The Irish Championship has been running since last Saturday, August 3, at the Talbot Hotel Stillorgan in Dublin, and concludes tomorrow.
A full report, with all games from the first eight rounds and pairings for the ninth, has been uploaded to the tournament pages here.
The event started with a field of 52, tying the all-time record set in 2007, and added an extra player in round 3 in Gavin Sheahan, taking the field to an all-time record. There were 19 players playing in their first Irish championship, but this fell just short of the record of 20 set in Belfast, 1966.
A major feature has been the live commentary on all rounds by Mark Quinn and Jonathan O’Connor on Mark’s Twitch channel. Highly recommended!
After eight rounds, David Fitzsimons leads on 7 points, a full point clear of Alexander Baburin and Kavin Venkatesan on 6. Only these are still in contention; Oisín O’Cuilleanain is in clear fourth on 5½, followed by a group of 11 players on 5.
In tomorrow’s last round (which commences earlier, at 12.30pm local time), O’Cuilleanain has white against Fitzsimons, Baburin plays white against Colm Daly, and Venkatesan plays black against Atharva Paibir. (The last of these pairings is puzzling to me.)
[Update, August 11, 2024: The report has been updated with the final round games. David Fitzsimons needed only a draw in his final round game, and drew without any difficulty, for his first Irish title. Congratulations! Baburin beat Daly to finish clear second, while Venkatesan drew with Paibir to finish clear third. Five players shared fourth place.]