Upcoming Tournaments

The Summer months are usually a quieter time for chess events, in Ireland anyway, however there are a number of tournaments taking place over the next while.

The last 2 rounds of the 2023/2024 Munster League take place on 12th May with,, in Division 1, Ennis A currently leading Tralee by half a match point and with a better game point score also. In Division 2, Charleville lead the way from Cork B, while in Division 3 St Michaels are just ahead of UCC A.

John Cassidy sends on details of the Paddy Williams memorial which is a rapidplay for beginners and improvers that takes place in the West County on the 19th May. You can enter via the Irish Chess Union website. Contact John Cassidy 087-2495913 for more information.

The European Schools Chess Championship takes place in the University of Limerick from 30th May to 8th June. I believe this is the first time Ireland has hosted a continental chess competition and it is a significant undertaking with competitors from 20 countries taking part across 12 sections.

The Drogheda Congress takes place from the 1st to the 3rd June and entry is via the Irish Chess Union website.

The 103rd Irish chess championships takes place in Dublin in early August and includes weekenders, a weekday open, a rapid and a blitz along with the main event to make for a real festival of chess.

NCC 2024 Results

Three teams finished on 4 match wins from 5 (8 match points) at the end of the fifth round of play of the Irish National Club Championships at the weekend. These were Elm Mount, Galway and Ennis. With game points being used as a tiebreaker, Elm Mount had 20 points, Galway 18.5 and Ennis 16 so the teams finished in that order. All qualify for the European Club Cup which takes place in Serbia later this year.

Galway can perhaps consider themselves a bit unlucky to only finish second as they defeated Elm Mount in Round 1 and arguably played a stronger field. Depending on the number of teams and rounds, the organisers could consider using a different tie break system for next years event (FIDE handbook gives a set of options other than game points that could be used). Typically match points and game points have always been used in this event, but it might be worth considering a different tiebreaker.

This years event did have an unusually large number of teams for the NCC, which was great to see, and had an exciting end, with placings being decided right up until the last games finished. Games being broadcast on lichess meant clubmates, and other interested spectators, not at the tournament could follow along too. Thanks to all the Ennis players who travelled to compete at the event, we used our full squad of 8 players so all played a part in our qualification for the ECC over the course of the tournament. Our squad for this event was O Gubanov, Z Nemeth, O Murchadha, R Quinn, O Culbeaux, T Dunne., J Melling, L Daros.

NCC 2024

The 51st edition of the Irish National Club Championships is taking place this weekend in Stillorgan with an impressive 15 teams battling it out for the title of National Club Champions and the qualifying places for the European Club Cup.

After 3 rounds it’s Galway who lead the way with 3 match wins. A very impressive performance so far by a team who started as 13th seeds. Ennis currently stand in 6th place, winning our first two matches, but comprehensively beaten by Galway in the third.

Lichess are carrying a live broadcast of the top matches and full standings and results are at chess results.

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