Flawless Queen's Annihilate Fisherwick
The QUB 5: McPhillips, Scannell, Delaney, Grzymek and Millar
Queen's made the short trip to Fisherwick Chess Club prepared for a pivotal "14 pointer" against their south Belfast neighbours. Pre-match, Fisherwick's geographical proximity to QUB was only matched by their closeness in the league table. The University side led by 4 points, but Fisherwick held a game in hand from which they could on average be expected to earn 5 points back.
Fisherwick's board 1, Michael Waters, was typically in no mood to relieve pre-match tensions during Fisherwick's Monday night tournament, boldly claiming to your author that "there are only two chess teams worth talking about in Belfast: Fisherwick and Fisherwick reserves". With the gauntlet laid down, Millar's Mob set about their task of disproving this Shanklyesque declaration.
For this fixture, the 3 QUB regulars of Steve Scannell, David Grzymek and captain Chris Millar were joined by two Trinitarians. Of little surprise was the reappearance of 2006 Dublin and Leinster Champion, Karl McPhillips, but he was also accompanied on this occasion by the 1850-rated Rory Delaney. Fisherwick, on the other hand, were to be without Ray Devenney and Graeme McCormick, but saw the return of captain Ian Woodfield and Sam Flanagan.
For a full report on the night's events, visit:
