The Ulster Chess Union’s organisation of this year’s Ulster Championship included a major effort to upgrade the technology: not only live boards, but also a live webcam, added to the plush surroundings of the Europa Hotel in Belfast. By all accounts it seems to have been a very enjoyable tournament to play in, and a credit to the organisers.
Above: Ross Harris v. Gareth Annesley, round 2.
One of the innovations that intrigued me was that the Live Boards games are automatically saved on the ulsterchess.net site, instead of vanishing into the ether once the next round begins, as is usually the case. This seems to be down to Adrian Dornford-Smith, who it seems only needed about 10 lines of code to make this happen. I hope this catches on: it’s strange that so many other organisers go to all the trouble of arranging live boards and then allow the information to disappear.
In the event it was Rory Quinn who finished clear first on 5/6, though as he was not eligible for the title of Ulster champion, being neither Ulster-born nor -resident, the Ulster champion is Gabor Horvath, for the second consecutive year.
A report on the main event has been uploaded to the Tournament pages here. Many thanks to David McAlister for contributing many otherwise-unpublished photos and for providing background information on the event.