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Thursday, March 16, 2017

D. Zelenchuks "Russian" To Victory As Heroes Hit A "St. Petersburg"!

Martin Kelly reports:

Ballynafeigh 3     3.5-1.5   Kelly's Heroes
1.Ross Harris      0.5-0.5   David Ruben
2.Edward Doak      0.5-0.5   John McKenna
3.Daniil Zelenchuk   1-0     Bernard Jaffa  
4.Dmitri Zelenchuk   1-0     Craig Stevenson 
5.Colin Fenton     0.5-0.5   Martin Kelly
Win Bonus          2.0-0.0
Champions-elect Ballynafeigh 3 defeated third-placed Kelly's Heroes, thanks largely to Zelenchuk père et fils. After this game, I think I shall "Zelenchuk" my chess set away! In the quickest game, Fenton was "bent on" destroying Kelly's favourite Vienna Gambit but a 7 move draw ensued, preserving Kelly's unbeaten league record! In a "Daniil and Goliath" clash next, "stone me"! little Daniil won again ! I wouldn't "poke" a "joke" at Doak facing unbeaten John McKenna but he didn't "choke" and in the end a draw was "ok"! What's "d' matter" with Dmitry I thought as Craig fought valiantly but lost! Finally, as I had left to watch United lose in the FA Cup, it was nice to see "Harris tweed" his draw and our overall defeat to my phone! Here's the Fenton vs Kelly game: Games
[Event "UCU League Div 2"] [Site "?"] [Date "2017.03.13"] [Round "?"] [White "Kelly, Martin"] [Black "Fenton, Colin"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C29"] [Annotator "Kelly"] [PlyCount "14"] [EventDate "2016.10.??"] [EventType "team"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1997.11.17"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. d3 Bb4 $5 ({or} 5... Qh4+) ({or} 5... Nxc3) 6. dxe4 Qh4+ 7. Ke2 Qg4+ ({Draw. I had expected} 7... Bg4+ 8. Nf3 Bxc3 9. bxc3 dxe4 10. Qd4 $1) 1/2-1/2

Monday, March 06, 2017

Belfast Bullet & Blitz photos and final standings

See also:
Belfast Blitz and Bullet Championships (NI Chess News)
The Zeitgeist of Time (Ulster Chess Chronicle)

Round 1 in the Blitz - Mark Newman (White) against Sergio Esteve Sanchez.
Beyond them are Danny Roberts and Daniil Zelenchuk (partially obscured).
Mikhail Pavlov (in the foreground) and Edward Doak
are watching on. 
24 players were listed to play at the start of the Open Blitz Championship. Running alongside the main event in the morning was a special event for unrated UCU youth players, which was particularly appropriate because the Championships are part of a series of fundraising events to provide bursaries for young NI players to compete at the upcoming Saint Petersburg -v- Belfast match. This match will be held at the Youth Sport Schools of Kalininsky, Saint Petersburg, Russia from 18th to 25th August this year.
Trophies, medals and certificates for the Open Blitz and Children's Blitz
The Children's Blitz was a double-round all play all with Ciaran Rowan finishing first of the 5 players with 9 points out of a possible 10 and thereby winning the first prize Trophy. Second and silver medalist was Adam Fitzsimons with 8 points. Third place and a bronze medal went to Dexter Harris on 6. Joel McLean came fourth on 5 and James Fitzsimons, playing in his first ever tournament, scored 2 points.

While the Children had completed their competition by lunchtime, the Open Blitz had only reached its half-way point. Here are the standings after the 8 morning rounds.
Blitz standings at the half-way point
By way of explanation, Ciaran Rowan and Adam Fitzsimons appear in the standings because they would be joining the Open competition in the afternoon now that they had finished playing in the Children's event.

Also at this half-way point James Barbour and Ronan Fitzsimons withdrew from the Open Blitz while Richard Gould played three games at the end of the competition to avoid there being a bye.

After the dust had settled three players were tied in first place with 13.5 points - Danny Roberts (a very recent addition to the Ulster chess scene after making his debut for NICS in a league match earlier in the week), Sergio Esteve Sanchez and Modestas Razbadauskas.
Blitz final standings
As you can see from the final standings table above, the first tie-breaking decider was Median Buchholz and this placed Roberts first and winner of the 2017 Belfast Blitz Championship Trophy.
Danny Roberts (left) receives the winner's
trophy for the Belfast Blitz Championship
from organiser Brendan Jamison
After a half-hour break, the Bullet championship, to be played over 8 rounds, got underway. With he time limit being one minute for all moves for each player, the room was a blur of activity. When everything eventually calmed down, Daniil Zelenchuk was top of the final standings and winner of the 2017 Belfast Bullet Championship. Mikhail Pavlov just secured second place ahead of Modestas Razbadauskas with them only being separated by the third-applying tie-break method.
Bullet final standings
Again by way of explanation of the table above, Tyrone Winter withdrew after 4 rounds and David McAlister stepped in to play rounds 5 to 8 to prevent a bye.

In conclusion, the Good Shepherd Conference Centre, which made is debut as a chess venue at last month's Pavlov-Jamison Monster Simul (another of the St Petersburg Match fundraisers) is an excellent room for a chess tournament. There was more than ample room around the playing tables and with the high ceiling and sensible amount of heating players were neither too warm nor too cold. Unlike some other local chess venues, there was no bar or restaurant within the venue, but organiser Brendan Jamison had that one covered with a free selection of refreshments.
Sustenance
Click on the photographs and tables to enlarge them

Saturday, March 04, 2017

Belfast Blitz and Bullet Championships

This new event, organised by Brendan Jamison under the Chess NI banner, was held at the Good Shepherd Centre, Belfast on Saturday 4th March 2017. A total of 31 players competed in three separate competitions:
  • An Open Blitz Championship, over 16 rounds with a time limit of 3 minutes plus 2 seconds increment for each player. There were 8 rounds in a morning session and a further eight in the afternoon.
  • A Children's Blitz, over 10 rounds with a time limit of 10 minutes each, held in the morning.
  • A Bullet Championship, held after the conclusion of the Blitz, over 8 rounds. Time limit in Bullet is 1 minute for each player.
I hope to post a considered review soon, but to start with here's the rundown on the prizewinners:
PRIZEWINNERS

BELFAST BLITZ CHAMPIONSHIPS
1 Danny Roberts (1975)  
2 Sergio Esteve Sanchez (1994)  
3 Modestas Razbadauskas (1678)
Junior rating band prizelist
1  Gary Johnston (1002)  
2  Dmitry Zelenchuk (1178)  
3  Chris Armstrong (1326)     

CHILDREN'S BLITZ
1 Ciaran Rowan (1038)  
2 Adam Fitzsimons (702)
Blitz prizewinners (l to r) Dimitry Zelenchuk, Modestas Rabzadauskas,Adam
Fitzsimons, Danny Roberts, Gary Johnston. Chris Armstrong and  Ciaran Rowan
BELFAST BULLET CHAMPIONSHIP

1 Daniil Zelenchuk (1426)  
2 Mikhail Pavlov (1513)  
3 Modestas Razbadauskas (1678) 
Junior rating band prizelist
1 Dmitry Zelenchuk (1178)  
2 Edward Doak (1313)  
3 Gary Johnston (1002)  
Children's prizelist
1 Ciaran Rowan (1038)  
2 Adam Fitzsimons (702) 
Bullet prizewinners (l to r) Gary Johnston, Modestas Razbadauskas, Edward Doak,
Daniil Zelenchuk, Mikhail Pavlov, Adam Fitzsimons, Dimitry Zelenchuk and Ciaran Rowan