With the first round starting promptly at 7.00pm on the Friday night ALL ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED BY 1.00pm ON FRIDAY 21ST AUGUST. NO ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED ON THE NIGHT OF THE FIRST ROUND. As usual early entrants will receive a discounted price.

The Ulster Chess Union has recently purchased 5 digital boards and as an exciting new feature we hope to have live streams of the top boards in all sections!

Further details of the Championships and how to enter can be found in the events section.

We look forward to seeing you all there for a great weekend of chess!

Once again the chess masses converged on the Europa Hotel  to battle it out for the titles of Junior, Intermediate and Senior Ulster Champion. This year the format was changed with one game played on Friday night, three on Saturday and two on Sunday. It was also run as an open tournament, however, the title of Ulster Champion and trophies would go the first placed player Northern Irish qualified player. On the first night the excitement in the playing area was almost palpable as the players walked in to find a whole host of new equipment including 20 wooden sets, 6 live boards, state of the art digital clocks, and even a webcam providing live coverage of the event! With a whole host of controllers having recently passed the National Arbiters Course, and a record number of 62 players attending, it was shaping up to be a great weekend - and the chess was not to disappoint.

Senior Section

The senior section was littered with shocks and exciting play right from the first round with Brendan Jamison setting the tone for the weekend by defeating Calum Leitch. Going into the final round four players could still win the title - Gabor horvath (4), Rory Quinn (4), Nicholas Pilkiewicz (3.5) and Ross Harris (3.5). Gabor Horvath was in for a tough battle against 8 time Ulster Champion Stephen Scannell whilst Rory Quinn was hot favourite to win his head-to-head against Ross Harris. Nicholas Pilkiewicz had the black pieces against Gareth Annesley. Scannell played a Barry type set up against Horvath's favoured King's Indian, however, neither player could gain a decisive advantage and the game petered out into a draw. Pilkiewicz found it tough against Annesley and eventually lost the game which ended his chance of the title. Quinn ensured a sharp battle against Harris as he sacrificed a pawn on move 6 in the Fantasy Variation of the Caro-Kann. After an error by Harris on move 17, Quinn regained his pawn and smashed open Harris's kingside. Quinn then launched a ferocious kingside attack that won him the game and also the Senior Tournament. Harris won the u1800 grading prize.

Intermediate Section

Thomas Donaldson continued to show why he is one of the most promising talents in Ulster Chess by running away with the Intermediate section, scoring 5.5 / 6. His half point dropped was to third seed Stephen Rush in round 5, though things could have been much different as he came close to losing his first round match against John Phillips. In the endgame Donaldson, who had 2 rooks, somehow managed to swindle Phillips who had 2 rooks and 2 pawns! After winning the Intermediate title Donaldson deservedly earns a place in next years Senior section. 2nd place went to last years Junior champion Eoin Carey who scored an excellent 4 points. He picked up some notable scalps along the way including Karina Kruk, Stephen Rush and John O'Doherty, who are all much higher rated players. Matthew Chapman won the grading prize with a score of 3/6. Special note must be made of Dayna Ferguson who played her first round game with a broken leg before having to withdraw from the tournament!

Junior Section

The Junior section was dominated by David Barr who swept aside all-comers with his swashbuckling style of play and finished on a perfect score of 6/6. The step up to the Intermediate section next year  will be a real test of his ability , however, his improvement over the last year shows it should be a challenge he is more than capable of meeting. 2nd place went to the unlucky William Storey who's score of 5/6 would have been more than enough to win the title in previous years. Andrew Todd and Rodrigo Blanco won the grading prizes. Bangor Schoolboy Todd has finished 3rd in the Junior Section two years in a row and clearly has a bright future ahead of him. This was Rodrigo's first appearance in a UCU tournament and he had some great wins against Pat McKillen, Paddy Magee and Tyrone Winter.

Significant credit must go to UCU Treasurer Adrian Dornford-Smith who took full control of the live boards, live website, and webcam. His hard work and technical expertise ensured this important new feature ran smoothly and efficiently. This distraction didn't seem to affect his game though, as he managed to score a very credible 4/6. Thanks must also go to everyone who helped out at the weekend including controllers  Brendan Jamison, Damien Cunningham and David Houston.

The course was spread over friday evening, saturday and sunday.

It included running a tournament, the rules of chess, manual Swiss pairing, using program Swiss Master pairing program, Setting chess clocks, uploading chess files to a website.

Those participating included: Damien Cunningham, Robert Lavery, Adrian Dornford-Smith, Richard Gould, Brendon Jamieson, Damien Lavery, Geoff Hindley and Mark Newman.

The course is part of the process of becoming a national qualified Arbiter - participants have to be arbiters under supervision at two accepted tournaments.

The team thoroughly enjoyed the course. With plenty of questions and lots of useful information to absorb. The exam was gruelling - practical and written. Making decisions on complex issues at chess competition, making a manual draw and using Swiss Master. An exhausting but worthwhile course.

Part of the UCU's plan to improve chess in Ulster. Thanks to the instructors Gerry and Ted. and thanks to Damien Cunningham for organising.

For the FIDE Chess rules click here.

Couple of things I like the preface:

"The Laws of Chess cannot cover all possible situations that may arise during a game, nor can they regulate all administrative questions. Where cases are not precisely regulated by an Article of the Laws, it should be possible to reach a correct decision by studying analogous situations which are regulated in the Laws. The Laws assume that arbiters have the necessary competence, sound judgement and absolute objectivity. Too detailed a rule might deprive the arbiter of his freedom of judgement and thus prevent him from finding a solution to a problem dictated by fairness, logic and special factors. FIDE appeals to all chess players and federations to accept this view." - FIDE Laws of Chess - Preface.

and the rule for a Knight move

3.6   The knight may move to one of the squares nearest to that on which it stands but not on the same rank, file or diagonal.

How concise is that!

A team of 4 volunteer chess players. Gareth Annesley, Geoff Hindley, James Fairley, Mark Newman. Ran sessions on King opposition, King and pawn endgame, the value and properties of the pieces, Knights v Bishops, playing through a game and commenting on poor moves, development and many more topics.

The course included learning to play battleships on an 8x8 squared ocean to learn the chess board and the squares locations from a1 to h8. Battle Chess where each player sets up their four pawns and King on their half of the board which is hidden from their opponent by an A3 piece of card. Once both sides are set the game starts White to play normal rules apart from the winner is the first to Queen safetly.

At lunchtime there was the opportunity to play other board games like Mastermind, Mancala (perhaps the oldest of games), Othello, Fanorona (the national game of Madagascar).

Chess Puzzles were solved in two teams. Games and worksheets were played sometimes in pairs, sometimes as individuals.

The idea of the three days was to have fun playing and improving chess by varying the activities at regular intervals. Both students and tutors had an excellent time.

Two swiss tournaments were run throughout the 3 days. Both all-play-all with the tutors making up the odd nos.

All the students showed enthusiasm and skill at the game of chess and were awarded certificates at the end of the course.

No Name           Result   Name           

 1 Anjali Singh     0:1    James Fairley  
 2 Aaditya Singh    0:1    Benjamin Lundy 
 3 Adam Lundy       0:1    Adam Fitzsimons

No Name                 Result   Name             

 1 Calum Glendinning      1:0    Geoff Hindley    
 2 Leon Geraghty          0:1    Michael Callaghan
 3 Patrick McGurnaghan    1:0    Luca Kerloc'h   

No Name            Result   Name           

 1 James Fairley     1:0    Adam Fitzsimons
 2 Benjamin Lundy    0:1    Adam Lundy     
 3 Anjali Singh      1:0    Aaditya Singh

No Name               Result   Name               

 1 Geoff Hindley        1:0    Luca Kerloc'h      
 2 Michael Callaghan    0:1    Patrick McGurnaghan
 3 Calum Glendinning    1:0    Leon Geraghty      

No Name             Result   Name          

 1 Aaditya Singh      0:1    James Fairley 
 2 Adam Lundy         0:1    Anjali Singh  
 3 Adam Fitzsimons    1:0    Benjamin Lundy

No Name                 Result   Name             

 1 Leon Geraghty          0:1    Geoff Hindley    
 2 Patrick McGurnaghan    1:0    Calum Glendinning
 3 Luca Kerloc'h          1:0    Michael Callaghan

No Name           Result   Name           

 1 Geoff Hindley    1:0    Benjamin Lundy 
 2 Anjali Singh    .5:.5   Adam Fitzsimons
 3 Aaditya Singh   .5:.5   Adam Lundy   

No Name               Result   Name               

 1 Mark Newman          1:0    Michael Callaghan  
 2 Calum Glendinning    1:0    Luca Kerloc'h      
 3 Leon Geraghty        0:1    Patrick McGurnaghan

No Name             Result   Name         

 1 Adam Lundy         0:1    Geoff Hindley
 2 Adam Fitzsimons    1:0    Aaditya Singh
 3 Benjamin Lundy     0:1    Anjali Singh 

No Name                 Result   Name             

 1 Patrick McGurnaghan   .5:.5   Gareth Annesley  
 2 Luca Kerloc'h          0:1    Leon Geraghty    
 3 Michael Callaghan      0:1    Calum Glendinning

Place Name                        Score Berg. Wins

 1-2  Anjali Singh                  3.5    4.75    3
      Adam Fitzsimons               3.5    4.75    3
  3   James Fairley                 3      7.50    3
  4   Geoff Hindley                 2      2.50    2
  5   Adam Lundy                    1.5    1.25    1
  6   Benjamin Lundy                1      0.50    1
  7   Aaditya Singh                 0.5    0.75    0

Place Name                            Score Berg. Wins

  1   Patrick McGurnaghan               4.5    7.25    4
  2   Calum Glendinning                 4      5.00    4
  3   Geoff Hindley                     2      2.00    2
 4-7  Leon Geraghty                     1      1.00    1
      Luca Kerloc'h                     1      1.00    1
      Michael Callaghan                 1      1.00    1
      Mark Newman                       1      1.00    1
  8   Gareth Annesley                   0.5    2.25    0

Games from week16

During the year we have seen some brilliant and complicated chess games.

John Masterson v Ray Devenney

A brilliantly open attacking position:

John sacrifices a Bishop. That leads to a Knight perpetual check and a draw.

The current leader of the tournament is Nicholas Pilkiewicz on 77.78% with one more game to play to make the full 10 games. Paddy Magee is a close second with 71.43% and leads the third section. The second section has a tight fight with 3 players on 62.5% Patrick McKillen, Robert Lavery and Stephen Critchlow. These are followed on their heels by William Storey and David Ruben. It looks like we have an exciting 4 weeks left. The rules encouraging players to play in the last 3 weeks will come into play after next week:

Rules
1. Players must complete 10 games to be considered for prizes.
2. If a player does not play in two of the last three rounds they will be assumed to have played and lost 2 games. If they play only one then they will forfeit one game.
3. However if a player has played 14 or more games then they are exempt from rule 2.
4. Scores will be calculated on a percentage basis.

One important item is to mention those players who have attended most weeks. We have David Seaby whos attended all 17 weeks. Followed by Pat McKillen, Robert Lavery, Chris Armstrong with 16 Weeks.

Thanks to all players for making the tournament what it is...a brilliant celebration of chess.

Full results click here

Standings in the sections

With the league rules for this season due to be published soon, the League Controller would also like to hear from club captains as soon as possible regarding suggestions for rules as well as any other queries.

Week one saw some upsets and the order of players changed.

In the lower section Paddy Magee was beaten by Roy Stafford and his lead was cut to approx. 2% 62.5% against David Seaby's 60.53%. Also with chances was David Seaby who lost to Adrian Dornford-Smith, David was ahead but blundered a piece and Adrian brought the point home. David having played more games than Paddy lost less % points.

In the Upper section Nicholas Pilkiewiecz increased his lead with a win over Ian Woodfield. Ray Devenney had a good position against Stephen Rush, but they agreed a draw. Stephen showed Ray a winning combination that had been missed.

In the middle section, Robert Lavery overtook William Storey by beating Stephen Critchlow and David Ruben stayed in contention with a win over Matthew Chapman. At this stage we had Robert on 66.67%, William Storey on 65% closely followed by David Ruben on 62.5%

Week two (Last week) saw some deciding games. Gareth Annesley could catch Nicholas Pilkiewicz but Gareth couldn't afford to drop a point. He was paired against Stephen Rush who with the exchange against a couple of well advanced pawns won a tight and time-short endgame. Nicholas with 80% looks set to win the tournament.

In the middle section Robert Lavery was given a tough pairing against Ian Woodfield - the game was drawn a good result for Robert. And with William Storey loosing to Criag Stevenson (a relatively newcomer to the competition) Roberts lead was increased.

In the lower section the fight got closer with Adrian rising by beating Derek Trusedale and Paddy Magee and David Seaby drawing. So they are all within 2% points. So a tough call.

The current standings - this doesn't include any negative points calculated from the 3 week rule (this will be calculated at the end of the tournament).

Adrian Dornford-Smith coached youngsters on the large chess set. He was brilliant, explaining the principals of the game with a catching enthusiasm.

All the chess tables were busy, I added 2 sets inside the Cafe to allow more people to play.

All evening passers-by stopped and watched or played. Encouraged by the Ulster Chess Union players who enjoy outside chess and coffee. Players dropping by

included Adrian Dornford-Smith, Ray Devenney, Ian Woodfield, Robert Lavery, James Fairley, Michael Morris, Cathal Murphy just to mention a few.

Five beautiful problems were handed-out, together with fliers with dates of events coming up.

(Solutions at the bottom of the page)

Pictures tell the story.

Thanks to Caffe Nero, the Culture Night Organisers and the wonderful people enjoying the evening. For a brilliant night.

This year the overall winner was safe going into the last round -  Nicholas Pilkiewicz with an excellent % of 81.8.and we had a good show of top players including Gareth Annesley (who threatened to take the title - hes the current holder), John Masterson, Ray Devenney, Steve Scannell...

The second place in the top section had two contenders Stephen Rush and Gareth Annesley. Unfortunately for Gareth the 3 week rule came into effect and he was given a penalty resulting in Stephen overtaking him to win the top section with 59.4% (the winner of the section is decided after taking out the overall winner and overall runner-up).  Stephen has had some good results and even when loosing a point has had good positions (drawing or even threatening to win).

The middle section had the overall runner-up Robert Lavery with 67.5%. Robert has had an excellent summer tournament and played all the weeks but one! This left David Ruben to win the middle section. I should mention Pat McKillen who is one of the lower rated players in the middle section and at the start was winning it he ended on a good 58.2%.

The lower section had three people fighting for first place. Paddy Magee who unfortunately couldnt play on this last night. He was left to wait the result of David Seaby's game.

David won a tough game against Derek Trusdale. But Adrian was still playing and we worked out if he won because hes played less games the % increase would be more.. and he won. So Paddy and David were pipped on the last day by Adrian Dornford-Smith with 62.5% and all three players being with 1% of each other - a  very tight finish.

David not only almost won the bottom section but he managed to play every one of the 21 weeks.

Above right shows the board position in the game John McKenna v Chris Armstrong - a fighting position - the game came to a draw.

Thanks to all the players for an enjoyable summer of chess..

Thanks also to the Bankers Club for a great central venue.

The final scores with penalty calculated.

For full game results click here

• City of Belfast
• Ulster Championship
• Summer Tournament

as well as various tournaments in the Republic of Ireland that UCU members have competed in (such as Malahide, Drogheda, the City of Dublin as well as the Irish Championship's various subsidiary events). The rapidplay list covers:

• Ulster Rapidplay Championship
• Alan Burns Grand Prix #4.

These ratings are the first to be calculated using the UCU's new "Sticko" rating algorithm (the name being a portmanteau of that of its inventor, Alec Stephenson, and those of the Glickman and Elo systems on which it is based); this past month the UCU Ratings Committee, after lengthy deliberations, proposed a form of this system which has been implemented for this and future lists. More details can be seen on the UCU Ratings sub-site (login required); in summary, the aim is to remedy issues with the previous Glickman system such as deflation and a lack of volatility.

The new ratings can be seen on the membership list; alongside the official lists, sample lists are also available showing the other systems the Ratings Committee considered; a tweaked version of the previous Glickman system as well as Elo and a Sticko list calculated over the entire UCU dataset, going back to 2004. Club-by-club lists are also available;

• Ballynafeigh
• Bangor
• Belfast South
• CS Lewis
• Fruithill
• Muldoons
• NICS
• QUB

• CS Lewis Lions 2-3 Muldoons 1
• The A Team 2-3 QUB 1
• Bangor Groomsport 3.5-1.5 Ballynafeigh 1

The big story in Division 1 this week was the defeat of champions Ballynafeigh 1 at the hands of Bangor Groomsport. Ballynafeigh had seen a number of players leave over the summer, whether to other clubs in the area or further afield, so a repeat of last year's runaway league victory is unlikely. Nevertheless, despite that and the unavailability of some of their remaining players, a makeshift four-man Ballynafeigh 1 team were still the favourites against Bangor Groomsport on Thursday night. Michael Sheerin shared the point with Bill Lavery on board 4 before Walter Wilson defeated Robert Lavery, who missed a clear win in the early middlegame and came under intense pressure immediately afterwards. It got worse for the visitors as Mike McKimm (1445) capitalised on a blunder from John O'Doherty (1632) to seal the bonus points for Bangor Groomsport. David Houston was never seriously troubled by Alan McConnell, but by the time he wrapped up victory the damage was done.

Elsewhere, there were narrow wins for Muldoons 1 and QUB 1.

Division 2

• Muldoons 2 2.5-2.5 Kelly's Heroes
• NI Civil Service 3-2 CS Lewis Witches
• Ballynafeigh 2 3-2 Fruithill

Division 2 started with three tight matches; when the dust settled, NICS and Ballynafeigh 2, who respectively beat the CS Lewis Witches and Fruithill 3-2, emerged as the initial joint leaders. Muldoons 2 achieved a creditable draw against Kelly's Heroes, thanks partly to a win for Pat McKillen (1385) against David Ruben (1563).

Division 3

• Ballynafeigh 3 3-2 Ballynafeigh 4
• QUB 2 5-0 QUB 3
• Andrew's Army 4.5-0.5 Bangor Wannabees

QUB 2 are top of Division 3 after whitewashing QUB 3, while Andrew's Army are not far behind after dropping only half a point to the Bangor Wannabees. Ballynafeigh 3 recorded a narrow victory over a Ballynafeigh 4 side which included three new recruits to the Ormeau Road outfit.

David Seaby suggested a handicap competition with the rating difference controlling the time difference between the players and this unique competition has ended the Summer tournament regularly for some years. Its exciting and puts pressure on the higher rated players.

Round 1 No Name Loc Total Result Name Loc Total 1 Nicholas Pilkiewicz 1877 [0] 1:0 Chris Armstrong 1382 [0] 2 David Seaby 1239 [0] 0:1 Ian Woodfield 1648 [0] 3 Mark Newman 1613 [0] 1:0 Adrian Dornford-Smith 1010 [0] 4 Geoff Hindley 976 [0] 0:1 Robert Lavery 1506 [0] 5 Stephen Critchlow 1422 [0] 1:0 JP Corrigan 800 [0] by Swiss Perfect (TM)  www.swissperfect.com   No upsets on the first round. All going to rating.

Round 2 No Name Loc Total Result Name Loc Total 1 Robert Lavery 1506 [1] .5:.5 Nicholas Pilkiewicz 1877 [1] 2 Ian Woodfield 1648 [1] 1:0 Mark Newman 1613 [1] 3 Chris Armstrong 1382 [0] 0:1 Stephen Critchlow 1422 [1] 4 JP Corrigan 800 [0] 1:0 David Seaby 1239 [0] 5 Adrian Dornford-Smith 1010 [0] 1:0 Geoff Hindley 976 [0] The second round saw a mix of upsets. JP Corrigan beating David Seaby and Robert drawing against Nicholas. Going into the 3rd round Ian Woodfield and Stephen Critchlow led the field.

Round 3 No Name Loc Total Result Name Loc Total 1 Stephen Critchlow 1422 [2] 0:1 Ian Woodfield 1648 [2] 2 Nicholas Pilkiewicz 1877 [1.5] 1:0 Adrian Dornford-Smith 1010 [1] 3 Mark Newman 1613 [1] 0:1 Robert Lavery 1506 [1.5] 4 Geoff Hindley 976 [0] 1:0 JP Corrigan 800 [1] 5 David Seaby 1239 [0] 1:0 Chris Armstrong 1382 [0] Some upsets and Ian takes the lead.

Round 4 No Name Loc Total Result Name Loc Total 1 Ian Woodfield 1648 [3] 1:0 Nicholas Pilkiewicz 1877 [2.5] 2 Robert Lavery 1506 [2.5] 1:0 Stephen Critchlow 1422 [2] 3 JP Corrigan 800 [1] 1:0 Mark Newman 1613 [1] 4 Adrian Dornford-Smith 1010 [1] 1:0 David Seaby 1239 [1] 5 Chris Armstrong 1382 [0] 1:0 Geoff Hindley 976 [1] Ian beats the favourite and continues his success, now leading with 4 out of 4 - full points.

Round 5 No Name Loc Total Result Name Loc Total 1 Robert Lavery 1506 [3.5] 1:0 Ian Woodfield 1648 [4] 2 Nicholas Pilkiewicz 1877 [2.5] 1:0 JP Corrigan 800 [2] 3 Stephen Critchlow 1422 [2] 0:1 Adrian Dornford-Smith 1010 [2] 4 Mark Newman 1613 [1] 0:1 Chris Armstrong 1382 [1] 5 David Seaby 1239 [1] 1:0 Geoff Hindley 976 [1] The top board has the decisive game Robert against Ian and Robert wins to take the prize. Upsets on the other boards show the balancing impact of the time differences. An exciting finish.

Standings Place Name Loc Score M-Buch. Buch. Progr. 1 Lavery, Robert 1506 4.5 6.5 11.5 13.0 2 Woodfield, Ian 1648 4 7.5 13.0 14.0 3 Pilkiewicz, Nicholas 1877 3.5 9.0 15.5 11.0 4 Dornford-Smith, Adrian 1010 3 5.0 9.5 7.0 5-8 Critchlow, Stephen 1422 2 9.0 15.5 9.0 Seaby, David 1239 2 7.0 12.0 4.0 Corrigan, JP 800 2 5.0 9.5 6.0 Armstrong, Chris 1382 2 5.0 9.5 3.0 9-10 Newman, Mark 1613 1 9.0 15.5 5.0 Hindley, Geoff 976 1 7.0 13.5 3.0 Robert heads the leader board unbeaten with 4.5 out of 5.

Winners of the Summer tournament recieved certificates listing their games and giving their %. Winners were:

Nicholas Pilkiewicz - Overall Winner 81.8%

Robert Lavery - Overall Second 67.5%

Stephen Rush - Winner top section 59.4%

David Ruben - Winner middle section 62.5%

Adrian Dornford-Smith - Winner lower section 62.5%

Also awarded a special prize was David Seaby, for full attendance - not missing any of the wednesday evenings over the summer.

Thanks go to The Bankers Club for an excellent venue and to all the players for making the tournament so enjoyable and full of great chess - looking forward to seeing everyone next year. Good luck in the leagues.

• Muldoons 1 4-1 Bangor Groomsport
• Ballynafeigh 1 1-4 The A Team
• QUB 1 3.5-1.5 CS Lewis Lions

It was another poor week for the favourites in the Silver King race as both the CS Lewis Lions and reigning champions Ballynafeigh 1 slumped to their second defeats in a row. Ballynafeigh 1 were without David Houston, but Steve Scannell filled in on board 1. Not that it helped, though; he was beaten by Ray Devenney in a result that typified the home side's night. John O'Doherty was their only point-scorer, beating Bernard Jaffa.

On the same night, the CS Lewis Lions fared little better against QUB 1; they too were without their usual board 1, and while they still outrated the home side by nearly 200 points a board, Ian Woodfield (1633), Samuel Ngieng (1552) and Milad Foozoni (1419) put in excellent performances to beat Ross Harris (1758), John Bradley (1686) and Richard Gould (1514), while Chris Roe (1196) deserves credit for his draw with Shane Keers (1542).

Muldoons 1 are the new leaders after a 4-1 win over Bangor Groomsport, who did well to avoid the whitewash, as Gary Johnston (1212) and the unrated Michael Sheerin drew with Stephen Wood (1722) and Des Moreland (1675) respectively.

Division 2

• Fruithill 4.5-0.5 Muldoons 2
• CS Lewis Witches 2.5-2.5 Ballynafeigh 2
• Kelly's Heroes 4.5-0.5 NI Civil Service

There were convincing wins for Fruithill and new leaders Kelly's Heroes, although things remain tight in this division after the CS Lewis WItches drew at home to Ballynafeigh 2. The visitors in the latter match were disappointed not to come away with the win as Chris Kelly was a clear rook up against Paul McNaughton, but in severe time trouble he had to concede a draw.

Division 3

• Ballynafeigh 4 1-4 QUB 2
• QUB 3 1-4 Andrew's Army
• Bangor Wannabees 1-4 Ballynafeigh 3

A clear hierarchy is forming in Division 3 as the winning teams from Week 1 all racked up consecutive wins. Ballynafeigh 4's unrated Dmitry Zelenchuk could be one to watch, defeating Adam Henning (1233) on board 4 of their match against QUB 2.

Standings

• Muldoons 1 2.5-2.5 QUB 1
• Ballynafeigh 1 2-3 CS Lewis Lions
• Bangor Groomsport 1.5-3.5 The A Team

After taking down an admittedly-Horvathless CS Lewis Lions in week 2, QUB 1 pulled off an equally impressive feat in drawing with a full-strength Muldoons 1 team on Monday night. This was achieved thanks to a draw for Ram Rajan (1234) against Des Moreland (1675) and wins for Samuel Ngieng (1552) against Danny Mallaghan (1783) and (in the upset of the season so far) Callum Ormerod (1682) over Gareth Annesley (1927).

In contrast, two of the pre-season favourites, the CS Lewis Lions and reigning champions Ballynafeigh 1, found themselves in the bottom two places going into their match on Tuesday night. The visitors came out on top by a 3-2 margin, leaving the champions as the last remaining team on 0/3. Last but not least, The A Team moved to within one point of the lead with a 3.5-1.5 win over Bangor Groomsport.

Division 2

• Kelly's Heroes 3-2 Ballynafeigh 2
• NI Civil Service 3-2 Muldoons 2
• CS Lewis Witches 2.5-2.5 Fruithill

Ballynafeigh 2 were severely under-strength for their top of the table clash with Kelly's Heroes; outrated by nearly 300 points on each board, the visitors faced an uphill struggle to get anything from this match. They almost did; after Chris Kelly agreed a quick draw with Graeme McCormick and William Storey defeated Derek Truesdale, there was controversy on board 5 as James Shaw (844), in a strong position against Cathal Murphy (1271), picked up a pawn to capture it, before realising that it was defended. In accordance with the Laws of Chess, however, he had to capture it - and the only available piece to capture it with was the queen. James Barbour (915) restored some hope with a fine victory over Craig Stevenson (no official rating as yet, but performances so far would put him around the 1400 mark), but on board 2, the only board on which the home side were outrated, John McKenna drew with Robert Lavery in a game which never seriously appeared to be in danger of being won by either player.

Elsewhere, NICS beat Muldoons 2 (with Adrian Dornford-Smith and Geoff Hindley holding much higher-rated opposition to draws on the lower boards) while the CS Lewis Witches drew with Fruithill.

Division 3

• QUB 3 1-4 Ballynafeigh 4
• Andrew's Army 4-1 Ballynafeigh 3
• Bangor Wannabees 0-5 QUB 2

QUB 2 extended their lead at the top of Division 3 after a whitewash over the Bangor Wannabees; there were also convincing wins for Andrew's Army and Ballynafeigh 4.