Sheffield Masters 2024

Congratulations to Tom O’Gorman, who recorded his second IM norm last weekend, at the Sheffield Masters 2024. He finished clear first with 6½/9. His only loss was to Trisha Kanyamarala, who finished with 4½/9, in round 6, leaving him requiring three straight wins in the last three rounds.

Pein - O'Gorman, Sheffield Masters 2024
Pein – O’Gorman, Sheffield Masters 2024
38. ?

In the penultimate round, he had Black against Jonathan Pein. In the diagrammed position, 38. Kd2 is equal, but Pein played 38. b8=Q??, and after 38… Nxb8 39. Bxb8 Ke3 he was unable to stop the f-pawn and resigned a few moves later.

[Click to replay the full game.]

In the last round, he played the event’s only GM, Gábor Nagy, and won after some twists and turns and late missed opportunities for both sides.

[Click to replay the full game.]

He has also achieved the required 2400 rating, which is often the most difficult milestone.

A full report has been added to the Tournament pages here (on the Overseas tournaments page).

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A Varsity Match record

The “Varsity” matches between Oxford University and Cambridge University go back to 1873 in an almost complete sequence, broken only by World Wars. The latest in the sequence took place last month at the Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall in London.

Oxford top board Tom O’Gorman won his game, and thereby completed a remarkable record: he becomes the first player in the entire series to score 4/4 with all games on board 1. He is only the sixth player ever to score 4/4; this was achieved twice in the twentieth century and three times in the nineteenth. Congratulations!

All four of his games are available in the games archive here:

vs. Harry Grieve, 2021.
vs. Matthew Wadsworth, 2022
vs. Miroslav Macko, 2023
vs. Koby Kalavannan, 2024.

John Saunders has reported on this year’s match at BritBase, with all games, and photos of both teams and the playing venue.

He has also covered the entire series in great depth at the same site. From this, we can extract the records of other Irish players in this series over the years.

Very few other Irish players have played for Oxford. I see only [but see update below]:
Hon. (later Sir) Horace Curzon Plunkett (1874-77),
John Moles (1969-72), and
John P. Redmond (1992).

For Cambridge, I see
C. H. O’D. Alexander (1929-32),
John Francis O’Donovan (1937-39),
R. C. (Colin) Kennedy (1958-59),
Alan Ludgate (1964-65, 1967),
Brian Kerr (1965-66),
Brian Kelly (1998-2000),
Ryan-Rhys Griffiths (2017, 2019-20), and
Conor Murphy (2017-20).

Of these, the only players with plus scores were C. H. O’D. Alexander (+3 =0 -1) and R. C. (Colin) Kennedy (+2 =0 -0).

[Update, April 12, 2024 (edited for clarity April 15, 2024): David McAlister noticed that three names were missing from the lists above (from memory; without having to check BritBase!). Many thanks.

Oxford:
(later Sir) Richard Whieldon Barnett (1884-88)

Cambridge:
Victor Coates, a.k.a. Arthur Cootes (1926-27)
Nick Patterson (1968-69).]

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Dublin International 65+ Championship 2024

The third event in the recent Dublin International Festival was the 65+ Championship. This attracted 21 players, including two from Iceland (there was a sizeable Icelandic contingent across the entire Festival), and resulted in a four-way tie for first, on 5/7, between Gerry MacElligott (first on tie-break), Pete Morriss, Tim Harding, and Tony Doyle. Congratulations to all.

Eamon Keogh was the early leader with 3/3. He won his round 2 game against Frank McMahon after an interesting struggle.

McMahon - Keogh, Dublin International 65+ 2024
McMahon – Keogh, Dublin International 65+ 2024
11. ?

In the diagrammed position, White would be winning after 30. Rh3!, covering the queen and threatening both Nxc2 and Nxe6. After the game’s 30. g6 Nh6, 31. Rh3! would still have been winning.

Instead after 31. Ka1 (threatening Nxc2) 31… Rc7 32. Rgh1 Rac8, Black threatened … Qxd4 followed by mate on the back rank, so White had to bring the king back with 33. Kb1, and any advantage had dissipated. Even still, White should be no worse, but in the sequel he was outplayed.

[Click to replay the full game.]

A full report has been added to the tournament pages here.

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Dublin International 40+ Championship 2024

The recent Dublin International Festival also featured two age-restricted tournaments, the 40+ and 65+ championships.

The 40+ championship attracted 18 players, and with one exception the field was relatively evenly matched, with over half the players having FIDE ratings in the 1700s and 1800s. The exception was John Delaney, top seed by a margin of almost 300 points FIDE (almost 500 points ICU), and he duly finished first with 6½/7, a point ahead of John P. Aherne, who was in turn a point ahead of Fred Armstrong, who took third place.

Delaney did not have it all his own way, though, and in particular he was made to work hard in his round three game against Vjekoslav Novak. Indeed, he was lost straight out of the opening.

Novak - Delaney, Dublin International 40+ 2024
Novak – Delaney, Dublin International 40+ 2024
11. ?

In the diagrammed position, White has a choice between 11. Bh5+ Kd8 12. Qf3!?, e.g., 12… Qxd4 13. Rd1 Qc4 14. e5, or 11. Rf1! cxd4 (11… Qd4? 12. Nb5 Qxe4 13. Bxd6!+-) 12. Nb5, probably with a decisive advantage in either case.

Instead the game continued with the striking 11. Be5?! Qh6 (of course the bishop is immune; 11… dxe5?? 12. Bh5+ wins the queen), and now White should have continued 12. Bxg7 Qxg7 13. O-O, still with considerable advantage. Instead the game’s 12. Bh5+?! was a further inaccuracy, and the chances were soon equal. After some further twists and turns it was still equal until White erred on move 29.

[Click to replay the full game.]

A full report has been added to the Tournament pages here.

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Dublin International Open 2024

The Dublin International Festival concluded yesterday at the Talbot Hotel Stillorgan. Three seven-round events were held: the Open (77 players, 1st Stephen Jessel), the 40+ Championship (18 players, 1st John Delaney), and the 65+ Championship (21 players, 1st-4th Gerry MacElligott, Tony Doyle, Tim Harding, and Pete Morriss). There was also a Rapid event on Friday and a Blitz yesterday.

A full report for the Open has been added to the Tournament pages here, with 56 of the 255 games.

Murchadha - Connell, Dublin International Open 2024
Murchadha – Connell, Dublin International Open 2024
46. ?

One interesting moment came in the last round game between Oissíne Murchadha and Kris Connell. From the diagrammed position, Murchadha played 46. Kc5+, and after 46… Kg5 47. Rg6+ Kxh5 48. Rxg7 Rc3+ 49. Kb6 Rc6+! found that he could not avoid either stalemate or perpetual pursuit.

Can White win from the diagrammed position? This turns out to be quite tricky. I will leave this as an exercise; it is well worth your time.

[Click to reply the full game (with solution).]

[Update, April 3, 2024: I’ve revised and expanded the notes on the game above, after some more investigation, though the conclusions haven’t changed. In addition, the tournament report has been updated.]

[Update, April 4, 2024: Murchadha had 9 minutes, 16 seconds on his clock when he faced the diagrammed position, per the Lichess game file.]

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Bartczak – Spence, DCU Majors 2024

The recent post about the DCU Majors 2024 gave the Bartczak – Spence game as the most interesting, with plenty of play left in the final position. I thought Black “should be able to draw”, but the line I offered also left plenty of play. Delving deeper turned up some interesting points.

Bartczak - Spence, DCU Majors 2024
Bartczak – Spence, DCU Majors 2024
Final position; White to play

From the final position, I think best play goes 31. Rxc2 Ba6+! 32. Ree2! Rxe2 33. Rxe2 c5! (slightly more accurate than 33… Bxe2+ 34. Qxe2 c5 as I gave before, since then Black has to work out the consequences of 35. Qa6) 34. Kf2 Bxe2 35. Qxe2 a5 36. Qe8+ Kh7, reaching the second diagrammed position.

Bartczak - Spence, DCU Majors 2024, analysis
Same game
Analysis

An obvious idea for Black is to sit tight, maintaining the rook on the 6th rank, when it looks as if he has a fortress. But in fact it is not as easy as that.

White can play his king to e5, capture the f-pawn after … Rg6, and continue f4-f5, reaching the third diagrammed position. Black has run out of squares on the 6th rank, so what now?

Bartczak - Spence, DCU Majors 2024, analysis
Same game
Analysis, II
White to play

Black still draws via 1… h5! 2. Qxh5+ Kg8, when White cannot break through.

[Click to replay.]

This seemed to me at first as a simple fortress, in which the queenside pawns played essentially no role. What I had missed is that this is not true: remove the queenside pawns in the third diagram (getting the fourth diagram), and White wins!

Nased on Bartczak - Spence, DCU Majors 2024
Analogous ending
Black to play

After 1… Rb6, 2. Qe6! wins quickly. Here 1… h5 does not help. After the h-pawn disappears, Black cannot hold a fortress based on Rf6-h6, because White can simply capture on f6 at a suitable moment, reaching a winning pawn ending, e.g., 2. Qxh5+ Kg8 3. Qe8+ Kh7 4. Qe6! Rh6 5. Kd5! Rf6 (5… Kh8 6. Qxh6+!) 6. Qxf6+! and wins.

[Click to replay.]

This resulting pawn ending is winning only because Black will fall into zugzwang. Adding the queenside pawns back in, and specifically the pawn on c5, this does not work for White; for example, in the last line White would lose.

In the third diagram, remove the pawn at c5 and once again White wins.

[Click to replay the full game.]

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DCU Challengers 2024

The third of the three sections at last weekend’s DCU Congress 2024 was the Challengers, for players rated under 1200 ICU and under 1650 FIDE, or unrated. 55 players actually played (as in the Open, there were five more who were paired for round 1 but played no games). The winner was Chima Mgbemena with full points, though he was fortunate to win his last round game against Malachy O’Neill, where he was queen for bishop down in the final position.

A full report has been added to the Tournament pages here.

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DCU Majors 2024

The DCU Majors 2024 was the second of three sections of the DCU Congress last weekend. A full report has been added to the Tournament pages here.

This section was the smallest of the three, with 29 players. Ruarai Goodfellow of U.C.C. took clear first with an unbeaten 4/5, ahead of six players tied for second place, half a point back.

The most interesting game available was the round 2 top board clash between Korneliusz Bartczak and Beckett Spence.

Bartczak - Spence, DCU Majors 2024
Bartczak – Spence, DCU Majors 2024
28… ?

In the diagrammed position Black could have won quickly via 28… Qxc4+! 29. Kxg2 Qxa2+ 30. Qe2 Qxe6, when after 31. Qxe6+ Rxe6 32. Rxe6 he would have four pawns for the exchange.

Instead the game continued 28… Rxh2?. Black may have anticipated only 29. Re8+? Kh7 30. Bg8+ Kg6, when White has nothing more. Instead the game continuation was 29. Rc6+! Kh7 30. Bg8+ Kxg8.

And then the players agreed a draw. I wonder if time was a factor? There is a considerable amount of play left in the position. What is the evaluation with best play? I am not certain, even after looking at this for some time, but give my answer in the playable game.

Bartczak - Spence, DCU Majors 2024
Bartczak – Spence, DCU Majors 2024
Final position; White to play

[Click to replay the full game.]

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DCU Open 2024

The DCU Congress attracted 180 players across three sections at the weekend, and the newly introduced Blitz attracted 59.

A full report on the Open has been added to the Tournament pages here. 20 games are available via live boards, though a few of these were truncated.

The event was open to all ICU members, and attracted a mammoth field of 96 players. Due to some snafu, IMs Artur Davtyan and Oleg Gubanov were listed in the field and paired for the first round, but played no games. This left as top seeds Tarun and Trisha Kanyamarala, Stephen Jessel, and Zalan Nemeth.

Three players tied for first with 4½/5, Kavin Venkatesan, Colm Daly, and Maximilian Lohr. These three did not encounter each other, but Venkatesan beat Tarun Kanyamarala and John Delaney, and Daly beat Trisha Kanyamarala. Unusually, and in a change from last year’s event, prize money was not divided equally between tied players, and Venkatesan took first on Sonneborn-Berger, with Daly second and Lohr third. (Daly was slightly unfortunate here, as Trisha Kanyamarala withdrew after their third round game; if she had continued and scored 1½/2 in her last two games, he would have taken first.)

One crucial moment came in the round 3 game between Tarun Kanyamarala and Venkatesan.

Tarun Kanyamarala - Venkatesan, DCU Open 2024
Tarun Kanyamarala – Venkatesan, DCU Open 2024
21. ?

In the diagrammed position, 21. Rcd2 leaves White with some advantage. Instead the game continued 21. Nf7?. It’s not clear what was missed, but this is unsound. After 21… Kxf7 22. e5 Nfd7 23. Qh5+ Kg8 24. Rd6 Bxd6 25. Bf5, 25… h6! would have left White with nothing. The game’s 25… Nf8 would have been much better for Black even after the best 26. Bf5. After 26. Rc4? Qg6 27. Qe2 Ra2, White was lost.

[Click to replay the full game.]

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Kononova – Naughton, Ennis Open 2024

The last post gave Kononova – Naughton as the most interesting game of the Ennis Open 2024.

Kononova - Naughton, Ennis Open 2024
Kononova – Naughton, Ennis Open 2024
52. ?

From the diagrammed position, 52. c6 wins easily. Instead the mysterious 52. Rc1? wasted a crucial tempo. The game then became very complex.

After 52… f3 53. Rxe5+ dxe5 54. c6, Black erred with 54… Kf4?. Instead 54… Kg4! was much stronger: the king threatens to head to h3. White would then have to play accurately to draw; both 55. Bc4! and 55. Be2! reach worse but objectively drawn endings.

After the move played, White’s 55. Kg1 was again an error. Instead 55. Ba6! leads to an objectively winning ending after a long, more-or-less forced sequence.

After 55… Kg3, White erred for the final time with 56. c7?, which allowed a mate in four. After 56… Rh2 57. Bh3 e2 58. Rf1 exf1=Q+, White resigned.

Instead 56. Rc3! was essential. Then 56… e2 57. Bxe2 Rxe2 58. Kf1 Ra2 59. Re3 Ra1+ 60. Re1 Rxe1+ 61. Kxe1 Kg2 reaches a Q + 2P versus Q ending that is winning for Black.

[Click to replay the full game (with notes).]

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