Irish Senior Championship 2004 - Round 2

Today's games at the Irish Chess Championships were all hard fought affairs and the opening of Stephen Brady's game below was the subject of a lot of lively discussion. I'm not sure a definite opinion was agreed upon though, see what you think.

(13) Brady,S - Wallace,P [C45]
Irish Championship (2), 2004

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Qf6 5.Nb5 Bc5 6.Be3 Bxe3 7.fxe3 Qe5 [Fritz suggests 7...Qh4+ 8.g3 Qd8 9.N1c3 a6 10.Nd4 Nf6] 8.Qd5 Kd8 9.Bc4 Qxd5 10.exd5 Ne5 11.Bd3 d6 12.N1c3 Nf6 13.Kd2 a6 14.Nd4 g6 15.Nf3 Nfg4 16.h3 Nxf3+ 17.gxf3 Nf2 18.Rh2 Nxd3 19.cxd3 c5 20.dxc6 bxc6 21.h4 h6 22.Rc1 Rb8 23.b3 Ke7 24.e4 Bd7 25.Ke3 a5 26.f4 f6 27.Rg2 Rhg8 28.d4 Rb4 29.Na4 Kf7 30.Nb2 Ke7 31.Nd3 Rb6 32.f5 g5 33.hxg5 hxg5 34.Rh1 Rg7 35.Rh6 Rb8 36.e5 Rf8 37.e6 Bc8 38.Nf2 Bb7 39.Rgh2 c5 40.dxc5 dxc5 41.Ng4 Bc6 42.Rh7? [42.Rc2 Kd6 43.Nxf6+-] 42...Rxh7 43.Rxh7+ Kd6 44.Ra7 Rh8 45.Ra6 a4 46.bxa4 Rh3+ 47.Ke2 Rh4 48.Nxf6 Rxa4 49.Rxc6+ Kxc6 50.e7 Rxa2+ 51.Kf3 Ra8 52.e8Q+ Rxe8 53.Nxe8 c4 54.Nf6 Kc5 55.Ke3 Kd6 1-0

The following game contains some of the most surprising moves I've ever seen in the notes to Black's 44th move. When I showed them to Paul Wallace afterwards, he said something like " We don't play the same game as these machines at all, do we?"

(15) McPhillips,K - Ryan,J [A40]
Irish Championship (2), 2004

1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.e4 Bb7 4.Bd3 f5 5.exf5 Bb4+ 6.Kf1 Nf6 7.Nf3 0-0 8.Bg5 Qe8 9.a3 Bd6 10.Nbd2 exf5 11.Qb3 Kh8 12.Re1 Qg6 13.Qc2 Nc6 14.Bxf5 Qh5 15.Bxf6 Rxf6 16.Bxd7 Raf8 17.Bxc6 Bxc6 18.d5 Bd7 19.Re2 a5 20.Ke1 Qg4?! [Fritz spots 20...Rg6 21.Rg1 Bg4 with a definite advantage to Black.] 21.Re4 Qg6 22.Qc3 Bc5 23.Re2 Rf4 24.Kd1 a4 25.Rhe1 Bg4 26.Kc1 Bd6 27.h3 Bc8 28.Nd4 Rxf2 29.Rxf2 Rxf2 30.Qe3 Rf8 31.Ne6 Rg8 32.g4 Bd7 33.Nf3 Re8 34.Nh4 Qf7 35.Nf5 Bf8 36.Ng5 Qg6 37.Ne6 Qf6 38.Qe4 c6 39.g5 Qf7 40.h4 cxd5 [Afterwards, both players examined the following lines 40...b5 41.Nfd4 A) 41...bxc4 42.dxc6 Bc8 (42...Bxe6 43.Nxe6) 43.h5 c3 44.Qxh7+ Kxh7 45.g6+ Qxg6 46.hxg6+ Kxg6 47.Nxf8+ Rxf8 48.bxc3; B) 41...cxd5 42.cxd5 b4 43.Qf5 Qxf5 44.Nxf5] 41.cxd5 b5 42.h5 Qxh5 43.Nfxg7 Bxg7 44.Rh1 Qxg5+ [Please have a close look at what Fritz showed us, it's absolutely amazing 44...Rc8+ 45.Kb1 Rc4 46.Nxg7 Qh3!! 47.Qe1!! (47.Rxh3 Rxe4 48.Ne6 Bxe6 49.dxe6 Rxe6=) 47...Qd3+ 48.Ka1 Qxd5 49.g6!] 45.Nxg5 Rxe4 46.Nxe4 1-0

This is a full list of today's games:

Results

No Name             Total  Result   Name            Total

 1 GAWAIN JONES FM  [1]     ½:½    STEPHEN JESSEL  [1]  
 2 STEPHEN BRADY FM [1]     1:0    PAUL WALLACE    [1]  
 3 JOHN A. JOYCE    [1]     ½:½    MARK ORR IM     [1]  
 4 KARL Mc PHILLIPS [1]     1:0    JOE RYAN FM     [1]  
 5 PHILIP SHORT FM  [.5]    ½:½    JOSEF MUDRAK FM [.5] 
 6 ANTHONY FOX      [.5]    1:0    KEVIN WHITE     [.5] 
 7 PAUL WALSH       [0]     1:0    ALAN BEVERIDGE  [0]  
 8 TOM HEALY        [0]     1:0    EAMON KEOGH     [0]  
 9 GORDON FREEMAN   [0]     1:0    RORY QUINN      [0]  
10 EDMUND SOH       [0]     1:0    RAY BYRNE       [0]

Standings after round 2

Place Name             

 1-2  STEPHEN BRADY FM  2        
      KARL Mc PHILLIPS  2        
 3-7  MARK ORR IM       1.5      
      STEPHEN JESSEL    1.5      
      GAWAIN JONES FM   1.5      
      JOHN A. JOYCE     1.5      
      ANTHONY FOX       1.5      
8-15  JOE RYAN FM       1        
      PAUL WALLACE      1        
      JOSEF MUDRAK FM   1        
      PHILIP SHORT FM   1        
      GORDON FREEMAN    1        
      PAUL WALSH        1        
      EDMUND SOH        1        
      TOM HEALY         1        
 16   KEVIN WHITE       0.5      
17-20 EAMON KEOGH       0        
      RAY BYRNE         0        
      ALAN BEVERIDGE    0        
      RORY QUINN        0

Oh yea, I promised you this game yesterday, have a look.

(10) Wallace,P - Healy,T [C43]
Irish Championship (1), 2004

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.Nxe5 Nf6 5.Bd3 d6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.0-0 Be7 8.Nbd2 0-0 9.c3 Nbd7 10.Qc2 d5 11.Ne5 Bh5 12.Ndf3 Rc8 13.Nxd7 Nxd7 14.Ne5 Nxe5 15.dxe5 Bg6 16.f4 Bc5+ 17.Kh1 Bxd3 18.Qxd3 c6 19.f5 Re8 20.Qg3 Bf8 21.Bg5 Qc7 22.Rae1 Kh8 23.f6 g6 24.Qf4 Re6 25.Rf3 Rce8 26.Rfe3 Bc5 27.R3e2 Bd6 28.Qh4? [Fritz showed us the following, 28.exd6! Rxe2 29.Rxe2 Rxe2 30.Qf1!!+ and, in fairness, Tom Healy saw this at the board, luckily for him, Paul missed it-] 28...Bf8 29.Bf4 c5 30.Re3 d4 31.Rh3 h5 32.g4 Rxe5 33.Bxe5 Rxe5 34.Rxe5 Qxe5 35.gxh5 g5 36.Qf2 Qe4+ 37.Kg1 Bh6 38.cxd4 cxd4 39.Qd2 Qb1+ 40.Kf2 Qf5+ 41.Rf3 Qe5 [41...Qxf3+ 42.Kxf3 g4+ 43.Ke2 Bxd2 44.Kxd2 Kh7÷] 42.Kg1 Bf8 43.Qd3 Bd6 44.Rf2 Qe1+ 45.Qf1 Qe3 46.Qe2 Bf4 47.Kg2 d3 48.Qxe3 Bxe3 49.Rf5 d2 50.Rd5 Kh7 51.Rd8 g4 52.Kg3 Bg5 53.Kxg4 Bh6 54.h4 a5 55.a4 b6 56.b3 Be3 57.Kf3 Bh6 58.Ke2 Bf4 59.Rf8 1-0

The prize winners in the Weekender Swiss were as follows:

  1   MAXIME SORIN     France     2303   4.5       
  2   DAVID PATH       Cork       1811   4.0       
 3-4  STEPHEN SHORT    Cork       1751   3.5       
      NICK LARTER      Ennis      1528   3.5       
Grading Prize
 5-6  JAN MUELLER      Limerick   1180   3.0