The Irish New Year 2020 events included three norm events, two rating-restricted all-play-alls, the Irish 50+/65+ Championship and a blitz tournament.
A report on the GM Norm Event has been added to the tournament section here.
As it happened, no norms were achieved; in the end, only Alex Lopez came within a point of a norm. His chances were severely damaged by an early loss in an interesting game against Henry Li.
David’s post on Maeve Binchy and chess at Kiely’s in Donnybrook brought back vivid personal memories: I remember playing a league match upstairs there very early in my playing career, probably 1976 or so, when I was 12. I even recall some whispered discussions in the background on whether I was too young to be allowed in at all, but this was when my game was already under way, and my presence was graciously accepted.
Maeve Binchy wrote well. She certainly captures the atmosphere as I remember it.
I was a bit sorry to see that Kiely’s had shut down—apparently its closing by the family who had owned it for thirty years was announced in April 2018, and it was sold in November 2019 to a developer who will turn it into high-end apartments and a rooftop bar. “It is understood the new venue will recognise the site’s strong rugby heritage”, says the Irish Times. But it has a chess heritage too.
But back to Maeve Binchy’s article. She was puzzled at first by the term “endgame theory”, but David quotes her summary: “you must learn to recognise positions on the board which are leading to a winning, a drawing or a losing ending and deal with them.” Well put! But it’s not always so easy. Here are two closely related examples where a pair of Ireland’s leading players had drawing endings but did not deal properly with them, getting a near-identical losing position instead, within a month of each other.
The first position is from Collins – Goloshchapov, Monarch Assurance Isle of Man Open 2002. The last exchange, on move 60, left a drawn ending, with the white and black kings on f3 and e5 respectively, and the pawns where they are in the diagram, with White to move. Goloschapov played on, and his persistence was rewarded when Collins played 67. Kd4?. The drawback is that after the continuation 67… Ke6 68. Ke4 Kf6, the white king could no longer get to the unique “corresponding square” f2, which it had already reached twice, with the black king on f6, on moves 62 and 65. From the diagram, White must play 67. Kd2! to draw (67… Ke6 68. Ke2 Kf6 69. Kf2=).
[Click to replay the full game.]
Less than a month later, Heidenfeld – Gagunashvili, Bled Olympiad 2002 reached the position at right, with White to play. There followed 62. Kf4 Kg7 63. Ke5?, and after 63… Kf7, the position was the same as in Collins – Goloshchapov at move 68, shifted one rank higher, and Heidenfeld was lost for the same reason: here, the white king could not reach the unique “corresponding square” f3. On move 63, White needs to be able to meet 63… Kf7 with 64. Kf3, and 63… Kf8 with 64. Kf4, so any of 63. Ke4/e3/g4/g3 will maintain the draw with best play, but no other moves (63. Kf3? Kf7 and White is in zugzwang.)
[Click to replay the full game (note: click the triangle at right in the controls under the board to enter into variations).]
In the Comments in the Simuls page Oisin McGuinness referred to an article on chess by the celebrated writer Maeve Binchy which had appeared in the Irish Times. He thought it might have been in connection with a Hecht simul in April 1974 but was concerned he might have conflated her involvement with another event. His concern proved justified but interest sufficiently piqued, I have managed to find the Binchy article on page 6 of the Wednesday, September 13, 1972 edition of the Irish Times.
It wouldn’t do to reproduce the entire article, of course – but here’s a fair use tasting menu.
Opening
“I crept up the stairs in Kiely’s pub in Donnybrook, because if there’s one thing everyone knows about chess people it is that they are quiet, calm people. The one thing they wouldn’t like would be loud noise. They were sitting at tables and there was a bit of gentle ruminative coughing, much ticking from those double clocks, graceful slithering of pawn to King’s Bishop Four, and the occasional murmur of chess conversation.
They play here on Monday and Wednesday nights and they assure me that they are not at all bookish and reserved and lost in thinking about the 18th move ahead. They are have been known to have a drink downstairs before or after or even during their night’s play.”
Middlegame
Binchy was at that time Women’s editor of the Irish Times and the article appeared in her “Women First” column. The centrepiece of her article was an interview with Aileen Noonan, Ann O’Clery and Dorren O Siochru.
“Three Irish women are going off to Skopje at the end of the month to play for Ireland at the end of this month to play for Ireland in the women’s events of the Chess Olympiad. It will last for almost three weeks and will be extremely arduous. This is only the second time (1) that Ireland has sent a team to the female events and they feel a heavy sense of responsibility. Were they rehearsing? I asked. Rehearsing was not the word that my contact man would have chosen, and he didn’t go for the word practising either. They were playing, he said firmly, and analysing their games as they went along.
I tiptoed over to the women’s team to help them analyse their games as well.”
A photograph of Noonan, O’Clery and O Siochru “analysing” accompanied the article, but rather than join in, Binchy engaged with the Irish women’s Olympiad team (and described in a whimsical and good-natured way in the article) on such issues as endgame theory (2), whether individual characteristics influenced style of play, chess clocks, attracting sponsors, the Armstrong Cup (then residing in a downstairs room in Kiely’s) and an over-subscribed beginners’ course recently advertised. On the latter the three female experts referred her to Joe Keenan, who was giving the lessons. He explained that his next lesson would include how having two rooks on the seventh rank was very good for you and very bad for your opponent. Binchy “pondered over this for some time” and then agreed with him.
Endgame
“And suddenly I was out in noisy Donnybrook again having chicken and chips in a place nearby and wishing that I had been able to whisper a few more questions in the lovely chess silence upstairs in Kiely’s, about why do the French call what we call a Bishop “Un Fou” and were female Grand Masters called Grand Mistresses. But it was all over, and I had even forgotten to wish the Irish women’s team good luck at Skopje on September 28th.”
(1) Binchy was misinformed here. Noonan had been a member of the Irish team at the previous Women’s Olympiad (Lublin 1969) but Ireland was also represented in the very first such event (Emmen 1957).
(2) “What was endgame theory, for heaven’s sake? I mean once a game was ending it was ending, wasn’t it? Not at all, you must learn to recognise positions on the board which are leading to a winning, a drawing or a losing ending and deal with them.”
A report has (at long last) been added here on the Irish Championship 2018. Jim Olney described the field as “the strongest for some years” in the Irish Examiner, but really he could have said “ever”, with 8 former champions, including the defending joint champions, 4 out of the 5 Olympiad team members, and 11 players rated over 2300 FIDE.
Alex Lopez romped home to clinch his third title in his first three Irish championships, with 1½ points to spare over the field, with David Murray recording his first IM norm in sharing second place with Conor O’Donnell.
The selection of “Interesting games” on the Information page is always subjective, but when 33 games are so listed, it’s a sign that the chess was unusually interesting.
The Ulster Masters 2019 took place on November 23-24 in Bangor, with 34 players competing across two sections. The top section finished in a three-way tie between Gareth Annesley, Calum Leitch, and Danny Roberts. A full report has been added to the tournament section here.
There were several interesting games, but the most dramatic by far was the fourth-round encounter between Conor Spackman and Annesley. In the diagrammed position White has sacrificed a piece; how should he continue?
[Click to replay the full game.]
There were many twists and turns, and there are some spectacular variations. For me, it’s a candidate for Irish Game of the Year.
The Ulster Championship 2019 was held in the Europa Hotel over the August Bank Holiday weekend. The event was dominated by Daniil Zelenchuk, who started with five straight wins and had wrapped up clear first with a round to spare, for his first Ulster championship.
Going by ratings, this was a major surprise, as he was rated 9th out of 13 at the start of the event, over 400 points behind the top seed.
The event marked the return to the fray of many times former champion Keith Allen, who hadn’t played in this event since 1990. The photo below shows him in action in round 1 in his game against the eventual winner.
A full report has been added to the tournament pages here.
The Irish Women’s Championship took place in Buswells Hotel over the weekend. Ioana Miller won for the third consecutive year, winning all her games, also for the third consecutive year. And for the second consecutive year there were no draws among the 30 games played.
So much for the similarities; there were also significant differences. In particular this event was much stronger than last year’s, with the champion only barely the top seed over Trisha Kanyamarala. The critical game between these two saw the champion win with Black (game unfortunately not available).
17 of the 30 games are available, plus one fragment. These have been compiled into a report in the tournament section here.
The Irish Championship for 1977, held in Cork, attracted a field of 34 players. It was a very young field, in which 15 players were playing in their first championship, including future winners Philip Short, John Delaney, Eugene Curtin, and Paul Delaney, as well as Keith Allen, Tom Clarke, and Tim Harding.
The defending champion Bernard Kernan was not there—in fact he never played in any subsequent Irish championship either—and the path was open for a new winner. After four rounds Colm Barry and Eugene Curtin, both of whom played in the Glorney Cup later that month, were in the lead, having dropped only a half point against each other. By round 6, Alan Ludgate, co-champion in 1975, had taken a lead which he never subsequently relinquished, finishing with three draws for an undefeated 6½/9 and his second shared title.
The sensation of the event, though, was the performance of Ray Devenney, who beat Barry, Curtin, Paul Delaney, and Eamon Keogh to finish with 6½/9 and become joint champion. Devenney suffered his only setback in round 6 when, on 4/5, he lost to John Gibson in a game in which he stood much better. He bounced back in the next round with a critical win against Eamon Keogh.
In this game it was Keogh who stood better earlier, before blundering a pawn. In the diagrammed position, it is still all to play for: after 26… Rf8 27. f4 Bh6 28. e3 Rae8 Black would have full compensation. Instead play continued 26… Re8 27. Qg4 Qe5? (27… Qh6!=) 28. Bf5 Qxe2? (28… Re7, with advantage to White) 29. Qh3 h6 30. Rxd6 Rad8 31. Rxh6+! with a decisive attack.
[Click to replay the full game.]
A full report on the championship has been added to the tournament pages here.
The third annual St. Andrew’s Charity Classic was held the weekend before last in Booterstown, Co. Dublin. The event attracted 130 players across 3 sections.
The Masters ended in a tie for first between Tarun Kanyamarala and Conor O’Donnell. A report (with all 42 games, via live boards) has been added to the Tournaments pages here.
