Lisburn Rapid Championship 2023 Tournament Report

It was a full house at Lisburn Chess Club on 10th Feb, as 42 players competed for 8 prizes in the first FIDE-rated event at the club in 2023. The tournament saw 35 visitors and 7 Lisburn club members taking part, 4 from Lisburn A (the total chess legend and 9 time Ulster Champion Steve Scannell, Dean Gorman, Pat Coleman and Captain Jack Edens) and 3 from Lisburn B (Club Director Neil Gardner, Anayraj Tripathi and James Crummey

Spread over 6 rounds and a time control of 12+0, the event was a mix of veterans and newcomers, in fact we had 7 playing in their first ever FIDE-rated event. It was hoped the tournament would help Lisburn players get onto the FIDE rating ladder by providing an opportunity for six rounds in a field where the majority competing already had a FIDE rapid rating (Players need to play 5 FIDE-rated opponents, gain at least 1 win and have a TPR over 1000 to make their FIDE rating debut).

Congratulations to the 8 prize-winners on the night:

winners

Champion: Dean Gorman (5.5/6) Lisburn Chess Club. TPR = 2027

2nd Place: Steve Scannell (5.5/6) Lisburn Chess Club. TPR = 2086

3rd Place: Adam Rushe (5/6) Bangor Chess Club. TPR = 1810

Junior Champion: Caleb McClean (4/6) Bangor Chess Club. TPR= 1693

Female Champion: Jade Sandrey (3/6) Queen's University, Belfast. TPR = 1519

Best Newcomer: Finlay Kelly (3/6) TPR = 1576

Rising Star - Large Gold Medal: 16 year old Ryan Anderson. TPR = 1550

Rising Star - Large Silver Medal: 22 year old James Crummey. TPR = 1248

A gigantic thanks to the perpetual professionalism of Martin Johnston and perpetual enthusiasm of Neil Gardner, both have created a magic atmosphere at Lisburn Chess Club, enjoyed by so many players every week with a rich variety of programming to cater to all levels of play.

This was event 9 of 10 in the NI Rapid Grand Prix, with a total of 135 players taking part across the whole series. Results can be found online here:

http://www.brendanjamison.com/fidenigrandprix.html