6th Ulster Blitz Championship 2016 - report
Prize winners: 1st Stephen Rush (centre left), 2nd Modestas Razbadausk (centre right), 3rd Thomas Donaldson (left), Grading prixe Cathan Gormley (right).
This years Ulster Blitz Championship was awarded to 3rd seed Stephen Rush (16/18). His victory means that he is now both the 2016 standard and blitz Ulster champion. Runner up in a competitive field was Modestas Razbadausk who finished on 13.5/18. Thomas Donaldson, Fiachra Scallan and Damien Lavery finished close behind Modestas on 13/18. Thomas was awarded 3rd place on the tie-break. The U1400 grading prize was won by Cathan Gormley with a score of 12/18. Cathan, not far from 3rd place chalked up wins against Karina Kruk, Damien Cunningham and top seed Stephen Scannell.
Interesting positions and possibilities developed within seconds!
Thomas Donaldson took an early lead after round 4 (4/4) before being defeated by Stephen rush (3.5/4) in round 5. Stephen then maintained his lead for the rest of the tournament.
The conclusion of round 10 demonstrated how close 2nd and 3rd place positions were likely to be with Damien Lavery and Thomas Donaldson tied on 7/10. At this stage the leaders had mostly played each other and would now play members of the chasing pack!
Summary of the final standings above. Full results are available in our UCU results section.
Winner Stephen Rush (right).
2nd place Modestas Razbadausk (right).
3rd place Thomas Donaldson (right).
Under 1400 grading prize winner Cathan Gormley (right).
Thanks to Ballynafeigh for again hosting this event and to our participants who helped make the day so much fun.
We would like to wish all our UCU members a very happy 2017!
