Greenisland buzzes with speed chess extravaganza
Tournament report by Brendan Jamison, National Arbiter
33 players gathered at Greenisland Baptist Church on Saturday 22 February for 10 rounds of thrilling blitz chess. This is the first time the Ulster Chess Union has ever held an event in this area and it was a wonderful success.
Because it was rated by FIDE, the International Chess Federation, which covers 170 countries around the world, the event attracted many high profile chess champions, travelling from Bangor, Portadown, Larne and all corners of Belfast. The regular players were joined by many new children and teenagers from the Greenisland area.
Chief Arbiter Brendan Jamison issued a special warm welcome to all the newcomers playing in their first ever chess event. Chess teacher Keith Marshall from Carrickfergus Grammar encouraged many of his pupils to play in the tournament and they were also joined by the school’s principal James Maxwell (photo 6). All three newcomer medals were won by players from Carrickfergus Grammar with gold awarded to 16 year old Daniel Porter, silver went to 13 year old Joseph Boyd and bronze was awarded to Matthew Withers.
The Junior band was won by Andy Boal with 5.5/10 with a Tournament Performance Rating (TPR) of 1141, Silver was awarded to 9 year old Aaditya Singh, also scoring 5.5/10 and delivering a TPR of 1087, Bronze was won by Chris Conn 5/10, with a TPR of 1139, his first chess tournament in 13 years. Hopefully he will play in many more upcoming events.
Our Greenisland Co-ordinator Chris Dorrian won the gold medal as winner of the intermediate band with 6 points and a TPR of 1438. Silver went to Aaron Wafflart, also ending on 6/10 and a TPR of 1328. The bronze medal was scooped by 11 year old Dexter Harris of Strandtown Academy with 6/10 and an excellent TPR of 1327.
The third place trophy went to Des Moreland of Newtownabbey with an impressive 8/10, second place was won by chess veteran Danny Roberts with 8.5/10 and the champion’s trophy was awarded to Carrick player Nick Pilkiewicz with 9/10.
At the prize-giving, the arbiter issued a big thank you to Chris Dorrian for securing such a wonderful venue for the chess tournament. Everyone enjoyed the Greenisland Baptist Church with its excellent location, friendly volunteers and wonderful cafe.
Our next event is a mini blitz competition at Bangor Chess Club on Thursday 27 February from 7:30pm to 9pm. This will be followed by an opening lecture by Danny Roberts from 9:15pm to 10:15pm. Danny is an expert on the Sicilian Sveshnikov and has a 2000+ FIDE rating. He delivers opening talks on a par with Grandmasters and he’s also the current Ulster Rapidplay Champion. It promises to be an amazing talk so try to come along to it. Everyone is welcome and it’s free to attend.
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