Last year's winner Stephen Scannell again clinched overall victory and the Senior title, finishing a half-point clear of John Cairns and James McDonnell, with Cairns taking second place on tie-break.
The Intermediate title went to Ciaran Marron and the Junior to Alex Beckett.
1 Stephen Scannell 2111 QUB 5]]>
2-3 John Cairns 2010 Fisherwick 4.5
James McDonnell 1982 UCU 4.5
4-7 Gareth Annesley 1903 Clifton House 4
Mark Newman 1804 Bombardier 4
Ciaran Marron 1690 RVH 4
Damien Lavery 1704 QUB 4
8-14 Des Forson 1896 _unassigned_ 3.5
Calum Leitch 1752 QUB 3.5
Edward Whiteside 1825 Bangor 3.5
Christopher Kelly 1637 Lagan 3.5
Cecil Sloan 1726 _unassigned_ 3.5
Martin Kelly 1406 Fisherwick 3.5
Ian Woodfield 1652 Fisherwick 3.5
15-20 John Phillips 1505 _unassigned_ 3
Brian McComb 1664 _unassigned_ 3
Danny Mallaghan 1860 Clifton House 3
Alexander Beckett 1347 Fisherwick 3
Aaron McCully 1136 RVH 3
Alan Burns 1397 Bangor 3
21-24 Stewart McConaghy 1531 Bombardier 2.5
William Storey 1323 RVH 2.5
Kevin Agnew 1268 Bangor 2.5
David Seaby 1080 Fisherwick 2.5
25 Damien Cunningham 1605 Clifton House 2
26-30 Geoff Hindley 1012 Lagan 1.5
John Monaghan 1088 RVH 1.5
Cathal Murphy 983 RVH 1.5
Peter Storey 671 _unassigned_ 1.5
Owen Wilson 964 Bangor 1.5
However a Round 5 defeat by Michael Holmes and a draw with Gareth Annesley in the final round meant that Scannell had to share the title this year with four others- Holmes, Annesley, John Cairns and Calum Leitch.
Grading prizes went to Richard Gould, Ananda Srinivasan, Aaron McCully and Kevin Robbin.
Place Name Rtg Club Score
1-5 Michael Holmes 2009 RVH 4.5
Stephen Scannell 2108 QUB 4.5
John Cairns 1983 Fisherwick 4.5
Gareth Annesley 1874 RVH 4.5
Calum Leitch 1619 QUB 4.5
6-8 Aaron McCully 1260 RVH 4
Richard Gould 1504 QUB 4
Anandagopal Srinivasan 1504 Fisherwick 4
9-10 David Seaby 1175 Fisherwick 3.5
Kevin Robbin 3.5
11-15 Timothy Douglas 1838 3
Mark Newman 1696 Bombardier 3
Martin Kelly 1438 Fisherwick 3
William Storey 1315 Lagan 3
Christopher Kelly 1686 Lagan 3
16 Cathal Murphy 1000 RVH 2.5
17-21 Radhika Gupta Fisherwick 2
Kiran Robbin 2
Alan Burns 1422 CIYMS 2
Raghav Gupta Fisherwick 2
Conall Newman Bombardier 2
22-23 Geoff Hindley 1020 Lagan 1.5
Harshith Maruthireddy 1.5
24 Matthew Chapman 0
]]>Even with an accelerated draw, all the Round 1 games went with the seedings, though this belied the many hard-fought games. Chief among these was the encounter between Mark Newman and second seed John Cairns. A hasty move from Newman in the opening meant the loss of a pawn. Even worse to save his h1-Rook he would have to exchange Queens. Deciding this was tantamount to a long, slow resignation, he decided to give up the Rook and bank everything on a quick attack. When Cairns misplaced his Queen, Newman was suddenly back in the game, capturing Cairns a8-Rook with his Knight. For many moves, play revolved around whether Newman could extricate his steed. Both players were short on time, when finally just as it looked as if Newman might gain an advantage, he went wrong with an unwise exchange of Rooks that allowed Cairns to force a won endgame.
Round 2 brought the first of the heavyweight battles. An important milestone on the road to the final standings was Cairns against Gareth Annesley. An unbalanced if roughly equal position provided opportunities for both players. Cairns relied on a direct attack on the King while Annesley pushed a passed central pawn. In time trouble both players missed chances, before Cairns seized his second hard-fought win. On board 3 a surprise was in the offing as two-time Ulster champion James McDonnell was in big trouble against John Masterson's Geller Gambit. Masterson traded off into a trivially won endgame, but then carelessly allowed McDonnell an outside passed pawn. Both players promoted pawns to Queens. Masterson now had an extra pawn, but McDonnell probably the better chances. With little time left for both players, McDonnell decided not to push his luck and forced a draw.
Leaders after Round 2:
1-5 Stephen Scannell 2
John Cairns 2
Stewart McConaghy 2
Martin Kelly 2
Kevin Agnew 2
6-8 James McDonnell 1.5
Sean Linton 1.5
John Masterson 1.5
Round 3 saw the end of the accelerated draw. Unfortunately this can produce a round with a lot of ratings mismatches, and so it proved on this occasion. The computer seemed keen to counter this with a rather curious pairing - surprisingly Cairns was chosen to take the down float from the odd-numbered top group and was paired with James McDonnell. McDonnell offered a draw about 15 moves into the game. Cairns then spent some time analysing whether an aggressive pawn move from f7 to f5 might lead to a win of a piece. However the move would loosen his position and could easily rebound on him so in the end discretion won the day and he accepted the draw offer.
Leaders after Round 3:
1-2 Stephen Scannell 3
Stewart McConaghy 3
3-4 John Cairns 2.5
John Masterson 2.5
5-13 James McDonnell 2
Charles McAleenan 2
Gareth Annesley 2
Martin Kelly 2
Nicholas Pilkiewicz 2
Ian Woodfield 2
Alan Delaney 2
Damien Cunningham 2
Kevin Agnew 2
Normally Round 4 would have seen the leaders Scannell and McConaghy paired. However, when entering the competition McConaghy had booked his usual Sunday-morning half-point bye, so instead Scannell faced Cairns. A quiet opening from the latter produced a position where neither player seemed keen to push hard for a victory and a quick draw was agreed. McDonnell again looked in trouble in the endgame, this time against Damien Cunningham, but the latter fell into a trap and allowed a piece to be pinned and immediately resigned, visibly shaken by the sudden turn of events.
Leaders after Round 4:
1-2 Stephen Scannell 3.5
Stewart McConaghy 3.5
3-8 John Cairns 3
John Masterson 3
James McDonnell 3
Charles McAleenan 3
Gareth Annesley 3
Alan Delaney 3
9-10 Nicholas Pilkiewicz 2.5
Sean Linton 2.5
Stewart McConaghy's absence from Round 4 turned out only to postpone his game against defending champion Stephen Scannell until Round 5. Despite a rating difference of 600 points McConaghy battled hard for a long time and it took all Scannell's renowned grinding skills to secure the full-point. Just as in Rounds 1 and 2 John Cairns showed his time-scramble skills, this time overcoming John Masterson from a level position. James McDonnell and Alan Delaney had a full-blooded encounter with McDonnell winning what he termed "a good game for the spectators."
Leaders after Round 5:
1 Stephen Scannell 4.5
2-4 John Cairns 4
James McDonnell 4
Gareth Annesley 4
5-6 Nicholas Pilkiewicz 3.5
Stewart McConaghy 3.5
7-12 John Masterson 3
Charles McAleenan 3
Ian Woodfield 3
Damien Cunningham 3
Alan Delaney 3
Alan Burns 3
With Cairns having already played Scannell, McDonnell and Annesley, the first six in the standings were all placed in the same paring group producing the following encounters on the top three boards:
Scannell [4.5] - McDonnell [4.0]
Cairns [4.0] - McConaghy [3.5]
Pilkiewicz [3.5] - Annesley [4.0]
Charles McAleenan, a Scot with Ulster ancestors but resident in London, was the first to finish in Round 6. His win over Alan Burns gave him a total of 4.0 points and when all the games were over this gained him the under 1850 grading prize.
By contrast the under 1350 grading prize was shared by five players: Sean Linton (who also won the David & Goliath prize for his Round 4 win over Mark Newman). Kevin Agnew, Alex Beckett. Peter Ratcliffe and Cathal Murphy. Perhaps the most notable achievement here was by Ratcliffe, playing in his first weekend tournament, who secured his share of the prize by beating 2008 Tom Clarke Trophy winner, William Storey, in the final round.
Returning to the leading contenders: John Cairns made a pseudo-sacrifice of a Knight against Stewart McConaghy. Taking the Knight would lose McConaghy his Queen, so it looked as if Cairns had won a pawn, but McConaghy uncorked a counter-sacrifice of a Knight. For a moment it looked as if Cairns might be in trouble but he was able to stabilise the situation, but at the cost of a position where his victory chances were considerably reduced. However, later on a rash move from McConaghy lost a pawn and then Cairns wrapped the game up with a temporary sacrifice that won a piece.
This left Cairns finished on 5.0 points. Could Scannell surpass that by winning his game against McDonnell? This was a careful manoeuvring game with Scannell prepared to keep the draw in hand by initiating exchanges. If he hoped McDonnell might be tempted into a rash adventure in order to win the game and join Cairns at the top of the standings, he was to be disappointed. McDonnell accepted that there was no way for him to win and instead offered a draw which Scannell accepted.
So two players now were on 5.0 points - could Gareth Annesley join them? He had been pressing hard on the queenside against Nicholas Pilkiewicz, but when the pawns came off on that side, all that was left was his Rook and Bishop, g- and h-pawns against Rook and Knight and g- and h-pawns. Although Annesley had the better placed pieces, that hardly seemed enough for victory, but he had no option but to keep pressing. Then Pilkiewicz made an error and annoyed with himself immediately resigned. Perhaps he might still have saved the game, but the consensus appeared to be that with the better position and more time on the clock, Annesley would have won.
So, finally, three players shared victory. For Scannell this was his eighth win in the Williamson Shield, equalling the record held by the late Tom Clarke. For Cairns and Annesley, both former-Ulster Intermediate champions, this was undoubtedly their biggest success in UCU competitions.
Final standings:
Place Name Rtng Score
1-3 John Cairns 2018 5
Stephen Scannell 2125 5
Gareth Annesley 1904 5
4 James McDonnell 1981 4.5
5-6 John Masterson 1867 4
Charles McAleenan 1805 4
7-12 Nicholas Pilkiewicz 1905 3.5
Stewart McConaghy 1536 3.5
Alan Delaney 1806 3.5
Damien Cunningham 1594 3.5
Mark Newman 1802 3.5
John Phillips 1571 3.5
13-15 Ian Woodfield 1669 3
Alan Burns 1402 3
Karina Kruk 1600 3
16-22 Sean Linton 1308 2.5
Martin Kelly 1393 2.5
Kevin Agnew 1245 2.5
Alex Beckett 1328 2.5
Peter Ratcliffe 874 2.5
Cathal Murphy 1012 2.5
Ashley Peile 1544 2.5
23-25 William Storey 1325 2
Geoff Hindley 973 2
Pearse O'Brien 1094 2
26 David Seaby 1117 1.5
27-28 Peter Storey 742 1
Owen Wilson 948 1
Selected games at the Ulster Chess Chronicle:
http://www.rct26.dial.pipex.com.will09.htm/
It certainly didn't take many laps around the players for Cohrs to realise his evening's work was certainly cut out for him. Derren Brown may waltz into a simul display aiming for anything above a 50% record but Cohrs - not just a psychologist like Brown but also a chess perfectionist - aimed to finish the night off with an unblemished 100% winning run.
By 9.30pm the first few players began to fall as Chris banked wins in quick succession to get off the mark. With the length of the German's circuit now reduced, the rate of play stepped up a gear. The same increase was then seen in the German's winning tally as he notched up wins over the thorny resistance of QUB Womens' Champ Ciara Pugh and also Nina Harker.
By 10.15pm Cohrs was down to the final three - Walls, Cunningham and Harvey - and the German was still enjoying a perfect winning sequence. Harvey was the next to fall, as his game slipped into a lost queen and pawn endgame. However, the many were then to enjoy their sole success of the night against the one. Theology student Walls forced Chris's resignation with the threat of an advanced passed d pawn. That defeat was to be the single blip for the German as, now able to focus his attention fully, he finally managed to succumb Cunningham's best efforts.
In summary, the German Doctor provided a superb evening's enterntainment for all the punters keen enough to brave the freezing February snow to experience the unique atmosphere of a chess simul. Kudos to Cohrs for such a mercurial display. Next year he promises to repeat the feat, but this time blindfolded...
For more pics from the evening, visit:
]]>FIDE Master Colm Daly made the trip up from Dublin to win the Open section. His 4.5 out of 5 score sealed top spot, the £350 winner's cheque and the glittering trophy to go with it.
Frenchman David Baras finished with a perfect 5/5 to win the Challengers section.
The full report, complete with pics and video content is available here:
]]>Place Name Rtg Club Score
1 John Cairns 2020 Fisherwick 5
2-4 Stephen Scannell 2119 QUB 4
Gareth Annesley 1939 RVH 4
Eamonn Walls 1834 QUB 4
5 James McDonnell 1989 UCU 3.5
6-8 Tomasz Sobolewski 3
John McKenna 1645 QUB 3
Mark Newman 1758 Bombardier 3
9-10 Ian Woodfield 1648 Fisherwick 1.5
Paul McLoughlin 1602 Bangor 1.5
11 David Baras 1587 Randalstown 1
Place Name Rtg Club Score
1 William Storey 1364 Lagan 5
2-3 Karina Kruk 1415 QUB 4.5
Martin Kelly 1440 Fisherwick 4.5
4 Alan Burns 1404 CIYMS 4
5-6 Alexander Beckett 1365 Fisherwick 3.5
Phillip Morrison 1048 RVH 3.5
7-8 Raymond Smith RVH 3
Geoff Hindley 976 Lagan 3
9-10 John Monaghan 1094 RVH 2.5
Cathal Murphy 1030 RVH 2.5
11 Peter Storey 730 1.5
12 David Seaby 1104 Fisherwick 1
13 James Fairley 969 Fisherwick 0.5
]]>Shane Keers took the under 1800 grading prize while Ciara Pugh was the best unrated player, Jason Spence the best newcomer and Karina Kruk the best female player.
No Name Rtg Total 1 2 3 4 5 1 Eamonn Walls 1842 4.5 15:W 14:W 5:W 2:D 3:W 2 Mark Newman 1799 4.5 22:W 11:W 4:W 1:D 6:W 3 John Cairns 2020 4 24:W 7:W 9:W 6:W 1:L 4 Stephen Scannell 2110 4 23:W 13:W 2:L 8:W 10:W 5 Shane Keers 1551 4 17:W 8:W 1:L 16:W 7:W 6 Damien Cunningham 1608 3 18:W 10:W 13:W 3:L 2:L 7 Guych Nuriyev 1510 3 16:W 3:L 15:W 9:W 5:L 8 Patrick Magee 1039 3 12:W 5:L 19:W 4:L 16:W 9 Ciara Pugh 3 21:W 23:W 3:L 7:L 12:W 10 David McAlister 1654 3 20:W 6:L 24:W 11:W 4:L 11 Martin Kelly 1396 3 19:W 2:L 18:W 10:L 14:W 12 Jason Spence 3 8:L 17:W 14:W 21:W 9:L 13 Karina Kruk 1400 3 26:W 4:L 6:L 22:W 15:W 14 Richard Burns 2 25:W 1:L 12:L 18:W 11:L 15 Sylwek Furman 2 1:L 25:W 7:L 20:W 13:L 16 Barry McGalie 2 7:L 24:W 21:W 5:L 8:L 17 James McCullough 2 5:L 12:L 20:L 25:W 19:W 18 Dominic Krynicki 2 6:L 20:W 11:L 14:L 23:W 19 Helena Pugh 2 11:L 22:W 8:L 23:W 17:L 20 Patrick Meier 2 10:L 18:L 17:W 15:L 24:W 21 PJ Mallon 1136 2 9:L 26:W 16:L 12:L 22:W 22 Kjegil Kippervik 1 2:L 19:L 25:W 13:L 21:L 23 David Creighton 1 4:L 9:L 26:W 19:L 18:L 24 Ross Downey 1 3:L 16:L 10:L 26:W 20:L 25 Peter Whitaker 1 14:L 15:L 22:L 17:L 26:W 26 Bill McMath 0 13:L 21:L 23:L 24:L 25:L]]>
No Name Rtg Total 1 2 3 4 5 1 Eamonn Walls 1834 5 27:W 16:W 15:W 7:W 4:W 2 Stephen Scannell 2119 4.5 29:W 8:D 17:W 10:W 7:W 3 Calum Leitch 1779 4 5:W 15:L 19:W 14:W 9:W 4 John Bradley 1743 4 19:W 9:W 18:W 8:W 1:L 5 Patrick Cielen 3.5 3:L 28:W 11:W 15:W 6:D 6 Karina Kruk 1415 3.5 23:W 10:W 7:L 18:W 5:D 7 John Cairns 2020 3 20:W 11:W 6:W 1:L 2:L 8 Andrew Higgins 1666 3 30:W 2:D 12:W 4:L 16:D 9 Robert Lavery 1040 3 24:W 4:L 26:W 16:W 3:L 10 Mark Newman 1758 3 25:W 6:L 20:W 2:L 19:W 11 David McAlister 1654 3 21:W 7:L 5:L 17:W 18:W 12 Guych Nuriyev 1518 3 22:W 17:D 8:L 20:W 15:D 13 Matthew Chapman 3 17:L 22:W 16:L 23:W 21:W 14 Gordon Ingram 1346 3 18:L 30:W 25:W 3:L 22:W 15 Martin Kelly 1440 2.5 28:W 3:W 1:L 5:L 12:D 16 Shane Keers 1551 2.5 26:W 1:L 13:W 9:L 8:D 17 Tomasz Sobolewski 1816 2.5 13:W 12:D 2:L 11:L 27:W 18 Ciara Pugh 2 14:W 29:W 4:L 6:L 11:L 19 Sylwek Furman 2 4:L 24:W 3:L 26:W 10:L 20 CJ Murphy 1030 2 7:L 21:W 10:L 12:L 28:W 21 Dominic Krynicki 2 11:L 20:L 24:W 25:W 13:L 22 Barry McGalie 2 12:L 13:L 29:W 27:W 14:L 23 Helena Pugh 2 6:L 25:L 30:W 13:L 26:W 24 Jason Spence 2 9:L 19:L 21:L 30:W 25:W 25 Nick Earl 1 10:L 23:W 14:L 21:L 24:L 26 James McCullough 1 16:L 27:W 9:L 19:L 23:L 27 Jonathan Beattie 1 1:L 26:L 28:W 22:L 17:L 28 Patrick Meier 1 15:L 5:L 27:L 29:W 20:L 29 Patrick Magee 1039 1 2:L 18:L 22:L 28:L 30:W 30 Gary Keers 0 8:L 14:L 23:L 24:L 29:L]]>
Presentation of the prizes took place on Wednesday 1st October, when a handicap rapidplay tournament was also held. Games were over a total of 20 minutes, but the higher rated players had to give time to their opponents on a sliding scale. Victory went to Eddie Whiteside with a 100% score over the five rounds. Damien Lavery lost to Whiteside in the decisive final round match and finished on 4 points along with David Seaby and Paul McLoughlin. Tie-break rules gave second prize to Seaby and third to Lavery.
No Name Rtg Club Total 1 2 3 4 5 1 Edward Whiteside 1825 Bangor 5 14:W 10:W 13:W 11:W 3:W 2 David Seaby 1080 Fisherwick 4 5:L 8:W 7:W 10:W 6:W 3 Damien Lavery 1704 QUB 4 12:W 11:W 14:W 5:W 1:L 4 Paul McLoughlin 1604 Bangor 4 6:L 18:W 12:W 17:W 5:W 5 Ian Woodfield 1652 Fisherwick 3 2:W 9:W 6:W 3:L 4:L 6 Cathal Murphy 983 RVH 3 4:W 17:W 5:L 13:W 2:L 7 Stephen Scannell 2111 QUB 3 9:L 16:W 2:L 15:W 13:W 8 Mark Newman 1804 Bombardier 3 15:L 2:L 16:W 14:W 10:W 9 William Storey 1323 RVH 2.5 7:W 5:L 10:L 12:D 11:W 10 Brian Belshaw 1049 Bangor 2 20:W 1:L 9:W 2:L 8:L 11 James Fairley 935 Fisherwick 2 18:W 3:L 15:W 1:L 9:L 12 Garry Johnston 1122 Bangor 2 3:L 20:W 4:L 9:D 16:D 13 Anandagopal Srinivasan 1511 Fisherwick 2 19:W 15:W 1:L 6:L 7:L 14 Kevin Agnew 1268 Bangor 2 1:L 19:W 3:L 8:L 18:W 15 Roy Stafford 1241 Bombardier 2 8:W 13:L 11:L 7:L 17:W 16 Craig Kelly 619 Bangor 2 17:D 7:L 8:L 19:W 12:D 17 Alexander Beckett 1347 Fisherwick 1.5 16:D 6:L 20:W 4:L 15:L 18 Bernard Jaffa 1492 Fisherwick 1 11:L 4:L 19:L 20:W 14:L 19 Geoff Hindley 1012 Lagan 1 13:L 14:L 18:W 16:L 20:L 20 Stewart McConaghy 1531 Bombardier 1 10:L 12:L 17:L 18:L 19:W]]>