Smith and Williamson British Championships
Scarborough, 2-13 August 1999
The 1999 Championships had three Ulster entrants. Steven Scannell and James McDonnell had qualified through the Ulster Championship, while Tom Clarke was one of two ICU nominees. Although five top English players were not competing due to a clash with the FIDE World Championships in Las Vegas, the field of 92 players was still very strong overall. Final scores for the Ulster players in this 11 round event were Scannell 5½, Clarke 3½ and McDonnell 2½ . Steven played a number of English players rated between 2200 and 2300 and he was surprised to find that they were weaker than he had expected in tactical play.
