Williamson Shield Day 2

At the end of Day 1 Gareth Annesley had enjoyed a full-point lead over his six nearest pursuers. However that buffer zone disappeared when he lost to Nicholas Pilkiewicz in the Sunday morning round.

Annesley got back on track with a win over WFM Karina Kruk in Round 5 and going into the final round he was joined on 4 points by Pilkiewicz and John McKenna, Only these three could still win the Shield. 

Pilkiewicz had already played his two joint-leaders, so he floated down to play Kruk in Round 6. Their game ended in a draw and Annesley's win against McKenna gained Gareth his fourth Williamson Sheld title.

Final crosstable

No Name                  Rtg  Club          Total  1    2    3    4    5    6  

1  Gareth Annesley       1908 Muldoons      5      7:W  6:W  5:W  2:L  4:W  3:W
2  Nicholas Pilkiewicz   1847 Muldoons      4.5    8:W  9:D  3:D  1:W  7:W  4:D
3  John McKenna          1510 Belfast South 4     14:W  4:D  2:D  6:W  5:W  1:L
4  Karina Kruk           1646 Ballynafeigh  3.5   12:W  3:D  9:D  8:W  1:L  2:D
5  Mikhail Pavlov        1766 Ballynafeigh  3.5   11:W 10:W  1:L  9:W  3:L  8:D
6  Richard Gould         1536 Belfast South 3.5   16:W  1:L  7:D  3:L  0:W 12:W
7  Modestas Razbadauskas 1346               3.5    1:L 16:W  6:D 12:W  2:L  9:W
8  Patrick McKillen      1334 Muldoons      3.5    2:L 13:W 10:W  4:L 14:W  5:D
9  Robert Lavery         1649 Ballynafeigh  3     13:W  2:D  4:D  5:L 10:W  7:L
10 John Phillips         1392 Enniskillen   3     15:W  5:L  8:L 11:W  9:L 16:W
11 Gary Johnston         1275 Bangor        3      5:L 15:W 12:L 10:L 16:W 14:W
12 Roy Stafford          1243               2.5    4:L 14:D 11:W  7:L 13:W  6:L
13 Adrian Dornford-Smith 1155 NICS          2.5    9:L  8:L 14:D 16:W 12:L  0:W
14 Vincent O'Brien        955 Ballynafeigh  2      3:L 12:D 13:D 15:W  8:L 11:L
15 Rhys McLean            692 Ballynafeigh  1     10:L 11:L  0:W 14:L  0:   0: 
16 Geoff Hindley         1040 NICS          .5     6:L  7:L  0:D 13:L 11:L 10:L

Numbers down at Williamson Shield

Recent editions of the Williamson Shield have been very well attended but this year's renewal has run into something of a perfect storm. The Williamson is clashing with the Gonzaga Classic - while I think this has happened before, this time the marketing onslaught for the Dublin event has launched it into a different league. At least five local players decided to head south to see what all the fuss is about.

Perhaps even more significant for the Williamson numbers is that running next weekend is another local six-round Swiss, new to the calendar - a charity event run by the burgeoning QUB Chess Club. It will be interesting to see how many turn out for this newcomer.

Two former winners of the famous Shield, Gareth Annesley (2009, 2014, 2016) and Nicholas Pilkiewicz (2000), are competing again this year. After close of play on Day 1 Gareth was leading after three straight wins. Six players share second place, a full point behind. The UCU live pages should have regular updates

Your correspondent had time for a couple of friendly quickplay games with Brendan Jamison before taking these photographs of the Round 3 action.

Nicholas Pilkiewicz

John McKenna

Razbadauskas (White) -v Gould

Dornford-Smith (White) -v- O'Brien

Curiosity killed the cat

On the Ballynafeigh CC website, its "Off The Chest" page has a rather curious comment from "Baseball" which is date-stamped December 23, 2016 at 22:07.

However will we make the tea now?

The comment did not seem to refer to anything further up the page and to date there have been no further comments of any nature at "Off The Chest". Of course, sometimes late at night people say the strangest things on social media, even people about to obtain very high office. Still, "Baseball", whoever they might be 😕, usually seems to be someone out to make a point. So was there something of significance behind the comment? Oh, it is irritating when you are outside the loop.

Anyway,  I was researching for a future blog post about ratings (coming soon to this blog) when I came across, on another emanation of Ballynafeigh chess, something that might resolve the issue of the curious comment.

That "something" was that two members of the UCU Board, the Chairperson of Code of Conduct Committee, Brendan Jamison and National Arbiter, Richard Gould had both resigned on 21 December 2016. As far as I can see, there is nothing to confirm this on the official UCU website but as the news of the resignations appears on the emanation hosted by Brendan Jamison, I dare say this is reliable information.

This out of the loop cat is still curious.

NICS Rapidplay series resumes

Apart from a few games with the computer I hadn't played a game of chess, competitive or otherwise, for some time. My last tournament chess dated back to the 2013-4 season, when I played in a couple of Rapidplays, organised by my own club - Civil Service (NICS). Not without considerable qualms about my form, I decided to re-enter the arena on familiar ground at the first of four quickplays in the 2016-7 NICS Alan Burns Grand Prix.

NICS have two speed settings for their rapid tournaments and this was the slower "Lackadaisical" - five games of 20 minutes, plus 5 second increment, each. The entrants were remarkably closely bunched together on rating - so there were likely to be plenty of close-fought games.

Controller Mark Newman played in Round one to avoid a bye, but when David Jackson arrived shortly after the start, he was allocated a half-point bye and from Round 2 Mark was able to fully concentrate on his administrative duties. These took an unusual turn in Round 3 when a loud voice at the door demanded entry. When Mark opened the door he was confronted by a young man wielding a cutlass. Mark defused the situation by firmly indicating the potential intruder could not come in because this was a chess tournament. The pirate then returned with his plastic sword to the children's party happening elsewhere in the Maynard Sinclair Pavilion.

Woodfield (White) v Jackson

Returning to the chess battles: after two rounds only the first and third seeds, John Bradley and Robert Lavery had full points. Their top board encounter in Round 3 was won by Robert and after he won again in the fourth round against Ram Rajan, he was a full point ahead with only Bradley capable of catching him.

Gould (White) v Bradley, Rajan watching on

In the final round, a quick draw between Lavery and Daniil Zelenchuk secured overall victory for Robert and gave Daniil good chances of taking the grading prize. Martin Kelly was still in with a chance of the GP, if he could beat Ian Woodfield. Martin went the exchange up but a hasty move, failing to protect a vital pawn, was his undoing, and he slowly went under in a knight and pawns endgame. Meanwhile the host club's David Jackson defied his lowly seeding to checkmate Bradley and take second place honours.

Troughton (White) v Kelly

NICS Lackadaisical Rapidplay, 11 December 2016
Final standings

Place Name             Rtg  Club          Score Prize

  1   Robert Lavery    1539 Ballynafeigh  4.5   First
  2   David Jackson    1374 NICS          3.5   Second
 3-5  John Bradley     1629 Ballynafeigh  3     
      Richard Gould    1517 Belfast South 3    
      Daniil Zelenchuk 1484 Ballynafeigh  3     Under 1500
  6   Ian Woodfield    1502 QUB           2.5  
 7-9  Ram Rajan        1532 QUB           2    
      Martin Kelly     1456 Belfast South 2    
      David McAlister  1455 NICS          2    
10-11 William Storey   1279 Belfast South 1.5  
      Dmitry Zelenchuk 1147 Ballynafeigh  1.5  
12-13 Niall Troughton  1583 Ballynafeigh  1    
      Mark Newman      1522 NICS          1   

Prizewinners (l to r) Zelenchuk, Lavery & Jackson

Rookie reports from the seaside

" Bourne" Again in Bournemouth?

Having finished second recently in the Winter Belfast South, City of Belfast and Spring Ballynafeigh tournaments, Martin Kelly decided to have a go at the British Chess Championship after a quarter of a century's absence. He had won the under-1600 event in Brighton in 1984 and this year it was held in another lovely and lively seaside resort on the English south coast, Bournemouth. He entered a weekend event and a weekday event, held in the mornings which allowed one to do other things the rest of the day, including karaoke (but I don't want to make a "song and dance" about it)!

As the bottom seed, Martin got a bye in Round 1 of the weekender, then met Peter Harrington in Round 2. The latter started off well but later he was to "peter" out to a draw. Round 3 gave Martin a slight edge against Michael Davidson but he didn't take the "michael" out of it- so another draw. His last two opponents were both 1520. The first, Nigel Redmond, lost to Martin in 58 moves- a "Nigel long" game rather than a Nigel Short game! The second, Paul Collins, played an "appaulingly" quiet line against Martin's Marshall Attack, but the resulting draw gave Martin 3.5/5 and third place overall.

"Life's a beach" but the Bournemouth weather encouraged one to relax near the water's edge and encourage one to kick the proverbial sand in the chess bullies' faces- so Martin, anxious to to win more than draw in the weekday tournament, decided to "force it in Dorset"! Again he met Peter Harrington, who this time played more like Padraig Harrington (if Padraig was playing chess, I mean) in losing to Martin's Budapest! Round 2 opponent was second seed Julian Hawthorne(1544)-" a thorny" set of complications by Martin meant he couldn't see the " wood from the trees" and lost! Exhausted next day against Alastair Drummond, Martin "summoned" all his energy, but it wasn't there and a 13 move draw resulted! Just as well, because the next game on Board 2 was the last to finish in the whole venue- 5 hour, 112 move win by Martin, "packing them" in against ex-Dubliner John Pakenham! The last day on top board against John D. Clapp,the top seed, saw Martin's French Advanced line pressurise his worthy opponent with the unfortunate name, but after a 37 move draw, " D. Clapp" from the audience was much appreciated as Martin clinched second prize ( and yes, that was the clean joke)! All in all, with 2 prizes and an unbeaten run of 9 games, I'm looking forward next year to Llandudno with the whole family- even though the "clan dudno" where it is or how to spell it!

PS Graeme McCormick got 5 out of 10 in the under 1880 and under 2040 events!

New tournament, new websites

Nearly all of the local clubs close over the summer at the end of the Belfast Leagues. For many years now the UCU has catered for a continuing demand for competitive chess by running the Summer Tournament, originally at the Maynard Sinclair Pavilion on the Stormont Estate and more recently at the Bankers' Club on the Malone Road.

The Summer Tournament lasts for about 20 weeks with one round each Wednesday evening. It is a so-called "flexible" tournament - players dip in and out of the competition as often or as little as they want, with prizes based on percentage scores. There are a number of organisational rules peculiar to the flexible format, the most important probably being the requirement to play a minimum of games to be eligible for a prize. Pairings are made on the night with players allocated as far as possible opponents of roughly equal strength.

The only trouble with the Summer Tournament is that it tends to suck all competitive chess at longer time-limit into a black hole on the Malone Road. The possibility of running shorter, snappier events on a once or twice weekly basis, particularly in the Spring and early Autumn has always been there and now Ballynafeigh Chess Club has seized the initiative with a weekly tournament running on Tuesday nights, the first round having just taken place.

Instead of going for a five or six round Swiss, the Ballynafeigh organisers led by Arbiter Brendan Jamison, have opted for an eight-round Swiss/Flexible hybrid. Hopefully, Brendan will not need a supply of headache tablets in these uncharted waters. He certainly wasn't overly pre-occupied with the birth of his brain-child, sweeping all before him at Civil Service's recent rapidplay before taking the lead in the percentage table in the Belfast South flexible tournament by beating previous leader and top-seed John Masterson on the Monday immediately before the first night of the new tournament on the Tuesday.

Jamison has set up a dedicated website for the Ballynafeigh Spring Tournament and apart from all the detailed information on the event, there is already a short report there on the first round. The event must already be considered a success story with 40 entrants, of whom 38 participated in the first round. There are three free weeks within the schedule so play continues until Tuesday 24th May.

The title of this piece promised new websites and I found a link at the Spring Tournament to the second one, which incidentally also has a Jamison connection. Brendan has used his skills connected with his "day job" to design a logo for Childrens Chess Northern Ireland which has also just established its own web presence. CCNI has been going now for about 15 years and is run in conjunction with the UCU. The CCNI website also has information on the recently established Strandtown Chess Academy. This is based at the eponymous primary school where coincidentally your author spent two years of his education - if the Academy had been there then, I might have less excuse for the standard of my play!

Williamson Shield

The Williamson Shield was first presented in 1904 by an expatriate Ulsterman, H.B. Williamson, while home for an extended visit from his adopted country New Zealand. The first actual competition for the Shield had to wait until 1912 and only two further championships took place before the Great War intervened.

A second series started in 1923 but ended in 1929 with the demise of Strandtown Chess Club, the club to whom the Shield had been presented. Competition for the Shield resumed in 1945, now under the auspices of the Ulster Chess Union and has continued for a further 70 years.

The story of the early years is told in our feature article Williamson Shield 1904-1914.

I have also listed all the winners of the Williamson Shield in our Competition Record

Missed opportunity at the Ulster Masters

The live coverage of the Ulster Championship Congress proved a great success. The Ulster Chess Union has brought out all the technology again for the Ulster Masters this weekend. After technical problems defeated coverage of Round 1 on Saturday morning, normal service was restored in the afternoon with six games online, plus webcam and results.

One of the pleasures of watching the live games is to put the moves into an engine and bask in "your" superiority to those playing the games by seeing something they missed!

[Event "Ulster Masters 2015"] [Site "Belfast"] [Date "2015.10.18"] [Round "4.1"] [White "Lavery, Robert"] [Black "Leitch, Calum"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B00"] [Annotator "McAlister"] [PlyCount "24"] [EventDate "2015.10.17"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "6"] [EventCountry "NIR"] [WhiteClock "1:12:12"] [BlackClock "0:51:11"] 1. e4 a6 {Looks like a beginner's move, but better than its appearance.} 2. d4 d5 ({The most common continuation here is} 2... b5 {as in the sensational win by the English No.1 over the World Champion at the 1980 European Team Championship:} 3. Nf3 Bb7 4. Bd3 Nf6 5. Qe2 e6 6. a4 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Nbd2 b4 9. e5 Nd5 10. Ne4 Be7 11. O-O Nc6 12. Bd2 Qc7 13. c4 bxc3 14. Nxc3 Nxc3 15. Bxc3 Nb4 16. Bxb4 Bxb4 17. Rac1 Qb6 18. Be4 O-O 19. Ng5 h6 20. Bh7+ Kh8 21. Bb1 Be7 22. Ne4 Rac8 23. Qd3 Rxc1 24. Rxc1 Qxb2 25. Re1 Qxe5 26. Qxd7 Bb4 27. Re3 Qd5 28. Qxd5 Bxd5 29. Nc3 Rc8 30. Ne2 g5 31. h4 Kg7 32. hxg5 hxg5 33. Bd3 a5 34. Rg3 Kf6 35. Rg4 Bd6 36. Kf1 Be5 37. Ke1 Rh8 38. f4 gxf4 39. Nxf4 Bc6 40. Ne2 Rh1+ 41. Kd2 Rh2 42. g3 Bf3 43. Rg8 Rg2 44. Ke1 Bxe2 45. Bxe2 Rxg3 46. Ra8 Bc7 {0-1 Karpov,A-Miles,A: Skara 1980}) ({If you're looking for something really provocative, then try} 2... h6 {which another top English GM (and ironically a noted opening theoretician) tried out on his return to chess after retiring to an ordinary work-life:} 3. Bd3 c5 4. dxc5 e6 5. Be3 Qc7 6. b4 Nc6 7. c3 d6 8. cxd6 Bxd6 9. Nf3 Nf6 10. h3 g5 11. a3 g4 12. Nd4 Ne5 13. Be2 Nxe4 14. hxg4 Bd7 15. g5 O-O-O 16. gxh6 Bc6 17. Nxc6 Qxc6 18. Qb3 Bc7 19. a4 Ng3 20. fxg3 Qxg2 21. Rf1 Nd3+ 22. Bxd3 Rxd3 {0-1 Van Oosterom,C-Sadler,M: Haarlem 2010}) 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. f3 exf3 5. Qxf3 ({Sacrificing not one but two pawns. I would have expected} 5. Nxf3 {which would be similar to a reasonably respectable gambit against the Caro-Kann: 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.f3 exf3 5.Nf3}) 5... Qxd4 6. Be3 Qb4 7. O-O-O Bg4 {Oops! Looks like White is going to lose the exchange, but in fact Black's move should lose.} 8. a3 ({The players had been moving quickly up to here and in so doing missed a tactical shot. Counter-attacking the opposing queen is the right idea, but this is the wrong method. Correct was} 8. Nd5 $1 {threatening both Nc7 checkmate and the Black queen - plus Qxg4 winning the bishop if he loses the protection from his queen. The best try is} e6 {but then} 9. Nxc7+ Ke7 10. Qf2 $1 {(threatening Bc5+ forking king and queen)} Nd7 {and now} 11. Rd4 $1 {allowing White to capture the a8-rook.}) 8... Bxf3 9. axb4 Bxd1 10. Nd5 Kd7 11. Kxd1 e6 12. Nf4 Bxb4 { Black is the exchange and three pawns up and he went on to win without any further alarms.} 0-1

John Moles 1949-2015

The Irish Chess Union website has reported the sudden passing of John Moles, one of the greats of Ulster and Irish chess. He won the Irish Championship in 1966 at the tender age of 16 and came first in just about every tournament of note in Ireland before retiring from competitive chess in the late 1970s.

I have put together a "Player Profile" of Moles, containing a photograph of him at the 1966 Irish championship, a list of his major achievements and 12 significant games.

He was a notable expert on the French Defence and authored the seminal work "French Defence Main Line Winawer" (Batsford, 1975). Below is a game (with Moles' own annotations) where he played the white side of the French against another legendary Irish champion.

[Event "Ballyclare Open"] [Site "Ballyclare/Belfast"] [Date "1968.09.02"] [Round "7"] [White "Moles, John"] [Black "Heidenfeld, Wolfgang"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C11"] [Annotator "Moles"] [PlyCount "113"] [EventDate "1968.08.30"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "7"] [EventCountry "IRL"] [Source "David McAlister"] [SourceDate "2009.01.05"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Nf3 {A simple line recommended by Tarrasch. White aims to control the centre with his pieces, not his pawns} c5 6. dxc5 Nc6 7. Bf4 Bxc5 8. Bd3 f6 ({Not} 8... Qb6 9. O-O Qxb2 $2 10. Nb5 $1) ({ nor} 8... O-O 9. Bxh7+) 9. exf6 Qxf6 $2 ({Bad. Black leaves his central black squares unprotected. Better is} 9... Nxf6 {though after} 10. O-O O-O 11. Qe2 { White has the easier game}) 10. Bg3 ({Superficial would be} 10. Bg5 Qf7 {and Black stands well}) 10... Bb4 ({Black feared a possible Nb5. Playable was} 10... a6) ({If} 10... O-O 11. Bh4 {is awkward} ({or White can continue quietly with} 11. O-O {followed by Qe2 and Rae1 meeting ..Nb6 and ..Bd7 with Ne5 and a positional bind}) 11... Qf7 $2 12. Bxh7+) 11. O-O Bxc3 12. bxc3 Nce5 (12... Qxc3 13. Qe2 {did not appeal}) ({Nor} 12... e5 13. c4 ({or} 13. Bb5)) ({Best was} 12... O-O {when} 13. c4 {retains White's advantage}) 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. Qh5+ Nf7 ({If} 14... Ng6 15. Be5 Qf7 16. Bxg6 Qxg6 17. Qxg6+ hxg6 18. Bxg7 Rh7 19. Be5 {with excellent chances - Black's pawns are weak, his bishop is very bad}) 15. Rfe1 Kf8 $1 {This would also be Black's reply to 15.Bb5+} 16. c4 g6 17. Qe2 Bd7 18. Rab1 b6 19. Qd2 Kg7 20. Re3 Rhf8 21. Rf3 Qd4 {Black must not allow White control of the diagonal a1-h8} 22. Rf4 Qc5 23. Rh4 {Resourceful defence has enabled Black to hold his position, but White's advantage - the two bishops, attacking chances based on Be5+, more space - still persists} d4 24. Re1 Rac8 ({[24.Re1 -] Preventing} 24... e5 {because of} 25. Bxe5+ Nxe5 26. Qh6+ Kf6 27. Rf4+ Ke6 28. Rfe4) 25. h3 {A waiting move, giving his king a bolt-hole, just in case} Rc6 $2 {Preparing ..e5 but this is a bad blunder} 26. Be5+ ({(?) Obviously good was} 26. Be4 Rcc8 27. Bb7 Rcd8 28. Rxd4 {- White was running short of time}) 26... Nxe5 27. Qh6+ Kf7 28. Rf4+ Ke8 $2 ({After} 28... Kg8 29. Rxe5 Qe7 {Black has survived. White can try} 30. Rxd4 ({or} 30. Rxf8+ Qxf8 31. Qg5 {with an attack (h4-h5 is hard to meet)}) ({or} 30. Rh4 { threatening 31.Bxg6})) 29. Rxe5 Qe7 30. Rxf8+ Qxf8 31. Qxh7 Qf6 32. Qxg6+ Qxg6 33. Bxg6+ Ke7 34. Bd3 Kd6 35. f4 Rc8 36. Kf2 Rf8 37. Kf3 {(?)} Bc6+ 38. Be4 { (?)} Rc8 39. Bxc6 Rxc6 40. g4 Rxc4 {The smoke has cleared. Thanks to White's time pressure inaccuracies, the result of the rook ending is not altogether certain} 41. Re2 Rc3+ 42. Kg2 Ra3 43. g5 ({Better was} 43. h4 {- this allows the black king to get over}) 43... Ra5 ({Much stronger was} 43... Rxa2 { threatening ..d3. After} 44. Kf2 ({or} 44. Kf3) {Black can still try} 44... d3 {which gives White some anxious moments e.g.} 45. cxd3 Rxe2+ 46. Kxe2 Ke7 47. h4 Kf7 48. h5 a5 49. Kd2 b5 50. Kc3 a4 51. d4 Kg7 {and if White tries to force matters by} 52. d5 exd5 53. f5 a3 54. Kb3 b4 55. h6+ {Black wins by} Kh7 $1 { Thus the king ending would appear to be drawn}) 44. h4 Ke7 45. Kf3 Kf7 46. h5 Rxa2 47. Ke4 Ra4 48. Kd3 a5 49. Rh2 Ra3+ {Black must get his Rook over but it's too late now} 50. Kxd4 Rg3 51. h6 Kg8 52. h7+ Kh8 53. Ke5 Rg4 54. Kf6 Rxf4+ 55. Kg6 Rd4 56. Rf2 Rd8 57. Kh6 {An interesting, but imperfect game.} 1-0

My thanks to Brian McComb for access to his copy of the 1968 Ballyclare tournament bulletin containing the Moles-Heidenfeld game and notes

Hi-tech record-breaking Ulster Championships

The Ulster Championships have gone from strength to strength since 2007 when the tournament was moved to the August Bank Holiday weekend and found a great venue in Belfast's Europa Hotel. This year, however, there was a little fly in the ointment with the Europa unable to accommodate the Championships in its usual holiday weekend slot.

The Ulster Chess Union decided to move the event to the previous weekend of 21-23 August, but this necessitated a change to the schedule. Instead of two games each day on morning and afternoon, 2015 saw a Friday night start followed by three games on the Saturday and then two more on the final day. The triple-header on the Saturday meant that the playing session had to be reduced for all rounds but sensibly the organisers retained a 30-second increment.

The good news is that the enforced change of date did not impact on the number of entries with a new record high of 62 for the three-title Championship Congress.

Play taking place in the early stages of the final round

The Ulster Chess Union organising team produced a really top-notch event. Investment in equipment saw the Championship games being played on top quality wooden boards and sets and there were also DGT boards relaying a number of games each round. Also going out to the audience outside the playing room was a live webcam feed. Add in that results and standings were regularly updated on the new UCU live webpages after each round and it can safely be asserted that this was a 2015 Championship well up to 2015 hi-tech standards.

DGT Boards

The Senior Championship was spiced up for the local players by the appearance of one of Munster's best in Rory Quinn plus the promising young Blanchardstown player, Luke Scott.

Quinn (left) and Scott awaiting their opponents just before the start of Round 2

Quinn finished top of the final standings with 5.0 out of 6 with defending Ulster champion Gabor Horvath second, a half-point behind. With Quinn ineligible for the title, Horvath retained the Dr McSparran Cup for a second year.

Dr McSparran Cup - awarded to the Ulster Senior Champion

The Intermediate Championship was won by the young Ballynafeigh player, Thomas Donaldson who conceded only a single draw - to Stephen Rush - in finishing 1.5 points ahead of his nearest challengers - Eoin Carey (last year's Junior champion), David Ruben and Chris Kelly - all of whom he defeated in individual combat.

Donaldson (left) in play against Ruben in Round 2.

In the Junior Championship, which had an impressive number of 32 competing, there was an even more emphatic winner with David Barr, still very much a newcomer on the UCU tournament scene, finishing with a 100% record.

Round 2 in progress in the Dublin Room of the Europa Hotel. 2015 Junior Champion David Barr is facing the camera on the outside of the the second row on the right.

Click on the photographs to enlarge the images