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The Silver King is once more up for grabs, with the finest sides in Ulster Chess going head-to-head to fight for the most coveted trophy in the local game. Since Queen's reinvolvement with Ulster league chess in season 2006/07, every campaign has produced very generous portions of memorable moments and relentless success for the University. A fresh new season now awaits! Champions QUB are returning with the aim of making it three Division 1 triumphs on the bounce and a record breaking twenty-sixth victory in the competition’s 116 year history. The University’s all star line up remains as formidable as last year, with a Chris Millar team enjoying the rare treat of continuity rather than revolution. Alongside their scheming captain the Queen’s panel includes Division 1’s highest rated player Chris Cohrs, 8 times Ulster Champion Steve Scannell, Hammel Cup winner Eamonn Walls, Polish import Lukasz Kwiatek and last year’s board 4 prize winner Andrew “Higgy” Higgins.
The University’s closest rival, both geographically and competitively, are south Belfast’s other representatives in the top flight. The “Evil Empire” of Fisherwick are back for more with the same team that ran QUB so close last year. If Michael Waters and John Cairns can repeat the form that saw them win the top two board prizes last year, then these perennial challengers might be in line for their first Silver King in several years. The same can also be said of RVH who, with the benefit of Michael Holmes’ comeback, truly proved themselves to be serious contenders in 2009. Lagan will be hoping that Jonathan Brown returning to the team (and as captain) could be the necessary spark to allow them to compete with the aforementioned big three. The joker in the pack comes with the league’s new boys. Damien Cunningham has marshalled the forces that claimed the Division 2 title as QUB B in 2009. Boosting his squad with Danny Mallaghan, Cunningham is aiming to improve upon Bangor’s attempt at living with the big boys.
The 2009/10 fixture list threw up an eye-catching opening week fixture, with champions Queen’s meeting last year’s Division 2 winners QUB B. Last year’s second string are now operating independently of the University under the functional but uninspiring guise of “The Away Team” (due to their lack of a home venue). Similar levels of imagination were obviously exercised in the naming of QUB’s new league venue, with “The Space” in the SU now home of the Silver King holders.
The first point was soon on the board for Queen’s, although it was recorded in unusual fashion by team captain Chris Millar. Disharmony in the opponents’ camp left the Away Team a player short and left Millar a walkover win. Eamonn Walls then doubled the hosts’ lead with an accurate display which earned the resignation of John “the Sultan” McKenna. The Sultan may be looking as suave as ever, but his play wasn’t sophisticated enough to live with an in form Walls. Eamonn is fresh from 5/6 in the Ulster Individuals, 1st place in the Hammel Cup and 1st place in the QUB Freshers Blitz. Walls’ performed well below par during the first half of last season, but now has transformed himself into one of the most potent players in Ulster Chess. Captain Cunningham was the next to be dispatched, as he was seen off by an aggressive but measured display from Lukasz Kwiatek on board 2. Kwiatek enjoyed kingside pressure the whole game and the away captain eventually buckled under the superiority of the Pole’s spacial advantage and harmonised pieces. Danny Mallaghan’s debut for his new side turned out to be an extremely difficult night for the former Clifton House captain. Not only did he go to the wrong side and wrong floor of the haphazardly designed upper floors of the Union building, but when he did finally arrive on board 1 he found himself facing black against Chris Cohrs. Cohrs gained an early pawn advantage over Mallaghan and, despite Danny’s advances on both wings, he could never prove compensation for the material deficit.
However, the away side did come very close to grabbing a consolation on board 4. Richard Gould held a positional, material and time advantage over Andrew Higgins for most of the match. “Is Richard actually beating Higgy?” questioned a disbelieving Cunningham. Disbelief then turned to admiration when Gould then landed an exchange sac, his captain now enthusiastically remarking “Richard’s a stud!”. As the game entered a time scrambled rook-pawn endgame though, Gould fatally pushed a g-pawn too far to allow Higgy to pull a win out of the fire. THE AWAY
TEAM 0-5 QUB A ruthless start sees the Champions straight to the top of the league table. Not too shabby, especially considering that the Ulster Champion was being held in reserve. The continuity in the University squad carried over from last season has helped produce as unified a team spirit as your author can recall experiencing in the often turbulent world of chess egos. On an unrelated topic, Fisherwick defeated Lagan 3-2 this week.
CHAMPIONS QUEEN’S STROLL PAST FISHERWICK Having enjoyed an opening 5-0 win over the Away Team and a free week in round 2, Silver King holders QUB hit the road for round 3 to face Fisherwick. No rivalry in Ulster Chess runs deeper than that between these two sides, with the south Belfast neighbours perennial favourites for the top honours.
Last year Fisherwick were the only team to defeat the University outfit over the 16 league fixtures, but in this first of four clashes this season they never really looked close to repeating the feat. Détente broke out on board 5, where Chris Millar and John Bradley played out a fairly dull draw. A reversed classical Dutch from Millar tends not to bring about a dry position, but whenever Bradley exchanged off the central pawns much of the game’s dynamism was lost. In the queen and knight endgame, Chris had the advantage of the queenside majority but, with a more open king, had less room for error. Looking around at the other boards, Millar was happy to take the Fisherwick man’s offer of a draw. The next result came from the clash between City of Belfast champion John Cairns and Ulster Champion Steve Scannell. At seven minutes past seven, Scannell had sent his captain the dreaded “Hiya, running behind. Coming from B’bridge” text. Not quite as dreaded as Higgy’s response to his captain’s night before reminder though – “ah, not ok, I thought it was Thursday and will be in Dublin tomorrow”. Scannell did eventually make it to the board and, less than 5 minutes after sitting down, appeared to have quickly succeeded in refuting Cairns wing gambit. If the opening went badly for Cairns, the ending was even worse. Steve secured a win by gleefully executing an obvious mate in one which his opponent had somehow overlooked.
Around the same time Chris Cohrs was finishing off Michael Waters on the adjacent board. The last time the two met Waters was resigning after 17 moves, but this time his Stonewall setup held the German at bay for 26. The Fisherwick first board ran into fatal trouble as he tried to create counterplay by advancing in the centre. The plan backfired, with Michael crucially exposing his king to a material-gaining pin along the long diagonal. Perhaps it’s Cohrs ever present slab of Green and Gold chocolate that is the secret behind his success. Chris is quick to advertise: “Fair trade and organic. And tasty too” enthuses the German. Board 3 saw the first meeting between the Reverend Ray Devenney and QUB’s leading Polish import, Lukasz Kwiatek. One potential weakness of this potential pairing was highlighted to the away captain before the game – Poles can be very religious. So maybe it was too much respect towards Devenney that cost Kwiatek, with the former Irish Champion nicking an extra pawn and going on to convert expertly. After this display and his apparent ownership of Eamonn Walls, there’s no doubt about it - Ray has been proving to be a thorn in the side of QUB. It wasn’t to matter on this occasion however, as on board 4 Eamonn Walls enjoyed his first win over Fisherwick as a QUB player by defeating a denim clad Graeme McCormick. Once the minor pieces came off, Walls first gained an advantage by targeting McCormick’s weak isolated d pawn, then secured an individual and team win by spotting a tactic to lift his opponent’s rook. FISHERWICK
1.5-3.5 QUB The latest Division 1 table is available here. LAGAN SCUPPERED BY QUB LATE SHOW After enjoying a comfortable win over arch rivals Fisherwick the week before, champions QUB hosted Lagan with a team full of confidence in maintaining their 100% winning start to the season. However, if the University’s all star line up faced stiff resistance from the gale force winds outside, it was more than matched by a determined Lagan display inside the SU. The only home player to get things all his own way was Eamonn Walls, as he used the white pieces to convincingly dispatch David Jackson. There was little comfort for Jackson to draw upon from the straightforward defeat, with his sole consolation the fact he got some variety from this encounter with QUB – it wasn’t Andrew Higgins he was losing to this time around. With sounds of the Film Society’s “Zoolander” now breaking the silence of the playing venue, the match continued.
While Walls’ win over Jackson showcased opening and middlegame domination, Lukasz Kwiatek’s victory over Sam Moore epitomised the Pole’s mastery of winning equal endgames. A stable and quiet board 3 match eventually produced a knight and pawn endgame for Kwiatek to deliver a technical masterclass. This result doubled the league leaders lead but the bonus points were still not safe. Just as the clock was winding down to 11pm, Lagan were reversing the tie’s momentum by getting the better of QUB’s top board pairing of Chris Cohrs and Steve Scannell. Precision defending from Jonathan Brown saw him continue his exceptional start to the season, as he fended off the German’s sacrificial attack to impose upon Cohrs only his second defeat in Ulster Chess. Meanwhile, Tom Esmonde kept his head against an early kingside thrust from Scannell. Even a pair of the Ulster Champion’s pushy central pawns weren’t enough to rock the boat of the Lagan second board and a draw was eventually agreed with both clocks approaching zero. These results left the visitors needing a win on board 5 to secure their first ever team result against Queen’s. It would have been hard to argue it wasn’t deserved after such a strong display, but standing in the way was the QUB captain – unbeaten against untitled players since November 2007. That run has been down to an equal parts combination of grit, ability and good fortune (the latter above all others some would say). A mixture of all three had to be called upon again (the latter above all I would say) to emerge with a win from this game against the unpredictable and ever dangerous William Storey.
Storey got the better of the opening after Millar botched his black setup with a premature e5 push. Despite the Lagan man’s b-file pressure and advanced a and c pawns, the game remained finely balanced. A mistimed attack on Chris’s central pawn chain then opened the game in black’s favour to provide a seemingly decisive advantage. But Storey sacked to give himself dangerously advanced pawns and soon after the game descended into a chaotic time scramble. Just as the momentum swung back away from William again, his flag also fell. QUB 3.5-1.5
Lagan Last minute dramatics now completed, QUB picked up the bonus points. A close shave for the Uni men, but their 100% winning start remains intact. Walls post match brow wiping reflected the mood in the Queen's camp, but your author reassured him that it's just the result that counts. Let’s hope for more drama and another QUB win against RVH next week. The question on many people’s mind is whether or not ex-Galactico John Masterson will line up to face his former side. Their 3-2 defeat to Fisherwick this week would suggest that the west Belfast team might just need him back to bolster their hopes of challenging for king shaped silverware this season. The latest Division 1 table is available here. Your usual match reporter was absent for QUB's trip to west Belfast to face title rivals RVH. However, the opening to a voicemail left on his captain's phone by Steve Scannell summed things up very aptly. "Ah... kind of a difficult call for me. We lost 4-1. We got slaughtered".
RVH 4-1
QUB Such a defeat brings about a shattering end to Queen's fantastic start to the season, and rudely upends any hopes of a third successive Silver King win being anything but extremely difficult. However, similar and even worse disasters have been met by QUB in season's past only for the University side to recover and finish on top. 2006/07 saw "Los Galacticos" crash to a shock early defeat against Groomsport; 2007/08 featured an opening day disaster against Clifton House; while in 2008/09 Queen's were humbled by a 4-1 defeat against Fisherwick. Not only was the league trophy still lifted on each of those occasions, but brutal revenge was handed out en route to the silverware - with 5-0, 5-0 and 4-1 wins respectively. Next week QUB will be hoping to reclaim first place in time for Christmas with a backlash against Damien Cunningham's The Away Team. The latest Division 1 table is available here. After last week's damaging defeat to RVH, champions QUB were desperately looking to recover form against bottom side The Away Team. Damien Cunningham's outfit, in contrast, entered the tie on a high. They were fresh from their season's first victory over Lagan and also buoyed by the addition of Calum Leitch to their ranks.
Again I was unable to attend so don't have a full match report for a contest described to me as a "close shave". QUB 3-2 The
Away Team The current table is available from the UCU site here. The exiles' captain (reputed for his measured and non partisan commentary), reported that the match should have finished 3.5-1.5 or even 4-1 in his team's favour. Fisherwick comprehensively defeated an understrength Lagan team 4.5-0.5 to leave them topping the table by half a point going into the new year. With RVH's game in hand leaving them an even stronger position, now is the winter of our discontent. The Champions must now lick their wounds before hosting Fisherwick on Thursday January 21st. However, hopefully a brighter Spring lies in wait. Just confirmed for Saturday March 20th is the QUB Rapid 2010, complete with a bumper £1,000 prize fund! With the lengthy winter break now over, Ulster's best chess teams this week resumed the race for the Silver King. Champions QUB enjoyed a free week to extend their Christmas holiday, but their main rivals were in action. RVH continued to prove themselves the league's form team as they destroyed Lagan 5-0 with impressive ruthlessness. Fisherwick, QUB's opponents next week, had a much less straightforward time of things but still managed to defeat the Away Team 3-2. The current table is available from the UCU site here. RVH are looking certainly looking good at the moment, but still have to meet QUB and bogey team Fisherwick 3 times before the season's end. Don't forget that it's a season that will include the £1,000 prize fund QUB Rapid 2010 on March 20th!
CHAMPIONS CLAIM CRUNCH WIN OVER FISHERWICK Queen’s and Fisherwick met for their fist tête-à-tête of the new decade under unusual circumstances, with both sides currently in the shade compared to a rampant RVH who had recorded their latest success (a 4-1 win over The Away Team) only the evening before. However, both sides had only failed to win one match so far this season, thus the occasion duly merited Fisherwick’s decision to roll out the high quality wooden sets.
QUB’s critics may claim the champion’s performances have been a little wooden during their captain’s absence for their last two fixtures (crashing 4-1 to RVH and scraping past The Away Team 3-2), but your author is back for 2010 and got the ball rolling in this tie. John Bradley’s Hippo setup tried to lash out at Millar’s big centre with d5, c5 and f5 breaks but all could do little to stem what the Fisherwick man termed “the usual slow grind”. Weakening of the e6 square allowed the QUB captain to make the incisive breakthrough as his well placed pieces then swung over to the kingside to put Bradley away. Fisherwick captain
Ian Woodfield stepped straight in for the absent Ray Devenney on
board 3 and leveled the tie by beating Lukasz Kwiatek. Castling
on opposite wings proved to have disastrous consequences for the
Pole, with Woodfield easily whipping up an attack against his adversary's
exposed king. The Fisherwick man then cleverly cut through his opponent’s
defences to deliver mate as Kwiatek’s time ticked away. Lukasz
promptly vowed to learn from the experience before his captain's
next team selection. However, Queen’s advantage was short lived with John Cairns beating Steve Scannell to restore parity in the tie and gain revenge for Scannell’s victory earlier in the season. City of Belfast Champion Cairns seemed to catch the Ulster Champion out with an early retreat of his queen’s bishop to c1 in the Tromp. Steve gobbled up an h pawn and found some dark squared holes but it proved a costly adventure as John seized the centre and the game. Scannell’s clock hit zero in a hopeless position to confirm Cairns’ win. That left the fate of the bonus points in the hands of the board 1 match up between Chris Cohrs and Michael Waters. The Kaiser took the c file in the early stages to claim a nice plus in the position. This endured through the middlegame and was eventually converted into an extra pawn in a rook and pawns endgame. It seemed briefly that Waters would then have the better placed rook as compensation, but Cohrs calmly delivered the winning moves and technique to secure a priceless team win for the University men.
Few better starts to the new decade are imaginable than beating the Evil Empire. Queen’s now look forward to a trip to Lagan, who ran the champions so close in this season’s earlier encounter. Memories of that game and last season’s title run-in nail biter emphasise that the Boat Club outfit should certainly not be taken too lightly. FISHERWICK
2-3 QUB The latest Division 1 table is available here. The £1,000 prize fund QUB Rapid 2010 is hosted by QUB Students Union on March 20th - spread the word and get involved!
TENSION MOUNTS AT DIVISION 1 SUMMIT With every passing week, a clearer picture is now emerging at the top of the Ulster League. This week’s results and next’s could prove defining as the 2009/10 campaign’s halfway point beckons. This week’s first match was between RVH and Fisherwick. The Royal picked up another win, beating their much under strength opponents 3.5-1.5. The punch drunk Evil Empire are now reeling, with their latest line up missing Ray Devenney, John Bradley and any of their stronger Division 2 players. RVH are flying though, with this win temporarily opening up a 6 point lead in first place. It was therefore very much up to the Silver King holders Queen’s to deliver the goods as they traveled to the Belfast Boat Club to face Lagan.
Scoring a smooth and untroubled win on board 4 was Eamonn Walls. David Jackon’s Advance in the French didn’t ruffle the Theology student’s feathers, with Jackon unable to hold on to his big centre or track Walls’ inroads in the middlegame. Pawns to the good and with harmonised pieces, Eamonn didn’t take long to crack David’s resistance and give the uni men their first point. In the adjacent match, Chris Millar took on William Storey once again – as is the want of the league’s design with 4 rounds of fixtures. Millar’s pieces were the better centralised, enjoyed more space and also occupied the board’s one open file. Aesthetically pleasing as this was, it was Storey’s pieces that jumped to the squares to do the damage. With Chris’s clock beginning to wind down in a frustrating position, he overlooked a critical tactic and was lost as William easily picked up the forced 2 pieces and 2 pawns advantage. After the QUB captain lost though, Storey somehow managed to lose back. William incredibly allowed Millar to queen by performing the most blindingly sensational of blunders. Walls was impressed: “that was the dodgiest swindle I’ve ever seen”, said the man who once resigned because he mistook a simple check for a checkmate while enjoying a winning position. Luck is the residue of design.
Things then got better still for QUB as Lukasz Kwiatek rounded off a crushing win over Gerald Harvey. The Queen’s board 3 had earlier reported how Fritz rated his showing last week as his worst ever, but he was now clearly a man determined to return to form. The game became very stretched in the opening, where Kwiatek gobbled up a couple of pawns but conceded development. However, with the exception of his light squared bishop, Harvey was struggling to find useful squares for any of his poorly coordinated forces. The Pole then steered the game through to an endgame with his disadvantages eradicated and material advantage still intact. 3-0 to Queen’s. Chris Cohrs then extended the Champions’ lead to 4-0 as their perfect run continued. Sam Moore never really got off the starting blocks the last time Cohrs defeated him, but this time Moore was white and enjoyed a good game as he aggressively went after the German doctor’s king with a sacrificial attack. Eventually Cohrs staved off his opponent’s advances and swapped off queen’s to all but seal the win. With Chris’s bishop now the only piece on the board, Sam’s extra pawns counted for nothing as they quickly got soaked up. Is the doctor missing Germany? "Ohhhhh... not really". Fighting to save some pride for Lagan was Tom Esmonde on board 1 against Ulster Champion Steve Scannell. The Ulster Champion enjoyed an edge for a long time as he pinned his opponent in and restricted counterplay. However, an e pawn push from Tom got Steve thinking and so reversed the tide on the clock in the Lagan man’s favour. Steve was still able to enter a better endgame but each player was down to their final 2 minutes in an open position with plenty of room for tactical shots. Tom held firm to convert to the most drawn of opposite coloured bishop endgames and share the tie’s final point. LAGAN 0.5
- 4.5 QUB The first half of the season draws to a fascinating close next week, when Champions QUB host leaders RVH. The latest Division 1 table is available here.
Champions Queen’s hosted the Royal for the biggest ding dong of the season so far. RVH were looking to keep their juggernaut steaming forward and secure their status as runaway leaders. A Royal victory would certainly have booked an express ticket to Silver King glory, with one rival captain already describing them as "all conquering". In University Square, a defiant QUB were plotting to show that they remain the strongest side in Ulster Chess. If the Champions could triumph then they would haul their rivals back level in the title race. After a heavyweight battle, drama, controversy and finally only one man claiming individual glory, it was the Champions who emerged bloodied but victorious from the Royal Rumble of Ulster Chess.
Chris Cohrs and Michael Holmes; Steve Scannell and Gareth Annesley; Lukasz Kwiatek and John Masterson; Eamonn Walls and Nick Pilkiewicz all threw each other out of the ring to cancel themselves out before exiting the arena. Left to take the individual glory was Andrew Higgins, who dumped Brendan O’Neill high over the ropes and 16 feet down to the cold unforgiving floor. QUB 3-2 RVH The gap between Queen’s and RVH is now slashed to just half a point with exactly half the season gone. It’s set to be an intriguing title run in…
“The Space” hosted this week’s fixture against The Away Team, where the hosts blasted away their visitors to reacquaint themselves with the feeling of being at the top of the Ulster Chess world. The Film Society was on one side, the Creative Society on the other and club night Twisted was banging out Lady Gaga the Mandela Hall below. But the arrival of Damien Cunningham’s band is always the headline attraction in the Union.
With that familiar winning glint in his eye, the Ulster Champion went after Danny Mallaghan desperate for a win. However, Mallaghan certainly looked to get the better of the opening, holding off Scannell and pushing forward ambitiously on the kingside. Unperturbed, the QUB board 1 quickly turned the tide and had Danny engaging reverse gear. Not long after, Steve’s pieces ripped through the opposition to deliver mate and a winning start for the Champions. On board 2, Eamonn Walls smoothly dispatched Ulster Chess Chairman David McAlister. In a style increasingly becoming the preferred methodology of the Theology student, he played a quiet opening before unspectacularly nibbling out a small but distinct advantage. True to form, Walls didn’t allow McAlister any serious sniff of counter play and steadily converted. Looking back to his best on board 4 was Andrew Higgins, who got revenge against John “Sultan of Solid” McKenna for a loss back in December. That has been Higgy’s sole defeat during this campaign, and after he transformed an unexceptional opening into an active middlegame it looked like another win was on the cards. Andrew took control of the f-file, advanced his previously backward e-pawn and produced a knockout below after grabbing the c-file. Chris Millar couldn’t continue his team’s perfect progress though, as he was held by Richard Gould on board 5. For a period Gould enjoyed a dangerous kingside attack but it always seemed he may regret not taking the time to develop his king’s bishop. Thus it proved, with Millar prettily combing a knight pair and a rook to push around Gould’s king in a bid to force the lifting of the planted bishop. By this stage each player was reduced to 5 minutes though, and the QUB captain played a perpetual rather than risk not finding the winning pattern which Scannell demonstrated was there. The disappointment of Millar’s draw was short lived, with Lukasz Kwiatek seeing off a strong challenge from Damien Cunningham. Captain “Beard” got further mileage out of his Elephant Gambit, as he gained a nice position against the uninitiated Kwiatek. But Lukasz kept Cunningham’s king in the centre and finally profited as his queen crept round Damien’s defences to expose the weakness in his position. As he entered his final minutes, Kwiatek got the material advantage he needed to seal a 4.5-0.5 team win. THE AWAY
TEAM 0.5-4.5 QUB In summary, QUB gained satisfactory vengeance for only beating the Aways 3-2 last time out. An onlooking Gareth Annesley of RVH was keen to point out that the evening’s Queen’s success was certain to gain punctual publication on the club’s website, with the timeliness a sure fire indication of Queen’s performance. After 3 consecutive titles and now 8 wins from 9 games this season, the QUB Chess readership must be well accustomed to speedy updates! The latest Division 1 table is available here. The £1,000 prize fund QUB Rapid 2010 is hosted by QUB Students Union on Saturday March 20th - spread the word and get involved!
Queen’s University renewed acquaintances with close neighbours and rivals Fisherwick, competing for the first time this season on University grounds. QUB desperately needed a win to continue breathing down the neck of current leaders RVH, while Fisherwick were hoping to prevent their fading title challenge from complete evaporation. The recent unavailability of key men Bradley and Devenney has severely dented the Evil Empire, who even suffered the misfortune of a draw against the increasingly confident Away Team last week.
As per usual, the home team’s venue “The Space” produced a fresh distraction for the chessers. This week it was a Christian Scientist lecture in the adjacent room, producing loud rounds of applause at sporadic intervals followed by a sustained period of spiritually enriched and voluble group discussion. Trying to block out the noise on board 1 was joint Williamson Shield winner Michael Waters and QUB's Chris Cohrs. Waters employed pawns on e4 and f4 as the structural launch pad for a kingside attack, and with pressure increasing on Cohrs’ monarch he opted not to castle. An exchange of queens and rooks took the sting out of Michael’s threats, but Chris never quite gained parity. In the end the doctor liquidated into an opposite bishop endgame which, although a pawn down, he managed to hold.
An interesting encounter was also taking place on board 5, where former Methody players Chris Millar and Jonathan Woodfield played for the first time in years. Woodfield junior’s re-emergence is certainly timely for a Fisherwick team devoid of two regulars, but this week he was coming up against an opponent described by Damien Cunningham as a “magnificent supernova” just days earlier. Woodfield enjoyed some initiative after Millar took the dicey decision to castle kingside in order to help free his own forces. But Jonathan's decision to swap off the wrong pieces at the wrong time allowed the QUB captain to smoothly transfer into a won endgame. Eamonn Walls then increased the comfort of the Queen’s cushion with another win over Graeme McCormick – making it three wins from their three head-to-heads this season. Early on it seemed like Walls was going to break from habit and simply attempt to blow his opponent’s king out of the water. But the Theology student decided to cool his play and settle for getting a small but significant advantage to sit on. In a sight becoming increasingly common, the QUB man performed this task with notable efficiency - patiently waiting before eventually confirming McCormick's ill fate. Fisherwick’s Johnny Cairns then struck back for the visitors on board 2 against Ulster Champion Steve Scannell. Cairns’ gambit opening transposed into a French Exchange, with both camps fully committed to direct advances on opposite sides of the board. Analysis later suggested Scannell may have been better, but he’d used up to much time on his clock to find the right moves to prove it. Inevitably Steve’s clock eventually hit zero to give Cairns consecutive wins in their head-to-heads. That left QUB’s Lukasz Kwiatek needing just a draw against Ian Woodfield to produce an important team win. For a long time it seemed that this was the least Kwiatek could expect, with an exchange for a pawn up and with threats on Woodfield senior’s king. However, the Fisherwick captain made the most of the position’s unorthodox nature to confuse Lukasz and gain an extra pawn before liquidating. With both player’s time then receding quickly – most pressingly for the Pole – a draw was agreed. Given this and the difficulty Lukasz would have faced in finding progress, continued play may have just produced a team draw for the away side. QUB 3-2 FISHERWICK Overall, a fairly stodgy display from the defending Champions to see off a Fisherwick team still displaying plenty of fight. QUB have now recorded an impressive 9 wins from 10 league games. Fisherwick, in contrast, have slipped to just a 50% win rate and sit in mid-table. Next week they’ll be entertaining league leaders RVH, while Queen’s are determined to keep winning as they host Lagan.
LAGAN SLOW SECOND PLACED QUEEN’S Queen’s hosted Lagan for the penultimate time this season, with the University side looking for a big win to bolster their chase for the Silver King. A 5-0 win would have taken the Champions clear at the summit, while a repeat of the side’s last meeting would have put QUB joint first. With board 1 Jonathan Brown returning to the Lagan team, however, things were unlikely to be so simple for Queen’s. Mocked as “Lagan behind” by Malone captain Martin Kelly, the Boat Club based team we’re playing for pride.
As per usual, the University’s home side threw up a new set of distractions for both teams to deal with. Ironically, upon arrival the chess players suffered a seldom received rebuke of being told to keep the noise down by the neighbouring Drama society as they performed “The History Boys”. Unfortunately, the actors’ desire for quiet promptly desisted with the play’s interval seeing an outpouring of amateur dramatic enthusiasts apparently keen to now talk as loudly as possible at a competitive chess match. An aside from Tom Esmonde suggested he felt “the young ladies” were more of a distraction than the noise. Maintaining sufficient concentration to record a third successive win over David Jackson was Eamonn Walls. Walls’ gambit opening (don’t worry, Eamonn concedes even his “gambits are boring”) produced a battle of bishop pairs with an intriguing position apparently developing. But as soon as Jackson gave up a rook for a bishop and a passed pawn, it always seemed like Walls only needed to keep his head to find a win. In between coughing up a lung, Jonathan Brown put in a polished performance to dispatch Ulster Champion Steve Scannell. Brown’s pushy pair of central pawns and active rooks along an open f-file always spelled trouble for Scannell, who couldn’t live with Jonathan’s array of threats as his position and piece activity opened up. However, Chris Cohrs was putting QUB right back on top in the tie with a victory over the distracted Esmonde. An impressively dominant display from Cohrs never allowed Tom to equalise or ever seriously dampen the German’s central control and eventual kingside penetration. Next time Esmonde may do better to keep his eyes in his head. Lukasz Kwiatek then sealed the team win for the home side with a win over Gerald Harvey. Kwiatek was always on top, winning an h-pawn and keeping Harvey’s king uncomfortably stuck in the centre. Eventually Lukasz’s attacking options proved too much for his opponent and he found the breakthrough to claim another point for Queen’s.
On board 5 Chris Armstrong made a rare appearance against QUB’s Andrew Higgins. For a long time Armstrong looked to be in the ascendancy with well placed pieces and plenty of control. Higgy was using up plenty of time as he tried to find a way to activate his pieces and develop his light squared bishop still stuck on the c8 square. In the end though the game finished in a draw with Chris’s clock left with just seconds remaining. QUB 3.5-1.5
LAGAN Next week the Champions travel to west Belfast to face leaders RVH. Just a single point currently seperates the two sides after RVH won 3-2 over a Fisherwick side missing Michael Waters, Ray Devenney and John Bradley. The latest Division 1 table is available here. The month of March promises to be a spectacular one for QUB Chess with 2 events. The QUB Blitz in the Parlour Bar on Sunday March 7th, and the £1,000 prize fund QUB Rapid follows on Saturday March 20th in the Students Union. Early entry for the Rapid ensures a discounted entry fee. ROYAL LEAVE QUB ON LIFE SUPPORT Most people visit the Royal Victoria Hospital in order to cure their ailments. Not the QUB Chess team though, who lately have been going there to receive them. If last December’s 4-1 battering in west Belfast left them on crutches, this time Queen’s were left with a title challenge requiring life support after a 4.5-0.5 mauling.
RVH 4.5-0.5
QUB Your author was again unavailable for the trip to the west side, which mercifully spares the requirement of an in depth report. Champions Queen’s
now have just one full round of fixtures (4 games) to rescue the
Silver King from falling into the hands of the Royal. In short,
QUB need to perform their greatest trick yet, with a Lazarus style
resurrection now required. RVH simply must hold their nerve . Coming very soon is the £1,000 prize fund QUB Rapid on Saturday March 20th in the Students Union. Be part of it! In a memorable night upstairs in The Parlour bar, QUB blasted off the cobwebs of an enforced sabbatical from league chess to return with their second 5-0 win of the season over The Away Team. The last entry on this site recorded how RVH had stunned champions Queen’s with a 4.5-0.5 hammering to open up a gaping 7 point lead with just a single round of matches remaining. Since then QUB haven’t played at all, but the Royal have competed twice. First of all came an unconventional encounter between the west Belfast side and bottom placed Lagan. So far this fixture had produced predictable landslide wins for RVH (4-1, 5-0 and 4.5-0.5), but last minute hitches with the leaders’ venue produced confusion to stop the match from going ahead this time. The two captains, in an agreement validated by the League Controller, settled that the tie should be recorded as a draw. The following week the Royal were in action again, on this occasion against fourth placed The Away Team. Big wins had been recorded by the leaders in this fixture to date – 4.5-0.5, 4-1 and 4-1 – but again the final round of the league produced a less one-sided outcome. RVH importantly did manage to just clinch the bonus points, however, winning 3-2. These results opened up the daunting gulf of 15.5 points for the leaders over second-placed QUB. Regardless of the outcome of the Royal’s matches, the Champions were fully aware that 4 big wins from 4 would be required to have any chance of retaining the Silver King.
Riding in to assist the University in their cause was one of the strongest players in Dublin, Gonzaga’s Gordon Freeman. Freeman’s interest in the Ulster Chess scene has been demonstrated before with 2 trips to Belfast to compete in the QUB Rapid, but for this match he was in town for a taster of the League. However, QUB weren’t the only team to have a surprise name on their team sheet. Calum Leitch - having just flown into Belfast from University life in Preston - found himself lining up against old team Queen’s for the second time this season. He was fielded on board 3 to take on Ulster Champion Steve Scannell – a pairing which in the past certainly hasn’t always produced outcomes that the rating system would predict. Scannell provided a winning display this time though, calmly neutralising Cal’s London System before gaining a pawn advantage and going on to wrap up the win. Next to earn a point for the Champions was Lukasz Kwiatek, who emphatically dispatched visiting captain Damien Cunningham. Kwiatek had prepared for Cunningham’s Elephant Gambit, and after the opening already had a huge advantage. Two pawns up and with Damien’s king stuck in the centre, Lukasz experienced little bother as he secured a routine win. Chris Cohrs then became the man to seal the bonus points for QUB, as he notched up a comfortable victory with white over Damien Lavery. With Cohrs back on the Green and Black chocolate a top class performance was virtually guaranteed, as Chris enjoyed an opening plus which only ever became more pronounced as the game progressed. A knight fork on Damien’s queen and rook was an all but decisive blow, after which a QUB win was never really in doubt. It was then Gordon Freeman’s turn to keep the points tally increasing as he defeated Danny Mallaghan. The Dubliner produced a convincing performance to see off the ever-dangerous Mallaghan, who as usual showed plenty of aggression with the white pieces against his higher rated opponent. But Freeman used the help of an intermetzzo check on Danny’s king to gain a crucial pawn advantage which carried through to the endgame. Here Gordon cleverly pushed his doubled f-pawn to gain a stronger outpost for his knight, which he then had the luxury of exchanging to enter a won rook and pawn ending. 4-0 QUB. Eamonn Walls then completed the whitewash with a win over John “the Sultan” McKenna. McKenna countered Walls’ French with a wing gambit, allowing the Sultan to build up promising attacking chances on the kingside in compensation for the pawn. However, he became distracted by Eamonn’s queenside demonstrations which he decided to impede by exchanging queens. This had the effect of removing any potency from John’s attack though, and Walls was left with his favourite task of efficiently and undramatically converting a pawn advantage into a win. QUB
5-0 THE AWAY TEAM The latest Division 1 table is available here. Queen's performance was absolutely as convincing as the scoreline suggests - halfway through the game the onlooking Gareth Annesley dryly commented "if this match doesn't end 5-0, I'll pour this pint over my head". With the gulf between leaders and Champions now abridged to just 8.5 points, QUB continue their comeback trail next week with a trip to the Belfast Boat Club to face Lagan. It is essential that Queen’s continue their ruthless streak if they are to sustain a realistic chase. If they can do so, a tense finish seems on the cards. In other chess goings on, a recent growth in Ulster Chess blogging entirely independent of QUB has been noted. Readers are reminded that all blogging should follow the Society and be fiercely pro-QUB. One prominent commentator (pictured below) has been taken in for brainwashing and has since been released.
Remember that the next QUB Blitz is in The Parlour on Sunday night, April 25th. £100 prize fund, £5 in, plenty of drink offers... UNDERSTRENGTH QUEEN’S OVERPOWER LAGAN’S TOP GUNS The race for the Silver King in 2010 has entered its final stages with Champions Queen’s chasing down table toppers RVH. A stunning 4.5-0.5 win for the Royal in the two teams’ last tête-à-tête opened up a seemingly insurmountable 7 point lead at the summit - a gulf which then more than doubled to 15.5 points. Now the University side are threatening the most sensational comeback in any Division 1 title in recent years. Having easily whitewashed TAT last week, Queen’s now faced a much sterner task. With a side shorn of Chris Cohrs, Lukasz Kwiatek and Andrew Higgins they entered the Belfast Boat Club to face the strongest Lagan team assembled this season. QUB’s panel of Gordon Freeman, Steve Scannell, Eamonn Walls, Chris Millar and Karina Kruk needed to win and win big against a Lagan side comprised of Jonathan Brown, William Collins, Tom Esmonde, Peter May and Chris Kelly.
The rebalanced team line-ups suggested a close tie was in store. Instead, the Champions ripped into Lagan like a hungry lion attacking a wounded elephant. On board 2, Ulster Champion Steve Scannell toasted William Collins. Collins’ c3 setup against Scannell’s Sicilian caused the Queen’s man few problems as he grouped his forces to bear down on the white queenside. C-file domination, a well-placed queen, the threat of unleashing an aligned bishop pair and an ever increasing time advantage all proved too much for William to handle. Soon they provided Scannell with a winning material advantage and it was 1-0 QUB. By that stage a win for QUB on board 4 was also looming large. Here Chris Millar, recently branded “the unacceptable face of Ulster Chess” by Damien Cunningham, had Peter May under the thumb. Your author was somewhat taken aback when he arrived to find that May was playing Millar at his own game by deploying Birds’ Opening. It wasn’t a strategy which played out too well for May though, with alarm bells already beginning to ring for white around move 12. Not long after the QUB board 4 was enjoying the better pieces in a simple game and, after gaining a pawn advantage too, was always heading for a straightforward win.
It was a similar story for Eamonn Walls against Tom Esmonde on board 3. Walls’ opening seemed to signal that he intended to steamroller Emonde’s hypermodern setup. Instead, Eamonn calmly stood his ground and picked off Tom’s queenside pawn breakout. This left Esmonde trying to lash out in the centre, but here Walls already had control. With the Theology student again enjoying “the brilliance of being boring”, he allowed his advantages to steadily accrue until Tom’s flag fell. To this point it had all been too easy for the Champions, but life was a little more difficult on both the top and bottom boards. Jonathan Brown was putting up determined resistance against Gordon Freeman on board 1, but the Lagan captain was always up against it after an unpromising opening. Freeman appeared to take Brown out of book with an early b3, allowing the Dubliner to gain a significant edge on both the clock and the board. Soon Jonathan was digging himself deep into the trenches as Gordon applied the duel threat of ganging up on an isolated d-pawn and bearing down on the g7 square. The Queen’s board 1 was patient before cashing in on his advantages, eventually taking the game to an endgame where he was a pawn to the good and with the bishop pair. His defences stretched to breaking point, Brown acknowledged defeat. On board 5, Queen’s drafted in Polish schoolgirl Karina Kruk to play Chris Kelly. Kruk hasn’t taken long to make her name in Ulster Chess, memorably defeating Michael Waters in the first round of the Ulster Individual Championship in 2009. Kelly obviously wasn’t keen on tasting defeat from the youngster though and gained the upper hand. An uncomfortable bishop check left Karina’s pieces in a tangle, but she unraveled her forces accurately so that she was only carrying the weakness of an isolated d-pawn. Even this target in her camp was soon restructured and suddenly Kruk seemed to hold the initiative. Chris got lucky though - after Karina dealt superbly with all his counterplay she missed the knockout blow with a check on f7. Immediately after a draw was agreed and Karina’s Division 1 record is now a healthy 75%. LAGAN 0.5-4.5
QUB Queen’s have hit a purple patch and may just be peaking at exactly the right moment. Handing out consecutive hidings to The Away Team and Lagan are one thing, now the same standard of performance must be maintained for RVH next Thursday night. “The Space” in the SU is the venue, starting 8pm… Remember that the next QUB Blitz is in The Parlour on Sunday night, April 25th. £100 prize fund, £5 in, plenty of drink offers... RVH entered the QUB Students Union on Thursday 22nd April knowing that either a team win or draw over reigning champions Queen’s would take them to the promised land of Silver King glory. The team which has served the Royal so exceptionally lined up yet again: Holmes, Annesley, Masterson, Pilkiewicz and Marron. On the sidelines Louis Holmes cheerlead and frequented the Speakeasy Bar. QUB lined up knowing they needed to at least a 3-2 to keep alive their dreams of a seemingly impossible comeback. Freeman, Cohrs, Scannell, Walls and Millar were the players picked to continue the University side’s revival. Inspiring his team in unconventional fashion was the home captain Chris Millar. Your author got a good opening against Ciaran Marron’s wing gambit but, distracted by the possibility of a kingside attack, somehow overlooked the most obvious of knight forks in the centre to lose a queen for a knight when 3 pawns up. The ugly blunder was left on display for all to marvel at like a particularly messy car crash. What a way to end a 23 match unbeaten league run though! “Very well played tonight” chirped in Chris Cohrs.
Queen’s favourite German was in a relaxed mood as he employed Rolls Royce mode against Gareth Annesley. Cohrs had to cancel his plans to attend a Brandi Carlile gig that night in order to help his team keep the story of Queen’s redemption alive. As fate would have it, Chris won his match in the smoothest of styles while also learning that the concert was cancelled. Everything’s coming up Cohrs! Meanwhile Ulster Champion Steve Scannell was continuing his own personal revival against John Masterson. A well prepared Masterson seemed ready to again prove himself the pivotal player in RVH’s superb season as he heaped pressure on the American. However, the former QUB man couldn’t convert his control into anything more tangible and Scannell sprung his centralised pieces into decisive action. So 2-1 QUB and some of the colour (what little there is of it) was beginning to return to Millar’s face. Eamonn Walls then doubled the Champions lead as he squeezed out Nicholas Pilkiewicz in a close encounter. Playing with the white pieces, Walls always seemed to hold slightly more control in a tight game. The Theology student was also up on time and, as the clocks ticked down, the pressure began to tell on Nick. The crucial d-file opened and from there Eamonn liquidated to accrue a decisive plus. Thus 3 points for QUB and there continued contention in the title race was now safe for another day. However, Michael Holmes still found time to snatch one point back for the Royal by beating Gordon Freeman. Holmes had held an advantage throughout with Freeman severely under the cosh. One exchange sac entering the endgame though and Gordon seemed to be turning the tide to claim another win. Severe time pressure meant it wasn’t to be, as the Dubliner blundered a piece with about 1 minute remaining. QUB
3-2 RVH Now the impossible comeback (from some 15.5 points in the red) seems possible. Fittingly QUB’s season will conclude with a rescheduled showdown with old rivals Fisherwick. We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when, but I know we’ll meet again… Some time in early May seems most likely. A 3-2 win over the Evil Empire would guarantee a third successive Silver King heading over to University Square. Anything less, and RVH will be celebrating their first title in donkey’s. A date and venue has now been agreed. Judgement Day cometh on Tuesday May 18th, where the top floor of the Students Union will host QUB's attempts to retain the title of Ulster Club Champions.
Queen's face Fisherwick, the Silver King will be won or lost, and the maths is simple. A 3-2 win or better and QUB claim the coveted trophy for the third year in a row. A draw or worse for the University men will see the jewel in the QUB Chess crown slip away. Fisherwick themselves can't be kings but such a result would make them king makers - sending the historic silverware westwards to RVH. It is perhaps fitting that Belfast's fiercest club rivalry will again provide the decisive chapter in the chess season, even during a rare year when Fisherwick haven't been able to provide a serious title challenge themselves. The story of a season defined by a QUB clash with the Evil Empire has been played out in every single campaign since your author quickly built QUB Chess from nothing into an Ulster Chess superpower. In 2007 the key game was QUB 3-2 Fisherwick in the Peter Froggatt Centre, in 2008 it was Fisherwick 0-5 QUB in Fisherwick Church, while in 2009 the virtual decider was Fisherwick 1-4 QUB. Blow-by-blow, here's the story so far. It all started back on Wednesday 18th October 2006... Click on the titles for full match reports. SEASON 2006/07 - QUB WIN THE JOHN STRAWBRIDGE CUP, FISHERWICK FINISH SECOND Claudio
Fierro (2012) 0.5-0.5 Neil Green (1711) Claudio
Fierro (1985) 0-1 Michael Waters (2057) SEASON 2007/08 - QUB WIN THE SILVER KING, FISHERWICK FINISH SECOND Karl McPhillips (2237)
1-0 John Cairns (2020) Michael
Waters (2069) 0-1 Karl McPhillips (2236) Steve Scannell (2100)
0-1 Michael Waters (2069) SEASON 2008/09 - QUB WIN THE SILVER KING, FISHERWICK FINISH SECOND Chris Cohrs (2211)
0.5-0.5 Michael Waters (2066) Michael Waters (2066)
1-0 Chris Cohrs (2211) Steve Scannell (2110)
0.5-0.5 Michael Waters (2070) Michael Waters (2070)
0-1 Chris Cohrs (2156) SEASON 2009/2010 - TBC Michael
Waters (2065) 0-1 Chris Cohrs (2131) Michael
Waters (2055) 0-1 Chris Cohrs (2103) Chris Cohrs (2103)
0.5-0.5 Michael Waters (2055) With the history lesson over, it's now all down to the final league match of the season. Judgement Day shall decide if QUB are crowned Champions for another year...
TRIPLE CROWN FOR CHAMPIONS QUEEN'S Queen's sealed a third successive Silver King in emphatic style with a decisive 4-1 win over their nearest and dearest, Fisherwick CC. The QUB Students Union was rocking (literally), as Fisherwick fielded their strongest team since January in a bid to deprive the University outfit from racking up yet another title triumph. After coming this far though, QUB's determination and star-studded line up shone through to ensure a glorious finale to an incredibly challenging campaign. Queen's entered the match knowing only a 3-2 win or better would suffice in their bid to retain king shaped silverware. The 4-1 win may make the night sound easy, but with the pressure on and close games across the boards things were nip-and-tuck until the very last. FINAL STANDINGS 2009/10
a
Settling QUB nerves on board 3 was the freshly crowned City of Belfast champion Gordon Freeman, as he coolly dispatched the returning Ray Devenney. Devenney had a big spatial plus early on and began to pick up pawns on the queenside. Ray was never able to get his king out of the hurly burly of the centre though, thus when Freeman piece’s opened up the middle of the board a Fisherwick resignation was soon forthcoming. As Freeman wryly noted afterwards, it was a perhaps a victory of sorts for Ulster over Irish chess, with the Belfast Champion beating a former Irish Champion!
On board 5 Fisherwick gave Jonathan Woodfield another crack at Chris Millar, with the in-form Woodfield junior’s recent results including a win over Nick Pilkiewicz. Playing with the black pieces, the QUB captain soon had a small edge after a misplaced white bishop required Woodfield to spend time reshuffling his pack. Millar gained a pawn and was in the ascendancy until a surprise tactical threat prompted an unfavourable liquidation. Jonathan was all but out of time, however, and his last gasp mating efforts proved unsuccessful. As his flag fell, it was Queen’s 2-0 Fisherwick with the Champions on the brink of another title.
That honour was duly secured by Eamonn Walls as he defeated Sam Flanagan on board 4. After an off-form season, Graeme McCormick was nowhere to be seen with Flanagan stepping up to fill his boots. He more than made Walls work for the victory, with his bishop pair providing plenty of trouble for the third year uni student. But again time was a decisive factor, and when Flanagan’s clock hit zero it was 3-0 QUB and the Silver King was heading to University Square for yet another year.
Seeing this, John Cairns and Steve Scannell settled for a draw on board 1 after a hard fought and evenly matched contest. By the time peace broke out, both players were down to their final 2 minutes and struggling to make progress in a tight position.
There was still time for some late drama on board 2 though, as Chris Cohrs faced a race against the clock to put away Michael Waters. With a big material advantage, it appeared the only question was whether or not Cohrs could mate the Fisherwick board 2 before he ran out of time. Just when it seemed like the German was going to finish what may have been the most time scrambled finish of his career with victory, his two queens agonisingly stalemated Michael’s king in the middle of the board. Cohrs must now look forward to delivering a simul display at the International Society of Political Psychology’s 33rd annual scientific meeting in California this July. QUB 4-1 FISHERWICK
As a team though, QUB will be looking forward to title celebrations. Three Silver Kings on the bounce is a magnificent achievement for the University and is the first time they’ve completed the feat since 1970 (when the club had just won the league for the ninth time running!). Capturing the honour by completing a 15.5 point comeback only serves to make the triumph even more striking. Images of the current Queen's team have now been added to the University’s Naughten Gallery in recognition of the side’s sensational success.
This title treble has been extremely challenging with demands for glory greater this year than during any other. The QUB Chess war machine has truly been stretched further than ever before. Season 2009/10 has seen a tremendous display from RVH, who have not only displayed with incredible consistency but also soundly hammered the champions on two occasions. Glowing tribute should be paid to their performance this year also. Further credit must be given to the west Belfast’s team captain for his sporting gesture after their crucial 3-2 defeat to QUB in April – where he re-entered the room afterwards to congratulate the University side and shake hands with every member of the rival team. More broadly, praise should be given to the commitment of every captain in the league. To juggle work commitments, a personal life and the demands of managing a chess team for across a lengthy 16 game season can be rather stressful at the best of times. Kudos to all those who managed it. For my own part, being able to work with such an incredible team - not to mention gentlemen from other clubs like Ian Woodfield and Jonathan Brown - has always made it both possible and worthwhile. Next on the agenda is the UCU AGM on Wednesday June 2nd in North Belfast CC. There's likely to be talk of restructuring the league, UCU fees and AOB...
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