The Malahide Millennium Tournament, incorporating the Leinster Championships, took place at Dublin Airport over the weekend.
The top section attracted 14 players. The top seed by a considerable margin was IM Gediminas Sarakauskas of Lithuania, but he suffered an early reverse when losing in spectacular style as White to Shane Melaugh in round 2.
20. ?
White was already uncomfortable in the diagrammed position. After 20. Qc3 d4, he started to go astray with 21. Qc2?! (21. Qd3 leaves Black only moderately better), but after 21… Be3, 22. Bxe3?? was disastrous (22. Be2 Rf2 with advantage to Black was essential). After 22… dxe3 23. Qc3 Rxf1+! it was all over, and White resigned a few moves later.
[Click to replay the full game.]
The second seed, and only former Leinster champion, Colm Daly also suffered a serious and uncharacteristic reverse in round 2 against Will Sidney, and lost again in round 3.
After round 5, Shane Melaugh was on 5/5 and two clear points ahead of the field, and became the 2024 Leinster champion for the first time. Congratulations! Despite a last-round loss as Black against Colm Daly, he played an outstanding tournament.
A full report has been added to the tournament pages here.
[Update, May 9, 2024: A full report for the Intermediate event (1st and Leinster Intermediate champion Maxim Lorigan) has been uploaded, with 11 of the 159 games.]
[Update, May 14, 2024: A full report for the Junior event (1st and Leinster Junior champion Saiansh Biswal) has been uploaded, with 12 of the 104 games.]