I have not traced the full history of chess in Sligo—I’d be interested if anyone can shed light on this—but it goes back at least as far as 1912, when the Leinster Express announced a 10-board correspondence match between Queen’s County and Sligo County Chess Clubs. Except for an Irish Junior Championship held here a few years ago, though, I’m not aware of any tournaments there.
This gap has now been filled with the inaugural Sligo Spring Tournament, taking place this weekend at the Clayton Hotel, involving 128 players across three sections. Live boards are available for all games in the FIDE-rated Masters, and Diana Mirza is providing live commentary. A report on the Masters has been commenced here, and will be updated over the weekend. [Update, April 30, 2022: a report on the Major, up to the end of round 3, has also been added.]
Round 1: On board 1, it looked as though S. Anand Kumar, though putting up stubborn resistance against top seed Alexander Baburin, would come up short in an ending. His efforts were rewarded, however, when Baburin, very uncharacteristically for him, erred in the ending, and the game ended in a draw. Elsewhere, the new last year’s Irish U12 champion Jason Liu also drew against Sergio Esteve Sanchez. The other games went with seeding.
The game of the round was the in-form Jacob Flynn’s win against Leon Putar. In the diagrammed position, he now played 18. Rxe6!. It would have been interesting to see his continuation after 18… Kxe6: though 19. Bh6 and 19. Qb3 are winning, and 19. Qd3 is much better for White, the most accurate move seems to be 19. Qa4!! (19… fxg5 20. Bxd5+!). Black played 18… Rxe6 instead and lost in short order.
Round 2: On board 1, James Toon had the better game as Black against the second seed, Ukrainian WGM Evgeniya Doluhanova, but erred and then didn’t find the most stubborn defence. The game on board 2 seems incomplete. On board 3, Alexander Baburin, who seems definitely out of sorts, drew against Pete Morriss, who could well have played on. On board 6, Andrey Ivanov had the unfortunate experience of blundering in a drawn (I think!) position, having been completely winning earlier.
Round 3: A quick draw on board 1 between Jacob Flynn and Evgeniya Doluhanova left them tied for first on 2½/3 with S. Anand Kumar, who won his round 3 game against Pete Morriss. On board 3, Alexander Baburin had a moment of chess blindness which might have derailed an otherwise smooth win against Leon Putar, but Leon missed his chance. In the most interesting game of the round, Lara Putar won a complex game against James Toon.
The Major has featured some entertaining chess. Here is an interesting moment from the third round game between Shay Scott and Yannick Woods. What should White play now? In the game he missed the opportunity and soon lost. See the full game for answer and sequel.
Round 4: Evgeniya Doluhanova won convincingly on board 1 against S. Anand Kumar. The co-leader at the beginning of the round Jacob Flynn lost on board 2 against Lara Putar, in perhaps the most interesting game of the tournament. The third diagram shows the position with Flynn, as Black, to play his 35th. It seems, though this is far from obvious, that he has a win with 35… Qb8!, e.g., 36. Qc4 Bb2 37. Rxc2 Qg3! and White’s position collapses. Instead he erred with the plausible 35… Qf2, and later missed a not-too-straightforward drawing resource, and lost. On board 3, Alexander Baburin was held to another draw by Oisín O’Cuilleanain. On board 5, Leon Putar and Dylan Mize played an interesting opening—please tell me this isn’t theory!
Round 5: On board 1, Evgeniya Doluhanova outplayed Lara Putar in a long rook plus four pawns versus rook plus three pawns ending, with all pawns on the same flank, to win the tournament by a clear point. Alexander Baburin won against Jacob Flynn to finish clear second, with S. Anand Kumar, Oisín O’Cuilleanain, and Lara Putar sharing third place on 3/5.
Congratulations to the organisers for an outstanding inaugural event. An update on the Major and a report on the (huge) Challengers event will be added.
Update, May 3, 2022: The report for the Major has been updated to add the final results. Lukian Hushpit (Ukraine) won with 5/5, followed by Rustem Abdullayev on 4, while Steve Farry (England), David Hewitson (Sweden), James Scarry, and Yannick Woods shared third place on 3½.
Rounds 4 and 5 continued the Major’s record of enterprising and entertaining chess. The round 4 games O’Shea – Wynarczyk and Abdullayev – Hewitson were notable, but perhaps the most memorable was the round 5 game between Farry and Vjekoslav Novak. Novak sacrificed a piece, reaching the diagrammed position, and now has a clear win with 15. .. Qh6+ 16. Kg1 Qh2+ 17. Kf1, when the most precise way is 17… f4!, e.g., 18. Qd3 (what else?) Nc5! 19. dxc5 Bh3 and it’s all over. Instead he erred with 15… Rf6??, and after 16. Nde4 his queen was trapped, while there’s no mate: 16… Rh6+ 17. Bh3, etc.