2012-2013 season

The Stormont Elite Chess Tournament 2012 and Award Ceremony

Mark Newman — 2012-06-17T20:55:00Z

Kieran McCarthy MLA invited the top young chess players to Stormont on 8th June 2012 for a tour of the building, an Elite tournament and to receive awards for the year.

There are five Childrens Chess Tournaments over the year run by the Ulster Schools Chess Council and the Ulster Chess Union. The players gain points at each tournament and their best three are added to their score for the year. The top four from each of three sections are invited with their Principals and Parents to Stormont. This event is to celebrate the top chess talent. The players range from P4 to Lower 6th. We have on the invite list Karina Kruk the Under19 Irish Champion and selected to represent Ireland in Europe, also Ulster Champions 2012 Luica Corrigan, Raghav Gupta, Kevin Robbin, Radhika Gupta, Karina Kruk.

Winners of 'Exceptional Young Player 2012' Honor Parissis (Fullerton House) and Vincent Sweetnam.

The results over the year:

The Belfast Scholastic Shield. Primary Chess Champion

	Name	Year	School	Score
1st	Raghav Gupta	P7	Dromore PS	30
2nd	Tarun Rajan	P4	Inchmarlo	21
3rd	McIntyre Murray	P6	Moira PS	15.5
4th	Lucia Corrigan	P5	Fullerton House	13.35

The Belfast Scholastic Shield. Lower School Chess Champion

	Name	Year	School	Score
1st	Kevin Robbin	F3	RBAI	29
2nd	John Dawson	F3	Friends	25
3rd	Matthew Venon	F3	Banbridge Academy	20
4th	Joel Dawson	F1	Friends	19.5

The Belfast Scholastic Shield. Senior Secondary Chess Champion

	Name	Year	School	Score
1st	Kiran Robbin	F4	RBAI	28
2nd	Karina Kruk	L6	Aquinas Grammer	27
3rd	Matthew Chapman	F5	Grosvenor	24
4th	Thomas Donaldson	F4	RBAI	16
5th	Radhika Gupta	F5	Banbridge Academy	12.33
6th	Ashley McWhinney	F4	Home Educated	11.5

The results of the Stormont Elite 2012:

Stormont Elite Primary 2012

Place	Name	Points
1^st	Tarun Rajan	2.5
2^nd	Lucia Corrigan	2
3^rd	Murray McIntyre	1
4^th	Honor Parissis	0.5

Stormont Elite Lower Secondary 2012

Place	Name	Points
1st	Kevin Robbin	3
2nd	Matthew Venon	2
3rd	John Dawson	1
4t	Joel Dawson	0

Stormont Elite Upper Secondary 2012

Place	Name	Points
1st	Matthew Chapman	3
2nd	Thomas Donaldson	2
3rd	Ashley McWhinney	1

Thanks go to Kieran McCarthy MLA for inviting us to Stormont and all the volunteers who make these events possible.

Summer 2012 Civil Service Tournament now roughly half-way.

Mark Newman — 2012-07-22T16:19:59Z

Having played 10 Rounds of the tournament to date we have 9 game weeks left followed by prize giving and quickplay competition on 26th September.

There are three bands. The winners are based on percentage. The current overall leader is William Storey on 91%. William still needs to complete10 games.

Its good to see players coming to these wednesday sessions. The following players havent missed a session: David Ruben, Robert Lavery, Garry Johnston playing 10 out of the 10 games. They have qualified. But still need to play 2 out of the last three games of the tournament.

We have had a lot of brilliant chess some total of 123 games.With a total of 40 players playing.

For full result details of the competition go to our results service: Summer Tournament 2012.

name	Rating	Played	Points	%
Senior Section
Pat Coleman	1563	5	4	80.00
Mark Newman	1781	4	3	75.00
Christopher Kelly	1580	5	3.5	70.00
Sam Flanagan	1706	6	4	66.67
Karina Kruk	1535	7	4	57.14
Edward Whiteside	1788	8	4	50.00
Ian Woodfield	1689	8	4	50.00
Bernard Jaffa	1488	4	2	50.00
Walter Wilson	1465	7	3.5	50.00
Stewart McConaghy	1440	7	3.5	50.00
David Ruben	1617	10	4.5	45.00
Ray Devenney	1828	5	2	40.00
John Bryars	1485	5	2	40.00
Ross Harris	1554	8	3	37.50
Neil Green	1554	9	2	22.22

Intermediate Section
William Storey	1329	6	5.5	91.67
Mathew Chapman	1345	2	1.5	75.00
CJ Murphy	1270	7	5	71.43
Robert Lavery	1349	10	7	70.00
Garry Johnston	1167	10	7	70.00
Peter Wilson	1360	3	2	66.67
Kevin Agnew	1266	7	4	57.14
Alan Burns	1300	9	4.5	50.00
Derek Trusdale	1263	7	3.5	50.00
Drew Ferguson	1239	1	0.5	50.00
B Belshaw	1236	8	3.5	43.75
Ron Henderson	1354	4	1.5	37.50
Martin Kelly	1382	3	1	33.33
Roy Stafford	1244	9	2	22.22
Chris Armstrong	1365	7	1.5	21.43

Junior Section
David Seaby	1086	9	6.5	72.22
Owen Wilson	967	3	1.5	50.00
James Fairley	923	8	4	50.00
Patrick Maguire	858	1	0.5	50.00
Geoff Hindley	974	8	3.5	43.75
Craig Kelly	826	9	3.5	38.89
Adrian Dornford-Smith		9	3.5	38.89
A McWhinney	921	3	1	33.33
Paul Anderson	671	3	0	0.00
Philip Morrison	1025	1	0	0.00

2012 Ulster Championships underway

David McAlister — 2012-08-26T08:20:00Z

The Championships have three sections- Senior, Intermediate and Junior - all played over six rounds. A total of 54 players are taking part with 16 in the Senior, 12 in the Intermediate and 26 in the Junior.

While awaiting the final results, play through in our new PGN viewer this game from Round 2 when John Masterson surprises 8-time champion, Stephen Scannell.

2012 Ulster Championship results

David McAlister — 2012-08-28T09:15:00Z

Michael Waters won the Senior Championship for the third successive year. He finished on 5 points, with John Masterson and Stephen Scannell sharing second place a point behind. Grading Prizes went to Alan Delaney, Calum Leitch and Mark Newman.

The Intermediate Championship (for players rated between 1400 and 1700) went to Steven Eachus who scored 4.5. Half a point behind was Ross Harris with a large group finishing equal third on 3.5, testimony to just how close a contest this was.

The Junior Championship (for players rated under 1300) was won by 16-year-old Matthew Chapman with an impressive final score of 5.5. Sharing second were Roy Stafford and William Storey. Grading Prizes went to Kevin Agnew, Cathal Murphy, Radhika Gupta and Ram Rajan.

Photographs from the Championships, mainly from the prizegiving

The critical game from the Ulster Championships: Play through Masterson-Waters from Round 6.

Final Crosstables

Ulster Senior Championship

No Name                Total  1    2    3    4    5    6  

1  Michael Waters      5      9:D 15:W  5:D  6:W  4:W  2:W
2  John Masterson      4     13:W  3:W  4:L  7:W  5:W  1:L
3  Stephen Scannell    4      7:W  2:L  8:W  5:L 10:W  4:W
4  Mike Redman         3.5   12:W  6:W  2:W 10:D  1:L  3:L
5  Mark Newman         3.5   15:W 10:D  1:D  3:W  2:L  9:D
6  Ray Devenney        3.5   11:W  4:L 12:W  1:L  8:D 10:W
7  Calum Leitch        3.5    3:L 13:W 14:W  2:L  9:D 12:W
8  Alan Delaney        3.5   14:W  9:L  3:L 16:W  6:D 11:W
9  Edward Whiteside    3      1:D  8:W 10:L 13:D  7:D  5:D
10 Gareth Annesley     3     16:W  5:D  9:W  4:D  3:L  6:L
11 Ian Woodfield       2.5    6:L 12:D 13:L  0:W 14:W  8:L
12 Jonathon Rowney     2      4:L 11:D  6:L 15:D 16:W  7:L
13 Samuel Moore        2      2:L  7:L 11:W  9:D 15:D 16:L
14 Nicholas Pilkiewicz 2      8:L 16:W  7:L  0:D 11:L 15:D
15 James McDonnell     2      5:L  1:L 16:D 12:D 13:D 14:D
16 Danny Mallaghan     1.5   10:L 14:L 15:D  8:L 12:L 13:W

Ulster Intermediate Championship

No Name              Total  1    2    3    4    5    6  

1  Steven Eachus     4.5    6:D 12:W  2:W  3:L  9:W  4:W
2  Ross Harris       4     11:W  9:D  1:L  5:D  8:W  3:W
3  Norman McFarland  3.5   10:W  5:W  9:D  1:W  4:L  2:L
4  Cecil Sloan       3.5   12:D  6:D  5:D  7:W  3:W  1:L
5  Brian McComb      3.5    7:W  3:L  4:D  2:D 10:W  6:D
6  Christopher Kelly 3.5    1:D  4:D  7:D  8:D 11:W  5:D
7  John Phillips     3.5    5:L  0:W  6:D  4:L 12:W  9:W
8  Richard Gould     3.5    9:L 11:W 12:W  6:D  2:L  0:W
9  David Ruben       2.5    8:W  2:D  3:D 10:D  1:L  7:L
10 John McKenna      2      3:L  0:D  0:W  9:D  5:L 11:L
11 Stewart McConaghy 2      2:L  8:L  0:D 12:D  6:L 10:W
12 Bernard Jaffa     1      4:D  1:L  8:L 11:D  7:L  0:L

Ulster Junior Championship

No Name             Total  1    2    3    4    5    6  

1  Matthew Chapman  5.5   22:W 14:W  2:W  3:D  7:W 10:W
2  Roy Stafford     4.5   25:W  9:W  1:L  0:D  8:W  7:W
3  William Storey   4.5   20:W  8:D 18:W  1:D 13:W  5:D
4  Kevin Agnew      4     16:D  6:L 11:W 18:W  9:D 15:W
5  Martin Kelly     4     23:W 19:D  7:D  0:W 10:D  3:D
6  Cathal Murphy    4     14:L  4:W  0:D 16:D 22:W 13:W
7  Alan Burns       3.5   24:W 11:W  5:D 15:W  1:L  2:L
8  Radhika Gupta    3.5   10:W  3:D 13:L 17:W  2:L 16:W
9  Ciaran Holmes    3.5   13:W  2:L  0:D 12:D  4:D 17:W
10 Raymond Smith    3.5    8:L 20:W 22:W 14:W  5:D  1:L
11 Ram Rajan        3.5   17:W  7:L  4:L 23:W 12:D 22:W
12 David Seaby      3.5   15:L 25:W 16:D  9:D 11:D 19:W
13 John Monaghan    3      9:L 26:W  8:W 19:W  3:L  6:L
14 Thomas Donaldson 3      6:W  1:L 23:W 10:L 15:L 24:W
15 Robert Lavery    3     12:W 18:D 19:D  7:L 14:W  4:L
16 Adam Henning     2.5    4:D 17:D 12:D  6:D 19:D  8:L
17 Christopher Roe  2.5   11:L 16:D 20:W  8:L 18:W  9:L
18 Garry Johnston   2.5   21:W 15:D  3:L  4:L 17:L 26:W
19 Derek Truesdale  2.5   26:W  5:D 15:D 13:L 16:D 12:L
20 Geoff Hindley    2.5    3:L 10:L 17:L 26:W 21:D 25:W
21 Jason Roe        2.5   18:L 22:L 24:L 25:W 20:D 23:W
22 Phillip Morrison 2      1:L 21:W 10:L 24:W  6:L 11:L
23 John McGann      2      5:L 24:W 14:L 11:L 25:W 21:L
24 Ashley McWhinney 2      7:L 23:L 21:W 22:L 26:W 14:L
25 Charlie Logan    1      2:L 12:L 26:W 21:L 23:L 20:L
26 Paul Anderson    0     19:L 13:L 25:L 20:L 24:L 18:L

Another successful Summer School

Mark Newman — 2012-09-02T17:55:00Z

The Ulster Chess Unions Summer Chess School 2012 was run over the three days Weds 8th, Thurs 9th, Fri 10th August.

We had 17 Students. Playing several tournaments, solving puzzles, doing worksheets, having lectures, doing workshops, coaching each other.

Below MIchael Waters taking a workshop on Friday afternoon.

Two of the best players in Ulster took the expert section for workshops. Steve Scannell (5 times Ulster Champion) and Michael Waters (Current Ulster Champion).

The tournaments included a 5 round swiss for all players:

Place	Name	Score
1	Thomas Donaldson	5
2-3	Ashley McWhinney	4
	Matthew Chapman	4
4	Lucia Corrigan	3.5
5-8	Tom Kane	3
	Mond Parrissis	3
	Joshua Enginco	3
	Patrick McGurnaghan	3
9-10	Feargal Cosgrove	2.5
	Honor Parrisiss	2.5
11-13	Vincent Enginco	2
	Ellen Eachus,	2
	Rachel Eachus	2
14-16	Steffanie Eachus,	1.5
	Matthew McCann	1.5
	Emorej Enginco	1.5
17	Aditya Manivannan	1

and a 4 round coaching tournament where the younger players were paired with the more experienced players who discussed the moves and coached their partners:

Place	Name	Score
1-2	Ashley McWhinney: Honor Parrissis,	3.5
	Thomas Donaldson: Rachel Eachus	3.5
3-4	Geoff Hindley: Matthew McCann,	2.5
	Matthew Chapman: Emorej Enginco	2.5
5-7	Tom Kane: Vincent Enginco	2
	Patrick McGurnaghan: Lucia Corrigan	2
	Mond Parrissis: Steffanie,	2
8-9	Feargal Cosgrove: Aditya Manivannan	1
	Joshua Enginco: Ellen Eachus	1

The students also played battleships (on a chessboard) to help memorise/visualise the board. Battle chess - a brilliant endgame mini-game of chess and took part in a team puzzle solving competition.

It was good to see several families represented. Below is a photo of the Eachus chess playing family.

The love of games was extended to lunchtime when some of the youngsters enjoyed playing other board games: Mastermind, Othello, Mancala, The Royal Game of UR.

The 7 year old Aditya enjoyed these and mentioned that his mother had taught him Mancala.

Geoff playing Aditya:

Thanks go to our hosts the Ballynafiegh Community Center, to Damien Cunningham who organised the venue, to Geoff Hindley, Graham Murphy, Steve Scannell and Michael Waters without whom the event woudnt have happened - many thanks.

The Summer tournament. 2 Match playing weeks left then prize-giving.

Mark Newman — 2012-09-10T00:08:46Z

We have 2 full weeks left of play followed by the prize giving.

The leaders of the sections: Pat Colemen, Matthew Chapman and David Seaby (who led the tournament for several weeks) are all potential winners.

Pat Coleman is the top section leader at 77.78% and if he fulfills the 10 games needed is impossible to catch.

Matthew Chapman on 80% is closely chased by Cahal Murphy 77.8% who could catch him.

Whilst in the lower section David Seaby 71.88% who for several weeks was leading the whole tournament is chased by Ashley McWhiney on 60%.

Many thanks to all the players and to the wonderful venue - Civil Service Social Club.

Full score details at Summer Tournament 2012.

name	Rating	Played	Points	%
Pat Coleman	1563	9	7	77.78
Sam Flanagan	1706	12	7	58.33
Christopher Kelly	1580	8	4.5	56.25
Karina Kruk	1535	8	4.5	56.25
Mark Newman	1781	9	5	55.56
Bernard Jaffa	1488	8	4	50.00
Ray Devenney	1828	8	4	50.00
Edward Whiteside	1788	13	6.5	50.00
Stewart McConaghy	1440	12	6	50.00
David Ruben	1617	16	8	50.00
Walter Wilson	1465	13	6	46.15
Ross Harris	1554	11	5	45.45
John Bryars	1485	10	4.5	45.00
Ian Woodfield	1689	13	5	38.46
Neil Green	1554	13	4.5	34.62

Mathew Chapman	1345	10	8	80.00
CJ Murphy	1270	9	7	77.78
Peter Wilson	1360	3	2	66.67
Alan Burns	1300	14	9	64.29
Garry Johnston	1167	17	10.5	61.76
Robert Lavery	1349	15	9	60.00
William Storey	1329	12	7	58.33
Drew Ferguson	1239	1	0.5	50.00
Martin Kelly	1382	8	3.5	43.75
Kevin Agnew	1266	14	6	42.86
Derek Trusdale	1263	12	5	41.67
Ron Henderson	1354	8	3	37.50
Chris Armstrong	1365	13	4.5	34.62
Roy Stafford	1244	15	4.5	30.00
B Belshaw	1236	13	3.5	26.92

David Seaby	1086	16	11.5	71.88
A McWhinney	921	10	6	60.00
James Fairley	923	14	7.5	53.57
Owen Wilson	967	3	1.5	50.00
Patrick Maguire	858	1	0.5	50.00
Geoff Hindley	974	13	6.5	50.00
Adrian Dornford-Smith		15	6.5	43.33
Craig Kelly	826	16	5.5	34.38
Paul Anderson	671	8	1.5	18.75
Philip Morrison	1025	1	0	0.00
Rees McLane		1		0.00

Belfast Culture Night. Cafe Chess Playing at Caffe Nero, 19 Lombard St. 21st September 5:00pm til late

Mark Newman — 2012-09-16T12:15:00Z

On September 21st evening Belfast is holding its annual Culture Night (http://culturenightbelfast.com). With lots of exciting public events celebrating culture.

As part of this wonderful event (http://www.culturenightbelfast.com/e.php?e=202 ). Ulster Chess is assisting in running a Cafe Chess event at Caffe Nero, 19 Lombard St.

We will have people playing chess. Some brilliant chess puzzles to solve. Two top players playing an exhibition game. and latter in the evening a master class. The aim is to encourage passers-by to experience the fun of chess and hopefully have a quick game.

A Caffe Nero table is waiting for a Chess game.....waiting for you!

Individual Ulster Chess Union Fees for this Year

Mark Newman — 2012-09-16T20:50:08Z

The AGM has set the Fees for the Ulster Chess Union at
£10 Member
£5 Concession
The Ulster Chess Union
Provides Chess Tournaments in Northern Ireland.
Calculates and publishes the rating list.
Runs the Chess League.
and many other chess related activities

A brilliant Evening of Social Chess - Belfast Culture Night

Mark Newman — 2012-09-22T13:48:41Z

The evening was buzzing with atmosphere. Every 30mins we had live wrestling. There was live music around the corner. Most important of all there was a stream of smiling friendly faces enjoying the evening of culture.

To sit outside a cafe with a warm cup of coffee, chatting about books, films, family with strangers - people who you felt you would like to know more about - and playing the beautiful game - Chess - this was heaven.

Through the evening I played a man from Derbyshire on holiday visiting the Giants Causeway. Another player I learned an ancedote: "Even a blind pig finds an acorn once and a while?". A fantastic teacher from Liecester who made me realise the challenges facing children and teachers and why we should value both so highly

Fliers with five challenging/elegent chess problems and the UCU contact details were handed out.

Towards the end of the evening a large chess set was placed on the floor and the Giants of Belfast chess played - Steve Scannell, John Cairns, Steve Morgan....

Thanks to :

all the members of the public who joined us

the Ulster Chess Union members

the Belfast Culture Night organisers

The Caffe Nero - for hosting our event - brilliant venue and staff

Hornby who setup the chess event.

I went home having had the best day ever, with such a positive belief in the beauty of people - thankyou Belfast.....

The final round of the Summer 2012 Tournament

Mark Newman — 2012-09-30T19:21:37Z

The fight was on for winner of the overall tournment. Early in the Summer David Seaby looked like he had a unassailable lead. Matthew Chapman caught-up and to his credit - had he not played the last game would have shared first place, he played and drew against Robert Lavery. Its was therefore for Pat Coleman to become overall winner by beating Sam Flanagan. Pat was undeafed during the competition - a very good thing to achieve in such a strong group.

Pat Coleman on the right playing Sam Flanagan. In the background Ron Henderson (left) playing Garry Johnston.

Above Matthew Chapman playing Robert Lavery. In front of them Adrian Dornford-Smyth playing Geoff Hindley.

We also had the honour of the presence of a titled player Karina Kruk just back from playing for Ireland and winning the title of WCM (Womans Candidate Master).

The final round results.

	white	result	black
1	Christopher Kelly	=-=	Edward Whiteside
2	Sam Flanagan	0-1	Pat Coleman
3	David Ruben	=-=	Mark Newman
4	John Bryars	=-=	Walter Wilson
5	Alan Burns	1-0	Derek Truesdale
6	Neil Green	0-1	Ian Woodfield
7	Stewart McConaghy	1-0	Martin Kelly
8	CJ Murphy	1-0	Chris Armstrong
9	Robert Lavery	=-=	Mathew Chapman
10	Garry Johnston	=-=	Ron Henderson
11	William Storey	=-=	Kevin Agnew
12	B Belshaw	1-0	A McWhinney
13	Geoff Hindley	1-0	Adrian Dornford-Smyth
14	David Seaby	1-0	James Fairley
15	Ray Devenney	1-0	Karina Kruk

Lower Session winner David Seaby (left) playing James Fairley. In the background Top Session winner Chris Kelly (right) playing Eddie Whiteside.

The final tournament positions:

name	Rating	Played	Points	%	with Penalty	% with Penalty	Winners
Top Section
Pat Coleman	1563	11	9	81.82	9	81.82	1st Overall
Christopher Kelly	1580	10	6	60.00	6	60.00	Band Prize
Mark Newman	1781	11	6.5	59.09	6.5	59.09
Sam Flanagan	1706	14	7	50.00	7	50.00
Edward Whiteside	1788	14	7	50.00	7	50.00
Walter Wilson	1465	15	7.5	50.00	7.5	50.00
John Bryars	1485	12	6	50.00	6	50.00
Stewart McConaghy	1440	14	7	50.00	7	50.00
Ray Devenney	1828	10	5	50.00	5	50.00
David Ruben	1617	18	8.5	47.22	8.5	47.22
Ian Woodfield	1689	15	7	46.67	7	46.67
Bernard Jaffa	1488	8	4	50.00	3	37.50
Karina Kruk	1535	10	4.5	45.00	3.5	35.00
Neil Green	1554	14	4.5	32.14	4.5	32.14
Ross Harris	1554	11	5	45.45	3	27.27

Middle Section
Mathew Chapman	1345	12	9.5	79.17	9.5	79.17	2nd Overall
CJ Murphy	1270	11	8	72.73	8	72.73	Band Prize
Alan Burns	1300	16	11	68.75	11	68.75
Garry Johnston	1167	19	12	63.16	12	63.16
Robert Lavery	1349	17	9.5	55.88	9.5	55.88
Martin Kelly	1382	10	5.5	55.00	5.5	55.00
William Storey	1329	14	7.5	53.57	7.5	53.57
Kevin Agnew	1266	16	7.5	46.88	7.5	46.88
Ron Henderson	1354	10	4.5	45.00	4.5	45.00
Derek Trusdale	1263	14	5	35.71	5	35.71
Chris Armstrong	1365	15	5	33.33	5	33.33
B Belshaw	1236	14	4.5	32.14	4.5	32.14
Roy Stafford	1244	16	4.5	28.13	4.5	28.13
Peter Wilson	1360	3	2	66.67	0	0.00
Drew Ferguson	1239	1	0.5	50.00	-1.5	-150.00

Lower Section
David Seaby	1086	18	12.5	69.44	12.5	69.44	Band Prize
Geoff Hindley	974	15	8.5	56.67	8.5	56.67
James Fairley	923	16	8	50.00	8	50.00
A McWhinney	921	12	6	50.00	6	50.00
Adrian Dornford-Smith		17	7.5	44.12	7.5	44.12
Craig Kelly	826	17	6	35.29	6	35.29
Paul Anderson	671	9	1.5	16.67	1.5	16.67
Owen Wilson	967	3	1.5	50.00	-0.5	-16.67
Patrick Maguire	858	1	0.5	50.00	-1.5	-150.00
Rees McLane		1		0.00	-2	-200.00
Philip Morrison	1025	1	0	0.00	-2	-200.00

Summer Tournament Awards Evening and Active Competition: Weds 26th September.

Mark Newman — 2012-10-01T19:20:00Z

The night ended with awards to:

Pat Coleman : Overall Winner with 81.82%

Matthew Chapman : 2nd Overall with 79.17%

Chris Kelly : Top Section Winner with 60%

Cahal Murphy : Middle Section Winner with 72.73%

David Seaby : Lower Section Winner with 69.44%

Cahal Murphy,Matthew Chapman, David Seaby (Left to Right)

The night started with a five round swiss tournament.

Final round Ashley on 3 and Matthew on 3 1/2 points fighting for a place in the top 3. Matthew won sharing first place on 4.5 points but using the M-Buch system was awarded second place.

Damien Lavery warming-up to battle the Bangor top player Eddie Whiteside. The result a draw. Robert Lavery looks on - about to play and beat Walter Wilson before meeting Eddie Whiteside in the final round and winning to gain 1st place. Damien went on to come third overall with 4 points. All three top players didnt drop a game.

The active winners. 1st Robert Lavery (middle), 2nd Matthew Chapman (right), 3rd Damien Lavery (left).

The competition cross table.

No	Name	Score	1	2	3	4	5

1	Lavery, Robert	4.5	11:W	3:D	12:W	9:W	4:W
2	Chapman, Mathew	4.5	20:W	12:W	9:D	7:W	6:W
3	Lavery, Damien	4	14:W	1:D	18:W	4:D	10:W
4	Whiteside, Edward	3.5	13:W	7:W	8:W	3:D	1:L
5	Johnston, Garry	3.5	18:L	19:W	10:D	13:W	9:W
6	McWhinney, Ashley	3	9:L	15:W	13:W	8:W	2:L
7	Storey, William	3	17:W	4:L	16:W	2:L	12:W
8	Murphy, CJ	3	19:W	18:W	4:L	6:L	16:W
9	Wilson, Walter	2.5	6:W	10:W	2:D	1:L	5:L
10	Fairley, James	2.5	15:W	9:L	5:D	14:W	3:L
11	Kelly, Craig	2.5	1:L	14:D	20:D	16:D	17:W
12	McConaghy, Stewart	2	16:W	2:L	1:L	18:W	7:L
13	Burns, Alan	2	4:L	17:W	6:L	5:L	19:W
14	Armstrong, Chris	2	3:L	11:D	19:D	10:L	18:W
15	Stafford, Roy	2	10:L	6:L	17:D	19:D	20:W
16	Seaby, David	1.5	12:L	20:W	7:L	11:D	8:L
17	Dornford-Smythe, Adrian	1.5	7:L	13:L	15:D	20:W	11:L
18	Woodfield, Ian	1	5:W	8:L	3:L	12:L	14:L
19	Green, Neil	1	8:L	5:L	14:D	15:D	13:L
20	Henderson, Ron	0.5	2:L	16:L	11:D	17:L	15:L

Below David Seaby (who provided the Handicap weightings) and Garry Johnston.

Ron Henderson checking his clock - time is critical in these games. While Adrian and Criag concentrate on the next move.

Just silent concentration....

The Ulster Chess Union suprised the organiser of the Summer tournament with a beautiful hand-made Elm bowl. Accepted with many thanks..but its a joy to be part of such a brilliant group of people.

Problems from Belfast Culture Night

Mark Newman — 2012-10-03T13:33:31Z

Left: 1.....Re2 2.Rxe2 Qxf1# Middle: 1. Qg8+ Kxg8 2. Rxf8# Right: 1.... Qc1 2. Rxc1 Bxf6

Cant stop threat of Qxh2# Black has saved the game and is a pawn ahead.

Middle: 1. Rd7 Kxd7 2. Qxf7+ Kd8 Right: 1.... Rf2 2. Q moves safe Qxg2#

3. Qxf8+ The King isnt safe where-ever he goes

Autumn Lists Published

Drew Ferguson — 2012-10-08T19:00:00Z

The latest Standard and Rapidplay rating lists have been published in readiness for the new season. This publication incorporates a July issue as well.

Registered members can view their latest ratings in the membership section of the Union's main website.

Much improved members' pages are now in place as the website system has been upgraded. It will take some time for the Web Editors to catch-up with the new features but the immediate benefit for members is the simpler navigation in the Results Service and more detailed player rating histories with graphs showing changes over time.

Spring 2013 Lists Published

Drew Ferguson — 2012-10-08T19:00:00Z

The latest Standard and Rapidplay rating lists have been published following the completion of the Belfast & District League.

Registered members can view their latest ratings in the membership section of the Union's main website and browse various statistics on their own games and other active members.

Even more detail is available on both Members and the Rating Lists through the UCU Ratings Website. Access to this site is only available to active members and requires a member to be authenticated by a username and password; if you do not have these details and want access, please ask for access by sending an email to the Rating Officer (use the link at the foot of this page) making sure to include a return email address.

Nigel Short GM MBE playing in Belfast - a simultaneous exhibition on Tuesday 26th February 2013

Mark Newman — 2012-10-08T23:12:46Z

The Ulster Chess Union has secured the services of Grand Master Nigel Short for a simultaneous display in Belfast on Tuesday 26^th February. The union officers will now be taking bookings from players interested in playing against GM Short. Places will be limited and the cost will be £30. At present union officers are in the process of locating a suitable venue for this high profile event.