The Sligo Spring Tournament 2023 was held in Enniscrone, Co. Sligo, from February 3-5. The event was held over four sections, and a full report on the Masters has been uploaded to the Tournament pages here.
The Masters attracted a strong field of 22 players, well up on last year’s 14, and resulted in a convincing win for Jonathan Pein, who conceded only half a point, and that in the last round. Last year’s winner WGM Evheniya Doluhanova of Ukraine tied for second a point back with her compatriot IM Oleg Gubanov, Alexander Baburin, and Rustem Abdullayev.
Among the most interesting games was the first round game between Ukrainian IM Andrei Rakhmangulov and Oisín P. Benson, in which Benson sacrificed a piece in the opening. Alexander Baburin’s annotation in the Sunday Independent showed that he would have held a significant advantage on 12… O-O!; unfortunately he erred with 12… Nxe3? and lost quickly.
The third round game between Bernard Boyle and Oissíne Murphy reached the diagrammed position after White’s 19. Bb5.
19… ?
The game continued 19… Nexg4+! 20. Kg2 Qc8? (an error that threw away the advantage; 20… Qe6! is winning) 21. Bxd6+ Rxd6 22. Qb4, and the disadvantage of Black’s 20th becomes apparent: the rook on d6 is hanging.
After 22… Ne4 23. fxe4 Rf6, White erred with 24. exd5?, which let the black queen join the attack with the devastating 24… Qf5, after which there is no defence; in fact, it’s mate in another five moves. Instead 24. h3! would have left the outcome in doubt, with significant complications.