• Ulster Championships

  Dec.27-30, Fortwilliam Golf Club, Belfast. Joint 1st 5.5/7 Steve Scannell, James McDonnell Grading prizes: Band A A.Skelton 5, Band B D.Mallaghan 4.5, Band C A.Douglas, T.Parker 3.

• Linares Open

  Jan 8-17: lst A.Dreev (Rus), A.Minasian (Arm) 8/10 .... M.Quinn (Irl) 5/10. 132 took part.

• (Some of) the Irish at Hastings

  RESULTS: Hastings Challengers. Jt lst B.Lalic, K.Bischoff and S.Iuldachev 7.5/10 (Irish scores) R.O'Donovan 5, A.Fox 4.5, P.Cafolla 4.5, D.Path 3.5. T.Cleary scored 4/10 in the World Amateur championship.

• Kilkenny Congress

  Nov 27-29: RESULTS: Iona Technologies International Masters - Joint lst GMs S.Conquest (Eng), B.Lalic (Cro), IM L.McShane (Eng), Jt 3rd GMs A.Baburin (Irl/Rus), M.Hebden (Eng), IMs M.Heidenfeld (Irl), T.Wall (Eng), M.Quinn (best Irish prize), I.Rochev (Rus) 4. Sergei Tiviakov finished on 3.5/6. IMs M.Turner and D.Gormally and Cork's Phillip Short finished on 3.5/6. Master's games (zipped chessbase -10kb)
  Intermediate: lst T.Phillips (Eng) 5.5/6, 2nd R.McDermott 5, Jt 3rd J.Killane, J.Crowley, J.McCarthy, P.J.Rea, S.Duffy, J.Short 4.5. Junior: Jt lst R.O'Mahony, T.Fitzpatrick. Jt 3rd C.Jackson, B.Gaines, G.Murphy, C.Purcell, J.Sauer. Grading prizes: M.Murphy, M.Banim, D.Lynch, A.Humbert.
  Editorial re decision of organizers to bar Colm Daly.

• Andorra FIDE Zonal / Isle of Man Monarch Assurance

  A large number of local players have been on the road with encouraging results. At the FIDE Zonal in Andorra (25 GMs in the 40 player field) finished recently, Mark Quinn and Stephen Brady finished on 3.5/9 - FIDE performances of 2391 and 2343 respectively - with seven draws against GMs between them. At the Monarch Assurance International in the Isle of Man, Colm Daly was on course for an IM norm after the early rounds where he defeated Latvian GM Igor Rausis and drew with Czech GM Jansa in consecutive rounds. In the end, a loss to 2225 rated English player Jackson in round 7 made the task a little too difficult. Still, his 2391 FIDE performance (5/9) should add further points to his FIDE rating and bring him up to 2380/2385 in the January list. Joe Ryan finished on 4.5/9 (including by all accounts a fascinating final round 90 move game with GM Rausis, eventually lost). GM Baburin finished joint second 6/9 behind joint winners Nigel Short and young Israeli GM Sutovsky (both 7/9). Other Irish scores: Sam Collins 4/9 (part FIDE rating secured), Ray O'Rourke 3/9, Keith Allen 4.5/9, John Nicholson 4/9. For full reports on the two events, see Mark Crowther's Homepage.

• 1998 Connaught Chess Championships

  Nov 21-22, Sligo - lst Thorsten Zehrfeld (Sligo) 4.5 / 5, 2nd Paul Reynolds (Westport) 4/5, Jt 3rd A Lillis (Sligo), L. O' Toole (Galway) 3.5. Grading Prize: P. Fahy (Westport).

• Rathmines Congress, Nov 14-15

  Senior lst A.Bengoetxea 4.5/5, 2nd I.Sutton 4, Jt 3rd G.O'Connell, K.Butler, G.Freeman, E.Casey, J.Killane 3.5. Grading prizes: S.Duffy, J.Kennedy jnr, D.Path, S.Roe. Junior Jt lst M.Marape, M.Coll 4.5/5, Jt 3rd A.Corcoran, T.Fitzpatrick, C.Purcell, C.Jackson, A.Rodgers 4. GPs: M.Banim, M.O'Hora, J.Healy. Ladies prize: D.Quinn. FIDE 2330-rated Asier Bengoetxea, a Spanish language student and by some margin the top seed, won last weekend's Rathmines senior title conceding only one draw (against Rathmines CC's new English recruit, second-placed Ian Sutton).

• World Junior Championships, Oropesa del Mar (Spain), November

  Irish results: Boys U-14s Simon Jeffares 3.5/11, U-16s Sam Collins 4/11, U-18s Adam Kelly 3/11. For the event, the Spanish town of Oropesa del Mar played host to 1500-odd participants from 60 countries.

• Limerick Congress, Oct 24-25

  Senior lst R.O'Rourke 5.5/6, Jt 2nd C.Daly, D.Path 5, Jt 4th L.O'Brien, B.Thee. Junior lst T.Cooper 6/6, 2nd G.Bargary 5. The senior event panned out most unpredictably with third seed Ray O'Rourke doing a Swiss 'submarine' winning all of his games after conceding a first-round draw to Noel Douglas (rated 1411). A host of surprising results meant that the Elm Mount board one did not have to face either of the top two seeds Colm Daly (beaten in round 2 by David Path - rated 1650) or Stephen Gillen (held in consecutive rounds by Jan Neuteboom and John Cassidy) on the way to his first senior event title.

• Guernsey Congress, October

  Both Jack Killane and Kevin O'Shea both made FIDE part gradings - 2194 (3.5/7) and 2260 (4/7) respectively - in conjunction with previous results, probably enough to get both players onto the January FIDE list.

• Limerick Open, Oct 24-25

  Senior lst R.O'Rourke 5.5/6, Jt 2nd C.Daly, D.Path 5, Jt 4th L.O'Brien, B.Thee. Junior lst T.Cooper 6/6, 2nd G.Bargary 5.

• The Irish at the Olympiad

  The men's team had a famous victory over Poland 2.5-1.5, Mark Heidenfeld gained his IM title in one fell swoop with his fine tally of 8.5/12 (only one loss) benefitting from special Olympiad rules. Brian Kelly had his title confirmed also and beat one grandmaster (Guliev), one superGM (Krasenkow) and drew with another (Ljubojevic). After a shaky start, board two Colm Daly got into his stride beating GM Kempinski, IM Oblitas and drawing with GM Damljanovic. For the ladies, Gearoidin Ui Leighlis secured a FIDE rating of 2050. The full, round-by-round account of the two teams is still available at the Irish Chess Archive.
  RESULTS: Men (110 teams) lst Russia I 35.5, 2nd USA 34.5...57-62nd Ireland 26.
  Individual Irish scores (in board order): B.Kelly 6.5/12, C.Daly 7/13, M.Heidenfeld 8.5/12, G.O'Connell 3.5/10, K.O'Connell 0.5/4, H.Scarry 0/1. Women (72 teams) lst China 29, 2nd Russia I 27, 3rd Georgia 27...47-51th Ireland 18.5.
  Irish scores: D.Quinn 6/13, B.O'Shaughnessy 6/13, G.Ui Leighlis 6.5/13.

• Drogheda Chess Festival

  Oct 10-11: Section A lst M.Quinn 5/5, 2nd R.McDermott. Sect. B Jt lst F.Gaines, N.O'Higgins. Sect. C Jt lst J. Healy, A.McMenamin. Sect. D 1st S. Dixon 4.5/5 Grading section lst J.Johnson 3.5/5 (also Ladies prize).
  Boys U-19 K.McHugh, U-16 B.McGrath, U-14 G.Healy. Girls U-19 E.O'Reilly, U-16 F.Gibney.