Tuesday 26 August 2014

Ulster Championship 1952: A Welshman wins

Preamble

The 2014 Ulster Senior Championship, held over the August Bank Holiday weekend, was won by Gabor Horvath, who hails from Hungary but was eligible to compete for the title under a residence qualification. In 1931-1932 the local chess clubs went through a process of formally founding the Ulster Chess Union and establishing an Ulster Championship. Rule 1 of the Rules adopted in 1931 for the Ulster Championship stated:

“1. The championship shall be open to chess players born in the Province of Ulster, or who are, and have been, for more than twelve months resident therein.”

The rules have had the odd tweak since then but, as far as I am aware, twelve months residence has always been sufficient. Indeed a number of players, including (now IM) Brian Kelly, have qualified to play and win the title under the residence qualification.

A Time Traveller article, originally published in August 2002, had featured another Ulster Champion who had come to live in Northern Ireland.

Ulster Championship 1952: A Welshman wins

10 competitors entered the 1952 Ulster Championship. The 1951 champion W. D. Kerr was not defending his title, but two former winners, R. A. Heaney (1946) and G. A. Kearney (1950) were taking part. Perhaps the most interesting entry was that of Miss H. F. Chater, the first woman ever to enter the Ulster Championship. She was the aunt of the Vice-Chancellor of Queen's University, Sir Eric Ashby, and had come to Northern Ireland to live with her nephew. She was qualified to compete in the Championship by having been resident in Ulster for the required period of a year. As we shall see the eventual winner of the Championship also qualified by residence.

The tournament was a nine-round all-play-all. After seven rounds the leader was Robert Jones, who had only dropped half-a-point up to that stage. In Round 8 his two main rivals, Heaney and G. J. Boyd had to meet, with Heaney proving victorious. At the same time, Jones suffered a surprising defeat to Miss Chater and lost the lead to Heaney. However, the luck of the draw had paired Jones and Heaney in the last round, so it was still all to play for.

The Ireland's Saturday Night for 12th April 1952 takes up the story:

In the final for the Ulster Championship R. Jones, with a score of 6.5 met R. A. Heaney, who had 7.0 to his credit. The game was a Queen's Gambit Declined. Heaney, with Black adopted the Orthodox Defence, and a keen struggle resulted, which went to 66 moves, when Black resigned. Mr. Jones thus becomes Ulster champion at the first attempt. He won the Intermediate Championship earlier in the season, which is a record.

Final scores: R. Jones 7.5; R. A. Heaney 7.0; G. J. Boyd 6.5; T. C. Gallery 6.0; A. W. Turner and G. A. Kearney 4.0; F. E. Wallace and Miss H. F. Chater 3.5; J. B. Steen 2.0; J. W. B. Dodson 1.5.

The new champion is a Welshman, who taught in Eastbourne Grammar School until the war, when he joined up. After the war he came to Belfast, and is in business here. He is also studying at Queen's for his Arts Degree.
Games
[Event "Ulster Ch"] [Site "Belfast"] [Date "1952.??.??"] [Round "5"] [White "Jones, R."] [Black "Turner, A.W."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D56"] [PlyCount "55"] [EventDate "1952.02.??"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "IRL"] [Source "David McAlister"] [SourceDate "2008.03.19"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 e6 3. d4 c6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Bd3 h6 8. Bh4 O-O 9. O-O dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nd5 {A common variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined has been arrived at by transposition. Here White usually exchanges Bishops.} 11. Bg3 f5 12. Nxd5 exd5 (12... cxd5 {might have been better, leaving support for the f-pawn, which now becomes an object of attack.}) 13. Bd3 Nf6 14. h3 Ne4 15. Bh2 {Having refused an even exchange, White will not let his Bishop go for the Knight.} g5 16. Ne5 Qe8 17. f3 Nf6 18. Qc2 Nh5 19. g4 Ng7 20. f4 Bd6 21. fxg5 hxg5 22. Rf3 Bxe5 {The exchange brings White's dark-squared Bishop to the attack, which soon becomes irresistible.} 23. Bxe5 fxg4 24. Rxf8+ Qxf8 25. Rf1 Qe7 26. Bh7+ Kh8 27. Qg6 Be6 28. Qh6 {Black resigned as the threatened discovered check will be followed by mate.} 1-0

Game annotations from the Ireland's Saturday Night for 12th April 1952

Starting again

At the beginning of the new millennium, I started a website called the Ulster Chess Chronicle. It was a mix of chess results, news, articles and history. More recently I hived off the news into another blog, NI Chess News, and this also gave me an opportunity to add there a few personal comments on the NI chess scene.

I've now decided to re-start the history part here. Brand new posts on the history of Ulster chess will appear here, but my present intention is to incorporate all the old material here also - though I've not yet worked out how best to do that!