IM Brian Kelly 2417
IM Mark Orr 2350
Adrian Gillen 2264
Stephen Gillen 2248
Kieran Greer 2235
Keith Allen 2233
Tom Clarke 2204
Michael Holmes 2150
Arthur Pinkerton 2105
Stephen Scannell 2069 
James McDonnell 2051
John Nicholson 2023

Play selected games

Round 1

Bray 5-1 Limerick,

North Belfast 4-2 RVH.

Round 2

Bray 6-0 RVH,

North Belfast 4½-1½ Limerick.

Round 3

Bray 4-2 North Belfast,

Limerick 3-3 RVH.

Final standings

lst Bray 15

2nd North Belfast 10½

3rd Limerick 5½

4th Royal Victoria Hospital 5.

To be eligible for a prize you had to play at least 10 games and to play in at least 2 of the last 3 weeks. Prizes were decided on the basis of players’ percentage scores. Alex Beckett was again the Controller of the event, this year assisted by Sam Moore of the host club.

First place went to Steve Scannell ( 2193 ) with 76.4% ( 13½/17 ).

Second place went to David Collins ( 1424 ) with 68.7% ( 11/16 ).

Grading prizes were won by:

1. Band A (1650 – 1899) Sam Moore ( 1776 ) 64.7% ( 11/17 ).
2. Band B (1400 – 1649) Alex Beckett ( 1551 ) 55.2% ( 10½/19 ).
3. Band C (1000 - 1399) Ian Woodfield ( 1262 ) 59% ( 6½/11 ).

SENIOR: 16 COMPETITORS

1^ST STEVE SCANNELL 5½/6
2^ND= GARETH ANNESLEY, MICHAEL HOLMES AND RICHARD MCMASTER 4½
(GARETH ANNESLEY RECEIVED THE GRADING PRIZE)
5^TH= JOHN STRAWBRIDGE, PAUL MCLOUGHLIN AND RAY DEVENNEY 3½
8^TH= NEIL FISHER, TONY PARKER AND STEVE MCCANN 3

JUNIOR: 19 COMPETITORS

1^ST= DAVID COLLINS, LOUIS HOLMES AND SEAN LINTON 5/6
4^TH= NEIL COOPER, IAN WOODFIELD AND JONATHAN WOODFIELD 4
7^TH SAM LYNN 3½
8^TH= MARK SEIDMAN, ED MORGAN AND KENNY MCCARTAN 3

PRIZE MONEY SHARED; TROPHY TO SEAN LINTON ON TIE-BREAK

GRADING PRIZES TO IAN WOODFIELD AND NICOLA HOOD

Report and annotated games from Steve Scannell:

I was fortunate enough to win the Senior Section for the third successive year with five wins and a draw. However there were a couple of tense moments; a fourth round dramatic time scramble with John Strawbridge and a tough final round draw with Gareth Annesley. My thanks on behalf of all the competitors to Cooper Technology for kindly sponsoring the event, to the members of Bangor Chess Club for all their hard work and to Bangor Grammar School for hosting the event for the last three years. Also congratulations to Alan Burns of CIYMS who has attended the Congress every year. Way to go, Alan!

Going into a rapidplay tourney like this I always ask myself "What does it take to do well." I always feel that more emphasis is placed on your instincts since lengthy analysis is out of the question. Quick opening play is essential combined with good endgame knowledge which enables you to switch on to auto-pilot with seconds to spare. Also the intangibles like space, pressure and the initiative tend to make themselves felt in quicker time controls. I also feel a more classical style of play with direct occupation of the centre is maybe more suitable under such conditions. For me, it takes more time to find that subtle positional move in a hypermodern opening than in say a Queen’s Gambit.

Enough theory, here are two of my games from the event.

• Newman,M - Scannell,S
  
• Annesley,G - Scannell,S

1^ST MICHAEL HOLMES 5/6
2^ND= NICHOLAS PILKIEWICZ AND RICHARD MCMASTER 4½
4^TH GARETH ANNESLEY 4
5^TH= PAUL MCLOUGHLIN (GRADING PRIZE WINNER) AND NEIL FISHER 3½
7^TH= MARK NEWMAN, DES MORELAND AND DAVID BARLOW 3
10^TH STEPHEN MCCANN 2½
11^TH= DANNY MALLAGHAN AND RON HENDERSON 2
13^TH= TONY PARKER AND WILLIAM STOREY 1

JUNIOR: 12 COMPETITORS:

1^ST DAVE TUMILSON 5
2^ND= DAVID COLLINS AND IAN WOODFIELD 4
4^TH JONATHAN WOODFIELD 3½ (GRADING PRIZE WINNER)
5^TH= BRIAN LAPPIN, LIAM ELLIOTT, SEAN LINTON AND JOHN CAHOON 3
9^TH LOUIS HOLMES 2½
10^TH= DARREN GRAY AND JONATHAN CLIFFORD 2
12^TH ED MORGAN 1

Final scores:

1-2 GM Emil Sutovsky (2587) and GM Sergei Shipov (2658) 6½/9
3-10 GM Nigel Short (2675), GM Lev Psakhis (2581), GM Sergei Tiviakov (2611), GM Petr Kiriakov (2554), IM Jonathan Parker (2523), GM Aleksander Schneider (2551), GM Chris Ward (2473) and GM Bogdan Lalic (2550) 6/9

Irish players:

GM Alexander Baburin (2593) 5½; Joe Ryan (2280) 5;
FM Colm Daly (2378), Keith Allen (2233) and Sam Collins (2097) 4½;
John Nicholson (2023) and Dermot Murtagh 2.

Games:

Nicholson,J - Hickman,J: Notes based on comments by Nicholson

Allen,K - Emms,J: Notes by McAlister

DIVISION 2/3

1-2 Bogdan Lalic (GM 2550) Julian Hodgson (GM 2605) 5.0
3-5 Mark Hebden (GM 2510) Jan Timman (GM 2650) Paul Delaney (FM 2305) 4.5
6-8 Michael Adams (GM 2708) Alexander Baburin (GM 2593) Uri Rochev (2290) 4.0
9-15 Luke McShane (IM 2467) Mark Heidenfeld (IM 2368) Matthew Turner (IM 2478) Mark Ferguson (IM 2371) Dharma Tjiam (2344) Mel O'Cinneide (2252) Tom Clarke(2204) 3.5

In the subsidiary sections John Strawbridge won the Veterans prize.

6 ROUND SWISS: 18 PLAYERS:

1^st Gareth Annesley
2^nd Mark Newman
3^rd Brendan Jamison
Grading prize David Collins

                       R1    R2    R3    R4    R5    R6   Total
G. ANNESLEY     1782  +04W  +02B  +05W  +09B  =03W  +07B   5.5
M. NEWMAN       1680  +16W  -01W  +04B  +05W  +06B  =03W   4.5
B. JAMISON      1713  +15W  -05B  +13W  +07W  =01B  =02B   4.0
T. BECKETT      1616  -01B  +15B  -02W  +17B  +10W  =05W   3.5
D. COLLINS      1517  +12W  +03W  -01B  -02B  +11W  =04B   3.5
C. DUNLEAVY     1567  =11W  =12B  +16B  =T/B  -02W  +13B   3.5
S. McCONAGHY    1659  =T/B  +17W  +11W  -O3B  +09W  -01B   3.5
J. STRAWBRIDGE  1679  =T/B  -10B  =12W  +11B  +15W  =09W   3.5
P. McLOUGHLIN   1643  +18W  =13B  +10W  -01W  -07B  =08B   3.0
S. MOORE        1775  =14B  +08W  -09B  =13W  -04B  +12W   3.0
A. COOTES       1681  =06B  +14W  -07B  -08W  -05B  +15W   2.5
R. HENDERSON    1671  -05B  =06W  =08B  +14W  =13B  -02B   2.5
T. PARKER       1629  +17B  =09W  -03B  =10B  =12W  -06W   2.5
R. PROCTOR      1591  =10W  -11B  -15W  -12B  +W/O  +16W   2.5
J. CLARKE       1581  -03B  -04W  +14B  +16W  -08B  -11B   2.0
D. CUNNINGHAM   1531  -02B  +18B  -06W  -15B  +17W  -14B   2.0
S. LYNN         1245  -13W  -07B  +18W  -04W  -16B  +BYE   2.0
W. STOREY       1507  -09B  -16W  -17B  =T/B  -DEF  -W/D   0.5

JUNIOR

5 ROUND AMERICAN: 6 COMPETITORS:

1^st Michael Kane
2^nd Neil Cooper

                        1   2   3   4   5   6   POINTS
1. M. KANE       1261   X   1   1   1   1   0   4.0
2. N. COOPER     1480   0   X   1   1   1   =   3.5
3. J. CAHOON     1153   0   0   X   1   0   1   2.0
4. J. CLIFFORD   ----   0   0   0   X   1   1   2.0
5. S. LAW        1121   0   0   1   0   X   1   2.0
6. E. MORGAN     1324   1   =   0   0   0   X   1.5

27-30 DECEMBER 1999
FORTWILLIAM GOLF CLUB, BELFAST

1-3. S.SCANNELL (WON ON TIEBREAK) T.DOUGLAS M.HOLMES 5.0
4-5. J.MCDONNELL S.MOORE 4.5
6-8. G.ANNESLEY D.MURTAGH J.NICHOLSON 4.0
9-10. R.MCMASTER A.SKELTON 3.5
11. R.BIANCHIN 3.0
12-13. A.DOUGLAS B.O’NEILL 2.5
14-15. D.MORELAND P.MCLOUGHLIN 2.0
16-17. D.COLLINS T.PARKER 1.5

ULSTER OPEN

5-6 FEBRUARY 2000
QUB STAFF COMMON ROOM, BELFAST

1-4. J.CAIRNS R.MCMASTER S.SCANNELL A.SKELTON 5.0
5. G.ANNESLEY 4.5
6-11. D.MORELAND F.MARLOWE D.MURRAY M.NEWMAN J.ORCHIN N.PILKIEWICZ 4.0
12-16. J.CANNING P.McLOUGHLIN S.MOORE D.TRUESDALE M.WADDELL 3.5
17-22. A.BURNS A.COOTES C.DUNLEAVY T.PARKER W.STOREY J.STRAWBRIDGE 3.0
23-25. D.CUNNINGHAM S.McCANN J.McLEAN 2.5
26-30. A.BECKETT J.CAHOON J.CLIFFORD D.O’DONNELL J.WADDELL 2.0
31. K.FOX 1.5
32-34. M.KANE E.NESBITT J.WOODFIELD 1.0
GRADING PRIZES
UNDER 1800 1^ST G.ANNESLEY 2^ND M.NEWMAN
UNDER 1450 1^ST J.ORCHIN 2^ND F.MARLOWE

BUNRATTY MASTERS

11-13 FEBRUARY 2000

1-2. GM M.HEBDEN (WON TROPHY ON TIE-BREAK) GM J.NUNN 5.0
3-4. GM A.MILES IM M.TURNER 4.5
5-7. C.DALY (BEST IRISH PRIZE) GM J.LEVITT IM L.MCSHANE 4.0
8-13. S.COLLINS (GRADING PRIZE) P.DELANEY D.HOWELL IM M.ORR U.ROCHEV J.RYAN 3.5
14-21. S.BRADY J.HURLEY J.MCCARTHY D.MCMAHON G.O'CONNELL P.SHORT S.SCANNELL J.STOKLASA 3.0
22-23. M.O'CINNEIDE R.O'DONOVAN 2.5
24-28. H.BARBER M.CASTRICUM J.KENNEDY E.KEOGH J.MCDONNELL 2.0
29-32. P.CAFOLLA C.EGAN A.FOX R.O'BRIEN 1.5