Ulster Open Active

Senior (18 Player 5 Round Swiss)

1. Stephen Scannell 4.5
2. Michael Holmes 4.0
3=4. Tom Clarke, John Nicholson 3.5
5=8. Paul McLoughlin, Nicholas Pilkiewicz, John Strawbridge, Brendan Walshe (grading prize) 3.0
9=10. Mark Newman, David O'Donnell 2.5
11=15. Alan Burns, Danny Mallaghan, Stephen McCann, Desmond Moreland, Jim McLean 2.0
16. David Collins 1.5
17. Ron Henderson 1.0
18. Gerry Pollock 0.0

In Round 3 Tom Clarke beat Nicholas Pilkiewicz and Michael Holmes lost to Stephen Scannell. This put Clarke and Scannell in the joint lead with 3/3 and they met in Round 4. After a fluctuating struggle the game was drawn. Meanwhile Holmes and Pilkiewicz had got back on the winning trail and this produced final round pairings of Clarke (3.5) - Holmes (3.0) and Pilkiewicz (3.0) - Scannell (3.5). Both games were won by the player of the Black pieces and therefore Scannell notched up his 4th victory of the season in UCU tournaments.

Junior (15 player 5 Round Swiss)

1. Chris Black 5.0
2. Michael Kane 4.0
3=6. Alex Beckett, Damien Cuningham, Louis Holmes, Jack McCann (grading prize) 3.0
7=10. Colin Fenton, Geoff Hindley, Sam Lynn, Ed Morgan 2.5
11=13. John Cahoon, Damien Lavery, Philip Morrison 2.0
14. William Storey 1.5
15. A. Peile 1.0

Having both scored 3/3 Chris Black and Michael Kane met in the 4th Round and it was Black who won, thus assuring himself of at least a share of first prize. In the final round first prize went outright to Black when he won quickly against Dubliner Jack McCann. Thinking he was now out of the running for a prize, Jack was considering making an early start on his long journey home, until some of the other competitors persuaded him that he was still in with a chance of a grading prize. As you can see from the result above the wait proved worthwhile.