The Stars Barred competition was to prove a much harder fought affair. The turnout was again small, but the entrants consisted of several candidates for the leading places. Joseph Mordeno entered as top seed and was aiming to continue his recent tournament form while Srinivasan’s transfer to this competition was always likely to mean another prize for his weekend’s work. In addition, Pat McKillen was planning to record his first UCU under 1600 tourney victory since Summerfest 2006 and John Monaghan looked to add to his Ulster Junior title.

Round 3 results saw Ananda beat Joseph with black to put himself a full point clear of the chasing pack and become strong favourite for top spot. However, Ananda went on to concede draws to both Cathal Murphy and Pat McKillen. This resulted in Srinivasan having to settle for a joint first finish with Mordeno, who's round 4 and 5 wins earned him four points out of five and a share of the top prize.

This wasn’t Neil’s only participation in the prize-giving. He was calculated to have edged out Sam Ferris on tiebreak for the 2^nd place prize, albeit with cries of “fix!” from Norman McFarland ringing in his ears.

Gareth Annesley of Clifton House, one of three joint-winners of the January 2006 edition, put his off-colour league form behind him to play strongly, only losing to Scannell to finish second.  Queen's players Calum Leitch and David O'Donnell commuted from Preston and Omagh respectively to tie for third with four points from six. Fellow QUB players Damien Lavery and Zulhasrifal Zulkifli also performed well to land the grading prizes. This was an especially good showing for Zul, who was playing competitively for the first time in several years.

In 2007 Scannell has remarkably won every senior Ulster Chess Union individual tournament. Steve lifted the Williamson Shield in January (his sixth); won the City of Belfast Championships in June (for the fifth time); claimed the Ulster Individuals Championship in August (getting his name on the McSparran Cup for the sixth occasion); and of course retained the Ulster Rapidplay Championship in December. In addition to these UCU titles, Scannell also claimed the prestigious Hammel Cup during the summer with his victory in the Civil Service tournament. All the more impressively, no tiebreaks were required - Steve finished clear first in each competition.

That was because the final round's battle for second place, between Gareth Annesley and Wenceslao Torres, could only produce a draw also. As a result, Annesley and Torres of Lagan shared the runners' up prize with 4.5 points each. Annesley has been making a habit of being Steve's bridesmaid in recent tourneys, while Torres enjoyed laying down another marker that his rating is considerably lower than it now should be.

Both grading prizes were also shared. The under 1600 prize was split between Stewart McConaghy, William Storey and John Phillips, who each scored 3.5 points. 3 points was enough, meanwhile, for the RVH's John Monaghan and Pearse O'Brien to share the under 1200 prize.

All the competitors put Steve through his paces, but special credit goes to Caroline Downey - the sole player to take even a draw off Steve on the night. Caroline held off Scannell's onslaught, while each of the other competitors were, one-by-one, put to the sword by the American.

Congratulations to Steve, who put on an excellent show for those who played and enjoyed a great evening of chess. Having already recorded two wins out of two in the league for 2008 and recaptured the Williamson Shield, the Ulster Champion has started the year in as blistering form as ever.

No doubt, therefore, Scannell will be among the leading contenders for the £200 prize up for grabs in the QUB Rapid on February 16th. This next event is targeted at players of all playing strengths though, so make every effort to get involved! Full details here:

http://quis.qub.ac.uk/chess/qubrapid2008.htm

More pics and video content of the simul event can be found here:

http://quis.qub.ac.uk/chess/tourneys.htm#stevescannellsimul08

Marking a profitable return to the Belfast chess scene was the second place prize winner Semyon Mkrtchyan (1977). With the exception of a half-point dropped to Freeman in the second round, Mkrtchyan could do no wrong and finished with 4.5/5. Semyon played strongly and enjoyed the breaks at just the right time too, winning in the last round despite a hopelessly lost position - only awarded the final crucial win virtue of his sole remaining pawn and opponent's fallen flag.

On the day, it just wasn't to be for the strongest Belfast players competing. Ulster and Belfast Champion Steve Scannell lost momentum with a defeat against Steve Morgan and, after an unforgivingly tough draw, wasn't to recover. Morgan himself was left frustrated in round 3, following up his win over Scannell by losing a king and pawn endgame to William Storey (1315). Nevertheless, Morgan was to finish level with Fisherwick's John Bradley on 4/5 as the top finishing Ulster players.

The best under 1600 player in the tournament was another southern-based competitor, Steve Stokes of Bray Chess Club. The Greystones man - through his work driving forward the Irish University Chess Association in recent years - is certainly no stranger to chess in Queen's. Stokes' prize was extremely well-earned, with the 1537-rated player facing higher-seeded players in 4 of his 5 matches yet going through the entire tournament unbeaten. The highlight of Steve's tournament perhaps came in the 4th round, where he drew against the 2006 joint Ulster Champion, Michael Waters.

At least one prize was gained by a locally-based player, with Ismail Haji Jaya winning the award for the best ungraded player. Ismail's lack of competitive experience certainly didn't show, winning against more battle-hardened opponent's such as Chris Armstrong of the Lagan Chess Club on his way to an impressive 3.5/5 points tally.

Also deserving of note was the performance of the young Gupta siblings, who are currently the most precocious prodigies in Ulster Chess. Radhika and Raghav, both primary school pupils, each recorded wins and amazed all of the participants with their remarkable talent and all-too-evident potential to develop into extremely strong players. Hopefully such experience as this will be another step in nurturing their natural flair for the game.

There was also a very encouraging turnout of Queen's students enjoying their first taste of competitive chess. A superb total of 17 QUB players in all participated, reflecting the growing size of the club and all-round increase in chess interest at the University.

In conclusion, the 2008 edition of the QUB Rapid sees the expansion of the tournament begin to accelerate. Even bigger and better things are already being planned for next year. As the QUB Chess Club continues to move from strength-to-strength, the club's annual tournament will do so along with it.

The full final standings, more pics and video content are available here:

http://quis.qub.ac.uk/chess/tourneys.htm#qubrapid2008

It appeared that a two horse race was emerging as early as round 3, with Chris Millar of QUB and Fisherwick's Ian Woodfield moving clear at the top with 100% records. After then drawing their own encounter, both drawing with Neil Green and beating Norman McFarland, the two Division 1 players entered the final round on 5/6 - a full point clear of the chasing pack.

At this stage though, fortune favoured Woodfield. His scheduled round 7 opponent - the extremely solid and experienced Gerry Pollock - didn't show. This left a 1.5 tournament point and 750 grading points upfloat for Kevin O'Neill. Ian dispatched his opponent cleanly and convincingly, leaving Chris to slog it out for a win against Bernard Jaffa for a share of the 1st place prize money and trophy.

After a highly untheoretical opening from Jaffa, Millar blundered and suddenly found himself looking on the worse side of the complications in an open position. It looked highly likely that a tactical bolt from the blue would provide a middlegame knockout for either side, yet play finally reached what seemed a very drawn rook and pawn endgame. Bernard, perhaps encouraged to fiddle by his opponent's dwindling time, put a foot wrong by conceeding a tempo and the exchange of rooks. When Jaffa then lost another tempo by gobbling an apparently free pawn, he was then ruthlessly ground out in what had become a won endgame for the QUB student.

This final action left Chris Millar and Ian Woodfield as joint winners - sharing the prize money and trophy - with each earning an unbeaten 6/7 score.

Kevin O'Neill claimed the grading prize, finishing with 3.5 points via wins over David Seaby and Cathal Murphy, plus a travelling and full point bye.

The one blip in Eamonn's tournament came on the opening Monday when he lost to Methody schoolboy Ananda Srinivasan. Srinivasan himself remained in contention throughout, but went down in his final round encouner with Waters. The Fisherwick board one's bid for victory was not only stymied by the defeat to Walls, but also through an earlier draw conceded to Norman McFarland.

The various grading prizes went to Fisherwick veterans Alex Beckett and Martin Kelly (who each earned 4 points) and also to Cathal Murphy of the RVH club.

Grand Prix Final qualifiers

The four Primary School pupils

Kevin Robbin(Primary 6) St Brides
John Dawson (Primary 6) Maralin
Kiaran Robbin (Primary 7) St Brides
Radika Gupta (Primary 7) Dromore

The four Secondary School pupils

Luke Taylor (Form 2) BRA
Christopher Roe (Form 1) BRA
Christopher Turnball (Form 1) BRA
Matthew Chapman (Form 1) Grosvenor

Annesley and Pilkiewicz shared second, as William McrGrattan earned the grading prize on tiebreak ahead of Joseph Mordeno.

Alan Burns, meanwhile, refound top form to land the Henderson Cup (under 1600) with a perfect 6/6. Six points, but doubtless innumerable gambits from a Burns back to his best. John Monaghan of RVH continued to make a name for himself, this time beating Richard Proctor again to lift the "David and Goliath" prize.

Final standings in both sections are available in the UCU Results Services

• Nemtzov Cup results
  
• Henderson Cup results
  

and at David McAlister's Ulster Chess Chronicle:

http://www.rct26.dial.pipex.com/cityofbelfastfestival_2008.htm

Green Party Assembly Member Brian Wilson said: “This is an opportunity for the children to have fun and show off their chess skills in the historic surroundings of Stormont, it will be a celebration of young minds.”

Raghav Gupta was awarded the Belfast Scholastic Shield: Exceptional Young Player 2008

Kevin Robbin - Primary Chess Champion 2008

Luke Taylor - Secondary (Lower School) Chess Champion 2008

The Belfast Scholastic Shield.

Primary Chess Champion

The Belfast Scholastic Shield.

Lower School Chess Champion

The tournament was hard fought and we saw some excellent chess.

Stormont Elite Chess Tournament - Secondary

Stormont Elite Chess Tournament – Primary

Everybody enjoyed the event and it is planned to repeat this next year.

The Hammel Cup is the trophy name given to the summer tournament held at Civil Service each year from May - September. Scannell scored 10 points from 11 matches giving him a rounded score of 91%. Only fellow teammates John Masterson and Calum Leitch were able to prevent Scannell from scoring 100%.

There were also prizes for the winners of each of the three Grading Bands. Iain Woodfield of Fisherwick was the winner of Grading Band A and despite only scoring 58% his performance emphasised the importance of playing 10 games - the minimum requirement for attaining a prize.

Grading Band B was won by another Fisherwick player -  John Bryars. Bryars scored an impressive 8.5 points from 12 games and was the clear winner in this particular Grading Band.

Fisherwick made it a Grading Band hat-trick as David Seaby was the joint winner of Grading Band C. Seaby's 11 points from 15 games was exactly matched by Bangor's Brian Belshaw.

It is tradition to round of the Civil Service tournament with a handicap rapidplay tournament. On this occasion, Eddie Whiteside beat Damien Lavery in the deciding game to win the tournament. A further kick in the teeth was to come for Lavery as he was beaten to second on tie-break by David Seaby. This rounded off an impressive showing at Civil Service this summer for Seaby. Steve Scannell found the handicap time limits a bit too demanding on this occasion and could only manage a 7th place finish among the 20 entrants.

Stephen Scannell - Ulster Chess Champion 2007

An innovation in this year's Championship was that the Ulster Intermediate and Junior titles were being contested alongside the Senior in a single event. Distant are the memories of previous tournaments held in inferior facilities. With their draughty windows, too cold or sometimes too hot interior, disturbing piercing sunlight, and distracting external noise in abundance, they were the unfortunate chess player's delight, with their list of ready-made excuses for poor play. Here, in the Dublin Room, ticking clocks and carpeted footfalls were all that separated eager chess minds from their brilliancies.

Dublin Room

The final round

Round six is where the men are sorted from the boys. The heavy hitters from the powder puff brigade. The galacticos from … Well you get the idea. When the permutations allow for all possible outcomes, there is everything to play for. First, second and third, Intermediate and Junior titles, wooden spoon.

Boards one and two would decide the Ulster Championship. Scannell - Leitch was board one, both on 4/5. Should the game be a draw, Annesley, also on four points would hope to upset Waters on Board 2 and claim outright first.

Final round - Boards 1 and 2

Annesley - Waters was the first to finish. Attacking play by white in a Sicilian Najdorf was thwarted by middle game steadiness from black. White lost the exchange after 24...Ne5 and then was in dire time pressure of twenty seconds for six moves, black eventually breaking through on the fortieth move.

With Annesley out of the way, the winner would now come from board one. A French defence from Leitch saw once again a pawn blundered away to Scannell straight from the opening. Black's poor 11...Nde5 allowed 13. Bxh7+ picking up an important centre pawn. Try as he might, there was no way to complicate the position, and black soon succumbed to white's technique. After playing so solidly, to lose the game in such a weak way must have been a bitter pill to swallow. Consolation came when the tie-break calculations gave him the Intermediate title for players rated under 1800.

Intermediate Champion Calum Leitch (left) and James McDonnell in Round 5

The Dr McSparran Cup once more secured, Scannell can now rightly be called Mr. Six-Time. The dominant force in Ulster Chess tournament play for the best part of a decade must surely hold a grand slam of silverware at this moment.

John Monaghan defeated Pearse O'Brien, in a game worthy of a much higher-rated player, admittedly after the bizarre 2.Bc4 d5 3.Bd3 against the French, to take the under 1400 Junior Title with 3.5/6, an outstanding result.

John Monaghan - Ulster Junior Champion

Finally a mention to the wooden spoon, picked up by Kevin O'Neill. Your author would like to congratulate Mr. O'Neill for coming last in such fine style, such was the fate I had a few years ago. At least 0.5/6 was some reward for effort. My 0/6 being distinctly more rounded and memorable. Useless thought for the day, 'There is only one way to go, and that is up!'

Rating Report

Player              Rtng Score Exp  Rav  Rprfm 

Senior
Stephen Scannell    2133 5.0/6 5.04 1844 2117
Michael Waters      2069 4.5/6 5.04 1784 1977
James McDonnell     2022 3.0/6 5.04 1736 1736
Nicholas Pilkiewicz 1929 4.0/6 4.44 1747 1872
Gareth Annesley     1916 3.5/5 3.30 1800 1949
Danny Mallaghan     1872 4.5/6 3.84 1773 1966

Intermediate
David Grzymek       1774 4.0/6 2.94 1784 1909
Calum Leitch        1753 4.0/6 2.70 1789 1914
Ciaran Marron       1667 2.5/6 3.06 1659 1602
Ian Woodfield       1631 4.0/6 3.48 1572 1697
Damien Cunningham   1612 3.0/5 3.15 1517 1589
Brian McComb        1593 3.0/6 2.82 1618 1618
Joseph Mordeno      1564 4.0/6 2.34 1643 1768

Junior
Roy Stafford        1391 2.5/5 3.70 1209 1209
Alexander Beckett   1365 2.0/6 2.22 1461 1336
Brendan J. Doherty  1315 2.5/6 3.60 1240 1183
William Storey      1298 2.5/6 1.92 1433 1376
Kevin Agnew         1246 3.0/6 2.34 1327 1327
Kevin Fisher        1237 1.5/6 2.28 1321 1128
John Monaghan       1104 3.5/6 2.46 1168 1225
Pearse O'Brien      1045 2.5/6 1.92 1182 1125
David Seaby         1038 1.5/5 1.15 1249 1100
Geoff Hindley       1023 1.5/5 0.90 1281 1132
Owen Wilson         967  1.0/5 1.20 1169  929
Kevin O'Neill       919  0.5/5 1.60 1052  686
Cathal Murphy       881  0.5/4 0.80 1121  799

Exp   = Expected score  
Rav   = Average rating of opponents
Rprfm = Rating performance

Crosstable

No Name              Total    1    2    3    4    5    6   Title/Prize

1  Stephen Scannell    5     2:D  9:W 19:W  6:D  4:W  5:W  Senior Champion
2  Danny Mallaghan     4.5   1:D  5:D 13:D 11:W 10:W 12:W  Second Place
3  Michael Waters      4.5  27:+  7:D  8:L 17:W 16:W  6:W  Third Place
4  Nicholas Pilkiewicz 4     5:D 10:W  7:W  8:W  1:L  9:D
5  Calum Leitch        4     4:D  2:D 14:W 23:W 12:W  1:L  Intermediate Champion
6  Gareth Annesley     4    16:W  0:D 17:W  1:D  8:W  3:L
7  David Grzymek       4    12:W  3:D  4:L 16:D 17:W 13:W
8  Joseph Mordeno      4    25:W 24:W  3:W  4:L  6:L 16:W
9  Ian Woodfield       4    13:D  1:L 20:W 22:W 23:W  4:D
10 Damien Cunningham   3.5   0:D  4:L 21:W 18:W  2:L 20:W
11 John Monaghan       3.5  15:D 19:L 26:W  2:L 22:W 21:W  Junior Champion
12 James McDonnell     3     7:L 14:W 25:W 13:W  5:L  2:L
13 Brian McComb        3     9:D 26:W  2:D 12:L 14:W  7:L
14 Kevin Agnew         3    22:W 12:L  5:L 19:W 13:L 24:W
15 Roy Stafford        3    11:D 17:D 23:L 25:D  0:D 18:W
16 Ciaran Marron       2.5   6:L 23:W 24:W  7:D  3:L  8:L
17 William Storey      2.5  18:W 15:D  6:L  3:L  7:L 25:W
18 Geoff Hindley       2.5  17:L 21:D  0:W 10:L 19:W 15:L
19 Brendan J. Doherty  2.5  20:D 11:W  1:L 14:L 18:L 23:W
20 David Seaby         2.5  19:D 25:L  9:L 26:W  0:W 10:L
21 Pearse O'Brien      2.5  23:L 18:D 10:L 24:W 25:W 11:L
22 Cathal Murphy       2    14:L  0:W  0:D  9:L 11:L 26:D
23 Alexander Beckett   2    21:W 16:L 15:W  5:L  9:L 19:L
24 Owen Wilson         2     0:W  8:L 16:L 21:L 26:W 14:L
25 Kevin Fisher        1.5   8:L 20:W 12:L 15:D 21:L 17:L
26 Kevin O'Neill       1     0:D 13:L 11:L 20:L 24:L 22:D
27 Eamonn Walls        0     3:-  0:   0:   0:   0:   0: 

*When a player gives the odds of a Rook they may move their King as though to castle with the Rook given, provided the square of the missing Rook has been unoccupied throughout the game, and provided the ordinary conditions as to squares and the King are complied with.

Zulhasrifal Zulhifli won the first prize of £300.

Final Crosstable

No Name                 Rtg  Club          Total  1    2    3    4    5  

1  Zulhasrifal Zulhifli 1202 RVH           4.5    2:W 12:W  8:W  5:W  3:D
2  Joseph Mordeno       1603 RVH           4      1:L  4:W 11:W  9:W  5:W
3  Ian Woodfield        1650 Fisherwick    3.5    9:W 11:W  5:L  6:W  1:D
4  Calum Leitch         1752 QUB           3.5    8:D  2:L 14:W 13:W  9:W
5  Paul McLoughlin      1598 Bangor        3     10:W  6:W  3:W  1:L  2:L
6  Phillip Morrison     1024 RVH           3     14:W  5:L 13:W  3:L  8:W
7  Richard Gould        1518 Randalstown   3     11:L  8:L 10:W 12:W 13:W
8  William Storey       1301 unattached    2.5    4:D  7:W  1:L 11:W  6:L
9  Roy Stafford         1244 Bombardier    2      3:L 14:W 12:W  2:L  4:L
10 John Monaghan        1087 RVH           2      5:L 13:L  7:L 14:W 11:W
11 David Seaby          1080 Fisherwick    1      7:W  3:L  2:L  8:L 10:L
12 Geoff Hindley        1004 Civil Service 1     13:W  1:L  9:L  7:L 14:L
13 Alexander Beckett    1345 Fisherwick    1     12:L 10:W  6:L  4:L  7:L
14 Alan Burns           1412 Bangor        1      6:L  9:L  4:L 10:L 12:W

This inaugural FoNIC Rapidplay is the first in what is hoped will be a long-term series of fund-raising events in support of FoNIC's objectives.

No Name              Rtg  Club          Total  1    2    3    4    5  

1  Timothy Douglas   1838 Fisherwick    5      8:W 10:W  2:W  5:W  4:W
2  Stephen Morgan    2050 Clifton House 4      3:W  6:W  1:L  8:W  5:W
3  David Seaby       1175 Fisherwick    3.5    2:L  7:D 11:W 13:W 10:W
4  Martin Kelly      1438 Fisherwick    3     12:W  5:L  9:W  6:W  1:L
5  William Storey    1315 RVH           3     13:W  4:W 10:W  1:L  2:L
6  Alan Burns        1422 Bangor        3     11:W  2:L  7:W  4:L 12:W
7  Cathal Murphy      981 RVH           3      0:   3:D  6:L 12:W 14:W
8  Pearse O'Brien    1088 RVH           3      1:L 14:W 12:W  2:L 11:W
9  David McAlister   1615 Hillsborough  3      0:  11:W  4:L 10:W 13:W
10 Alexander Beckett 1406 Fisherwick    1     14:W  1:L  5:L  9:L  3:L
11 James Douglas                        1      6:L  9:L  3:L 14:W  8:L
12 Geoff Hindley     1020 Lagan         1      4:L 13:W  8:L  7:L  6:L
13 Belbi Rose Jacob                     1      5:L 12:L 14:W  3:L  9:L
14 Bebito Tom Jacob                     0     10:L  8:L 13:L 11:L  7:L