RILEY NORTHERN OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

North Ormesby Institute, Middlesbrough (16th-19th November 1998)

The Players and Seedings

Australia
Robby Foldvari (5)
England
David Causier (6)
Roxton Chapman (4)
Bob Close (9)
Norman Dagley
Brian Dix
Peter Gilchrist (3)
Mike Russell (1)
Andrew Sage
Peter Sheehan
Chris Shutt (15)
Mark Wildman (16)
Rex Williams
Ian Williamson (10)
Paul Bennett (Am)
Tony McKinder (Am)
Eire
Eugene Hughes
India
Arun Agrawal
Subhash Agrawal (11)
Michael Ferreira (13)
Adiyta Goenka
Devendra Joshi (7)
Manoj Kothari
Alok Kumar (14)
Nalin Patel (12)
Mukesh Rehani
Geet Sethi (2)
Ashok Shandilya (8)
Russia
Ashok Potikyan

The first domestic tournament of the professional season commenced at North Ormesby Institute in Middlesbrough on Monday 16th November. This was the second year that the Northern Open had been held at this venue and as defending champion, Mike Russell was automatically seeded No.1

This season, in a welcome innovation, it has been decided to invite leading amateur players from the local area to take part as “wild card” entries. For this event, the honour went the English Champion, Paul Bennett, and North Ormesby club player, Tony McKinder, both from Middlesbrough. All games up to the final were 2 hours duration.

The opening day saw the appearance of the amateur players, with most expectations focused on Paul Bennett, who had experienced some measure of success against professional opposition in the recent IBSF Championship in Australia. His opponent, No.20 ranked Manoj Kothari would have represented his best victory to date, but unfortunately the match did not live up to expectations. With both players determined to give no chances, the game quickly became bogged down with extensive safety tactics, with the greater experience of Kothari seeing him through. Tony McKinder was given little opportunity against an in-form Peter Sheehan. The Widnes professional found top-of-the-table with unerring regularity, piling in the breaks to leave McKinder as one of the spectators for most of the match.

Viewing the form in the other two first round matches, both of the amateurs must have felt that with a different draw, progression to the next round—and a cheque for £250—would have been a realistic possibility. Arun Agrawal was given a bye when Mukesh Rehani was forced to withdraw from the tournament with a recurring shoulder injury.

Much interest was shown by the older Teesside fans in the pairing of Bob Close and Norman Dagley. These two players met regularly for the English Amateur Championships when it was staged in Middlesbrough in the 1970´s. On those occasions it was usually Dagley who came out on top, but now 68 years old, and apparently in poor health, he showed few glimpses of his former skills. Close, however, appears totally undiminished by the years, running to game with 167 unfinished and making an average of 36.7 for the two hour match—a performance which would have given him satisfaction twenty years ago.

Peter Sheehan continued to impress, making the first double century of the competition with 262 in winning his game against Subhash Agrawal.

Eugene Hughes was involved in a tight finish as Alok Kumar came back at him with late breaks of 119, 51 and 34. But the Irishman held his nerve to win by a slender 19 points.

Chris Shutt made two early centuries in his match against Kothari, to establish a lead which was never seriously threatened. Plagued by “kicks” Shutt lost some of his fluency in the middle part of the game, but still did sufficient to win comfortably. With the match secure, Shutt treated the spectators to some exhibition billiards as he rattled off breaks of 136 and 33 unfinished in the last 10 minutes.

Mike Russell made an impressive entry to the competition, setting a new standard with a top break of 350. Rex Williams could do little against the Peterborough professional, leaving his best effort until the end when he made an unfinished break of 107.

Bob Close also looked a favourite to progress to the quarter finals in his match against Shandilya. Taking a lead from the start, he kept it until the very last visit, when Shandilya held the table to compile a break of 57 unfinished and secure victory by 32 points.

Peter Sheehan provide the biggest upset of the tournament by defeating No.4 seed Roxton Chapman, who seemed totally out of touch as Sheehan raced into an early lead. A late break of 186 by Chapman raised the brief prospect of a recovery, but he failed to build upon this and fell back again as Sheehan completed an impressive victory.

Chris Shutt was once more in top gear against Devendra Joshi, making breaks of 113, 153, 205 and 111 in his first eight visits. After this it was just a question of how many he would score, and in the event he set the competition´s best two hour aggregate with 1,041 points.

Mike Ferreira, who is experimenting with new contact lenses this season, was never on terms with Robby Foldvari, eventually losing by 158 points. Newly crowned World Champion, Geet Sethi also found it hard going against Mark Wildman, coming from behind to win by just 35 points.

The Quarter-finals opened up with two matches which could hardly have been closer. First, David Causier kept up his current good form by giving Mike Russell a real fright. Russell had looked to have the match well under control when he established a lead of 269 with less than 30 minutes remaining. Causier´s response was to compile consecutive breaks of 73 and 176, and was in play with 24 unfinished at the bell—falling just 6 points short of a major upset.

But the play on the adjoining table was no less dramatic. Shutt had established a lead of 250 points with Gilchrist having made only one break in double figures in the first hour. Then came the fireworks, which started with a break of 266 from Gilchrist, followed by 43 and 57 to give him an unlikely lead of 110 points. Shutt replied with a break of 168 to go in front again, but some careless safety play let Gilchrist in for an immediate reply of 61, putting him one point in front. A “do or die” scoring attempt from Shutt appeared to have sealed the match when he let Gilchrist in again with just 10 minutes on the clock. After Gilchrist had occupied the table for six of these minutes— making a determined break of 68—he would have been forgiven for thinking he had done enough. Shutt however, had other ideas and quickly gaining top-of-the-table position, he rattled in 74 points before the bell sounded to take the match by 5 points. Having misread the scoreboard, and thinking that he actually required 79 points, Chris Shutt must have been the most relieved person in the room when the result was announced.

Sethi must have known that he needed to produce a better performance than his previous round if he was to defeat Australia´s top player, Robby Foldvari. However, he simply added to his dismal record in the Teesside event making just 40 points in his first 16 visits, while the Australian IBSF Champion was building up a commanding lead which he held to the end.

Sheehan and Shandilya played a tight tactical game which could have gone either way, but having the better of the late exchanges, Shandilya edged home by 47 points.

Chris Shutt “Future World Champion”.

After the excitement of the quarter finals, the semi´s came as something as an anticlimax, with Russell and Shutt both recording comfortable victories. Shandilya started well against Russell, but a break of 236 by the No.1 seed gave him a lead he would never lose. With his final visit, Russell added another 266 to ease his way into the final.

Chris Shutt was undoubtedly playing well above the standard suggested by his lowly No.15 ranking, but even so, he could not have relished a meeting with World No.5 Robby Foldvari. The Australian is noted for his careful play which is the complete opposite to the quick-fire style of Shutt. An early break of 226 by the Teessider was immediately countered by one of 131 by Foldvari and subsequent smaller contributions brought him within 20 points of the local hero. At this point Shutt produced his biggest break of the tournament with 322, leaving the Australian insufficient time to stage another comeback.

Mike Russell turned on the power to overwhelm local favourite Chris Shutt and win the Riley Northern Open at North O r m e s b y Institute, in Middlesbrough.

Despite holding the final on a night when the majority of Middlesbrough billiard players were involved in league action, there was still a good crowd at the start of the final, which gradually increased as various league matches were completed. The previous performances of Chris Shutt raised expectations that the local lad had a realistic chance to carry off the top prize.

Chris had two early opportunities to put together one of his big breaks, but both ended unexpectedly in the 80´s while attempting to negotiate the “baulk-line crossing”. Meanwhile Russell, with solid play, forged a lead of 210 by the interval.

If Chris Shutt entertained any ideas of a come-back he was given plenty of time to reconsider his opinion as Russell took an unfinished break of six to 408—the highest of the event. He followed this with consecutive breaks of 71, 268, 198 and 118 to show anyone who may have been in doubt, just why he is regarded as the best player in the World. Russell´s average for the second session was 141.1, and for the match 74.7

In his capacity of Chairman of the WPBSA Billiard Committee, Peter Gilchrist presented the trophies and prize money. Russell collected cheques totalling £7,000 which included £500 for the highest break, and Chris Shutt returned to Norton £3,000 the richer. In his closing address Gilchrist echoed the feelings of many present when he forecast that Chris Shutt, who had reached his first tournament final in this event, would be a future World Champion. If he is to achieve this position, he has at least been given a demonstration of the standard of play he will be required to produce.