I always had fond memories of playing in Northern Ireland and found the enthusiasm and friendly nature of the players and organizers most welcoming. Something which I have heard others also say, down the years. Below is a little bit of video footage from the last round which illustrates well the genuine enthusiasm and still sporting competitivness that is a feature of chess in Belfast. Notice the gracious smile in defeat of Stephen Scannell - a prize of joint second was at stake.

This year’s event had been among the best sponsored events in Northern Ireland for some time, so I half expected there to be a few more players around my own rating participating. However this was not to be and the only other player from the Republic playing was Ciaran Quinn, who won the grading prize. Belfast is only a couple of hours away nowadays by car or rail and with all the shopping value to be had; it might have been an ideal excuse to head north. Certainly I had seen enough cars from the Republic to confirm that there are indeed a lot of shoppers heading north for bargains.

In the end I had a fairly comfortable win but not without some luck and worrying moments. I had figured [as I always do with rapidplay events] that I had a good chance to get first or finish in the top three, but the great thing about one day events is that no matter how you do, it will be fun either way and crucially it is all over in a day.

The event started oddly for me, as before the tournament even started I found myself stuck in a broken lift with the organizers for about 15-20 minutes . It was quite amusing really, but not the sort of experience one would want to repeat. It made for a few laughs and jokes later though. Overall the event was run very smoothly by Chris Millar, and, as is the norm for events in Belfast, sets and clocks were provided! All the players needed to do was turn up, pay an entry fee and play chess!

Speaking of which, let me show you some of the key moments from my own games. The first round had seen Ciaran Quinn outplay me in the opening/middle game and I found myself in the difficult White position as below:

Basically with best play, Black has a slight advantage but White should be able to hold. However White wants to have some winning chances too. I could see little or no hope and was concerned about the position. It occurred to me that a timely Bc1 by Black could be awkward, but then instead Black first played Bd2. This seemed like a clever more accurate move order at first glance, but as it happens this is not the case at all and Bc1 allows White to turn the tables in a surprising way.

So after … Bd2, Rd1 Bc1 we had the position below:

White cannot defend with Qe2 as Black just responds with …Qh3 and White is busted. However White has a strong move which actually gives him the advantage. Can you see it?

White has Ng4 and if Black plays ...Nxg4 then White plays Qxf7 followed by Be6! and Bg4 which leaves White with a won game. If Black plays ...Qxg4 then after Qxg4 Nxg4 Rxc1 White has a clear advantage with plenty of winning chances [still this was Blacks best chance]. The game went 38.Ng4 Bg5? 39.Nxe5 Qh3 40.Qg2 Qc8 41.Nf3 Bc1 42.e5 Ng4 43.e6 fxe6 44.Nxd4 Rh2 45.Nxe6+ Kh8 46.Qe4 Nxf2 47.Qe5+ 1-0

A few moves later - 28.Qb5 Qxb5 29.Nxb5 Nbc4 30.Nxc4 Nxc4 31.Bc1 Bd8 32.Nc3 Bb6 33.Nxa4 Bxd4 34.b3 Na5 35.b4 Nc4 36.g3 f6 37.exf6+ Kxf6 38.Kg2 Ke7 39.Kf3 and we reached the following endgame position.

This position was a critical moment as I had thought during the game that now 39...b5 was not the most accurate but after say, 39...b5 40.Nc5 Bxc5 41.bxc5 Kd7 42.g4 Kc6 43.gxh5 gxh5 44.Kg3 d4 Black would be well on the way to victory. However I thought I could improve on this only then to be concerned about what I thought was a resource for White. I now played 39...Kd6 but then seen that White could play 40.Ke2 b5 41.Kd3 Bg1 42.Nc3 which seemed to be messy. However it seems Black could indeed go ito this line with confidence as after 42...Bxh2 43.Nxb5+ Kd7 44.a4 Bxg3 45.a5 Bf2 Black should still win. The game actually ended soon after 39...Kd6 40.b5 Bc5 41.Nc3 Bxa3 42.Bxa3+ Nxa3 43.g4 Kc5 44.gxh5 gxh5. After the game I was convinced that White had missed a draw by not playing 40 Ke2- 41Kd3 but it was only looking at the position with a fresh pair of eyes days later that I was wrong about this.

My third round game against another one of the strongest players around in Belfast: John Cairns, was a strange affair too as I played a very unusual opening to create an unbalanced and complicated game. The position below resulted with Black to move. I could not assess the situation with any great degree of confidence. I figured it might just be equal but preferred White because it seems less obvious how Black might proceed from here.

As it happens, Black is not sure what to do either and goes badly wrong. This gives me a chance to seize the initiative in a matter of moves and allows me to turn the position around into a winning position very quickly. After the moves 20.d5 Rxf1 21.Rxf1 Qe5 22.Qc3 Qg5 23.Kb1 h6 24.Rf7 we reached the position below which shows a completely transformed game.

One of the the curious things about this game for me was that just before the game I had been reflecting upon when it was I had first played John. He was amazed when I said that it had been about 22 years since we frst played each other. It seemed so hard to believe, but I guess thats what it is like getting old/less young!

After Rf7 White threatens so many things (d6-Nf5-h4 etc) that it is hard to find any useful moves for Black and the funny thing [or sad depending on which side of the board your on] is the way everything seems to work so well for White and all the tactics seem to fall into place and Black is so helpless. if there is such a thing as luck in chess [and I sort of think there is] then this is a good example of it. Black tried 24... Re7 but after 25.h4 Qe5 26.Qxe5 Rxe5 27.Rxc7 Ba6 28.d6 Re8 29.d7 Rd8 his position was only more helpless and in this position, given below, White had a simple win in a matter of moves.

White was able to force resignation after 30.Nxc4 Kg8 31.Ne5 Bb5 32.Rc8

The fourth round game against Jan Christopher Cohrs was clearly the hardest as I first escaped from a bad openig and then when my opponent offered me a draw about two move too early, I was able to convert an advatage in an opposite color bishop ending into a win, greatly helped by the big time advanatge I had aqquired in the course of the game. This came after being close to losing in the middlegame when I was able to defend well and find a way out of my bad position into an equal one. Had my opponent offered a draw at the right moment I would surely have taken it, but when I had overcome my difficlties I then soon after got an edge which gave me something to work with. See the bad position I wasin from the opening below:

Although a pawn up as Black here I am not sure Black is not already lost here? Either way Black is much worse and has no reason to think any further than a draw. I was unable to recounstruct the exact moves that followed from here as the game was quite long in terms of moves and it went into an endgame which might well have been defendable for White. In the end though the practical problems of defending the ending given below were too much and I learned after the game that I won the event outright regardless of what happened in the last round. Considering that I would have been happy with a draw in this round, that struck me as a bit ironic.

I think it was at this point that White offered me a draw which was a bit too late. A couple of moves before White had a chance to exchange off queens and the rooks too, but now I sensed the position had turned and after a long and joyless defense I now had chances of my own to play for a win. After Rxf1 Qxf1 E4 I was able to secure a big endgame advantage which led to a surprisingly easy win in the end.

The fifth round , which was also the last round saw me playing for fun against Stephen Gillen from Derry or should that be Londonderry? In an amusing little game I had fun first tempting Stephen to play for a win by avoiding a repetition, only for me to then soon after force a thematic discovered check 7th rank perpetual. See the position below to see the fun start.

I knew Stephen needed a win to get a prize so I repeated moves with Rd8 and Rd7, Rd8 when Stephen deviated to avoid repetition, though had he played Rf8 I was going to play Rxf8 and A4 which I thought gave White and advantage. As it happens he played Nf8 ad there followed 30.Rd8+ Nf8 31.Rf3 h6 32.Rg3+ Kh7 after which I had to make choice and could not stop myself from playing a flashy sequence.

So after I played 33.Rxf8 Rxf8 34.Rg7+ Kh8 35.Rxc7+ Kg8 36.Rg7+ Kh8 37.Rb7+ Kg8, we had the position below. Objectively White is better but I was not so sure by how much and after a long day I just decided to end on a positive note. Most of the fight having gone out of me by this stage in the day. It seems that White should play Bd4 and indeed this move could and should have been interposed at various points in the last few moves. Instead I just agreed a draw.

All in all, a good day of fun chess for me, but as always with rapid plays, one which I had my share of luck. A full report on the event is available at the Official QUB tournament website. Crosstables are also available for the Open and Challengers