Ulster Team Championship Preliminary Round 2004

5 teams entered the Ulster Team Championship and it was decided to have an all-play-all event with the teams finishing 1st and 2nd in the standings meeting in the Final of the Championship, while those finishing 3rd and 4th would play-off for the Ulster Team Plate. The time limit was 45 minutes for each player.

The qualifiers for the Championship final are Fisherwick A and Clifton House, and Fisherwick B and RVH will contest the Plate final. Both finals will be double round events, with a time limit of 90 minutes per player. The date is yet to be fixed but will probably be mid-May.

Tom Clarke (Clifton House) -Stephen Scannell (Bangor)
Ulster Team Championship, Preliminary Tournament (Round 1), 08.02.2004

[Click here to play through the game with our game viewer]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 g6 3.Bxf6 exf6 4.h4 h5 5.c4 d5 6.cxd5 Qxd5 7.Nc3 Bb4 8.Qa4+ Nc6 9.Qxb4 Nxb4 10.Nxd5 Nxd5 11.e4 Ne7 12.0-0-0 0-0 13.d5 Bd7 14.Nf3 Bg4 15.Rd3

15...Bxf3
[15...f5 16.exf5 (16.e5 Bxf3 17.gxf3 Rfd8-/+) 16...Bxf5=]
16.gxf3
[16.Rxf3 f5 17.exf5 Nxf5 18.Rc3+/=]
16...Nc8?
[16...Rfd8 17.Bh3 Rd6 18.Rhd1 c6 19.dxc6 Rxd3 20.Rxd3 Nxc6=]
17.Rc3 Nd6 18.Rxc7 Rac8 19.Rxc8 Rxc8+ 20.Kd2 f5 21.e5 Nc4+ 22.Bxc4 Rxc4 23.d6 Kf8 24.Rc1 Rd4+
[24...Rxc1 25.Kxc1 g5 26.hxg5 h4 27.d7 Ke7 28.e6 fxe6 (28...h3 29.exf7+-) 29.g6 h3 30.g7+-; 24...Rxh4 25.Rc8+ Kg7 26.Ke3 Rh1 27.d7+-]
25.Ke3 Rd5 26.Kf4 f6 27.Rc8+ Kf7 28.Rc7+ Kf8 29.exf6 Rxd6 30.Kg5 1-0

Final Table

                FiB   FiA   Ban   ClH   RVH   Total
Fisherwick B     X    2.0   3.5   1.0   2.5    9.0
Fisherwick A    3.0    X    4.0   3.0   5.0   15.0
Bangor          1.5   1.0    X    1.5   1.0    5.0
Clifton House   4.0   2.0   3.5    X    5.0   14.5
RVH             2.5   0.0   4.0   0.0    X     6.5