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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

 

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