Belfast was seeded 54th out of the 56 teams. They won 2 of their 7 matches to finish 47th equal. This was the same score group as Kilkenny CC and ahead of both Welsh teams and also Galway CC. All three medal winning teams were from Russia - Tomsk 400 (Gold), Ladya Kazan (Silver) and Ural Sverdlovskaya (Bronze).

If the Alps loomed large in Fügen so too did the ratings of Belfast’s Round 1 opponent. After thorny resistance Belfast were dispatched 6-0. Stephen Scannell showed resistance and good play against IM Polzin but went down in the end. The bashing our heads took after game one was matched only by the bashing our heads took from the Hotel’s Umpa band over dinner. A miniature brass band standing next to the salad bar will have an effect on a man.

What they don’t tell you on the invite is that the lowest ranked teams typically get the most distant accommodation. In Fügen distance requires two measurements, length and height! Trudging down from our hotel (above the lower end of the ski slope) the morning after moral was poor.

Worse still the dreaded metatarsal was to strike on Board 6 Stephen Morgan. Unfortunately Austrian swimming pools are not equipped with “No Running, No Bombing, No Horseplay” signs. Doubtless fooled by the absence of such a sign, Morgan lapsed into what football pundits know only as a ‘schoolboy error’. Steven ran towards a feeble plastic deckchair, used it for leverage, took aim at Scannell and Mallaghan, and jumped. The result was disastrous. It turns out Austrian plastic deck chairs are as badly made as anywhere else it the world, so the metatarsal took the full brunt of Stephen's elegant frame.

Stephen Morgan was to prove tougher than the average England football international and made it to Match Day 2.

Round 2 brought a team of great Danes.

Scannell rocked his IM opponent with 12…Nxe4. Unfortunately Scannell’s opponent lacked the class to resign in such a position, a point loudly and emphatically made two rounds later by Victor Korchnoi. Had World Senior Champion Victor Korchnoi been able to make this point two rounds earlier who knows what might have happened in Round 2. So it turned out that IM Kim Pilgaard played on…

Board 2 Michael Waters missed the correct continuation 20 e5 in an imbalanced game against FM Thornbjorn Bromann. The Fide time control of 90/40 + 30 + 30 secs per move from move 1 gives little time for deep middegame meditation. It is a feature of these Fide tournaments that players simply try to avoid complications and keep their clock filled on time. Imaginative chess is the loser.

Stephen Morgan and James McDonnell got the two draws that gave Belfast its start to Fügen 2006.

Round 3 was to prove as uphill as Round 1, Round 2 or the route back to the Hotel Walfriede

Stephen Scannell was to play well but run into the ruthless technique of a GM in the making, Enniskillen resident Gawain Jones. Still though the Belfast team was fighting hard on the lower boards and draws were being accumulated.

Round 4’s Swiss draw was to produce the first of two Derby matches. Stephen Scannell was to run into yet another titled played with ruthless qualities and finished second by a nose. The injustice of chess at this level is that the result still looks the same as if you lost in four moves or lose by a whisker. Waters mixed it up against IM Heidenfeld but failed to retain the positional compensation for his pawn sac. James McDonnell and Stephen Morgan kept accumulating.

At this stage Belfast were adrift at the bottom. Catching Slough and Kilkenny on the downfloat was unlucky but match points counted more than individual scores in this competition. It was time for a Stephen Morgan motivational speech. Unfortunately Mr Morgan’s motivational speeches are as secret as the coca-cola formula and cannot be reproduced here, but I can disclose that he made reference to his own score, made reference to it again, and again and one last time for good measure. The team’s ears were ringing during dinner. It was either Morgan’s speech or the yodelling by the salad bar.

Round 5 was to prove the crunch match in the battle to avoid the wooden spoon. James McDonnell was to provide the dream start. Unfortunately it was Galway’s dream start. Morriss – McDonnell 1.b4 e5, 2. Bb2 Bxb4 3. Bxe5 Nc6? 4. Bxg7 resigns.

Michael Waters was to strike back with Belfast’s first individual win and Stephen Morgan followed quickly. Former QUB player Lorcan O’Toole was on form and struck back for Galway to level the match 2-2. Daniel Mallaghan was two pawns down while Scannell’s king looked well ventilated despite being an exchange up. Mallaghan’s bravado quickly won two pawns back and a third looked imminent. Suddenly Scannell had a forced mate on the board and Inde Banerjee offered a draw on Board 5. The selfless Mallaghan accepted the draw to secure the first match win.

At last an Ulster team had broken its duck on its third visit to the European Club Cup.

Nothing succeeds like success but the battle to avoid the wooden spoon was not over. The Albanian team were largely unknown to databases at least.

John Bradley and Daniel Mallaghan opened Belfast’s account with two early draws. James McDonnell put the horrors of round 5 behind him (the 4 move shocker had circulated throughout the whole tournament hall by now) and produced a polished performance to give Belfast an early 2-1 advantage. Stephen Scannell grabbed a pawn but got ground down by the Albanian Number 1, taking advantage of static pawns with a pair of pushy knights. With the score at 2-2 most of the Belfast team had written Waters off in a Rook and Pawn ending. Stephen Morgan held an edge in the Board 6 struggle but was keen to see how Board 2 would develop before moving in on his opponent. As most Albanians didn’t appear on anyone’s laptops (an unfortunate curse of modern day chess preparation) there was little for the Belfast team to do but read Miniev’s nutshell text on Rook and Pawn endings. It turns out half of all endings are rook and pawn and Waters-Mihasi turned out to be a marathon rook and pawn endgame. Around move 60 the result was no clearer but it was clear the game could have gone in any of three ways. Eventually Waters rook vs Mihasi two connected pawns ended in a draw. By now Board 6, Stephen Morgan was making his move on the Albanian Board 6. His exchange up endgame produced the winning result.

It’s just like the Ormeau Road bus. You wait for three years for one to come (well it seems that way anyhow) and then two come along together!

Round 7 was inevitable. Having won two on the bounce we were sure to catch a high ranked team on the downwards rebound. Austria’s SK Hohenems were to become the rolling juggernaut in the road. Naturally Belfast didn’t want to disappoint their Austrian hosts and we didn’t. Only on form Stephen Morgan could stop the whitewash and he did. The remainder of the team found themselves on the end of GM/IM/FM grinds.

The mark has been set for next year’s team.

The event itself was a close one with Messrs Scannell, Annesley and Lavery - 3 heavyweights in this fastplay version of the game being the main competitors for the honour of 1st place. Annesley - the tournament winner - was forced to win the tournament from behind as his only slip occurred early on in round 2 to Lavery. Scannell - the outstanding favourite - was held to a draw in round 4 by Lavery and a 5th round defeat by Annesley all but ended his hopes. Lavery who was tied for the lead heading into the last round was beaten by Calum Leitch which resulted in both players' finishing in joint third place and ended Lavery's first place aspirations. This result paved the way for Annesley to win the tournament outright and once again to demonstrate the good form he showed at the end of last season.

 Another Strong performance came from Anandagopal Srinivasan who picked up the u1500 grading prize.

Prizewinners

1st Gareth Annesley 5/6
2nd Stephen Scannell 4.5/6
3rd= Damien Lavery & Calum Leitch 4/6
Grading Prize (U1500) Ananda Srinivasan 4/6

The QUB team on paper is weaker than last week’s team, with Claudio Fierro and Fred MacDonald, the team’s boards 1 and 3 respectively opting out with Tommy Nolan (who incidentally is playing his first competitive game in 17 years approximately) and Vladimir Pucovsky -an 1830 rated player from Slovakia, who has spent his remaining half a dozen or so years in England being drafted in to replace. This would be QUB’s first test of the squad’s strength and the next 3 hours worth of entertainment would be a sufficient example as any to find the worth of this QUB Team.

The first match to finish this week was the game on board 5 between the 2 newcomers to the league Tommy Nolan of QUB and Tiberiu Gociu of Hillsborough. The game soon became very strategically balanced, until Tommy lost the exchange with what he describes “a ludicrous Knight move” but Tommy certainly didn’t see this as an opportunity to go home and take an early bath, but instead he kept fighting and clawed his way into a perhaps favourable position. Unfortunately for QUB, that piece advantage was paying dividend for his Romanian opponent. He opened Tommy’s King up and found a passed pawn amongst the complications, a plan which dispatched Tommy’s defences and forced an immediate resignation. This secured the point for Hillsbrough to give them a 1-0 lead and pile misery on the young QUB side that perhaps are beginning to find the difficult demands of Division 2. Hillsbrough have reason to be excited about the acquisition of Tiberiu. But this showing from Tommy, despite the result brings encouraging news for QUB and bodes well for the future.

Moments later, QUB levelled the scoreline as debutant Vladimir Pucovsky won a hard fought game against the steady Michael Harkness on board 2. It was a game which saw neither player attain any real advantage, but a game where Vladimir was never in any danger of losing. He took his narrow advantage and concentrated his efforts into his passed d-pawn which was enough for him to gain an adequate advantage and force a resignation. A very encouraging performance from Vladimir, justifying his 1830 strength.

 Chris Millar, the QUB captain is wasting no time in solidifying his drawish reputation, with another steady unspectacular draw against Alistair Armstrong on board 4. It proved to be a game where tactical ingenuity was lacking. Yet, Chris gave his opponent very little chance to gain an advantage. After initially declining a draw offer, it was only within the next 2 or 3 moves that Chris conceded that the game was destined towards a draw. This further confirms Chris’s 100% record this year in attaining 4 draws in all competitions. After the game Chris said that he approximated that his team needed 1 and a half points to secure victory. Chris informed me that he would get the half point and allow me the glory and dubious honour (as well as the uphill task of winning) of securing the full point.

 On board 1 saw John Masterson of QUB (promoted to board 1 this week with the exclusion of Claudio) take on the highly respected Ulster Chess Union President David McAlister. The game itself noticeably got more open as time went on; as a result of this it became more tactical. John found himself up the exchange but down on time and yet his pawn had a strong grip hold on f6 and was very dominating, but David had John’s King exposed, something which John had to deal with. As the tension rose and as the game neared its conclusion, John was able to convert his material advantage into a win and guarantee QUB at least a draw.

So with the score currently at 2.5-1.5 in favour of the away side. It was up to Calum Leitch, the Division 2 specialist to at least draw his game and give the win to QUB. This is a situation Cal has been in on many occasions throughout his league career and normally he responds well to the responsibility and added pressure. Would this prove to be the case?

Trying to prevent this from happening was Geoffrey Collins. The pair’s only meeting was four years ago, a game which Calum narrowly won. Four years on and an increase in 700 points for Calum, one may be inclined to think that he is the firm favourite.

The opening started friskily and it saw Calum get a positional and material advantage. The middlegame saw a gutsy fightback from Collins who gave his younger opponent plenty to think about. This may have resulted in Leitch’s questionable positional sacrifice which saw him give up his rook for a bishop. The thinking behind it is that the bishop would be a lot stronger in the position than any rook. Whether this sacrifice was an accurate one is still being decided by the highly recommended Fritz but perhaps this is progress for Cal, as Fritz usually ridicules his play.

The game was close to the end and Geoffrey’s lack of time in the closing stages of the match was evident and Calum was able to snatch victory. Resulting in a 3.5-1.5 win for QUB and continuing the side’s perfect start to the season. The team must not get carried away as next week they face Bangor Groomsport and if Richard Proctor has heard a whisper of these QUB heavyweights then rest assured he will be aiming to topple the early pacemakers.

Groomsport arrived with a bang – no literally as William McGrattan perhaps in his trepidation drove his car into a pipe. At this stage, the only Bangor player present in the match room was board 5 Stefan Andreasson who was eagerly preparing for a simultaneous. When the Bangor team entered, Andreasson - instead of feeling relieved was disappointed instead.

There were changes in the Groomsport line-up from last year’s team with the absence of Martin Moorcroft and the return of Ron Henderson. On paper, Groomsport look a very handy team capable of promotion.

QUB welcomed back Claudio Fierro and Fred MacDonald to replace the feared Vladimir Pucovsky and Tommy Nolan. John Masterson pulled out also with QUB drafting in league debutant Robert Lavery at short notice to replace.

It was the debutant Robert Lavery, who was first to finish this week against supposed simultaneous expert Stefan Andreasson. The game itself was a tense one in which Stefan gained a one pawn advantage; to contest this Robert played a well worked out tactical combination which unfortunately led him to a losing King and Pawn endgame. Hard lines for Robert, but an assured Stefan claims the first point of the night to Groomsport and once again QUB are going to have to come from behind if they are to win.

At the other end of the room on Board 1, saw Alan McConnell of Bangor and Claudio Fierro of QUB involved in a dull Queen’s pawn game. In terms of excitement it failed to reach the heights accumulated by the fireworks throughout Belfast during the previous night. The only result which was ever likely throughout the game was a draw, which was agreed after a multiple of exchanges. The scores now stood at 1.5-0.5 in favour of Bangor Groomsport.

Fred MacDonald – the QUB board 2 was looking to continue the fine form he showed against Malone against William McGrattan. Earlier, McGrattan had caused chaos in the Fisherwick neighbourhood by damaging his car. McGrattan sat down to face his opponent, believing that Fred was the 2300 Russian in whom he had been anticipating playing. To save another few minutes, McGrattan went in search for a rope to try and salvage his cars exhaust (at least that’s what we think he wanted the rope for). When he returned to find out that his opponent was not a Russian, but instead a resident of Holywood. A reassured McGrattan played a sparkling game and won comfortably after an oversight from Fred. Making the score 2.5-0.5 to Groomsport and guaranteeing them at least a draw.

On board 3 saw Calum Leitch take on Richard Proctor, a match–up which usually produces fireworks, rivalling those of October 31st. Last year, the pair met twice with Leitch being victorious on both occasions, rather fortuitously on the 2nd occasion. The opening started interestingly for Leitch, playing a line which not even Fritz knows – never a good sign. Leitch’s lack in development and greedy ambitions caused him to enter move 10 in a lost position. Proctor, who is well known throughout Ulster chess for his ability to find a checkmate in any position, will instead be grateful to Leitch for his assistance in this demolition and thus attaining his revenge from their last meeting. Yet, Leitch fought for nearly 3 hours with nothing to show for his efforts. A valiant yet forgetful display in which saw his King - dispatched, his development – deficient, his moral – deteriorated and his team – defeated.

The remaining match was on board 4 between the solid Chris Millar and the steady Ron Henderson. Pre-match notes from Leitch predicted a draw, especially with the score at 3.5-0.5 and Millar’s ever-growing reputation of being a draw specialist. But Chris Millar, like any good captain stood head and shoulders above the team on the night and fought fearlessly for a win. To reclaim some pride for QUB resulting in a 3.5-1.5 win for Groomsport.

Groomsport have reason to feel overjoyed at this win, a spectacular performance which will no doubt boost their promotion bid.

QUB will have to regroup for the in-form Portadown, already QUB showing signs of frailty and the team can’t afford any more performances like this if they are to achieve promotion. Captain Chris Millar also will face a selection crisis in future matches due to competition for places and key players being sidelined. 

Ten players in all turned up to do battle and test their abilities against Steve, with Steve prevailing in six out of the ten matches. The speed at which Steve was making his moves showed his natural feel he had for this type of experience and was even putting time pressure on his fearless opponents. Credit goes to Robert Lavery of QUB for winning, yet alone winning first. Stewart McConaghy of Bombardier also had a win as did Calum Leitch of QUB. The last game to finish saw the only Fisherwick win of the night which was produced by Richard Gould.

Steve's creditable victories came against mainly home opposition in James Fairley, David Seaby, Alex Beckett, Iain Woodfield and Bernard Jaffa all incidentally of Fisherwick. The only non Fisherwick player to lose was Owen Wilson, perhaps slightly unlucky as it was a game which saw blunders from both players.

Steve's valiant efforts were justly rewarded with a FIDE tournament approved clock. A prize worthy of the tiredness which Steve will undoubtedly be feeling. Players will surely feel that it was a night to remember and simulatenous displays are normally those which are enjoyed by all. The players who emerged victorious will savour their wins and a certain Stewart McConaghy is known to enjoy these displays immensely, as he has a favourable record and even has the cheek to ask the chosen participant to sign his scoresheet!

This extension came as a surprise not only to tournament controller Neil Green, but also to Civil Service player Chris Kelly. Chris arrived last Monday evening to discover that not only was it not the tournament’s final round as he had believed, but that the competition was only halfway through.

Not that this lengthy format has deterred the punters, however, a fact aided by the allowance of two travelling byes per player aiming to remain eligible for a prize. Twenty two entries from six different clubs have thus far made for a very healthy and competitive tournament.

David Ruben	½ v ½	Chris Kelly
Ray Devenney	0 v 1	John Masterson
Stewart McConaghy	0 v 1	Gerry Pollock
Chris Millar	½ v ½	Ian Woodfield
Bernard Jaffa	1 v 0	Alex Beckett
Ananda Srinivasan	0 v 1	Sam Ferris
Owen Wilson	0 v 1	John Bryars
David Seaby	0 v 1	Cathal Murphy
James Fairley	0 v 1	Kevin O’Neill

These scores left the overall standings in the condition illustrated below. Ratings shown are those correct at the start of the tournament:

PLACE	PLAYER	RTG	CLUB	POINTS
1-3	John Masterson	1902	QUB	4.5
	Gerry Pollock	1481	Fisherwick	4.5
	David Ruben	1627	Fisherwick	4.5
4	Chris Kelly	1651	Civil Service	4
5-8	Ian Woodfield	1655	Fisherwick	3.5
	Bernard Jaffa	1525	Fisherwick	3.5
	Ray Devenney	1875	Fisherwick	3.5
	Sam Ferris	1684	Fisherwick	3.5
9-12	Chris Millar	1492	QUB	3
	Stewart McConaghy	1502	Shorts	3
	Neil Green	1714	Fisherwick	3
	Sam Flanagan	1536	Fisherwick	3
13-17	Ananda Srinivasan	1478	Fisherwick	2.5
	Alex Beckett	1344	Fisherwick	2.5
	Richard Gould	1483	Fisherwick	2.5
	John Bryars	1194	Fisherwick	2.5
	CJ Murphy	780	RVH	2.5
18-19	James Fairley	1028	Fisherwick	2
	Eddie Li	U/g	MCB	2
20-21	David Seaby	1047	Fisherwick	1.5
	Owen Wilson	955	Bangor	1.5
22	Kevin O'Neill	835	Civil Service	1

The standings indicate that 1^st place is still very much up for grabs. All of the top 8, or at least those of their number that have not shown too high a propensity to take travelling byes, are still in contention.

The prospects appear to be good for QUB player and top seed, John Masterson.  His steady form and unbeaten record has brought him to a shared lead, and with a travelling bye still held in reserve. John shares that lead with two Fisherwick veterans, Gerry Pollock and David Ruben.

Much credit is clearly due for Gerry who, after a shaky start, has seen his stock rise considerably. Four wins on the bounce – the longest winning streak in this year’s tourney to date – has seen him climb the table to joint first. The latest on the end of “a Pollocking” was Stewart McConaghy, an opponent of Gerry’s on numerous occasions at recent Fisherwick tournaments.

The third member of the top three, David Ruben, has been consolidating early wins with solid drawing performances against the tournament’s top seeds in the last couple of rounds.

In conclusion, four weeks to go and all to play for!

Incidentally QUB’s new venue The Peter Froggatt Centre would be used for the first time. Unaffected by this, Portadown players arrived very promptly with their sleeves rolled up and undoubtedly ready to give their younger opponents a proverbial hiding.

The one change in the QUB line up saw the feared Slovenian Vladimir Pucovsky replace (Dr) Fred MacDonald.

Yet again, Portadown altered the board order of the top 3 boards, with John Canning fancying his chances on board 1 and Nigel Telford, perhaps mistakenly taking the easier option on board 3. This tactical deploy would prove to be a wise move.

The first game to be decided was the encounter on board 1 between Claudio Mendicute and John Canning. A slight misjudgement in the middle game from Claudio gave John a slight edge on which he couldn’t quite capitalise. Claudio offered his opponent a draw in which he gratefully agreed via handshake, almost pulling Claudio’s arm off in the process in his eagerness to take a draw.

Calum Leitch had a rare early finish to his game, Leitch normally prefers the 3 hour struggles, but this week earned a comprehensive victory over Colin Fenton to silence those who exclaim that the player is off-form, following his defeat to Richard Proctor. The game saw a "plethora of anomalies" from Colin Fenton which resulted in considerable material gain for Leitch, who dispatched his opponent convincingly. The score now stands at 1.5-0.5 in favour of QUB.

On board 3 Vladimir Pucovsky played a dubiously non-theoretical opening against Nigel Telford. Telford found the flaws in this and attained an exceedingly favourable position. Pucovsky battled bravely but couldn’t contain the many threats of Telford and was forced to resign, and thus level the scores at 1.5-1.5.

Tony Redden and John Masterson played out a long, close-fought game which saw neither player gain any serious momentum. The players agreed a draw in the closing stages which was a fair reflection of the game. The scores now stand at 2-2.

QUB Captain Chris Millar was looking to add to his 1 match winning streak against Portadown’s John Lambe. The game saw Millar achieve a much better position and a pawn advantage. With time coming to a close and the pieces being dismantled, Millar hesitantly chose a defensive route for his King – only to give his opponent a perpetual. Millar must be frustrated with this, as he played very well but became too passive in the ending.

Portadown remain unbeaten with this overall draw and are definitely surprise title contenders. QUB remain lacklustre with yet another disappointing result and the team's results are reflecting their acquiring status as "The Liverpool" of the league so far. Millar will undoubtedly have selection problems for future games, with none of these top guns hitting any real form of which they are capable of.

RVH have been in abysmal form since relegation and are rapidly finding the demands of Division 2 chess hard to swallow. Whether this is down to over cockiness or the altering line ups and new additions is still yet to be revealed. Tonight’s epilogue will hopefully reveal the worth of these sides and the match up is being labelled as “The Battle of Division 2’s underachievers”

 QUB’s form has undoubtedly been unpredictable, but even more volatile has been RVH’s line up week- in week- out.  QUB Captain and warlock Chris Millar’s attempted guess at the RVH line up was almost as pitiable as his team’s performances this season, as Neil Fisher and Gerry Collins made their first appearances of the season. Meanwhile, for QUB Tommy Nolan replaced Vladimir Pucovsky, this modification saw Leitch and Millar move up a board each.

 The games started promptly, yet QUB were anxiously waiting on their board 2 John Masterson who arrived late due to other commitments. I think Masterson was carefully planning a dramatic entrance as he was playing against his former club; either that or he was plucking up the courage to show his good natured face. Incidentally an outsider spotted Masterson entering a Jujitsu club just a few days earlier. Perhaps Masterson wasn’t expecting a warm welcome from his former team-mates. Yet Masterson’s game ended early with a quick draw with Neil Fisher. Masterson’s lack of tiredness perhaps played a part in this and he exclaimed that he was “playing like a goat”

 Board 5 Tommy Nolan was making his second appearance of the season against Cathal Murphy. Cathal has been enjoying some success in the Fisherwick Winter Tournament, and his recent improved form showed, as he enjoyed a victory over the QUB player. Nolan is proving to be rusty due to his long gap in chess, as he lost on time in a favourable position. RVH lead 1.5-0.5

 Chris Millar has been enjoying an unbeaten start to the season and his form continued against Gerry Collins. Millar played a smooth game with the black pieces and looked in control throughout. It came as no surprise when Millar converted this into a comprehensive victory and to leave the scores tied. Millar, once again prevailing with another good performance.

 On board 3 saw a tussle between Brian Gilner of RVH and Ulster Under 19 Champion Calum Leitch of QUB. The game itself was very open and a carefully planned pawn sacrifice allowed Leitch to viciously dispatch his opponent’s defences and comfortably win. Gilner conceded that Leitch merited his victory and his impressive run of form continues. Millar must be pleased with this addition to the team and agreed that Leitch’s position on the team isn’t under threat.

 Claudio Mendicute picked up his first victory for QUB against Tony Parker. The game was a very tight affair with Mendicute obtaining a one pawn advantage going into a drawish ending. Parker’s lack of time, along with Mendicute’s precision manoeuvring forced a crucial error from Parker which resulted in a victory for Mendicute. Undoubtedly, this win serves as a huge relief for Mendicute.

With the final score at 3.5-1.5 to QUB, the result reflects QUB’s title ambitions and RVH’s further slip down the table. RVH must be wary of a second consecutive relegation, while QUB Captain Chris Millar must be delighted with his team’s vastly improved display.

Bombardier’s line-up contained Mark Newman, who recently signed from Bangor and is a highly respected person and player from UCU, further inclusions included Drew Ferguson – the likeable UCU Secretary.

The first game to finish this week was the board 2 encounter between Pucovsky and Paul McNaughten. McNaughten seemed to have the edge in a tense middlegame but decided to offer his Slovakian opponent a draw – which he dutifully accepted. McNaughten was perhaps wary of his Slovakian’s opponent’s name and perhaps Ferguson has been telling more people of Pucovsky’s supposed 2300 strength.

 Ferguson himself looked in good touch for a while against Division2 draw specialist Chris Millar on board 5, but Millar’s form continued to impress and was able to win sufficient material to force a resignation. Millar’s unbeaten start to the season continues and he is fulfilling the captain role submissively. Post match comments reveal the Millar described the win as “ordinary against an ordinary player”

On board 3 MacDonald’s lack of match practice once again showed as he allowed a very promising position slip through his hands against UCU stalwart Stewart McConaghy. McConaghy is known throughout UCU for his dominance is junior tournaments and the God of luck shone favourably upon his shoulders as he swindled his time-troubled opponent. This was McConaghy’s first league win of the season and a rather notable one.

The tussle on board 1 between Claudio Mendicute and Mark Newman proved to be a close one. In a position where tactical threats were hard to spot, Mendicute’s precision play gave his opponent a lot to think about. Perhaps he gave his opponent too much to think about, as Newman lost on time in a subdued position. This win for Mendicute is his second in a row and this puts QUB 2.5-1.5 up and guarantees them at least a draw.

Appropriately, the last game to finish was the clash on board 4 between Bombardier captain Bill McKittrick and ex Bombardier player Calum Leitch. McKittrick seemed enthralled rather than subdued about the prospect of facing Leitch as he rolled up his sleeves to do combat. McKittrick’s solid playing style was left behind for tonight’s quarrel as he took it to his younger and higher rated opponent. Leitch defended accordingly and counter attacked with a splendid kingside pawn march. McKittrick’s accurate defending prevented Leitch from gaining a commanding edge, but Leitch’s dubious piece sac proved to be too much for McKittrick’s defences as he carefully manoeuvred his pieces into a forced checkmate. A valiant effort from McKittrick, but a relieved Leitch picks up the victory for himself and for QUB.

Chris Millar goes home a happy captain with a comfortable 3.5-1.5 win for QUB. QUB are back in the title chase and a tricky away fixture to Bangor Winston awaits these”galacticos”

After drawing with his teammate Masterson in Round 1, fellow Queen's player Chris Millar finished the only other unbeaten player to win the under 1600 grading prize with 6 points.

Perhaps these results foreshadow QUB's looming dominance of the local game!

The remaining prizes were won by two Fisherwick stalwarts, Gerry Pollock and James Fairley.

Gerry showed some fine form to finish 2nd overall with 6.5 points, collecting some impressive results against higher-rated members of his own club along the way.

James Fairley also played above his rating to claim the under 1100 grading prize.

The final standings are illustrated below:

The Fisherwick Spring Tournament is provisionally scheduled to commence on January 15th, quite possibly with a shortened format. The winner of this competition will then play-off with John Masterson to decide who will lift the coveted Alex Beckett Trophy.

Steve's total of 5.5 points from 6 was enough to see him finish just a half-point ahead of second seed Michael Waters, who claimed second place ahead of a strong field of challengers.

Even though Waters entered the final round level with Scannell - after the two shared a fifth round draw - he can perhaps consider himself more than a little lucky not to be beaten into second place by Queen's player Calum Leitch. In their final round clash Leitch's flag fell just moments away from victory to leave Water's solitary king enough to claim the crucial draw.

This left Clifton House player Nicholas Pilkiewicz with the 3rd place prize on tiebreak, while Ciaran Marron and Peruvian newcomer Casana Aquiles won grading prizes.

PRIZE WINNERS

1st: Steve Scannel l2nd: Michael Waters 3rd: Nicholas Pilkiewicz

 U 1600: Ciaran Marron U 1200: Casana Aquiles