.5	0-1
7	McClean, Caleb	1.5	Crothers,Toby	1	1-0
8	Razbadauskas, Modestas	1	Robinson, Mark	1	1-0
9	Cummins, Finn	1	Liszewski, Mikolaj	1	1-0
10	Gould, Richard	1	Sandrey Jade	0.5	1-0
11	Rushe, Adam	0	Dougherty, Matthew	0	1-0
12
-	Roberts, Daniel	2.5			0.5 bye
-	Mallaghan, Danny	1.5			0.5 bye

Round 4 sees on max score Scott playing Steve. Scott wins and leads the competition going into round 5. Leroy gets another good result with a draw against Gareth. Andrew Campbell is chasing with a win against Ethan Cole.

gareth-leroy-rd4

A fascinating position with White, Gareth to play. The game was drawn.

Intermediate/Junior Round 4

Table	White	Score	Black	Score	Results
13	Magee, Paddy	3	McConnell, Rory	3	0-1
14	Murphy, Cathal	2.5	Micheal, Alwin	3	1/2
15	Campbell, Peter	2	Smylie, Sam	2	0-1
16	Doody, Odhran	2	Hill, Daniell	2	1-0
17	Dumigan, Owen	2	Karpagavinayagam, Karthike	2	1-0
18	Stinson, James	2	Saad, Mohamed	2	1-0
19	Corr, David	1.5	Thoke, Amol	1.5	1-0
20	Devine, Michael	1.5	Kher, Aashay	1.5	0-1
21	McCracken, David	1	Dornford-Smith, Adrian	1	0-1
22	Torres, Wenceslao	1	Murphy, Peter	1	1-0
23	Dimitrov, Nicolai	1	Talyor, Alex	1	1-0
24	McKeown, Alex	1	Tahmankar, Advait	1	1-0
25	McDermott, Stephen	0	Banerjee, Aharshi	1	0-1
26	Thoke, Shlok Amol	0	McClelland, George	0	0-1
27
-	Dorrian, Chris	1.5			Absent

With a draw between Cathal Murphy one of Ulsters regulars and new player Alwin Micheal. Rory McConnell beating Paddy Magee puts him into the sole lead with full points.

Seniors Round 5

Table	White	Score	Black	Score	Results
1	Crockart, Scott	4	Roberts, Daniel	3	1-0
2	Harris, Leroy	3	Scannell, Stephen	3	0-1
3	Sheerin, Michael	2.5	Campbell, Andrew	3	0-1
4	McClean, Caleb	2.5	Tahmankar, Mandar	2.5	0-1
5	Barbals, Gatis	2.5	Annesley, Gareth	2.5	1/2
6	Gould, Richard	2	Neary, Graham	2	0-1
7	Razbadauskas, Modestas	2	Mallaghan, Danny	2	1/2
8	Cole, Ethan	2	Cummins, Finn	2	1-0
9	Tripathi, Anayraj	1.5	Ruben, David	1.5	1/2
10	Crothers,Toby	1	Robinson, Mark	1	0-1
11	Liszewski, Mikolaj	1	Rushe, Adam	1	0-1
12
-	Dougherty, Matthew	0			0 bye
-	Sandrey, Jade	0.5			1 bye

The current holder of the Ulster Championships, Scott Crockart continues to lead. Chased closely by Stephen Scannell and Andrew Campbell.

scott-daniel-rd5

Scott went on to win. Gaining pawns and swapping pieces.

Intermediate/Junior Round 5

Table	White	Score	Black	Score	Results
13	McConnell, Rory	4	Micheal, Alwin	3.5	0-1
14	Dumigan, Owen	3	Murphy, Cathal	3	1-0
15	Stinson, James	3	Doody, Odhran	3	1/2
16	Smylie, Sam	3	Magee, Paddy	3	1-0
17	Dornford-Smith, Adrian	2	Corr, David	2.5	0-1
18	Kher, Aashay	2.5	Campbell, Peter	2	1-0
19	Hill, Daniell	2	Dimitrov, Nicolai	2	0-1
20	Saad, Mohamed	2	McKeown, Alex	2	1-0
21	Banerjee, Aharshi	2	Torres, Wenceslao	2	0-1
22	Karpagavinayagam, Karthike	2	Devine, Michael	1.5	0-1
23	Thoke, Amol	1.5	Tahmankar, Advait	1	1-0
24	Talyor, Alex	1	McCracken, David	1	0-1
25	Murphy, Peter	1	McClelland, George	1	1-0
26	Thoke, Shlok Amol	0	McDermott, Stephen	0	1/2

The young Alwin Michael wins against the leader Rory McConnell and takes the lead by a bare 1/2 point. Going into the final round we were going to have an exciting set of games,

Seniors Round 6

Table	White	Score	Black	Score	Results
1	Campbell, Andrew	4	Crockart, Scott	5	1/2
2	Annesley, Gareth	3	Scannell, Stephen	4	0-1
3	Tahmankar, Mandar	3.5	Cole, Ethan	3	1-0
4	Roberts, Daniel	3	Barbals, Gatis	3	1/2
5	Neary, Graham	3	McClean, Caleb	2.5	0-1
6	Mallaghan, Danny	2.5	Sheerin, Michael	2.5	0-1
7	Ruben, David	2	Razbadauskas, Modestas	2.5	1-0
8	Cummins, Finn	2	Gould, Richard	2	1-0
9	Robinson, Mark	2	Rushe, Adam	2	1/2
10	Tripathi, Anayraj	2	Sandrey, Jade	1.5	1-0
11
12
-	Crothers,Toby	1			1 bye(PA)
-	Dougherty, Matthew	0			0 bye
-	Harris, Leroy	3			Absent
-	Liszewski, Mikolaj	1			Absent

Scott Crockart and Andrew Campbell agree a draw securing Scott the Championship. Unbeaten with 5 1/2 points out of 6.

Intermediate/Junior Round 6

Table	White	Score	Black	Score	Results
13	Micheal, Alwin	4.5	Dumigan, Owen	4	1-0
14	Corr, David	3.5	McConnell, Rory	4	1/2
15	Smylie, Sam	4	Stinson, James	3.5	1-0
16	Doody, Odhran	3.5	Kher, Aashay	3.5	0-1
17	Murphy, Cathal	3	Magee, Paddy	3	1/2
18	Dimitrov, Nicolai	3	Torres, Wenceslao	3	1-0
19	Thoke, Amol	2.5	Saad, Mohamed	3	1-0
20	Devine, Michael	2.5	Murphy, Peter	2	1-0
21	McCracken, David	2	Banerjee, Aharshi	2	1-0
22	Campbell, Peter	2	McKeown, Alex	2	1-0
23	Karpagavinayagam, Karthike	2	Dornford-Smith, Adrian	2	1-0
24	Hill, Daniell	2	Talyor, Alex	1	1-0
25	Tahmankar, Advait	1	Thoke, Shlok Amol	0.5	1-0
26	McClelland, George	1	McDermott, Stephen	0.5	1-0

With a number of players within reach of the lead. Alwin Michael needed to win and he did securing the outright lead with 5 out of 6 points. The whole section has shown included some brilliant games.

Rory playing Black manages a draw by repeated checks.	Alwin wins against Owen - an interesting endgame.
Playing White Sam has an excellent combination to win the game.

david-rory-rd6-inter

Rory playing Black manages a draw by repeated checks.

michael-owern-rd6-inter

Alwin wins against Owen - an interesting endgame.

sam-james-rd6-inter

Playing White Sam has an excellent combination to win the game.

Seniors Standings

Rank	Name	Score	Buchholz	PS	TPR Mixed	Rating
1	Crockart, Scott	5.5	22.5	20.5	2320	2109	Ulster Champion
2	Scannell, Stephen	5	24.5	18	2212	2063	2nd
3	Campbell, Andrew	4.5	21	15.5	2067	1826	3rd
4	Tahmankar, Mandar	4.5	20.5	14.5	2036	2100
5	McClean, Caleb	3.5	20.5	11	1963	1798	Rating
6	Roberts, Daniel	3.5	20	14.5	1884	1971
7	Barbals, Gatis	3.5	19	12	1967	1790
8	Sheerin, Michael	3.5	17.5	11	1840	1815
9	Cole, Ethan	3	23	12	1862	1879
10	Harris, Leroy	3	22.5	14	2030	1830
11	Annesley, Gareth	3	20.5	13.5	1872	1979
12	Tripathi, Anayraj	3	18.5	10.5	1868	1698
13	Neary, Graham	3	16	11.5	1810	1930
14	Ruben, David	3	16	10	1818	1720
15	Cummins, Finn	3	15	9	1816	1717
16	Mallaghan, Danny	2.5	18	9.5	1723	1911
17	Razbadauskas, Modestas	2.5	16.5	8	1755	1792 *
18	Robinson, Mark	2.5	15.5	6.5	1716	1704
19	Rushe, Adam	2.5	13	5.5	1704	1719
20	Crothers,Toby	2	14.5	5	1562	1763
21	Gould, Richard	2	13.5	8	1641	1810
22	Sandrey, Jade	1.5	14.5	5	1424	1722
23	Liszewski, Mikolaj	1	17	6	1570	1675 *
24	Dougherty, Matthew	0	14.5	0	1002	1745

The current Ulster Champion regains the title. Hopefully we will see him play in next years British Championship. An excellent result from a very tough section.

Ulster Champion : Scott Crockart

ulsterChamp

Intermediate Standings

Rank	Name	Score	Buchholz	PS	TPR Mixed	Rating
1	Micheal, Alwin	5.5	22	19.5	2023	1579	Intermediate Champion
2	Smylie, Sam	5	18.5	15	1823	1581 *	Intermediate 2nd
3	McConnell, Rory	4.5	25	18.5	1768	1668	Intermediate 3rd
4	Kher, Aashay	4.5	18	13	1746	1587	Rating Prize
5	Corr, David	4	20.5	12.5	1709	1698
6	Dumigan, Owen	4	19	15	1641	1589
7	Dimitrov, Nicolai	4	15.5	11	1644	1597
8	Magee, Paddy	3.5	23.5	15.5	1643	1602
9	Doody, Odhran	3.5	21.5	15	1578	1607
10	Stinson, James	3.5	21.5	14	1649	1400 *	Junior Champion
11	Devine, Michael	3.5	20.5	11	1572	1592 *
12	Murphy, Cathal	3.5	20	14	1630	1648
13	Thoke, Amol	3.5	17.5	10	1675	1517
14	Saad, Mohamed	3	20	12	1537	1586 *
15	Campbell, Peter	3	19.5	12	1552	1620
16	Karpagavinayagam, Karthike	3	18	12	1607	1400 *	Junior 2nd
17	McCracken, David	3	16	7	1481	1628
18	Torres, Wenceslao	3	15.5	9	1554	1552 *
19	Hill, Daniell	3	15	10	1537	1572 *
20	Murphy, Peter	2	20	8	1382	1609
21	Dornford-Smith, Adrian	2	17	9	1399	1591
22	McKeown, Alex	2	16.5	7	1352	1400 *	Junior 3rd
23	Banerjee, Aharshi	2	14.5	7	1406	1400 *
24	McClelland, George	2	14.5	4	1410	1400 *
25	Tahmankar, Advait	2	12	6	1323	1595
26	Dorrian, Chris	1.5	19	8.5	1610	1621
27	Talyor, Alex	1	18	6	1299	1400 *
28	Thoke, Shlok Amol	0.5	12	1	1063	1400 *
29	McDermott, Stephen	0.5	11.5	1	1089	1400 *

We have new Ulster Champions -

Intermediate Ulster Champion : Alwin Michael

Junior Ulster Champion : James Stinson

Thanks to all the players for a fantastic long weekend of chess. I enjoyed the chess. Well done to everyone.

Thanks to Queens University for the fantastic venue and for Paddy Magee and the QUB Chess Club for organising.

Finally thanks to the excellent Adrian Dornford-Smith for setting up and running the intelligent boards and the webcam.

See you all next year,