You are here: Home Archives Ulster Chronicles 2009-2010 Season UCU Web Museum Rapidplay 2009 Museum Rapidplay 2009 report

Museum Rapidplay 2009 report

On the 22nd November 2009 the UCU organised a Rapidplay tournament in the Belfast Room of the Ulster Museum. This was exactly one month after the Museum had re-opened following a three year closure and £17.2m refurbishment.

The tournament was a six round Open Swiss with players having 25 minutes each for their games. The UCU’s new digital clocks, first used in the 2009 Ulster Championship, were particularly useful in this quicker form of the game. As the game reaches its climax, the players know exactly how many seconds they have left before losing on time. Instead of this being signalled in an analogue clock by a flag-fall, the digital version has the display colour on a player’s move lever change from green to red.

The first round largely went with seedings, though Damien Lavery had a lucky escape against Stephen McCloskey, while newcomer Sinclair Dowey got the better of veteran Alan Burns. Round 2 provided a minor surprise when 2008-9 Junior Grand Prix winner Martin Kelly beat 4th seed Sylwek Furman.

Round 3 saw the top three seeds, Stephen Scannell, Michael Waters and Gareth Annesley all move a full-point ahead of the rest of the field. In round 4 Scannell won the top board clash against Waters, while Annesley matched Scannell’s 4 straight wins by beating John Bradley.

In round 5 Annesley had White against Scannell, with the two players aware that victory in their individual encounter would also guarantee them at least a share of first prize. It was Annesley who won after sustained pressure, in what was possibly the best game of the tournament. Waters got back on track with a win over Richard Gould, while Lavery also reached 4 points after beating Mark Newman.

Two schools’ players were also to be found near the top of the standings after the end of the penultimate round. Karina Kruk followed up a Round 4 victory over Furman with a win against Ian Woodfield, where her advanced pawns caused him too many problems and he lost on time. The only player on 3.5 points was Stormont Elite Under 14 Schools champion Kiran Robbin after scoring 2.5 out of 3 against the experienced trio of Burns, Woodfield and William Storey in Rounds 3-5.

The top pairings for the final round were:
Karina Kruk [4.0] –v-  Gareth Annesley  [5.0]
Stephen Scannell [4.0] -v- Damien Lavery [4.0]
Kiran Robbin [3.5] -v- Michael  Waters  [4.0]

Annesley would normally be a big favourite against Kruk, but she has already shown her ability and potential against strong players, and so Gareth chose the well-known drawing weapon Petroff’s Defence. In an even position the players agreed to share the point guaranteeing  outright tournament victory for Annesley and the Under 1600 Grading prize for Kruk.

Waters won quickly against Robbin, but the latter had the consolation of knowing that he could not be overtaken in the race for the Under 1200 Grading Prize, which in the end he shared with Cathal Murphy, who made a late surge by winning all his last 3 games. Meanwhile Scannell beat Lavery to join Waters in a tie for second overall.

Final standings 

Place Name              Rtg  Club          Score

 1    Gareth Annesley   1864 RVH           5.5  
2-3   Stephen Scannell  2075 QUB           5    
      Michael Waters    2058 Fisherwick    5    
  4   Karina Kruk       1405 QUB           4.5  
5-8   Damien Lavery     1663 TAT           4    
      John Bradley      1738 Fisherwick    4    
      Richard Gould     1529 TAT           4    
      Alan Burns        1412 CIYMS         4    
9-10  Kiran Robbin                         3.5  
      Cathal Murphy     1065 RVH           3.5  
11-17 Mark Newman       1648 Bombardier    3    
      Martin Kelly      1425 Fisherwick    3    
      Sylwek Furman     1775               3    
      Sean Linton       1324 RVH           3    
      Alexander Beckett 1378 Fisherwick    3    
      Radhika Gupta     1203 Fisherwick    3    
      Phillip Morrison  1305 RVH           3    
18-19 Ian Woodfield     1630 Fisherwick    2.5  
      William Storey    1355 Lagan         2.5  
20-26 Raghav Gupta      1273 Fisherwick    2    
      Sinclair Dowey                       2    
      Garry Johnston    1163 Bangor        2    
      Kevin Robbin                         2    
      Matthew Chapman        QUB           2    
      Peter Ratcliffe   940  North Belfast 2    
      Geoff Hindley     977  Lagan         2    
 27   Stephen McCloskey 1081               1    
 28   Peter Storey      1125               0   


News
UCU Tournaments: A Critical Moment for Volunteer and Arbiter Support This report, prepared by Tournament Director Karina Campbell and presented to the Ulster Chess Union Executive Board, ou... Oct 26, 2025
Exciting changes to the Sligo event in 2026. Now a multi-tournament chess festival. Save the dates in your calender Jan 30th to Feb 8th. The Sligo event is undergoing a major transformation in 2026 from a weekender to a multi-tournament festival. The Sligo ... Oct 16, 2025
The Monthly Childrens Chess Kicks off Oct 25th at Methodist College ** New date ** The LJCC Belfast Qualifier a one day 6 round tournament starts our annual series of monthly tournaments a... Oct 09, 2025
The 2025 Summer tournament ends with a fun tournament and award ceremony Weds 24th September 2025 saw 24 players gather to celebrate the end of the UCU Summer Tournament. Who won? we have the f... Sep 27, 2025
Belfast Qualifier for the British Open Blitz 2025/26 Belfast runs one of 16 tournaments that allow players to qualify for the British Open Blitz tournament. The top player a... Sep 27, 2025
More news…
« October 2025 »
October
SuMoTuWeThFrSa
1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031
Upcoming Events
FIDE RATED City of Bangor 10 Round Halloween Blitz at 3+2 Celebrate Halloween with 10 rounds of Chess Blitz at City of Bangor Chess Club. Thursday 30th October. Oct 30, 2025 07:15 PM - 10:00 PM — City of Bangor Chess Club, Church of Ireland Parish Hall, 30 Main Street Groomsport
November 1st Childrens Chess 12:30 – 5:00 The monthly schools chess tournaments continues at Methodist College. Nov 01, 2025 12:30 PM - 05:00 PM — Methodist College,1 Malone Rd, Belfast BT9 6BY
FIDE RATED Bangor Club Masters Rapid 2025 [10 rounds of 25+0 over two days] Open to all players. One open section with Intermediate and Junior trophies awarded for highest placed finish by players... Nov 06, 2025 07:30 PM - 10:45 PM — City of Bangor International Chess Club, Church of Ireland Parish Hall, 30 Main Street, Groomsport, County Down, Northern Ireland, BT19 6JR
FIDE RATED Bangor Club Masters Rapid 2025 [10 rounds of 25+0 over two days] Open to all players. One open section with Intermediate and Junior trophies awarded for highest placed finish by players... Nov 08, 2025 10:15 AM - 04:30 PM — City of Bangor International Chess Club, Church of Ireland Parish Hall, 30 Main Street, Groomsport, County Down, Northern Ireland, BT19 6JR
FIDE rated Ulster Masters 2025 Please note due to venue capacity, entries will be capped at 44. Nov 14, 2025 - Nov 16, 2025 — Lisburn Chess Club
Upcoming events…