CHESS IRELAND - NEWS, Sep-Dec 2000

• The University of Limerick Chess Club has started up its own webpage (courtesy Tom Cooper ). 14/12/00

  Update, LCU leagues data, excellent sources:
  LCU league players are blessed this year with a full online results service, including scoresheets, in the six divisions of the Leinster Chess leagues. Check out Peter Scott's Chess League site.
  In addition to the site mentioned above, Joe Ryan has resurrected his neat little updateable league tables for the top four divisions of the LCU for the current 2000/2001 league season. 14/12/00

• The 6th South Wales Masters takes place in Newport on 8-12 January. There are two 10-player all-play-all sections, one with IM norm opportunities and the other with FIDE-rating possibilities with berths still available for any Irish players that might be interested. See flier and current entries.
  Contact Chris Dunworth at dunworth@ecospirit.freeserve.co.uk (courtesy Paul Delaney). 13/12/00

• Kilkenny 2000: The Norkom Technologies European Masters ended with young English GM Luke McShane taking top prize on 5/6 after a last round time scramble victory over IM Malcolm Pein. IM Robert Bellin and GMs Rozentalis and Baburin were amongst those a half-point behind as indeed was current Irish champion, IM Mark Heidenfeld (draws with GM Baburin, IM Bellin and win over a 2440-rated French IM). Masters crosstable.
  For further coverage and games download, see TWIC and finally, .... better late than never, the remaining Kilkenny results:
  MAJOR (U-2000) : 1st Ciaran Quinn 6/6, 2nd Paul Walsh 5, Equal 3rd Lorcan O'Toole, Seamus Duffy 4.5
  Grading prize: Ciaran Mahon, Danny Mallaghan, Sean Nolan and John O'Brien
  Under 1600: Equal 1st Alex Lopez, Alan Collins, Mark McGovern, Paul Reynolds 5/6
  GPs : Graeme Walsh, Gerry Behan, Christy Mc Inerney, Eoin O'Brien, Thomas Cleary, Eugene Donohue, Mark Huba, Peter Butler, Paul Guinness, Stephen Dixon, Peter C. Jackson, Karl McPhillips.
  Under 1200: 1st Ricily O'Riordan 5.5/6, Equal 2nd Barry Foran, David Mc Carthy, Tony Morgan and Thomas Willow 5 GPs : John McGrath, John Shearan, Pat Croke, Harry Howard, Myles McEntee, David Chin-Shong, Joy Burniston, Colin McSweeney and Cian O'Riordan
  Veterans : 1st Walter Fitzgibbon 4.5/5, 2nd Gerry Murphy 4
  Ladies Prize : Gearoidin Ui Laighleis (courtesy Gerry Behan, 11/12/00)

  Venue: Kilkenny Castle. Rating requirements: Masters section, a minimum of 2000 FIDE (BCF 175). This year Irish players with a FIDE rating greater than 2000 but with a present ICU rating less than 2000 may be allowed enter at the discretion of the Tournament Director.
  Fixture clashes with the German Bundesliga, 4NCL and FIDE knockout world championship have slimmed the grandmaster ranks somewhat this year but still the Norkom European masters will feature the participation of grandmasters Luke McShane, Eduardo Rozenatalis (Lithuania) and Alexander Baburin as well as IMs Jon Shaw (current Scottish champion), Malcolm Pein (Sunday Telegraph chess columnist), Robert Bellin, Mark Heidenfeld (current Irish champion) and WIM Jana Bellin and many of the strongest local players.
  A non-playing guest for the weekend will be former world champion and honorary captain of Kilkenny Chess Club, Boris Spassky. John Henderson will be providing internet coverage ... will post link when the organizers send it on.
  Other events Kilkenny Major, venue: Butler House; the James Mason Challenge, Kilkenny Novices and Kilkenny Seniors, venue: the Club House Hotel.
  Enquiries/entries to Jack Lowry 353 56 70688 (Courtesy Maurice Buckley) 11/12/00

• Target Recruitment Ulster Rapidplay Championship, 3rd Dec, QUB.
  Senior: 6 round Swiss (15 competitors)
  1. Stephen Scannell 5/6, 2=3. Ander Gamez, Michael Holmes 4.5, 4. Tom Clarke 4, 5=8. Paul Delaney, Gerard MacElligott, Paul McLoughlin (grading prize), Stephen Morgan 3.5
  Junior: 6 round Swiss (18 competitors)
  1. Sean Linton 5.5/6, 2=3. Alex Beckett, David O'Donnell 4.5, 4=5. Killian Delaney (best schools entrant), Michael Kane (grading prize) 4. 6=8. Louis Holmes, Gerry Collins, Rory Delaney 3.5

  Advance notice: Target Recruitment Open Championship, Friday 30th March - Sunday 1st April 2001: Three sections: Total prize fund £1800. Masters Over 1800 (£500 1st prize, Entry fee £15). Challengers 1401-1800 (£200 1st prize, Entry fee £10). Major Under 1400 (£150 1st prize, Entry Fee £10).
  Each section has prizes for first three plus two grading prizes. A number of travel grants for players in Great Britain and also Dublin and beyond are available on application Contact Tony Beckett, ph: 028 91463298 or e-mail tony@beckett74.freeserve.co.uk (courtesy David McAlister). 6/12/00

• Sunday Tribune chess column, update: As advised last month, my weekly column has fallen foul of the Celtic Tiger. Rampant property advertising has taken over the section in which the chess and bridge columns normally reside.
  A short notice has appeared for the last five weeks indicating that both columns are being held over "due to lack of space". Despite initial assurances from the Tribune that this was a temporary situation that would be sorted out within a few weeks pending section redesigns / reformats, neither myself nor Adam Mesbur, the bridge columnist, have been given any indication as to when the two columns will be reappearing.
  Needless to say, I am keen to continue contributing to the paper on chess, as Adam is on bridge, and so have a modest proposal for readers. If those Chess Ireland regulars who are also Tribune readers are interested in the newspaper resurrecting the chess column sooner rather than later, a postcard / letter to that effect to Matt Cooper, The Editor, Sunday Tribune, Lr. Baggot St, Dublin 2, may well help to expedite matters.
  I will advise in advance if / when the column is due to reappear and re any other developments.
  Still no sign of anything happening, some vague mention that column may be back in place in the new year. Thanks to all of those who have written in to the Tribune. 1/12/00

• ICU subs: I don't think I am alone in thinking that there is some confusion about the new arrangements for collecting annual subs for ICU registration. For the benefit of LCU leagues players / secretaries, this statement (courtesy Shannon Clements) sets out the LCU position regarding fees. If there are any further clarifications, I will post them on the site - readers should feel free to use the bulletin board to post any queries on this or indeed any other subject. Many of the individuals on the ICU and provincial bodies have access to the site. 21/11/00

• See link for details of forthcoming Target Recruitment Ulster Rapidplay, Queens University Belfast (Common Room), December 3rd (courtesy David McAlister). 15/11/00

• The Chess Olympiad, Istanbul, 28 Oct-13 Nov: the Irish team and how they scored:
  • Men: 1. GM Alexander Baburin (6.5/11), 2. IM-elect Mark Quinn (5.5/11), 3. IM Mark Heidenfeld (5/10) 4. FM Colm Daly (7/11), 5. IM Mark Orr (4/7), 6. Sam Collins (1.5/6). Overall 29.5/56, 51st.
  • Women: 1. Suzanne Connolly (7/12), 2. Mairead Ni Siochru (6.5/13), 3. Debbie Quinn (5.5/11), 4. Elizabeth O'Shaughnessy (1/6). Overall, 20/42.
  
  As is becoming painfully customary at representative events, Colm Daly (the team's top scorer on men's board four, 7/11) only narrowly missed out on an IM norm. For the rest, the men's team scored a point higher in total than their last outing in Elista, not unexpected given the presence of GM Baburin on board one. My feeling is that the overall performance at Elista (1998) was more impressive but memories of that 2.5-1.5 win over Poland may be misting my judgement. Individual results of note included Mark Quinn's wild win over GM Rytshagov (Estonia, rd 13), a 2-2 match draw v Belarus (rd 2, courtesy of wins by GM Baburin over Fedorov and IM Orr over Azarov). The women had a sterling second half performance to finish on 20/42 with both Mairead O'Siochru and Debbie Quinn earning FIDE ratings.

  This Olympiad was blessed with impeccable internet coverage courtesy of the Turkish hosts. Irish readers were also lucky enough to have no fewer than three team members writing variously regular online reports, the pick of the bunch being Mark Orr's entertaining daily travelog / chesslog which has full round-by-round and overall tables of the team's performance. See links: Mark Orr, Colm Daly and Alexander Baburin. 15/11/00

• Chess Ireland on the move: Ireland-on-Line is demanding backdated annual subs of, well a lot, and so I am belatedly doing what the rest of the country has already done and going FREE. Only problem is that this will necessitate a change of email address and of Chess Ireland URL. I have arranged an alternative, temporary mirror site, at http://homepage.eircom.net/~jghur/index.htm but may also, with the assistance of a helpful regular reader, be moving to a dedicated Chess Ireland URL. Anyway, if the regular URL goes down suddenly - IOL cutting access - you'll know where to go. I'll keep the site posted regarding dedicated URL developments. Incidentally, for contact purposes, if email to jghurley@iol.ie bounces, send instead to hurleyjohn@hotmail.com or jghur@eircom.net. 10/11/00

• Also check out two new online initiatives by GM Alexander Baburin, Grandmaster Square, a gathering place for grandmasters and a new forum for amateur players to contact GMs, and Chess Today, a daily subscription-based online chess newspaper. See the links for full details, including information on GM Baburin's forthcoming one-day workshop in Dublin aimed at 1400-1800 rated players (Academy Hotel, 18 November, 11am-4pm). 15/11/00

  I have had an appeal from Bray CC's 4NCL captain Haydn Barber whose job of fielding a team in the third / fourth rd 4NCL games in Birmingham on Nov 25/26 has been complicated by the unfortunate overlap of this second weekend of 4NCL activity and our own annual Kilkenny tournament. If there are any strong players, pats / expats or others, who aren't going to Kilkenny and who would like to play in Birmingham for Bray CC, contact Haydn at hadix@attglobal.net. 7/11/00

• Vladimir Kramnik is the new (unofficial) world champion after defeating Gary Kasparov 8.5-6.5 in the Braingames 16-game world championship match in London. Check out the site for live game coverage and commentary. 7/11/00

• The annual Monarch Assurance Isle of Man international tournament ended recently with GM Mark Hebden winning outright on 7.5/9 ahead of GMs Sherbakov (Rus) and Sutovsky (Isr) on 6.5/9. Three Irish player participated. Mark Quinn scored 5.5/9, Keith Allen 4.5/9 and both gained ELO points. John Nicholson scored 2.5/9.
  Incidentally, Mark informed me recently that his FIDE IM title should be ratified shortly as it appears likely that his FIDE rating topped the required 2400 threshold during a tournament last year. 27/10/00

• Attention collectors: Kevin O'Connell advises that his chess collection (4 tons = 4,000kg of autographs, books,magazines, manuscripts, sets etc.) is coming up for auction at Phillips in London (and live on the Internet) on 7 November. Details can be found here or at the following mirror site. 27/10/00

  The 2000 Connaught Chess Championships will take place on October 20-22 at Dalys Hotel, The Mall, Castlebar. Format: 6 rd swiss, 1 hr 30 mins all moves. Entry fee £15, £10 for U-16. Eligibility: Connaught born or resident for 2 years. First rd: Fri Oct 20, 7.15pm.
  Entries / enquiries to: Joe McDonnell, 41 Rathbawn Drive, Castlebar, Co. Mayo. Ph: 094-22689. E:joe@mcdonnell.ie. (Courtesy David Path) 27/9/00

• City of Dublin championship results, 6-8 Oct 2000
  Open IM-elect lst M.Quinn 4.5/6, Jt 2nd D.McMahon, IM M.Heidenfeld 4, Jt 4th J.Ryan, G.Wall, P.Dempsey.
  Intermediate lst D.Path 5.5/6, 2nd C.Quinn 5, 3rd B.Bruen 4.5. Grading prizes: C.Walsh, P.Hayes, P.Lynch.
  Junior Jt lst M.McGovern, K.Delaney, J.Maycock, E.Gahan 5/6. Ladies prize: G.Ui Laighleis 4. GPs: A.Dooley, G.Healy, I.Hurley.
  Click for flier (doc format). 9/10/00

• Full ICU rating list, September 2000. Click here for zip file (45kb). 27/9/00

• Follow Bray's progress in the European Club Championships (Sep 23-30) where Paul Delaney, John Joyce, Tom Clarke, Haydn Barber, Cormac Brady and Seamus Duffy represented the national club champions. Board one Delaney got off to a good start with a first round victory over 2584-rated Romanian grandmaster Nevednichy. Thereafter, the best performers were John Joyce on board two (4/7) and Haydn Barber on board four (4.5/7). The team finished above their seeding, 28th of 34 teams. 9/10/00

• A new chess club has started in Hillsborough, Co Down. Players in the surrounding area are welcome (Lisburn, Dromore, Moira, Ballynahinch etc). Meeting Tuesdays 7.30. For further details telephone Geoffrey Collins 028-92689654. 27/9/00

• The Leinster Schools Chess Association will be starting its 00/01 leagues in October. As usual the sections will be Senior, Junior, Minor, Primary and Novice. For more information, contact the secretary of the association, Audrey Carthy at 8377874 or the president, Michael Hanley at 2882370. 27/9/00

• September 2000 rating list now available (250kb) for Leinster leagues teams (courtesy Tom O'Sullivan). 19/9/00

  Leinster Leagues, Divs 1-4 fixture lists now available (courtesy Tom O'Sullivan). 2000/2001 fixtures list (xls format - 112kb). Completed fixtures lists for Divs 5, 6 and 7 have been delayed due to late responses from captains. Play should begin in the week commencing 23 Oct in these divisions. 18/9/00

• Olympiad selection postscript: On appeal, the ICU executive has decided to amend the board order of the men’s teams originally proposed by the ICU selection sub-committee for the forthcoming chess Olympiad. The 1998/1999 Irish champion, Colm Daly, has been promoted from board six to board four and the full men’s team in board order following the withdrawal of FM Paul Delaney is GM Alexander Baburin, FM Mark Quinn, IM Mark Heidenfeld, FM Colm Daly, IM Mark Orr, Sam Collins.
  Appeals by other players relating to both the men’s and women’s selections were rejected though in light of the controversy generated by both selections, it was agreed that the ICU would seek to devise a more transparent and objectively-based selection system for future representative events. The biennial Olympiad takes place in Istanbul, Turkey from 27 October to 13 November.

• The score of a five game match between GM Alexander Baburin and Sam Collins played in late August was 3.5-1.5 in favour of the former (three draws, two wins). 14/9/00

• Aertel chess pages: Gerry Behan has kindly offered to take over these pages. If organizers would like to advertise events on teletext, send information to Gerry at gpbehan@eircom.net. 14/9/00

• The two Irish representatives at the West European Zonal which took place recently in Spain began to find their feet in the later rounds of this very strong, predominantly grandmaster, event. At the time of writing with a round to play, Joe Ryan was on 4.5/10 (including a win over a 2500+ rated Spaniard) while Daire McMahon was on 2/10. Daire warmed up for the Zonal with an impressive outing at the Lisbon Summer Chess Festival last month where he scored 6.5/10 (tournament performance ELO 2380) behind winner Icelandic GM Hannes Stefannson. Amongst his scalps was grandmaster Alberto David (Lux).
  Update: Final zonal scores: Daire McMahon 2/11, Joe Ryan 4.5/11. 9/10/00

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