Ballinasloe Rapidplay Results

Upwards of 50 participants took place in the Ballinasloe Rapidplay. There were three persons tied for first on 5 from 6. Christopher Woods, Finn Cummins and yours truly. There was a blitz playoff to decide the tournament winner, which was won by Christopher. Other prizewinners were Mark Johnson who the U1700 grading prize. Mahmoud Abumazrou was the best unrated player and Omar Juma came second in the Unrated Category.

Ballinasloe Rapidplay – 20th April

The Ballinasloe rapidplay takes place in Ballinasloe Rugby Club next Saturday 20th April. It’s a 6 round rapidplay with time control of 15’10. You can enter online via the Irish Chess Union website.

Latest Division 3 Results

Ennis C had 2 matches in rounds 7 and 8 of Division 3 of the Munster Leagues last weekend, playing a double header against St Grellans. The matches ended in a win apiece for either team.

St Grellans 1.5- 3.5 Ennis C

1. R McKenna-Carroll 0.5-0.5 J Cassidy
2. J Dunne 0.5-0.5 G Casey
3. P Divilly 0.5-0.5 A Coll
4. E Mordaunt 0-1 J O’Sullivan
5. B Egan 0-1 J Taylor

Ennis C 1.5-3.5 St Grellans

1. J Cassidy 0.5-0.5 R McKenna-Carroll
2. G Casey 1-0 J Dunne
3. M Wyse 0-1 P Divilly
4. J Fahy 0-1 E Mordaunt
5. J Taylor 0-1 B Egan

Munster League Round 7 and 8

Ennis A quest to retain their Division 1 title, continued yesterday with two match wins on the penultimate day of this seasons Munster League.

Cork A 1.5-3.5 Ennis A

1. P Leichert 0-1 IM O Gubanov
2. A Fil 0-1 FM R Quinn
3. M McGrath 0.5-0.5 B Connell
4. L Hackett 1-0 CM O Murchadha
5. B Foran 0-1 T Dunne

Ennis A 4-1 CCYMS

1. IM O Gubanov 1-0 K. Moynihan
2. FM R Quinn 1-0 S Gavrilovic
3. B Connell 0.5-0.5 K O’Driscoll
4. CM O Murchadha 0.5-0.5 P McCarthy
5. T Dunne 1-0 R Goodfellow

The B team ensured that they moved out of any relegation danger with a win and a draw.

Ennis B 3-2 Galway

1. A Kononova 0-1 C Jonker
2. P Koeller 0-1 A Drimbarean
3. E. Callinan 1-0 J Wieczorek
4. R Marshall 1-0 R Frost
5. R Johnson 1-0 S Reilly

Ennis B 2.5-2.5 Cork B

1. A Kononova 0-1 N Arun
2. P Koeller 0.5-0.5 G Condon
3. E Callinan 0-1 S Lawrence
4. R Marshall 1-0 M Watkins
5. R Johnson 1-0 R Arun

Gubanov wins Ennis Congress

Well done to IM Oleh Gubanov who put in an excellent performance in a strong field to win the Ennis Congress outright on 4.5 from 5, winning both his games on Sunday against IM Attila Turzo and FM Kavan Venkatesan. IM Mihnea Costa, Limericks James Naughton and FM Colm Daly finished in a 3 way tie for second on 4 out of 5.

There was success for Ennis too in the U1700, as local player Roy Marshall took clear first place and the Marcel Castricum trophy on 4.5 from 5 with a last round win over Hari Prasad who finished in a 4 way tie for second with other local players Peter Koeller and Eoin Callinan and also Stephen Clancy all on 4 points.

It was almost a clean sweep for Ennis as Aidan Coll was leading the u1200 going into the last round but a loss to Jackie Liu meant he had to settle for a share of third place on 4 points with Michal Brzozowski, Jamie Comley, Mihovil Cogelja, Jack McAuliffe and Maslen Briggs. Jackie Liu shared first place with Jakov Jagic on 4.5 from 5.

Some nice games were played over the course of the tournament. Some of these were broadcast live and are available at https://view.livechesscloud.com/#71f34a28-417f-4832-abda-8c8519e0e35e and full results from the tournament are available at the chess results website.

Ennis Congress 2024

The weekend is fast approaching and with it, the 2024 edition of the Ennis congress. There is still time to register either via the Irish Chess Union website or contact John Cassidy 087 2495913.

For those of you who want to sharpen up your chess skills before the event, Masters participant IM Mihnea Costachi is doing a lecture and playing some blitz games in the West County tomorrow night, Thursday 22nd February at 7.30pm. Cost is 10 euro per person. Contact John Cassidy for more information.

Latest Munster League Results

All 3 Ennis teams had good results in the latest rounds of the Munster League held in Charleville last Sunday. The A team had wins against Limerick A and Tralee A, while the B team started with a loss to Charleville but won their second match against Dungarvan while the C team did the double over Tralee B.

Ennis A 3-2 Limerick A

1. IM O. Gubanov 1-0 J. Naughton
2. FM Z Nemeth 0-1 R. Arellano
3. FM O. Culbeaux 0-1 G. Stack
4. FM R. Quinn 1-0 A. McCoy
5. CM O Murchadha 1-0 K. Bartczak

Tralee A 0.5-4.5 Ennis A

1. Y. Barudi 0-1 IM O. Gubanov
2. O. Zakladnyi 0.5-0.5 FM Z. Nemeth
3. F. Walz 0-1 FM O. Culbeaux
4. T. Long 0-1 FM R. Quinn
5. E. Banda 0-1 CM O. Murchadha

Charleville 3.5-1.5 Ennis B

1. C. Buenos 1-0 H. Yefremov
2. J McSweeney 0.5-0.5 L Daros
3. PJ Rea 1-0 E Callinan
4. A. King 0-1 R. Marshall
5. K. Cole 1-0 N. Whelan

Dungarvan 2-3 Ennis B

1. C. Coughlan 1-0 H. Yefremov
2. D. Voogt 1-0 L. Daros
3. J. Lucey 0-1 E. Callinan
4. I. Gordon 0-1 R. Marshall
5. M. O’Leary 0-1 N. Whelan

Tralee B 1.5-3.5 Ennis C

1. P. Shanahan 0.5-0.5 J. Cassidy
2. A. Osman 0-1 A. Coll
3. J. Hoare 0-1 R. Johnson
4. B. O’Sullivan 1-0 P. Timlin
5. K. Farnan 0-1 D. Crowley

Ennis C 4.5-0.5 Tralee B

1. J. Cassidy 0.5-0.5 P. Shanahan
2. R. Johnson 1-0 A. Osman
3. K. McInerney 1-0 J. Hoare
4. P. Timlin 1-0 K. Farnan
5. D. Crowley 1-0 B O’Sullivan

Lopez wins his fifteenth Mulcahy

IM Alex Lopez continued his record breaking run of results in the Mulcahy Cup in Cork last weekend as he won the Mulcahy for the fifteenth time. He won his first 5 games before a last round draw allowed him to coast home in first place on 5.5 from 6. He wasn’t unduly troubled in any of his games either apart from his round 3 game against Piotr Leichert where his position looked somewhat ropey at one point. As announced at the prizegiving in the 90 games Alex has played in those 15 tournaments he has won 80, drawn 10 and lost none, which is an impressive stat.

The tournament was held in the atmospheric surroundings of the Aula Maxima in UCC as it has been for the last number of years and there was 80 participants, mostly from Cork but some travelling from farther afield including IM Artur Davtyan who finished in a six-way tie for second place with yours truly, Albert Gevorgyan, Kieran O’Driscoll, Adam Collins and Simon Provoost all on 5 from 6.

One noticeable feature of the event was the number of juniors taking part with a sizeable contingent of local youngsters showing that junior chess in Cork is in a good position. Lots of grading prizes and medals were given out and full results and standings are at chessresults.com

The tournament hall before the start of play

Ennis prizewinners in Sligo

A number of players from Ennis chess club travelled to Enniscrone at the weekend to take part in the Sligo tournament and there was success for Oscar Culbeaux and Oleh Gubanov in the Masters section as they finished tied in first place on 4 points with Limericks James Naughton. James took first place on tiebreak, Oscar was second and Oleh third. Well done to all three pictured below on an excellent performance.

The tournament itself was certainly an enjoyable one to play in. The venue and playing conditions were excellent and if you haven’t been, I would recommend including next years tournament in your calendar!

Mulcahy Memorial 9th-11th Feb

Pat Twomey has been in contact to advise that this years Mulcahy Memorial Chess Congress will take place over the weekend of the 9th to the 11th February in the Aula Maxima at University College Cork. The tournament is a 6 round Swiss with time control of 90 minutes plus 15 second increment per move. For more information contact Pat Twomey (ptwomey @ hotmail com). You can enter online at the Irish Chess Union website.

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