Stephen Morgan wins the 2nd Ulster Cyber Rapid Championship
Stephen Morgan wins the 2nd Ulster Cyber Rapid Championship
On Sunday 12 April, our final onliner kept the chess community buzzing with excitement. Congratulations to Stephen Morgan, crowned champion of the 2nd Ulster Cyber Rapid Championship. He remained totally unbeaten after 14 games which is an incredible feat given the high standard of players out in force.
ICU member Adam Collins came 3rd with another excellent tournament. Meanwhile Ulster Rapidplay Champion Danny Roberts finished in 6th place, with Lisburn’s Pat Coleman ending in 7th. Kenneth Somerville from Fermanagh played in his first ever UCU event and he’s looking forward to joining an over-the-board tournament in the near future.
Leinster Under 16 Champion William Hackett streamed the event live on his Twitch Channel. We were also delighted to welcome ICU player Oisin O'Cuilleanain (27th) and John Sweeney from City of Derry Chess Club (24th).
Queen’s University was represented by Matthew Dougherty (20th), Jamie Corscadden (28th) and Gerard Obasi (14th). Northern Lights saw Pat McKillen (23rd) and Stephen Wood (10th), both delivering some excellent wins.
Strand players included Modestas Razbadauskas (11th), Aaditya Singh (13th), Conor Spackman (18th) and Edward Khanzharov (22nd).
Paul Anderson finished 17th and delivered many excellent wins in all six of our online events. Fruithill was represented by Chris Hamill (26th) and Adrian Dornford-Smith (29th) flew the flag for Civil Service.
Bangor Chess Club delivered 4 players, Christopher Dorrian (16th), Gary Johnston (25th), George Gamble (31st) and Rebecca McClurg (33rd). Lisburn’s Stephen Cullen raced through his opponents, fitting in 22 games over the 3 hours, ending in 15th place, while fellow club member Damien Lavery joined late and came 32nd.
Of the 39 players, we had a special guest who finished in 21st place, Adam Gawronski, a 12 year old from Poland who won 2nd place at the Groomsport Rapidplay back on 21 February 2019. Young Adam is an example of how chess can connect the world, transcending language and borders, bringing us together to celebrate our common love of the great game. This online event included many of our Division 1 alumni from the Ulster Chess circuit. Nikhil Joshi joined us from Canada (finishing 5th), Mikhail Pavlov logged in from Russia and Thomas Donaldson (9th) joined us from London.
The Ulster Chess Union is now on its summer break. We hope to resume over-the-board activities in the Autumn if it is safe to reopen the clubs again then. In the meantime stay safe and take care.
Brendan Jamison
Ulster Chess Union Tournament Director & League Controller
