Killane Shield team win over Bray B

Bray B vs. Rathmines
1 Liam Bennett UG 0 / 1 Atanas Kouhtev 1443
2 Paddy McGarry 1320 0 / 1 Peter Bishop 1392
3 Paul Ryan 1211 ½ / ½ Dave O’Connell 1394
4 Richard Doyle 1254 ½ / ½ Paul Mogerley 1340
5 Vincent Denard 1172 0 / 1 Andrew McGrath 937
Score 1 / 4

Report from Peter Bishop

The match wasn’t as one sided as the results seem to show. Going into the match I felt we could win knowing the strength of our team, that Bray had finished just above us in the Ennis Shield and that we were playing their B team. They gave us more of fight then I had reckoned on. 

When we were twenty minutes into play I looked at the other four games and saw none of us had a material advantage, something I would normally expect to see.  My opponent then unfortunately blundered away his black bishop after move 14.  This made things easy because my knights had room to move on black squares allowing me to wittle material off by swops. Despite this advantage I gave him too much space by playing it too safe and was nearly force to give up my remaining knight for a couple of pawns. 

Paul and Dave’s opponents blocked the board up forcing draws.  I didn’t see much of Andrew’s game but he won continuing his good season.  Atantis should have lost.  He lost a pawn allowing his opponent to have a past pawn in the centre. He managed to swoop a rook and another pawn for a knight and bishop. Both players were now in time trouble.  With space, the extra piece and the game now being one of Speed Chess Atantas proceeded to win (the queens were still on the board). 

We are now in the semifinals and troubl: three of our potential opponents finished 1,2,3 in the Ennis Shield and another won the O’Hanlon Cup.

Club Championships 2008 – R4 Draw and Standings

All Round 4 games to be played on Tuesday, 29-Apr-08, unless otherwise agreed.

Senior CC 2008 – Round 4

Results

No Name             Result   Name          

 1 Kennedy, M (3)      :     Moore, K (6)
 2 Goralski, L (4)     :     Killane, J (7)
 3 Delaney, K (2)      :     Doyle, P (8 )
 4 Kalam, A (1)        :     Fagan, L (5)
 5 Lynch, P (9)        :     McEvoy, P (10)

Standings

Place Name             Rtg  Score   Progr. M-Buch. Buch.

 1-2  Moore, Ken       1730 2.5      8.0     3.5   6.5
      Killane, Jack    1716 2.5      8.0     3.0   7.0
  3   Kennedy, Michael 1777 2        6.0     2.0   5.0
 4-7  Delaney, Killian 1998 1.5      5.0     3.5   7.0
      Goralski, Lucasz 1752 1.5      4.0     4.0   7.5
      Kalam, Abul      2147 1.5      4.0     3.0   6.5
      Doyle, Philip    1709 1.5      4.0     2.0   4.0
  8   Fagan, Leon      1731 1        2.0     3.0   5.0
9-10  McEvoy, Pat      1566 0.5      2.0     3.5   6.5
      Lynch, Peter     1630 0.5      2.0     2.5   5.0

Cross Table

No  Name             Feder Rtg  1    2    3    4 

1.  Kalam, Abul                 7:L  8:W  4: D  5:
2.  Delaney, Killian            5:W  7:L  3: D  8:
3.  Kennedy, Michael           10: D  9:W  2: D  6:
4.  Goralski, Lucasz            6:L  5:W  1: D  7:
5.  Fagan, Leon                 2:L  4:L  9:W  1:
6.  Moore, Ken                  4:W 10:W  7: D  3:
7.  Killane, Jack               1:W  2:W  6: D  4:
8.  Doyle, Philip               9: D  1:L 10:W  2:
9.  Lynch, Peter                8: D  3:L  5:L 10:
10. McEvoy, Pat                 3: D  6:L  8:L  9:
2008 Intermediate CC -
Round 4
Results
No Name             Result   Name            

 1 Cranny, K (1)       :     Koomvalai, K (8 )
 2 Kilbride, R (6)     :     Bishop, P (4)
 3 Osborne, J (5)      :     Freer, P (3)
 4 Maher, J (2)        :     Byrne, C (7)
Standings
Place Name               Rtg Score    Progr. M-Buch. Buch.

  1   Freer, Pat         1393 2.5      7.5     2.5   5.0
 2-3  Osborne, James     1355 2        7.0     3.5   7.0
      Byrne, Ciaran J    1257 2        5.0     3.0   5.5
 4-5  Koomvalai, Kannika 1139 1.5      5.5     3.0   6.5
      Maher, John        1437 1.5      4.0     3.0   5.5
 6-7  Cranny, Kieran     1559 1        3.0     3.0   6.0
      Bishop, Peter      1392 1        2.0     2.5   5.5
  8   Kilbride, Ray      1341 0.5      2.0     3.5   7.0
Cross Table
No Name               Feder Rtg 1   2   3   4 

1. Cranny, Kieran               5:L 4:W 2:L 8:
2. Maher, John                  6: D 5:L 1:W 7:
3. Freer, Pat                   4:W 8: D 6:W 5:
4. Bishop, Peter                3:L 1:L 8:W 6:
5. Osborne, James               1:W 2:W 7:L 3:
6. Kilbride, Ray                2: D 7:L 3:L 4:
7. Byrne, Ciaran J              8:L 6:W 5:W 2:
8. Koomvalai, Kannika           7:W 3: D 4:L 1:
Junior CC 2008 - Round 4
Results
No Name               Result   Name          

 1 Cunningham, E (8 )     :     O'Raw, M (6)
 2 O'Boyle, U (7)        :     McGrath, A (5)
 3 Gaffney, J (1)        :     Hall, S (4)
 4 Mowlds, D (2)         :     O'Brien, C (3)
Standings
Place Name            Rtg Loc  Score Progr. M-Buch. Buch.

  1   O'Brien, Cormac 1185 3        9.0     1.5   3.5
  2   McGrath, Andrew 937  2.5      7.5     3.0   4.5
  3   Gaffney, John   1200 2        7.0     3.0   6.0
 4-6  O'Boyle, Una    1197 1.5      5.0     4.0   7.0
      Hall, Shane     701  1.5      4.0     3.5   6.0
      Cunningham, Ed  859  1.5      3.5     2.0   4.5
 7-8  O'Raw, Marian   700  0        0.0     4.0   8.5
      Mowlds, Dee     705  0        0.0     3.5   8.0
Cross Table
No Name            Feder Rtg 1   2   3   4
1. Gaffney, John             8:W 2:W 3:L 4:
2. Mowlds, Dee               7:L 1:L 8:L 3:
3. O'Brien, Cormac           6:W 7:W 1:W 2:
4. Hall, Shane               5:L 6:W 7: D 1:
5. McGrath, Andrew           4:W 8: D 6:W 7:
6. O'Raw, Marian             3:L 4:L 5:L 8:
7. O'Boyle, Una              2:W 3:L 4: D 5:
8. Cunningham, Ed            1:L 5: D 2:W 6:
			

Branagan R2: Rathmines B knocked out by Gonzaga

Last night in the Branagan Cup (24-Apr-08), Rathmines B went down to a 1-4 defeat at the hands of a stronger Gonzaga team.  This result means that Rathmines Chess Club has no teams left in the competition.  Here’s the scorecard:

	Rathmines B	Rating	Result	Gonzaga	Rating
1	David Goggins	1834	0 – 1	David Murray	2019
2	John Aherne	1803	0.5 – 0.5	Gordon Freeman	2074
3	Trevor Rufli	1751	0 – 1	Ray Byrne	1947
4	Ken Moore	1701	0 – 1	Eoghan Casey	1871
5	Peter Lynch	1566	0.5 – 0.5	Garth Fitzmaurice	1866
			1 – 4

Branagan R2: Rathmines A knocked out by Phibsboro

Last night, 21-Apr-08, Rathmines A was comprehensively beaten by a very strong Phibsboro team.  This was no surprise, as they featured 5 of their top 6 player that won the Armstrong.  At this stage, they look unbackable favourites to go on and win this competition too.

	Phibsboro	Rating	Result	Rathmines A	Rating
1	Stephen Brady	2335	1- 0	Killian Delaney	2001
2	Paul Dempsey	2121	1- 0	Mindaugas Janusaitis	1932
3	Richard O’Donovan	2073	0.5 – 0.5	Darren McCabe	1955
4	Kevin Butler	1967	1- 0	Jack Killane	1747
5	John Nolan	1955	0.5 – 0.5	Michael Kennedy	1777
			4 – 1

To our credit, the games weren’t as one-sided as the scoreline and rating differences suggest.  Killian put up a fierce fight against Brady in a exciting and original Modern Defence.  The experts seemed to favour White’s position in the early middlegame, but hats off to the many times Irish Champion for not fearing the ensuing murky complications.  Killian ended up with two exchanges for 4 pawns.  Brady even missed a mate-in-one, probably for the first time ever!  Soon afterwards, he sealed the deal with a knight fork of K and Q.

Mindaugas lost a pawn for nothing early on against Dempsey’s Torre Attack.  White then calmly traded down to the ending.  Unfortunately, Mindaugas tried a little too hard to create counter chances and ended up getting his pieces trapped.

Darren had the better of the opening skirmishes against O’Donovan’s Kan Sicilian.  Black was eventually able to neutralise his opponent’s initiative, at which point, Darren offered a draw that was accepted.

Jack played an interesting Classical Dutch against Butler.  Jack seemed to get a reasonable position before White broke through with a decisive attack on the K.

I had White in a 5. b6 Benko against John Nolan.  This popular variation seeks to neutralise Black’s typical counterplay.  This game plan, though somewhat unambitious, was largely successful.  All pawns on the Q-side were exchanged, which left a symmetrical Q and R ending.  Draw.

Good luck to or B-team, who play Gonzaga on Thursday.

Rathmines Club Championship 2008 – Junior

Junior

Round 3 Pairings

No Name            Result   Name             

 1 Mowlds, D (2)      :     Cunningham, E (8 )
 2 O'Brien, C (3)     :     Gaffney, J (1)
 3 Hall, S (4)        :     O'Boyle, U (7)
 4 McGrath, A (5)     :     O'Raw, M (6)

Standings

Place Name              Rtg  Score    M-Buch. Buch. Progr.

 1-2  O'Brien, Cormac   1185 2         1.0   3.0    5.0
      Gaffney, John     1200 2         0.5   2.5    5.0
  3   McGrath, Andrew   937  1.5       0.5   1.5    4.0
 4-5  O'Boyle, Una      1197 1         1.0   3.0    3.0
      Hall, Shane       701  1         1.0   2.5    2.0
  6   Cunningham, Ed    859  0.5       1.5   3.5    1.0
 7-8  O'Raw, Marian     700  0         1.5   4.5    0.0
      Mowlds, Dee       705  0         1.0   3.5    0.0

Cross Table

No Name            Feder Rtg 1   2   3 

1  O'Brien, Cormac           7:W 4:W 2:
2  Gaffney, John             6:W 8:W 1:
3  McGrath, Andrew           5:W 6: D 7:
4  O'Boyle, Una              8:W 1:L 5:
5  Hall, Shane               3:L 7:W 4:
6  Cunningham, Ed            2:L 3: D 8:
7  O'Raw, Marian             1:L 5:L 3:
8  Mowlds, Dee               4:L 2:L 6:

Club Championship 2008: Round 3 Draw

Rathmines Senior 2008 – Round 3

Round 3 Pairings

No Name             Result   Name          

 1 Moore, K (6)        :     Killane, J (7)
 2 Kennedy, M (3)      :     Delaney, K (2)
 3 Goralski, L (4)     :     Kalam, A (1)
 4 Doyle, P (8 )        :     McEvoy, P (10)
 5 Fagan, L (5)        :     Lynch, P (9)

Standings

Place Name               Rtg Score     Progr. M-Buch. Buch.

 1-2  Killane, Jack      1716 2        5.0     1.0   4.0
      Moore, Ken         1730 2        5.0     1.0   3.5
  3   Kennedy, Michael   1777 1.5      3.5     0.5   2.0
 4-6  Delaney, Killian   1998 1        3.0     1.5   3.5
      Kalam, Abul        2147 1        2.0     1.0   3.5
      Goralski, Lucasz   1752 1        2.0     1.0   3.0
 7-9  McEvoy, Pat        1566 0.5      1.5     1.5   4.0
      Doyle, Philip      1709 0.5      1.5     0.5   2.0
      Lynch, Peter       1630 0.5      1.5     0.5   2.0
 10   Fagan, Leon        1731 0        0.0     1.0   2.5

Cross Table

No  Name             Feder Rtg  1    2    3 

1.  Kalam, Abul                 7:L  8:W  4:
2.  Delaney, Killian            5:W  7:L  3:
3.  Kennedy, Michael           10: D  9:W  2:
4.  Goralski, Lucasz            6:L  5:W  1:
5.  Fagan, Leon                 2:L  4:L  9:
6.  Moore, Ken                  4:W 10:W  7:
7.  Killane, Jack               1:W  2:W  6:
8.  Doyle, Philip               9: D  1:L 10:
9.  Lynch, Peter                8: D  3:L  5:
10. McEvoy, Pat                 3: D  6:L  8:
2008 Intermediate CC
Round 3 Pairings
No Name           Result   Name            

 1 Maher, J (2)      :     Cranny, K (1)
 2 Byrne, C (7)      :     Osborne, J (5)
 3 Bishop, P (4)     :     Koomvalai, K (8 )
 4 Freer, P (3)      :     Kilbride, R (6)
Standings
Place Name               Rtg   Score    Progr. M-Buch. Buch.

  1   Osborne, James      1355 2        5.0     1.0   2.5
 2-3  Koomvalai, Kannika  1139 1.5      4.0     1.0   2.5
      Freer, Pat          1393 1.5      4.0     0.5   2.0
 4-5  Byrne, Ciaran J     1257 1        2.0     1.5   4.0
      Cranny, Kieran      1559 1        2.0     0.5   2.5
 6-7  Maher, John         1437 0.5      1.5     1.0   3.5
      Kilbride, Ray       1341 0.5      1.5     1.0   3.0
  8   Bishop, Peter       1392 0        0.0     1.5   4.0
Cross Table
No Name               Feder Rtg 1   2   3 

1. Cranny, Kieran               5:L 4:W 2:
2. Maher, John                  6: D 5:L 1:
3. Freer, Pat                   4:W 8: D 6:
4. Bishop, Peter                3:L 1:L 8:
5. Osborne, James               1:W 2:W 7:
6. Kilbride, Ray                2: D 7:L 3:
7. Byrne, Ciaran J              8:L 6:W 5:
8. Koomvalai, Kannika           7:W 3: D 4:
			

Branagan Cup: Rathmines B Round 1 Report from John Maher

This Round 1 match took place in Elm Mount Chess Club on Monday, 7-Apr-08.  Here’s captain John Maher’s Report:

“

	Elm Mount A	Rating	Result	Rathmines B	Rating
1	David Fitzsimons	2125	1 – 0	Abul Kalam	2147
2	Adam Spirek	2040	0 – 1	David Goggins	1834
3	Ciaran Quinn	1875	0.5 – 0.5	John Aherne	1803
4	Marian Hotak	1697	0 – 1	Ken Moore	1701
5	Tomas Bajcar	1787	1 – 0	Pat McEvoy	1566
			2.5 – 2.5

Rest of Rathmines B Panel:

Trevor Rufli 1737, Philip Doyle 1709, Peter Lynch 1566, John Maher (non-playing captain)

A surprising result given Elm Mount’s grading advantage.  After the match was drawn board 5 was disregarded, resulting in a Rathmines win, as happened with our Killane Shield team last week.  Perhaps Elm Mount made a mistake in switching their bottom two players on grading.

Abul was first to finish.  He was complaining of the cold before the game – not what he is used to in Bangladesh.  However, he was well beaten at the finish.  Pat McEvoy was finished next.  While his Q and Rs were hammering away on the K side his opponent was piercing through the centre with pawns nearing Pat’s deserted back rank.  2 – 0 to Elm Mount.

Ken played a nice finish with R, B and 3 pawns against 2 Bs and 3 pawns.  He has promised to send his game in for the website.

John seemed to be on top for most of his game but his advantage was probably gone when he agreed a draw. 

This left us needing a win from David but he did not know the responsibility resting on his shoulders.  However, David always plays for a win, and from a good position he eventually had Q, R and 5 pawns vs. Q, R and 3 pawns.  He avoided simplifications to finish stylishly.  He also promised to send in his game.

In Round 2 Rathmines B are drawn at home versus Gonzaga.

“

Branagan Cup 2008: Round 2 Draw

The Round 2 Draw has just been made available by the controller, Mick Germaine.     

 All Matches to be played by Friday 25th April  2008 

 Results  to reach Controller by Saturday 26th April 2008
                              

                                    Round 2

 

                  Bray             Vs       St Benildus

                  Phibsboro      Vs     Rathmines A

                  Elm Mount B  Vs     Dun Laoghire

                  Rathmines B    Vs    Gonzaga

2008 Club Championship: Round 1

10 players showed up last Tuesday evening to contest the Rathmines Senior Club Championship.  This was a somewhat disappointing turnout compared to previous years.  It was unfortunate that some of the stronger players who entered were forced to withdraw at the last minute, e.g. Darren (college) and Mindaugas (work).

Here are the Round 1 results:

bd	player	rating	result	player	rating
1	Jack Killane	1747	1 – 0	Abul Kalam	2147
2	Killian Delaney	2001	1 – 0	Leon Fagan	1731
3	Michael Kennedy	1777	0.5 – 0.5	Pat McEvoy	1566
4	Ken Moore	1701	1 – 0	Lukasz Goralski	1748
5	Philip Doyle	1709	0.5 – 0.5	Peter Lynch	1566

Jack continued his excellent league form with a crushing victory against Abul’s unusual handling of the Sicilian.   Killian seemed to secure an early advantage against Leon’s interesting Latvian Gambit.  He went on to pick up some loose pawns and won comfortably.  In my game, I found that there was no way through against Pat’s Albin Countergambit.  He thoroughly deserved the draw.  Ken played a tight London System against Lukasz.  Deep into the middlegame he created tactical threats in the direction of the Black King.  This forced a weakening of the Black structure, which was well exploited by Ken as he joined the leaders on 1/1.  Philip and Peter drew a marathon English opening.  It seemed to be a fascinating tussle, as Philip had the exchange for a pawn and the initiative.  A draw was agreed when Peter ran very short of time.

Can anyone stop Killian from winning his 3rd Club Championship in a row?  Jack is likely to be his next opponent.  He has a good chance of causing an upset, given that he’s already beaten Killian in the Armstrong this season.  I’m looking forward to that one!

Apologies for neglecting the intermediate and junior sections.  I don’t have these results yet.

Branagan Cup: Round 1 Results

Here’s the result of last Thursday’s (10-Apr-08) Branagan Cup Round 1match between Rathmines A and Elm Mount C:

	Rathmines A			Elm Mount C
bd	player	rating	result	player	rating
1	Killian Delaney	2001	1 – 0	Eugene McMorrow	1535
2	Jack Killane	1747	0.5 – 0.5	Rene Zadak	N/A
3	John Burns	1763	0 – 1	Ray Dunne	1581
4	Michael Kennedy	1777	1 – 0	Grerg Coyle	1381
5	N/A		0 – 1	Martin Burke	1384
		score	2.5 – 2.5

Although it was a 2.5-2.5 draw, Rathmines A scrape through on tiebreak.

Earlier in the week (7-Apr-08), Rathmines B heaped further misery on Elm Mount Chess Club by edging out their strongest A team, also on tiebreak.  I don’t have the scorecard from this match, but our team featured:

1. Kalam (2147), 2. Goggins (1834), 3. Aherne (1804), 4. Moore (1701), 5. McEvoy (1566)

I’m told that excellent vicories were obtained by Goggins against Spirek (2035) and by Moore against Hotak (1990 FIDE).  Well done guys!

Killane Shield win for Rathmines

Round 1 Killane Shield 05/04/2008 
  
Home Team: Rathmines; Away Team – Balbriggan
1 Peter Bishop 0 – 1 Thomas Brezing 
2 Dave O’Connell 0.5 – 0.5 Peter Wheatley 
3 Paul Mogerley 1 – 0 Aristo. Makois 
4 Kannika Koomvilai 1 – 0 Kieran Howley 
5 Ed Cunningham 0 – 1 Joab Fernandes 

2.5 / 2.5 draw, Rathmines progress after board 5 eliminated. Peter Bishop comments: “I had expected us to win and not draw.  The fact that we drew is thanks to Paul whose game went to the wire.  I expect to to go through and play Phibsboro in the next round. This will be a much tougher prospect.”
 

Cork Chess review

I took part in the annual Cork Chess congress last weekend. My result was an unimpressive 2/6. My most entertaining game was played against Calum Leitch. As can happen in chess, the most interesting variations remained unplayed.

Rathmines Chess Club Championships

(This is a closed tournament for Rathmines club members only) 

ICU GRADED 

Sections

Howell Cup (Junior)<=1299 

Intermediate>=1300 and <=1599 

Freestone Cup (Senior)>=1600 

Time Controls

Senior games will start at 7.15pm and will be 2hrs for each player for all moves.Junior and Intermediate sections will start at 7.30pm and will be 1 ¾ hours for each player for all moves.No adjournments. 

Dates

Six rounds starting Tuesday April 8^th and ending on Tuesday 13^th May. (Players will have the option to switch their games to the Thursday of the same week, if they both agree).  In the event of a tie after six rounds, the winners will be decided by a tie-break system (no playoff games). This shall be determined by the tournament controller. 

Entries

A notice will be available in the club rooms for players to register their interest, or contact Peter Bishop: 087 752 8052 or email peterbishop@eircom.net. 

Fee

€5 entry fee.

Branagan Cup A Panel

Here’s the Rathmines A Branagan Cup Panel (in order of rating). Michael Kennedy is captain.
 
1. Killian Delaney (2001)
2. Peter Cafolla (1976)
3. Darren McCabe (1955)
4. Mindaugas Janusaitis (1932)
5. Tony Scannell (1782)
6. Michael Kennedy (1777)
7. John Burns (1763)
8. Jack Killane (1747)

We play Elm Mount C on Thursday 10th April, at home (suspended from 3rd April at short notice). The team, provisionally, is:

1. Killian Delaney (2001) B
2. Darren McCabe (1955) W
3. Mindaugas Janusaitis (1932) B
4. Tony Scannell (1782) W
5. John Burns (1763) B