Rathmines Club Championships 2012

This year’s Club Championship will start on Thursday 12^th April at 19:30 sharp.  As ever, there’ll be 3 sections (Juniors under 1200, Intermediates between 1200-1599, Seniors over 1500) with one game per week over 6 weeks.  In the event of a tie for first place, the Champion will be determined by a rapid playoff (unrated) on the Thursday immediately following the final round.  Open to all members.  Entries €5 to the controller, Michael Kennedy.

Shane Hall

It is with great sadness that I relay the news that Shane Hall passed away yesterday, unexpectedly. Shane had been a member of Rathmines chess club for at least 20 years, most recently as a member of the Rathmines B team in the BEA. Although not a strong player, Shane’s enthusiasm, friendliness, love of chess and good nature was always apparent. I never heard him once complain of ill health or make any fuss about his sight loss. He always accepted his defeats with good grace and delighted in his victories. He chose an attacking style of chess that maximised fun and creativity. He will be sadly missed.

Funeral Arrangements

The death has occurred of Shane HALL of Dublin

Unexpectedly, at his home. Shane, beloved son of Col (retd) John and Mary, loving brother of Mary, Karen, Adam and Jean; very sadly missed by his mum, dad, sisters, brother and their partners, his nieces Ciara, Laoise and Zoe, nephews Patrick and Oisín and both the Hall and Barclay family and friends.

Reposing in Quinns of Glasthule on Monday, March 19, from 3pm to 5pm. Removal on Tuesday, March 20, to St. Joseph’s Church Glasthule, arriving at 9.50am for 10am Funeral Mass, followed by burial in Glasnevin Cemetery. House private. No flowers, please. Donations, if desired, to the National Council for the Blind.

May He Rest in Peace

Date published: Thursday, March 15, 2012
Date of death: Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Funeral arrangements by: Quinn’s of Glasthule
28 Glasthule Road, Dun Laoghaire, Dublin
Tel.: (01) 2806756 Email: info@quinnsfuneralhome.ie

Juniors

Great to see the enthusiasm and joy!

Rathmines Junior Chess Club

Phibsboro 4.5 – 3.5 Rathmines A

Last night saw Phibsboro deservedly claim a match win over our top-of-the-table team, Rathmines A. We went into this match out-rating them on boards 3-8 and with some of the guys in very impressive form, but failed to perform on the night. Some of the Phibsboro lads pulled out great performances, particularly David Salter with his draw against Sam Osborne, Herbert Scarry beating Killian with a wonderful finish, and Juri Firstov dispatching Mel in their mutual time-trouble.

The night began well, with Darren comprehensively out-playing Colm Fitzpatrick. That secured Darren his board-prize, with 8.5/9 (matched only by Juri, also 8.5/9). Congratulations to Darren for a magnificent season!
Leon agreed a draw early. But then Herbert Scarry pulled off a wonderful combination, including a queen sacrifice, to seal a neat win over Killian:

Delaney vs. Scarry. White has just castled queen side.
21. … Bxd2+
22. Rxd2? Qg1+
23. Rd1 Qxd1+!
24. Kxd1 Nc3+
25. Ke1 Rd1#

So, by 9.30pm or so, the match stood at 1.5-1.5, but this was in the lower boards where Rathmines A were strong favourites. Phibsboro still had their impressive Brady/Firstov duo on the top boards.
Thomas was still in the very early stages of his game against Michael Delaney.
Manuel played a very imaginative queen sac against Brady on board 1. He was facing a slow, grinding death in an unfavourable endgame, but managed to turn it into a complicated, albeit still losing position. The difference was that he gave himself real chances of winning and/or drawing. This tactic almost paid off, with Manuel’s two rooks and bishops threatening a perpetual.

Gardenes vs. Brady
With black to play, White is threatening Rd8+, followed by a perpetual against the black king. Brady played the precise 1… Re7, and after 2. Rd8+ Kh7 3. Rh5+ Kg6 4. Rg5+ Qxg5! 5. hxg5 Rxe5 0-1. Ironic that a queen sacrifice was refuted by another one.

Meanwhile, Thomas was still in the very early stages of his game against Michael Delaney…

Daire’s game was the type of game I can never understand, I can only say that it ended in a draw. Sam managed a pawn up in a R+N vs. R+B ending, where white’s bishop was very bad too. But in time-trouble, Salter played very well to get sufficient counter-initiative for the draw. With enough time, I am confident Sam would have won, but time is an important factor in these games.

Thomas finished his game against Michael very impressively. It was a big time-scramble, of two Bs and several pawns against one B and one or two pawns less, the type of position that can be easily mishandled. But Thomas was patient, precise, and cool.

The last game to finish was Mel’s against Juri. The match stood at 3.5-3.5 at that stage, so could have gone either way. In fact, this looked in Mel’s favour in the closing stages, as he pressed forward with his king and had a big time advantage. But fair play to Juri, he made quick, incisive moves. In a desparate time-scramble at the end he managed to turn the game completely in his favour. There was a claim, afterwards, that his King had been in check at some point, illegally, but it wasn’t noticed by the players at the time. In any case, Juri’s win capped a very impressive team performance from Phibsboro.

That leaves the title race wide open. I can only presume that Gonzaga will win against Dublin University, which would leave it virtually tied at the top. While Rathmines A, possibly, still retain a slight lead going into the last round, it now looks almost imperceptible.

Bd	Phibsboro	ICU no.	Rating	Result	Rathmines A	ICU no.	Rating
1	Stephen Brady	90	2366	1 – 0	Manuel Gardenes	1299	2172
2	Juri Firstov	9603	2263	1 – 0	Mel Ó Cinnéide	720	2182
3	Richard O’Donovan	1263	2001	0.5 – 0.5	Daire McMahon	1139	2172
4	Dave Salter	1529	1826	0.5 – 0.5	Sam Osborne	6252	2118
5	Herbert Scarry	1535	1826	1 – 0	Killian Delaney	5104	2051
6	Colm Fitzpatrick	438	1807	0 – 1	Darren McCabe	5722	1984
7	Stawomir Jurkiewicz	10413	1762	0.5 – 0.5	Leon Fagan	406	1888
8	Michael Delaney	317	1696	0 – 1	Tomasz Skrzypnik	1236	1877
				4.5 – 3.5

Round 9 Armstrong Completed

Phibsboro maintained the pressure at the top with a 5.5-2.5 win over Kilkenny. Honors were even over the top five boards, but Kilkenny had to field a weakened bottom two boards (as they did against the A team too), so lost out in the end.

That leaves Phibsboro vs. Rathmines A on Monday 5th March as a top-of-the-table penultimate (almost) decisive encounter!! I say almost, because of course Gonzaga are very much in the race too. (They still have one adjourned game from their most recent match). It is always tempting fate to try and predict these things, but I guess that a 4-4 draw or better against Phibsboro on Monday would make us clear favourites for the title. Anything less and it will be too close to call. No pressure!

UPDATE: Gonzaga won their delayed game against Dublin and were also awarded an extra point against St Benildus because of the 150-points rule (St Benildus fielded a weaker player on a higher board). And quite right too! I am delighted to see the 150 rule being strictly enforced by the league controller.

Rathmines B can do themselves and the A team a massive favour by holding Phibsboro in the final match. The B team have an edge over the bottom 3 teams and I’d be confident they can avoid relegation.

By the way, check out the latest ratings for all Rathmines players here: http://rathmineschessclub.wordpress.com/membership-rating-list/. Tony Bermingham has jumped onto the top-rated Irish players list with a fantastic Gonzaga performance and a FIDE rating of 2029! Congratulations Tony.