You are here: Home Archives Ulster Chronicles 2000-2001 Season Ulster Chess News Ulster Matchplay Championship for the Alex Beckett Trophy

Ulster Matchplay Championship for the Alex Beckett Trophy

Played over three successive weekends between 22 October and 5 November 2000.

The draw gave the white pieces in the first two rounds to Stephen Scannell against his two main rivals, Tom Clarke and David Houston. He took full advantage of this and won both those games. He then went on to win his next 3 games to lead at halfway by 1.5 points. In rounds 6 and 7 he drew with Clarke and Houston to virtually ensure victory. After another draw in Round 8 against Adrian Skelton, he finished off with wins against Mark Newman and Nicholas Pilkiewicz to record a very impressive final score of 8.5.

David Houston, with White, playing against tournament winner Steve Scannell in Round 7. The game was drawn.

FIRST SERIES OF GAMES (ROUNDS 1-5)

PLAYER		RTG	1  2  3  4  5  6  PTS
S.SCANNELL	2171	X  1  1	 1  1  1  5.0
D.HOUSTON	2252	0  X  1	 1  1  =  3.5
A.SKELTON	2024	0  0  X	 1  =  0  1.5
N.PILKIEWICZ	1966	0  0  0  X  1  0  1.0
M.NEWMAN	1826	0  0  =  0  X  0  0.5
T.CLARKE	2191	0  =  1  1  1  X  3.5

SECOND SERIES OF GAMES (ROUNDS 6-10)

PLAYER		RTG	1  2  3  4  5  6  PTS
S.SCANNELL	2171	X  =  =  1  1  =  3.5
D.HOUSTON	2252	=  X  =  1  1  0  3.0
A.SKELTON	2024	=  =  X  =  0  0  1.5
N.PILKIEWICZ	1966	0  0  =  X  1  =  2.0
M.NEWMAN	1826	0  0  1  0  X  =  1.5
T.CLARKE	2191	=  1  1  =  =  X  3.5

PROGRESSIVE SCORES

PLAYER		RTG	1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10  PLACE
S.SCANNELL	2171   1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.5 8.5  1st
D.HOUSTON	2252   1.0 1.0 1.5 2.5 3.5 4.5 5.0 5.0 6.0 6.5	3rd
A.SKELTON	2024   1.0 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 2.0 2.0 2.5 2.5 3.0	4th=
N.PILKIEWICZ	1966   0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.5 2.0 3.0 3.0 3.0	4th=
M.NEWMAN	1826   0.0 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 2.0	6th
T.CLARKE	2191   0.0 1.0 1.5 2.5 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.5 6.5 7.0	2nd

 

Navigation
News
Ulster Chess Union Mourns the Passing of Damien Lavery Mar 02, 2026
Saturday 14th Feb 2026 and another brilliant monthly Childrens Chess Tournament. Youngsters from all over Ulster gathered at Methodist College to compete in an afternoon of Chess, a swiss tournament an... Feb 21, 2026
UCU Events Update – Remainder of the Season This has been a challenging year for UCU events; however, we have been fortunate to secure arbiters for events held so f... Feb 21, 2026
Standings of the Childrens Chess Grandprix after January 2026. The Ulster Chess Union runs monthly tournaments at Methodist College. All pupils are welcome to play. Five of these tour... Feb 07, 2026
The new year and the chess league continues.... Playing chess in a team is one of those joys of chess. You have the beautiful game and the team spirit. Each player focu... Feb 01, 2026
More news…
« March 2026 »
March
SuMoTuWeThFrSa
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031
Upcoming Events
Women's Chess Day with special guest - WGM Trisha Kanyamarala Mar 08, 2026 12:00 PM - 04:00 PM — Lisburn Chess Club, 60-62 Longstone Street
FIDE RATED Coalisland Blitz Championship 2026 Tuesday 10 March 2026. Check-in at 19:50 The 10 rounds will be played back-to-back from 20:00 to 22:30 Time-control 3-... Mar 10, 2026 07:50 PM - 10:30 PM — Washingbay Centre, 92 Ballybeg Road, Aughamullan, Coalisland, County Tyrone, BT71 5DX
Third Executive Board Meeting Agenda TBC Mar 10, 2026 08:00 PM - 09:30 PM — Lisburn Chess Club
March 14th 2026 Childrens Chess 12:30 – 5:00 UCU Monthly Schools Chess Tournaments Continues at Methodist College. Mar 14, 2026 12:30 PM - 05:00 PM — Methodist College,1 Malone Rd, Belfast BT9 6BY
FIDE RATED Black Mountain Rapid 2026 [event 2 of 10 in art & chess neurodiversity festival] The Chess neurodiversity festival continues. With second exciting event. Venue: Black Mountain Shared Space, 208 Ballyg... Mar 28, 2026 10:15 AM - 04:30 PM — Black Mountain Shared Space, 208 Ballygomartin Road, Belfast, BT13 3NG
Upcoming events…