John Masterson Ulster Rapidplay 2013 Champion
The Winners
The winners from left to right : Steve Critchlow (Under 1200), Damien Cunningham (3rd), John Masterson (Ulster Rapidplay Champion 2013), Danny Mallaghan (2nd), Steven Eachus (Under 1500), Mond Parissis (Under 1200).
Thanks go to the controller and UCU tournament Director Damien Cunningham for organising the day and running the tournament and to the excellent venue: The Ballynafeigh Community Centre.
Damien also ensured coffee/tea and biscuits were available.
The final standings
Place Name Rtg Club Score
1 Masterson, John 1940 Fisherwick 5.5
2 Mallaghan, Danny 1653 Ballynafeigh 5
3 Cunningham, Damien 1713 Ballynafeigh 4.5
4-11 Lavery, Damien 1721 Ballynafeigh 4
Annesley, Gareth 1877 RVH 4
Eachus, Steven 1481 Magherafelt 4
Woodfield, Ian 1625 Fisherwick 4
Donaldson, Thomas 1540 Ballynafeigh 4
McLoughlin, Paul 1552 Bangor 4
Newman, Mark 1642 Bombardier 4
Saad, Mohamed 1461 QUB 4
12 Armstrong, Chris 1333 Lagan 3.5
13-19 Chapman, Mathew 1283 Ballynafeigh 3
Kruk, Karina 1511 Ballynafeigh 3
Redden, Tony 1498 Derriaghy 3
Lavery, Robert 1413 Ballynafeigh 3
McAlister, David 1589 Ballynafeigh 3
Critchlow, Steve 1200 3
Parissis, Mond 1200 3
20-23 Storey, William 1329 Lagan 2.5
Fenton, Colin 1403 Bangor 2.5
Scarborough, Stephen 1200 2.5
Seaby, David 1179 Fisherwick 2.5
24-29 Dornford-Smyth, Adrian 961 Bangor 2
Rajam, Ram 1125 UCU 2
Magee, Patrick 1001 Ballynafeigh 2
Bujak, Iza 1200 Ballynafeigh 2
Ferguson, Dayna 1000 2
Anderson, Paul 1040 Bangor 2
30-31 Ferguson, Daniel 1000 1
Parissis, Honor 1200 1
by Swiss Perfect (TM) www.swissperfect.com
The first round went to according rating. The only upset being Steven Scarborough drawing against Paul McLoughlan.
Round 1
No Name Result Name 1 John Masterson 1:0 Colin Fenton 2 William Storey 0:1 Damien Lavery 3 Damien Cunningham 1:0 Mathew Chapman 4 Iza Bujak 0:1 Danny Mallaghan 5 Mark Newman 1:0 Steve Critchlow 6 Mond Parissis 0:1 Ian Woodfield 7 David McAlister 1:0 Honor Parissis 8 Stephen Scarborough .5:.5 Paul McLoughlin 9 Thomas Donaldson 1:0 David Seaby 10 Ram Rajam 0:1 Karina Kruk 11 Tony Redden 1:0 Paul Anderson 12 Patrick Magee 0:1 Steven Eachus 13 Mohamed Saad 1:0 Dayna Ferguson 14 Daniel Ferguson 0:1 Robert Lavery 15 Adrian Dornford-Smyth 0:1 Chris Armstrong 16 Gareth Annesley .5:.5 BYE
David Seaby playing the youngest player at this tournament and possibly the youngest to have played in this tournament - Daniel Ferguson.
Some top players fell by the wayside - Steven Eachus beat Damien Cunningham,Mark Newman was beaten by Robert Lavery.
Round 2
No Name Result Name 1 Karina Kruk 0:1 John Masterson 2 Damien Lavery 1:0 Thomas Donaldson 3 Steven Eachus 1:0 Damien Cunningham 4 Danny Mallaghan 0:1 Tony Redden 5 Robert Lavery 1:0 Mark Newman 6 Ian Woodfield 1:0 Mohamed Saad 7 Chris Armstrong 1:0 David McAlister 8 Paul McLoughlin 0:1 Gareth Annesley 9 Colin Fenton 1:0 Stephen Scarborough 10 David Seaby 0:1 William Storey 11 Mathew Chapman 1:0 Ram Rajam 12 Paul Anderson 1:0 Iza Bujak 13 Steve Critchlow 1:0 Patrick Magee 14 Dayna Ferguson 0:1 Mond Parissis 15 Honor Parissis 1:0 Daniel Ferguson 16 Adrian Dornford-Smyth 1:0 BYE
Players waiting for the next round.....
John Masterson continues his progress to the top. Matthew Chapman beats Mark Newman as Mark claws back a lost position to a draw and looses on time. Damien Cunningham starts the long haul.
Round 3
No Name Result Name 1 John Masterson 1:0 Steven Eachus 2 Tony Redden 0:1 Damien Lavery 3 Robert Lavery 0:1 Ian Woodfield 4 Gareth Annesley 1:0 Chris Armstrong 5 Damien Cunningham 1:0 Colin Fenton 6 William Storey 0:1 Danny Mallaghan 7 Mark Newman 0:1 Mathew Chapman 8 David McAlister 1:0 Steve Critchlow 9 Thomas Donaldson 1:0 Honor Parissis 10 Mond Parissis 0:1 Karina Kruk 11 Mohamed Saad 1:0 Adrian Dornford-Smyth 12 Stephen Scarborough 1:0 Paul Anderson 13 Iza Bujak 0:1 Paul McLoughlin 14 Patrick Magee 1:0 David Seaby 15 Ram Rajam 1:0 Dayna Ferguson 16 Daniel Ferguson 1:0 BYE
Hard concentration - its so easy to miss a move and make a blunder...
The excellent fast play player Damien Lavery faces John Masterson and looses. The top boards fall according to rating.
Round 4
No Name Result Name 1 Damien Lavery 0:1 John Masterson 2 Ian Woodfield 0:1 Gareth Annesley 3 Chris Armstrong 0:1 Damien Cunningham 4 Danny Mallaghan 1:0 Mohamed Saad 5 Steven Eachus 1:0 David McAlister 6 Mathew Chapman 0:1 Thomas Donaldson 7 Karina Kruk 1:0 Tony Redden 8 Paul McLoughlin 1:0 Robert Lavery 9 Steve Critchlow 1:0 Stephen Scarborough 10 Paul Anderson 0:1 Mark Newman 11 Colin Fenton 0:1 Ram Rajam 12 Daniel Ferguson 0:1 William Storey 13 Adrian Dornford-Smyth 0:1 Mond Parissis 14 Honor Parissis 0:1 Patrick Magee 15 David Seaby 1:0 Iza Bujak 16 Dayna Ferguson 1:0 BYE
Generations batte across the board...
Top players meet on board one. Gareth Annesley against John Masterson. The game could be heard across the room with the pieces flying across the board and the clocks being slammed. Gareths flag fell with only 1 second left on John's clock and John giving checkmate on the move. Chess at its exciting best.
Round 5
No Name Result Name 1 Gareth Annesley 0:1 John Masterson 2 Ian Woodfield 0:1 Damien Lavery 3 Damien Cunningham 1:0 Karina Kruk 4 Thomas Donaldson 0:1 Danny Mallaghan 5 Paul McLoughlin .5:.5 Steven Eachus 6 Mark Newman 1:0 Mond Parissis 7 David McAlister 0:1 Mathew Chapman 8 Tony Redden 1:0 Steve Critchlow 9 Mohamed Saad 1:0 Ram Rajam 10 Patrick Magee 0:1 Robert Lavery 11 William Storey .5:.5 Chris Armstrong 12 Stephen Scarborough 1:0 Honor Parissis 13 Dayna Ferguson 0:1 Colin Fenton 14 David Seaby 1:0 Daniel Ferguson 15 Paul Anderson 0:1 Adrian Dornford-Smyth 16 Iza Bujak 1:0 BYE
Focused thought - whats going to be my first move - the paintbrush on the blank canvas.......
Damien Cunningham and John Masterson agree a 'Grandmasters' draw after 6 moves. and John Masterson wins the title of Ulster Rapidplay Champion. Steven Eachus draws against Gareth Annesley and gains the well deserved top position for under 1500 rated player. Danny Mallaghan and Damien Lavery fight for 2nd place. Mond Parissis beats Patrick Magee to gain joint top place for under 1200 rated player.
Round 6
No Name Result Name 1 John Masterson .5:.5 Damien Cunningham 2 Damien Lavery 0:1 Danny Mallaghan 3 Steven Eachus .5:.5 Gareth Annesley 4 Karina Kruk 0:1 Mark Newman 5 Tony Redden 0:1 Ian Woodfield 6 Mathew Chapman 0:1 Paul McLoughlin 7 Robert Lavery 0:1 Thomas Donaldson 8 William Storey 0:1 Mohamed Saad 9 Chris Armstrong 1:0 Stephen Scarborough 10 Ram Rajam 0:1 David McAlister 11 Colin Fenton .5:.5 David Seaby 12 Steve Critchlow 1:0 Adrian Dornford-Smyth 13 Mond Parissis 1:0 Patrick Magee 14 Iza Bujak 1:0 Daniel Ferguson 15 Honor Parissis 0:1 Dayna Ferguson 16 Paul Anderson 1:0 BYE
Everybody enjoyed an excellent days chess. The tournament was tough and it was good to see youngsters facing the regular club players.
The next Ulster Chess Union tournament is the City of Belfast 18th, 19th May.
For the youngsters the next Childrens Chess is Saturday 13th April
Enjoy your chess its a beautiful game.
