You are here: Home Archives Ulster Chronicles 2014-2015 season UCU Web 2014 "Kelly's Heroes" keep their noses in front in Strawbridge chase

"Kelly's Heroes" keep their noses in front in Strawbridge chase

(B&D Leagues 2014/15 Week 13) The big story of the week was in Division 2, where Belfast South 2 left Ballynafeigh Community House on Tuesday night with their five-point lead (and match in hand) intact, but it could have been different as Ballynafeigh 3 squandered opportunities to close the gap.

Division 1

Fruithill 0-5 Lindores 1

After a couple of promising results in the previous two weeks, Fruithill (Marron/Carrothers/Linton/Collins/Monaghan) were brought back down to earth as Lindores 1 (Horvath/Leitch/Harris/MacDonald/Gould) took maximum points.

Belfast South 1 2.5-2.5 Ballynafeigh 1

Ballynafeigh 1 were missing a couple of key players, and the hosts, while not exactly fielding their strongest lineup themselves, took full advantage to hold the leaders to a draw. David Houston and Brendan Jamison beat Ray Devenney and Bruce MacLean respectively, while Sam Flanagan beat Soren Jensen for the home side. Alan Thomason, making his first appearance of the season, drew with John Bryars while Cathal Murphy defeated Owen McEvoy.

Bangor 3-2 Ballynafeigh 2

Bangor pulled away from Fruithill at the bottom with this win over Ballynafeigh 2. Thomas Donaldson suffered a rare league defeat at the hands of Alan McConnell, while Walter Wilson and Ken Browne chalked up victories over Tyrone Winter and James Barbour respectively. Ian Woodfield and John O'Doherty won for the visitors.

Standings

PlayedPoints
Ballynafeigh 1 11 62.5
Lindores 1 11 49
Muldoons 1 10 43
Belfast South 1 11 36.5
Ballynafeigh 2 10 29
Bangor 11 23.5
Fruithill 10 14.5

Division 2

Muldoons 2 1.5-3.5 NI Civil Service

NICS beat Muldoons 2 after Peter May and Mark Newman, as expected, beat Bernard McCaughey and Peter Wilson respectively, while there was a minor upset on board 5 as Adrian Dornford-Smith (1056) defeated Rodney Orr (1256). Stephen Downes drew with David Jackson, while Pat McKillen won for the home side against Drew Ferguson.

Ballynafeigh 3 2.5-2.5 Belfast South 2

"Kelly's Heroes" were in trouble at times in this encounter with second-placed Ballynafeigh 3, but their greater experience showed as they escaped with a draw to maintain their lead at the top of Division 2. Gerard Bannon and William Storey played out a quiet draw on board 5. On board 2, Robert Lavery was a knight up and had a completely winning position against Bernard Jaffa until a blunder allowed Jaffa to force a draw. Then Stephen Rush, despite having two pieces for John McKenna's rook, allowed the rook to infiltrate his position with devastating effect. Eoin Carey levelled the score with a well-executed attack on Neil Green. This left Chris Black and Chris Armstrong on board 3 as the deciding game; Black had three pawns for a piece and a large time advantage, but with over 15 minutes on the clock against Armstrong's two minutes, he made a rather generous-looking draw offer which was duly accepted by Armstrong.

Ballynafeigh 4 4.5-0.5 QUB

Ballynafeigh 4 easily defeated QUB after racing to an early 4-0 lead thanks to wins from Mark Hewitt, Suraj Tirupati, Liam Ferris and Paul Anderson, the first two coming in spite of nearly-200-point rating disadvantages. To add insult to injury, Chris Roe had a nailed-on win against Barney McGahan (a rook and pawn to the good) before squandering a half-point in a manner that made the aforementioned Lavery-Jaffa game look like a masterful display of endgame technique in comparison.

Ballynafeigh 5 0-5 Lindores 2

Lindores 2 (Kilpatrick/Barr/Bujak/Aboelsoud/Hughes) moved level with Ballynafeigh 3 in second place by consigning Ballynafeigh 5 (Seaby/Rainey/Jackson/Weir) to their eighth consecutive 0-5 result.

Standings

PlayedPoints
Belfast South 2 12 63.5
Ballynafeigh 3 13 58.5
Lindores 2 13 58.5
NI Civil Service 13 50.5
Muldoons 2 13 46
Ballynafeigh 4 13 38.5
QUB 12 33.5
Ballynafeigh 5 13 2
Navigation
News
The Monthly Childrens Chess Kicks off Oct 4th at Methodist College ** Cancelled due to Storm ** Event cancelled due to Storm ** The LJCC Belfast Qualifier a one day 6 round tournament starts our annual series of m... Oct 03, 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
The Annual UCU Summer School at Ormeau Park We had 18 young chess players for 3 days of brilliant chess activities over Weds/Thurs/Fri 6th, 7th, 8th August 2025. At... Sep 14, 2025
One more game to play in the Summer Tournament 2025 We have played 19 weeks of glorious chess. What are the standings with only one game to go. Sep 13, 2025
More news…
« October 2025 »
October
SuMoTuWeThFrSa
1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031
Upcoming Events
Bangor: FIDE RATED Blitzmania 10 Rounds 11-20 Thursday 9 October 2025 Blitzmania at Bangor - a series of exciting Blitz tournaments at City of Bangor Chess Club. Oct 09, 2025 07:15 PM - 10:00 PM — City of Bangor Chess Club, Church of Ireland Parish Hall, 30 Main Street Groomsport
FIDE RATED U1700 Groomsport Autumn Blitz Oct 10, 2025 07:30 PM - 09:45 PM — City of Bangor International Chess Club, Church of Ireland Parish Hall, 30 Main Street, Groomsport, County Down, Northern Ireland, BT19 6JR
FIDE RATED County Down Rapid Chess Championships 2025 (for adults) The event will run as one open section with age specific champions crowned at the end of the day, based on the highest p... Oct 11, 2025 09:30 AM - 05:00 PM — City of Bangor Chess Club, Church of Ireland Parish Hall, 30 Main Street Groomsport
FIDE RATED County Down Junior Chess Championships 2025 (for children aged 7-17) The event will run as one open section with age specific champions crowned at the end of the day, based on the highest p... Oct 11, 2025 10:00 AM - 05:00 PM — City of Bangor Chess Club, Church of Ireland Parish Hall, 30 Main Street Groomsport
FIDE RATED Bangor Chess Club 60th Anniversary Classic Round 1 Oct 16, 2025 07:30 PM - 10:30 PM — City of Bangor International Chess Club, Church of Ireland Parish Hall, 30 Main Street, Groomsport, County Down, Northern Ireland, BT19 6JR
Upcoming events…