CHESS IRELAND - NEWS, Mar-Jun 2000

• David McAlister advises that he has commenced editing a new Ulster chess site, the Ulster Chess Chronicle (incorporating the UCU official pages). Available here meanwhile are the current UCU Ratings, Easter 2000 (doc format).

• Bray / Greystones Chess Club have become the latest Irish club to mount their own website (courtesy Colin Byford). Incidentally, Bray CC will be holding their 6th Annual Rapidplay on Sat June 17 2000 at the Esplanade Hotel - Bray Seafront. 6 rounds, 25 minutes each per game. 1st prize £120+. Bring set/clock. Registration 9.30-10.00. Rd1 10.30 sharp. Fee £10 (under 18 £8). Late entries £2 extra. Entries to Mervyn Honner 2869498h 087-2384587m.

• Irish Junior Chess Championships (run by the ICU Junior Committee) during April 2000:
  U19: 1st John Kennedy, 2nd Simon Jeffares, 3rd Alex Lopez
  U16: 1st Matthew Dignam, 2nd Stephen Branigan, 3rd Mark McGovern
  U14: 1st Alex Lopez, 2nd Robert Kelly, 3rd Michael Devlin
  U12: 1st Karl McPhillips, 2nd Robbie Lunn, 3rd Eamonn Keane
  U10: 1st Steven Siew, 2nd Jamie Flynn, 3rd Niall Kiernan

  In addition a team of U12 and U14 players took on a junior selection from Sussex in a one day challenge match in Dublin, running out narrow winners by 18.5 to 15.5. Best Irish scorers were Sarah Hegarty and Sean Barr with 3/3 each. (Courtesy Herbert Scarry).

• April 22-30: The 2000 Irish Senior Championships
  All games round-by round (java-viewer)- Round 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | All games (cbh format zipped)
  Round 1-9 reports. Final report: Congratulations to IM Mark Heidenfeld, outright winner (7/9) of the 2000 Irish senior championship.

  Venue: Ahane GAA club, Castleconnell, Co. Limerick over the week April 22-30. The senior (ELO 1900+) championships is staged over nine rounds starting on April 22. The Intermediate / Junior events are over six rounds (first round 3pm, April 24) while a Weekend Open takes place on April 28-30. Six rounds, first rd 8pm. Contact: Frank Noonan, ph: 061-302330. Event flier in doc. format and zipped doc. format. (Courtesy Gerry Graham).

• Jack Gillen advises: the City of Derry Club will be hosting a Millennium tournament on the 9th, 10th and 11th of June. There will be a prizefund of £1500 and the event is expected to be split into four sections. Keep an eye on the City of Derry Club's event link for further details. Email:jackgillen@visto.com.

• Drogheda Chess Festival takes place June 2-5 at the Boyne Valley Hotel, Dublin Road, Drogheda. Entrants divided into all play all groups of six according to rating. Adjournment sessions. Informal blitz on Friday evening, five rd tournament proper begins Saturday 09.30. Entry fee: £15. Contact: Andrew Thomson, ph:041-9836110. Email: doboyle@socc.ie.

• Interprovincials 2000, Limerick, Good Friday: Gerry Graham reports: The Irish Interprovincials were held in the Limerick Ryan Hotel today and resulted in the expected victory by the top seeds, Leinster. The final was a bit closer than it would have been, had Leinster pulled out a stronger team. Their last two boards were under ELO 2000. Munster had to enter 2 teams because Ulster declined to send a team and even though the second team had no one under 1600 they were well and truly beaten by Connaught in the play off.
  Crosstable (xls format - 19kb). Full report to follow.

• Munster Chess Leagues, final positions: After the last round matches played last weekend (April 15-16), Cork City 'A' pip Limerick 'A' for division one title, Limerick 'B' win second division title and promotion. Table (115kb, courtesy G.Graham)

• Malahide Millenium Tournament results, April 8-9: The two highest-rated local entrants shared the honours at last weekend's Malahide Millenium Open ahead of a strong field which included visitors from Spain and England. Mark Quinn and Colm Daly both won their last round encounters (against Acosta Garcia (FIDE 2250) and Daire McMahon respectively) to end a point clear of the field. Each of the winners conceded just one draw; O'Connell v Daly (rd 2) and Quinn v McMahon (rd 4). An impressive array of players sharing third place reflected the generous prize fund (£500 first prize) provided by the National Millenium Council and several local businesses. In the Minor section (U-1600), Phibsboro chess club's Hameed Khonji, the top seed, won with the weekend's only 100% score. We can look forward to future events at St Sylvester's GAA Club as Malahide CC intend to establish the congress as an annual event.
  Some annotated games by joint winner Colm Daly (new game viewer, excuse presentation ... new technology, will refine).

  RESULTS: Open Jt lst M.Quinn, C.Daly 4.5/5, Jt 3rd D.McMahon, J.Richards (Eng), A. Acosta Garcia (Sp), J.Joyce, M.O'Cinneide, G.O'Connell, S.Brady, all 3.5. Grading prizes: P.Walsh, L.O'Toole. Minor lst H.Khonji 5/5, Jt 2nd J.Reid, M.Duzel, J.O'Connell 4. GPs: T.Creighton, S.Scott, D.Lynch, S.Branigan, T.O'Connell, E.Donohue, S.Linton, U.O'Boyle, K.Wilson.

• World number five in Dublin: Alexander Morozevich Chess SuperGM will give a chess lecture in the Spawell Leisure Complex, Templeogue, Co. Dublin at 7.30pm on Thursday April 6th.

• Cork City Chess Club tournament results: March 24-26. lst Eamon Keogh 5.5/6, Jt 2nd P.Twomey, S.Burns 5.
  Grading prizes: Section 1: Noel Aherne, Paul O'Donovan, Michael Burniston and David O'Mahony (all Cork CC) 4/6
  Section 2: Brian Fitzgibbon (Cork) and Shane O'Gorman, (Mountmellick) 3.5/6
  Best Ladies: Gearoid Ni Laughleis 4/6 ( 5 ladies played.)
  Best Under 18: Alex Lopez (Cork) and Graeme Walsh (Dublin)
  Full event crosstable (courtesy Gerry Graham).

  Note: For info updates between main site updates, keep an eye out on the Results BBS.

• RESULTS: Leinster Leagues final rounds, Teachers Club, Mar 11-12:
  Armstrong Cup (Div 1) lst Bray 60, 2nd Phibsboro 58, 3rd Crumlin 57.5. Relegated: Kilkenny, Rathmines B.
  Heidenfeld Trophy (Div 2) lst Rathf/Tallaght 55.5, 2nd Phibsboro 51, 3rd Malahide 49. Rel.: Portmarnock.
  Ennis Shield (3) lst Rathf/Tallaght 36, 2nd UCD 34, Jt 3rd Bray, Elm Mount 32.5. Rel. Rathmines.
  O’Hanlon Cup (4) lst Aer Lingus 41.5, 2nd Celbridge 41.
  BA Cup (5) play offs: lst UCD 10.5, 2nd Skerries 10.
  Bodley Cup (6) play-offs: lst Dublin Univ. 10, 2nd Straffan 9.5.
  Short report.

• Doing some spring-cleaning recently, I came across a small cache of seven copies of a numbered, limited edition (100) of the tournament booklet of the 1997 Leinster International Masters edited by myself (44 pages, A5, won by GM N.McDonald 7.5/9. Other participants: IM (now GM) Summerscale, IM Etchegaray, S.Brady, C.Daly, M.O'Cinneide, J.Ryan, A and S. Gillen, FM Lehitvaara).
  One is reserved for Jim McCarthy (apologies Jim for the three year delay!) but the others are available for £6 each postage included, all monies to go towards the 2000 Glorney and Faber fund. Send me a cheque, or book by email.

  The Irish Chess Union hosts this year's Glorney and Faber cups which will attract some of the strongest young chess talents from eight countries to compete in Dublin this summer (Sunday 23rd July to Friday 28th July). Teams of the best eight U-18 junior chess players (five boys , three girls) from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Belgium, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands will compete for the Glorney (boys) and Faber (girls) Cups over five days in Dublin City University.

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