GM Ben Finegold plays 20 Ulster Chess players and wins all the games
An event like this takes a little planning. Thanks to Damien Cunningham and Adrian Dornford-Smith for making the event possible. We visited the room several times in order to check the internet connection (!) and the facilities, the location for the internat camera and the connection to the projector. We also had a test link with a chat with GM Ben Finegold to confirm the setup.
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On the night we had 22 players lined up. The boards were setup just in case players wished to play the game with a real set. The power supplies were provided throughout the room. Each player had a personal certificate and name plate on their table. We had three rows of tables. With the lower rated players at the front. It was brillliant to see such a range of players, school pupils, Ulster top Chess players and Club players of all levels.
Players started to turn up and plug in and check their internet connections. We soon had 22 players seated and ready. Ben then joined us on the large screen. Welcoming everyone. Players linked into the Simultaneous room on Lichess - and we were ready. This was a first for us and also a first for Ben playing a simultaneous on lichess.
The games were started - we had hoped that we would pass around a Silver King and players would make their moves when it got to them and with this in mind the time of each game was set to the max. However players started moving and with the kindness of Ben it was decided to go ahead and for players to make their moves as they wished - I think Ben was given a larger challenge as players may have thought longer of their moves and they would in a usual Simultaneous. However the room fell hushed and the games continued. We did get an interloper into the virtual chess room. Also two players unfortunately werent in the room when the play commenced and we found out you cant be joined to the games once they start. So we were left with 20 players.
Then after a while the internet connection from the building failed us so we had to get people to either use their own internet or use a volunteered hotspot. We eventually got everyone back online and the games continued. The room remained hushed throughout the evening and you could see Ben thinking and moving on the large screen - a couple of times we lost the meeting connection. But for most of the evening we could see Ben and he could see us.
Occasionally Ben would update us on how he felt he was progressing - at times saying there were games where he was having to fight and some possible draws.
Players started to finish and non of them were winning. A couple of games looked like possible draws.
I spoke to some of the players who had learnt alot of their chess from GM Ben Finegolds online lessons and were very excited to be able to see him and play him.
See all the games on Lichess : https://lichess.org/simul/z71F6PiH
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| Table | Name | Rating | Survived Moves |
Lichess | Game |
| 1 | Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam | 1000 | 16 | Karthik_karp | https://lichess.org/SvpX8RtT/white |
| 2 | Conor McMullan | 1100 | 36 | iamconor | https://lichess.org/5DiXHU9g/white |
| 3 | Ashwanth Subramanian | 1100 | 29 | Ashwath.Subramanian | https://lichess.org/Gqo2Q0Gv/white |
| 4 | Gareth Faul | 1182 | 22 | Gareth108 | https://lichess.org/1c32Tdml/white |
| 5 | Peter Smyth | 1199 | 29 | invellocet | https://lichess.org/baO4HZAg/white |
| 6 | Aaditya Singh | 1215 | 32 | KnightAS | https://lichess.org/zeAm5xsI/white |
| 7 | Jade Sandrey | 1229 | 22 | Iluvatar546 | https://lichess.org/vISzNXTP/white |
| 8 | James Huang | 1245 | 42 | Bananapeel1680 | https://lichess.org/1ZzmCyJH/white |
| 9 | Adrian Dornford-Smith | 1267 | 35 | Dornford | https://lichess.org/R6UGtmhN/white |
| 10 | Ranjit Singh | 1315 | 40 | PawnRS | https://lichess.org/t7kRaHZ6/white |
| 11 | Amol Thoke | 1334 | 51 | amolthoke | https://lichess.org/FVACGkYg/white |
| 12 | Tom Grey | 1400 | 68 | acidflu | https://lichess.org/AymgVxy9/white |
| 13 | Bobby Thompson | 1461 | 29 | bobbyrt1 | https://lichess.org/NT16XH7Y/white |
| 14 | Richard Gould | 1551 | 54 | nir8888 | https://lichess.org/xMNXrSVT/white |
| 15 | Robert Lavery | 1652 | 34 | Yreval | https://lichess.org/Wc9oeGAm/white |
| 16 | Richard Morrow | 1698 | 29 | fatwomble | https://lichess.org/XqalK2q6/white |
| 17 | David Hill | 1728 | 30 | David_Hill | https://lichess.org/md1Bhl01/white |
| 18 | Danny Roberts | 1957 | 21 | played as: ishi100 | https://lichess.org/T6ZpWaxe/white |
| 19 | Mandar Tahmankar | 2077 | 36 | manchessi | https://lichess.org/UofA1DRk/white |
| 20 | Michael Devine | 1251 | 48 | michaeldevine1 | https://lichess.org/tSeSUWQm/white |
Ben won all the games. One was almost a win - Danny Roberts with a big blunder at the end from Danny (I believe he got slightly distracted). Once all the games had completed Ben analysed a coupled of games. He felt that the one against acidflu was interesting and this was a good choice as the player was our winner of the Silver King for surviving the most moves - Tom Grey. incidently a big fan of Bens and who had actually prepared his opening by studying Bens games.
Most players had stayed for the talk and analysis and enjoyed Ben's banter and indepth analysis. He then decided todo a second game that should have been a draw the game against Richard Gould : nir8888.
Then we gave Ben a big thankyou for an excellent evening of brilliant chess and chat. Alot of things were learnt by me on the connection problems. But overall the evening was a big success - thanks to all the players for supporting the event and GM Ben Finegold for hosting the simultaneous and beating us all!
The games that GM Ben Finegold analysed :
The Winner of the Silver King trophy for last person standing (surviving most moves) Tom Grey ( acidflu ) : https://lichess.org/AymgVxy9/white
Against Richard Gould : nir8888 : https://lichess.org/xMNXrSVT/white
