monarch

Russian Grandmaster Mikhail Ulibin carried off the first prize of £2,000 and a handsome trophy from the Monarch Assurance Open chess international tournament at the presentation of awards at the Cherry Orchard Hotel on Sunday evening. It proved to be a most exciting finish with ten competitors all equal first going into the last round. They were paired against each other and four of the games were drawn but Ulibin took first place when he beat the British champion, Joe Gallagher. The ending was somewhat unusual in that Gallagher, who is well known for getting into time trouble, did it again. On this occasion he over did it by exceeding the two hour limit when he had only 28 moves made instead of forty. Once your time is up you automatically lose the game. Ulibin had a slightly better position at the end but not enough to win perhaps.	Photo John Saunders / Copyright BCM Chess
A group of ten players shared the remainder of the place prize money receiving £387 each which illustrates again that the spoils go to the brave. Ulibin had been lying there or there abouts throughout the competition being equal first at the end of rounds six, seven and eight. He made his big break in the ninth and last round ending just half a point ahead of his immediate rivals. A well judged race which would have done credit to Frankie Dettori! Top seed Sergei Tiviakov (Netherlands) and previous winners Bogdan Lalic (England) and Alexander Baburin (Ireland) were among those in the second group.
Highest scoring Manx competitor was Alan Ormsby from Douglas who received the beautiful cut glass bowl in memory of Stephen Maggs which was presented by his mother, Jean. Stephen was the first Manx player to receive an international chess rating. The lady's prize went to Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant from Georgia while the veteran's was won by George Ellison, England, who was in charge of the British junior squad. Craig Hanley took the prize for top score in the juniors.	Photo John Saunders / Copyright BCM Chess
The Major competition was won by Robin Kirkwood from Caernarfon with 5½ points out of 7. Glenn Cross, Douglas, finished joint second with three others all from across. He was the top Manx player in the Major event and is pictured on the right receiving his prize from Rushen MHK Pam Crowe. Barry Sandercock from Chalfont was leading veteran and Graeme Walsh, Dublin, was top junior.	Photo John Saunders / Copyright BCM Chess

In the Minor event, Malcolm Roberts, Holmes Chapel, made a clean sweep of the board winning all his five games. Monica Vann of Bourne End and previously resident in Port St Mary came third. Best Manx player was Alan Robertson who is also treasurer of the congress. Richard Sargent from Port Erin shared the Veteran's prize with Tony Crawford, Skelmersdale. The lady's award went to Joan Gardner of Berkhamsted. and the junior title was captured by Chris Thorpe who lives across the road from the Erin Arts Centre where the event was played.

(apologies for the slight variations in the line up which occurred when copying to the web-page)

Pos	Player	BCF	Round
		Grade	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
1	Kirkwood, R Caernarfon	152	16-	15+	10+	11+	3+	4=	2=	5

2	Cross, G M Douglas	149	8+	7=	11+	3=	4-	Bye+	1=	4½
3	Inwood, K V Kingston	155	9=	5+	7+	2=	1-	11+	4=	4½
4	Kobylka, M Wood Green	155	12=	10=	14+	6=	2+	1=	3=	4½
5	Jones, R Alwoodley	133	Bye=	3-	6-	15+	10+	13+	11+	4½

6	Price, A Leamington	154	7-	8=	5+	4=	12+	Def-	9=	3½
7	Sandercock, B V Chalfont	134	6+	2=	3-	12=	11-	9=	14+	3½

8	Casey, G Limerick	121	2-	6=	15=	17-	14=	10=	18+	3
9	Cassidy, J Limerick	142	3=	14=	12=	10-	13=	7=	6=	3
10	Heath, J V Redditch	141	13=	4=	1-	9+	5-	8=	12=	3
11	Holt, P V Kirson	144	15+	16+	2-	1-	7+	3-	5-	3
12	Nicolson, J V Manchester	137	4=	13=	9=	7=	6-	14=	10=	3

13	Carey, P Limerick	156	10=	12=	16-	14=	9=	5-	15=	2½
14	Johnson, S Alwoodley	124	Bye=	9=	4-	13=	8=	12=	7-	2½

15	Walsh, G J Rathmines	115	11-	1-	8=	5-	17=	18=	13=	2
16	O'Brien, P	131	1+	11-	13+	Withdrawn		-	-	2
17	Maher, F (filler) M Southern	127	-	-	-	8+	15=	-	-	1½
18	Woods, P (filler) M Douglas	e129	-	-	-	-	-	15=	8-	½

Legend J - Junior V - Veteran M - Manx

Pos	Player Details	BCF Grade	Round
			1	2	3	4	5	Total
1	Roberts, M Holmes Chapel	111	17+	9+	3+	6+	5+	5

2	Friel, M Caergwrle Crown	61	22+	5=	11+	8+	7+	4½

3	Vann, M L Bourne End	114	19+	10+	1-	9+	6+	4

4	Curtis, D Caergwrle Crown	117	7-	16+	10=	18+	12+	3½
5	Robertson, A M Douglas	96	21+	2=	18+	14+	1-	3½

6	Crawford, T V Skelmersdale	82	15+	13+	14+	1-	3-	3
7	Gardner, J L Berkhamsted	91	4+	14-	15+	10+	2-	3
8	Sargent, R MV Southern	110	18=	11=	21+	2-	16+	3
9	Thorpe, C MJ Southern	e90	12+	1-	13+	3-	11+	3

10	Bloom, A V Willesden	92	25+	3-	4=	7-	21+	2½
11	De Santos, A Preston	94	24+	8=	2-	19+	9-	2½
12	Dow, M V Alwoodley	116	9-	23+	19=	20+	4-	2½
13	Hussey, J V Limerick	100	23+	6-	9-	17+	14=	2½
14	Turner, N V Northampton	113	16+	7+	6-	5-	13=	2½
15	Ware, M M Southern	114	6-	17+	7-	21=	20+	2½

16	Bennett, D Brighton & Hove	72	14-	4-	23+	24+	8-	2
17	Burton, G V Atherton	64	1-	15-	24+	13-	22+	2
18	Ingram, N V North Copeland	62	8=	20+	5-	4-	19=	2
19	Keig, B MV Southern	83	3-	24+	12=	11-	18=	2

20	Goode, M Coulsden	69	Bye=	18-	22+	12-	15-	1½
21	Smith, T Berkhamsted	e62	5-	22+	8-	15=	10-	1½

22	Blindell, J MV Southern	92	2-	21-	20-	23+	17-	1
23	Cadamy, S MJ Southern	e60	13-	12-	16-	22-	24=	½
24	Tinkler, G MJ Southern	e50	11-	19-	17-	16-	23=	½
25	Newton, J MJ (filler)	-	10-	-	-	-	-	0

Legend	L - Lady J - Junior V - Veteran M - Manx

Richard Sargent was again in the prize list when he won the team prize with John Blindel and Brian Keig both from Ballasalla who represented the Southern chess club.	The Southern club's second team of Chris Thorpe, Sam Cadamy and Geoffrey Tinkler, all Port Erin, were also prize winners.
Photo John Saunders / Copyright BCM Chess	Photo John Saunders / Copyright BCM Chess

Monarch Assurance Minor