Summer Tournament enters final 3 weeks
We are now entering the final stages of the Summer tournament. The rule of playing 2 out of the 3 weeks kicks in - this ensures players hoping to win can't stay away and hold on to a winning percentage.
One thing this year I have noticed is that we have had some excellent/challenging endgame positions. There was the game published earlier between Chris Armstrong and Neil Green. Then an exciting Bishop v Knight finish of Matthew Chapman v Cathal Murphy where Matthew was forced to stop Cathal's pawn with his bishop but had hoped to force a win against the Knight with a forward pawn. The end result a draw (game on the left below). Then there was Ian Woodfield against Peter McGuckin where Ian looked like he could attack Peters King but Peter found a beautiful square for his Queen threatening an unstoppable mate on the move and thereby forcing Ian to give constant check - a draw was agreed. I am going to study my endgames!
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The senior section. Here Gareth Annesley is leading the tournament with Ian Woodfield leading the remaining players.
(Click here for full tournament results)
| name | Rating | Played | Points | % |
| Karina Kruk | 1542 | 1 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Gareth Annesley | 1954 | 8 | 7 | 87.50 |
| John Masterson | 1881 | 3 | 2 | 66.67 |
| Ian Woodfield | 1645 | 11 | 7 | 63.64 |
| Ray Devenney | 1838 | 1 | 0.5 | 50.00 |
| Mark Newman | 1784 | 6 | 3 | 50.00 |
| Coleman, Pat | 1669 | 1 | 0.5 | 50.00 |
| Peter McGuckin | 1536 | 1 | 0.5 | 50.00 |
| David Ruben | 1512 | 14 | 6.5 | 46.43 |
| Nicholas Pilkiewicz | 1871 | 8 | 3.5 | 43.75 |
| John Bryars | 1567 | 11 | 4 | 36.36 |
| John McKenna | 1508 | 2 | 0.5 | 25.00 |
| Stephen Scannell | 2005 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
The middle section sees William Storey competing against Matthew Chapman with Neil Green and Robert Lavery chasing. An exciting battle.
| Eoin McCorkindale | 1250 | 1 | 1 | 100.00 |
| William Storey | 1289 | 11 | 7.5 | 68.18 |
| Mathew Chapman | 1393 | 8 | 5 | 62.50 |
| Robert Lavery | 1479 | 15 | 9 | 60.00 |
| Neil Green | 1413 | 10 | 6 | 60.00 |
| CJ Murphy | 1311 | 12 | 7 | 58.33 |
| Chris Armstrong | 1431 | 15 | 7.5 | 50.00 |
| Martin Kelly | 1295 | 7 | 3.5 | 50.00 |
| George Jackson | 1259 | 7 | 3.5 | 50.00 |
| McKillen, Patrick | 1234 | 14 | 7 | 50.00 |
| Roy Stafford | 1210 | 15 | 6 | 40.00 |
| Stewart McConaghy | 1420 | 13 | 5 | 38.46 |
| Burns, Alan | 1303 | 3 | 1 | 33.33 |
| Bernard Jaffa | 1434 | 6 | 1.5 | 25.00 |
| Jonathan Woodfield | 1494 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
The lower section has a leader who is difficult to catch - David Seaby who has played 14 of the 15 weeks so far and only lost 3.5 points.
It must be said that Robert McDonald who is new to Ulster chess and has played a fair number of games, some against the middle section, is doing very well.
| David Seaby | 1119 | 14 | 10.5 | 75.00 |
| Robert McDonald | 1200 | 13 | 8 | 61.54 |
| Adrian Dornford-Smith | 1001 | 14 | 8.5 | 60.71 |
| Phillip Morrison | 1122 | 13 | 6.5 | 50.00 |
| Geoff Hindley | 1047 | 12 | 5.5 | 45.83 |
| Patrick Magee | 1097 | 9 | 3.5 | 38.89 |
| Truesdale, Derek | 1154 | 13 | 5 | 38.46 |
| Craig Kelly | 885 | 8 | 3 | 37.50 |
| Kevin O'Neill | 924 | 9 | 2 | 22.22 |
| James Fairley | 879 | 11 | 2 | 18.18 |
