Many people's favourite to win this year's title, Stephen Brady, suffered a setback at the hands of the young Kilkenny man, Karl McPhillips. Karl later attributed his win to Stephen's lack of familiarity with the opening variation. In particular, he criticised 13...Nh5 as it seems to lose a tempo or two. See what you think.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bh4 b6 6.f3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 d6 8.e4 Nbd7 9.Bd3 e5 10.Ne2 Nf8 11.Bf2 Ne6 12.Qd2 0-0 13.Be3 Nh5?! 14.g4 Nf6 15.Ng3 Nh7 16.h4 Re8 17.Kf2 c5 18.d5 Nef8 19.Rag1 f6 20.Nf5 Kf7 21.Kf1? [21.Bxh6!! gxh6 22.Qxh6+-] 21...g6 22.Nxh6+ Ke7 23.g5 Kd7 24.h5 fxg5 [24...Nxg5 25.Rxg5 fxg5 26.Bxg5 Qc7 27.hxg6] 25.hxg6 Nxg6 26.Nf7 Qf6 27.Rxh7 Qxf3+ 28.Ke1 Re7 29.Nxg5 Qf6 30.Rf1 [30.Rh6!] 30...Nf4 31.Rxe7+ Kxe7 32.Bxf4 exf4 33.Rxf4 Qh8 34.Rf7+ Ke8 35.Rh7 Qe5 36.Kd1 Bd7 37.Kc2? [37.Qf2!+-] 37...Qf6 38.Qh2 Kd8 39.Rh8+ [39.Ne6+ Bxe6 40.Qxd6+] 39...Be8 40.Ne6+ Ke7 1-0
No Name Total Result Name Total 1 KARL Mc PHILLIPS [2] 1:0 STEPHEN BRADY FM [2] 2 MARK ORR IM [1.5] ½:½ GAWAIN JONES FM [1.5] 3 STEPHEN JESSEL [1.5] 0:1 JOHN A. JOYCE [1.5] 4 PHILIP SHORT FM [1] 1:0 ANTHONY FOX [1.5] 5 JOSEF MUDRAK FM [1] 1:0 GORDON FREEMAN [1] 6 JOE RYAN FM [1] 1:0 PAUL WALSH [1] 7 PAUL WALLACE [1] ½:½ EDMUND SOH [1] 8 KEVIN WHITE [.5] 1:0 TOM HEALY [1] 9 ALAN BEVERIDGE [0] ½:½ RORY QUINN [0] 10 EAMON KEOGH [0] 1:0 RAY BYRNE [0]
Place Name Score M-Buch.
1 KARL Mc PHILLIPS 3.0 2.0
2 JOHN A. JOYCE 2.5 1.5
3-8 MARK ORR IM 2.0 2.0
GAWAIN JONES FM 2.0 1.5
JOSEF MUDRAK FM 2.0 1.5
STEPHEN BRADY FM 2.0 1.5
PHILIP SHORT FM 2.0 1.5
JOE RYAN FM 2.0 1.5
9-13 STEPHEN JESSEL 1.5 2.0
ANTHONY FOX 1.5 2.0
PAUL WALLACE 1.5 1.5
KEVIN WHITE 1.5 1.5
EDMUND SOH 1.5 1.5
14-17 GORDON FREEMAN 1.0 2.0
PAUL WALSH 1.0 1.5
TOM HEALY 1.0 1.5
EAMON KEOGH 1.0 1.0
18-19 ALAN BEVERIDGE 0.5 1.0
RORY QUINN 0.5 1.0
20 RAY BYRNE 0.0 1.5
John Joyce can consider himself very lucky to be on board 1 tomorrow because he was "busted" today against Stephen Jessel. Joe Ryan also looked in severe trouble against Paul Walsh but experience, it seems, is worth a pawn or two in time scrambles.
Tomorrow we can look forward to the following:
1 JOHN A. JOYCE [2.5] : KARL Mc PHILLIPS [3] 2 GAWAIN JONES FM [2] : PHILIP SHORT FM [2] 3 MARK ORR IM [2] : JOSEF MUDRAK FM [2] 4 STEPHEN BRADY FM [2] : JOE RYAN FM [2] 5 EDMUND SOH [1.5] : STEPHEN JESSEL [1.5] 6 ANTHONY FOX [1.5] : PAUL WALLACE [1.5] 7 GORDON FREEMAN [1] : KEVIN WHITE [1.5] 8 PAUL WALSH [1] : EAMON KEOGH [1] 9 RORY QUINN [.5] : TOM HEALY [1] 10 RAY BYRNE [0] : ALAN BEVERIDGE [.5]
Some of the lads in the local Limerick chess club are running a book on the results, my money is staying where it was before play started, in my pocket !