Virtual City of Belfast 2021 - Day 2 - hot off the press
The starting standings
New comer Amol Mohan Thoke leads the tournament closely followed on the same points by Andrew Todd - they play each other in todays first round.
I decided that the split for the Henderson and Nemtzov would be 1300.
Nemtzov: Greater than 1300
Henderson: Less than 1300
Martin, Adrian and Paul are all on 1 point fighting for the Henderson.
| Rank | Name | Score | Buchholz-HiLo | Buchholz | PS | Rating |
| 1 | Amol Mohan Thoke | 2.5 | 2.5 | 4.0 | 5 | 1400 * |
| 2 | Andrew Todd | 2.5 | 2 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 1370 * |
| 3 | Modestas Razbadauskas | 1.5 | 2.5 | 6.0 | 4 | 1674 * |
| 4 | Mark Newman | 1.5 | 2.5 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 1642 * |
| 5 | Chris Armstrong | 1.5 | 1.5 | 5.0 | 2.5 | 1377 * |
| 6 | Martin C Butler | 1 | 1.5 | 4.5 | 2 | 1278 * |
| 7 | Adrian Dornford-Smith | 1 | 0.5 | 4.0 | 2 | 1259 * |
| 8 | Paul Anderson | 1 | 0 | 3.5 | 1 | 895 * |
| 9 | Patrick O’Donnell | 0.5 | 1.5 | 5.0 | 1.5 | 1000 * |
| 10 | George Gamble | 0 | 0.5 | 4.5 | 0 | 640 * |
Round 4
| Table | White | Lichess ID | Score | Black | Lichess Id | Score | Result | |||||||
| 1 | 3 | Amol Mohan Thoke | amolthoke | 2.5 | 5 | Andrew Todd | Toddy-Alba | 2.5 | 0 - 1 | https://lichess.org/0jnEZ29q | ||||
| 2 | 4 | Chris Armstrong | pcmorphy | 1.5 | 1 | Modestas Razbadauskas | RAZBADAS | 1.5 | 0 - 1 | https://lichess.org/oVA8M9dt | ||||
| 3 | 6 | Martin C Butler | Butchinator1988 | 1 | 9 | Paul Anderson | Number_8 | 1 | 1 - 0 | https://lichess.org/MdMTHKsT | ||||
| 4 | 7 | Adrian Dornford-Smith | Dornford | 1 | 10 | George Gamble | ChessGeorge13 | 0 | 1 - 0 | https://lichess.org/rN0xbE8P | ||||
The games go to rating. But a result sometimes hides some to and fro of initiatives.
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Amol Mohan Thoke v Andrew Todd. White has just played 16. Qd3 Andrew replied with agressive move 16. ... f5 now one of the turning points of the game. What should White do for move 17. ??? Amol played 17. Nd2. |
Chris Armstrong v Modestas Razbadauskas move 28. Qxd6 was the path choosen. But recommended was 28. Qa5 that put pressure on the corned knight and will possibly win more pawns. |
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Another opportunity to get back a drawing possibility. Modestas played 67.... Kxh5 Chris missed 68. Kf3 threatening Knight and Pawn. |
Adrian Dornford-Smith v George Gamble. Adrian does the excellent moves of sacrificing the Knight for 2 pawns and exposing Georges King. 16. Nxg5 hxg5 17. Bxg5. But the next position shows how close we can be to making a wrong move. |
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George has just played 17. ... Rb5 threatening the Bishop and bringing the Rook into the game. White should play 18. f4 but instead Adrian plays 18. Qd2 - this allows George to play 18. ... Nxe4 which leads to a better position for Black and all of Whites initiative is gone... |
Round 5
| Table | White | Lichess Id | Score | Black | Lichess Id | Score | Result | |||||||
| 1 | 5 | Andrew Todd | Toddy-Alba | 3.5 | 7 | Adrian Dornford-Smith | Dornford | 2 | 1 - 0 | https://lichess.org/H5i7uBdJ | ||||
| 2 | 1 | Modestas Razbadauskas | RAZBADAS | 2.5 | 6 | Martin C Butler | Butchinator1988 | 2 | 1 - 0 | https://lichess.org/CbiseseQ | ||||
| 3 | 10 | George Gamble | ChessGeorge13 | 0 | 3 | Amol Mohan Thoke | amolthoke | 2.5 | 0 - 1 | https://lichess.org/haRwLKuK | ||||
| 4 | 9 | Paul Anderson | Number_8 | 1 | 4 | Chris Armstrong | pcmorphy | 1.5 | 0 - 1 | https://lichess.org/@/Number_8/tv | ||||
Adrian gives Andrew a good run for his money and possibly had a winning position. Likewise Martin gave Modestas a good game and George was leading some of the way against Amol. But in the end again the games went to rating.
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Adrian has pushed 27. .... exf5 the threat is to trap the Bishop. Andrew goes for loosing the exchange with a good passed pawn. 28. Rxe7+ Rxe7 29. Be5 f4 |
At this point Adrian has a slight advantage. The pendulum swings to Andrew who has pushed possibly a little early d5 weakening the Bishop. But with a choice of attacking the Bishop after 32. Kf1 of either 32. ... Kf5 or 32. ... Rce8 Adrian chooses the latter. Andrew is able to push the d-pawn where its a heavy threat on d6 and can be readily defended with c5. 32. Kf5 would have centered the King and maintained a hold on the c-file and threaten the Bishop. The threat of the pawn proves too much. 32. ... Rce8 33. d6 Rxe5?? 34. Rxe5 Rd8 as the King is to far away and this is the only way to stop the d-pawn. Adrian has had to give back the exchange. Andrew went on to win the game. |
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Modestas v's Martin - This is where Martin may have a very slight advantage. Modestas has just played 15. c5? Martin plays 16. ... f5?? which weakens the Kingside. The proposed move here is 14. ... dxc5 15. Bxc5 O-O. Modestas went on to win with a combination that won the Queens Rook. |
George v Amol - George has an advantage but looses it. Amol plays 7. ... a6?? (recommended is 7. ... exd4) George follows with 8. Bxc6+ bxc6 and now he should play 9. dxe5 and possibly wins a pawn but plays 9. O-O?? (We always want to get our King safe - perhaps this is too early) when Amol plays 9. ... Bg4? When 9. ... exd4 sorts out the centre. Amol went on to win the game with an excellent central attack leading to a side attack on the King bring it out into the open and checkmate. |
Final Standings
We have Nemtzov Champion Andrew Todd and new comer Martin Butler as Henderson Champion. Modestas and Amol share 2nd place on points but with the tie break rules Modestas pips Amol to second place. But still a good result for his first Ulster appearance - hopefully we will see more of Amol and Martin.
| Rank | PNo | Name | Score | Buchholz-HiLo | Buchholz | PS | Rating | |
| 1 | 5 | Andrew Todd | 4.5 | 4 | 14 | 12.5 | 1370 * | Nemtzov Champion |
| 2 | 1 | Modestas Razbadauskas | 3.5 | 4 | 15 | 10 | 1674 * | Nemtzov 2nd |
| 3 | 3 | Amol Mohan Thoke | 3.5 | 2.5 | 11.5 | 11 | 1400 * | Nemtzov 3rd |
| 4 | 4 | Chris Armstrong | 2.5 | 2.5 | 13.5 | 6.5 | 1377 * | Nemtzov 4th |
| 5 | 6 | Martin C Butler | 2 | 2.5 | 11 | 6 | 1278 * | Henderson Champion |
| 6 | 7 | Adrian Dornford-Smith | 2 | 0.5 | 11.5 | 6 | 1259 * | Henderson 2nd |
| 7 | 2 | Mark Newman | 1 | 4.5 | 11 | 5 | 1642 * | |
| 8 | 9 | Paul Anderson | 1 | 1.5 | 10.5 | 3 | 895 * | Henderson 3rd |
| 9 | 10 | George Gamble | 0 | 1.5 | 12 | 0 | 640 * | Henderson 4th |
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The Closing Ceremony was held at 5:30pm on Zoom. Mark Newman thanked all the competitors for making the tournament possible and creating some challenging chess positions and games that are fun to study and watch. He especially praise George and Paul for playing against a very tough opposition. "A tournament is all about the games and the players - every player contributes and makes a tournament an event.Many thanks for your contribution". Also welcomed the new players Martin and Amol. Both did well and Martin won the Henderson Championship. Mark then went through the giving of the certs by sharing his screen and displaying the certs and the meeting applauded each player. Thanks to Damien Lavery and Micheal Sheerin for supporting the ceremony.
Our next tournament is the Ulster Championships - which are targeted for face to face games on July 23rd, July 24th, July 25th.
and our AGM on evening of July 24th..
Shortly after this is the Irish Championships - celebrating their 100th year - on 31st July - 8th August - more details: https://www.icu.ie/events/1409
