A report on the Ulster Masters 2018, held in Belfast on November 10-11, has been added to the archive here.
Ten players competed in the top section, for which we have all games. The top seed Gábor Horváth suffered two defeats, leaving the way open for Danny Roberts (NICS) to take the title with an undefeated 4/5.
There were several interesting games, but what caught my eye was the strange finish in the fourth-round game on the top board. Daniil Zelenchuk, as White, had earlier had an overwhelmingly won game against Modestas Razbadauskas, but let the advantage slip, and eventually even lost. The final position is as shown:
White to play
White had plenty of time on the clock: around 50 minutes. His last move was 45. Kf3-e3, to which Black responded 45… Ra4-a3, and White resigned.
The natural reaction is to assume that 45. Ke3 was the blunder. But it isn’t!
See the full game for the reason.