Leinster Cup Competitions up and Running

Last week saw the commencement of the 3 Leinster Chess Union end of season cup competitions. Rathmines have entered a team in each of the three competitions, and all three teams played their first match this week. Nick Scallan reports on the outcomes.

 

Branagan Cup. (Armstrong and Heidenfeld)

Rathmines’ first Branagan Cup match proved to be a rematch of the last round of the Armstrong with our opponents being St Benildus, away from home. The result this week worked out much better for Rathmines, with us winning a tight match by 3.5 pts to 2.5pts. the last game to finish was the match between Tomasz and Zdravko Monojlovic, which went down to the last 20 seconds on both players clocks, and which unfortunately result in a win for Benildus.

Killane Shield (Ennis and lower).

Rathmines played a very difficult match at home last night to the Ennis Runner Up squad from Bray/Greystones. Despite being outrated by a combined 2,228 points we put up a strong team performance and fought out a tight 2.5 to 3.5 loss.

The strength of the Bray team was evident in the first three boards to finish, which left the score at 3-0 to Bray. John O’Connell had the most difficult role of taking on their 1,763 rated B1 (Brian Gaines), whilst Ciaran Byrne lost to an opponent 300 points stronger on B4, and Matthew Gallagher was beaten by their 1,502 rated B4, were again we were conceding over 400 rated points.

Things started to turn around for us, with two excellent wins for two of our younger players. Fiachra Scallan on board 3, managed to outplay his 1,640 rated opponent in a 2 minor piece and 5 pawn each endgame to overcome a 449 points differential to get us on the board, and this was quickly followed by Liam Coman on B6, coming back from a 2 pawn and 50 minute time deficit to get a great win over Bray captain Mervyn Honner.

The last to finish was then Nick Scallan’s B2 game with 1,604 rated Garrett Curran, where Nick managed to fend off a very strong king-side attack before both players agreed on a draw very late on.

All in all a very satisfactory result for the team given the strength of our opposition.

Brennan Cup (U1500)

Our Brennan cup team were also in action on Wednesday night away to a Dun Laoghaire squad who had finished third place in this years BEA. The top two boards resulted in draws, with Joe Flood drawing with Tony Kitterick on B1, and John Maher drawing with Ivan Baburin, who has started back playing league matches this season. On B3 Andrew McGrath had to give way to the very strong Cian McGovern Leahy who shared this years Leinster U16 title with our own Scott Mulligan. Pat O Brien got a good win on B5 for us, but it wasn’t to be our night, with Dun Laoghaire running out 4-2 winners

5 Rathmines Players Selected for Irish Junior Training Squads

 

The ICU Junior selection committee have today selected 28 Juniors for national training squads with a view to enhancing the prospects for Irish Juniors in the forthcoming Junior International competitions during 2013. The squads consist of 7 U18 boys, 5 U18 girls,8 U14 mixed and 8 U12 mixed.

Rathmines are delighted to see that 5 of our young players have been included in the squads.

Scott Mulligan (Ennis, rating 1,566) has been selected for the U14 squad, whilst 4 Rathmines players have been selected for the U12 Squad; Michael Higgins (BEA, rating 1,335), Fiachra Scallan (BEA, rating 1,191), Matthew Gallagher (BEA, rating 1,081) and Eoghan Turner (BEA, rating 952).

The Selection of the final teams for the Glorney/Glibert/Robertson/Stokes Cups, which take place this July in Cardiff will be on the basis of the May published ratings.

In 2012, 4 Rathmines payers – Scott Mulligan and Peter Cooke at U14, and Michael Higgins and Fiachra Scallan at u12, played in the Robertson/Stokes cups v England/Scotland Wales, whilst Michael Higgins also represented Ireland at the European U12’s in Prague. Matthew Gallagher also represented Ireland in both the World U10’s in Slovenia and European U10’s in Prague.

Rathmines players at the 2012 Glorney International event in Daventy England, July 2012, versus England, Scotland and Wales. L to R Peter Cooke (u14’s ), Michael Higgins (u12’s), Fiachra Scallan (u12’s), Scott Mulligan (u14’s)

National Club Championships

We intend to enter a Rathmines team in the National Club Championships which are being held in the Teachers Club, Dublin on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th April next. There is likely to be 4 rounds, one on Saturday morning, one on Saturday afternoon, one on Sunday morning and one on Sunday afternnon.

There will be a team of 6 with 2 subs. Board order is a matter for the club but the declared order cannot be changed. The average rating must be at least 1600.

We need several players who can play 3 or 4 games while several might be only able to play one game. Several players have already expressed interest/availability.

We’re aiming to enter the strongest team we can muster, so please give it consideration

We must enter the team by 18th April so we need to know as soon as possible.

Would  interested players contact Jack Killane at jackkillane@hotmail.com.

Impressive Performance by Rathmines Juniors

14 players from Rathmines Juniors headed down to Shannon to play in the Irish Junior Chess Championships. Rathmines Ennis player Scott Mulligan and BEA team members  Michael Higgins, Fiachra Scallan, Eoghan Turner, Liam Coman and Oscar Twomey took part. Also Alex Mulligan, Dierdre Turner, Ciara Scallan, Cillian Scallan, Stephen Higgins, Nikita Koush, Sean Hunter and Leo Norris all members of the junior club, battled it out over six very tough rounds from April 5th to 7th.

In the u12′s Michael Higgins was the clear winner on 5.5pts. Fiachra Scallan finished in joint 3rd with 4.5pts on the leaderboard. Dierdre Turner was the top scoring Girl on 3.5
In u10′s Eoghan Turner was placed third just half a point behind the joint winners. Stephen Higgins also finished on 4.5pts  Alex Mulligan finished on 4pts and Ciara Scallan was the top scoring girl on 4pts. Nikita Koush and Sean Hunter also scored 3.5.  Leo Norris scored an impressive 2 points in his first ever  weekend tournament,
The u14′s was won outright on 6/6 by Conor O’Donnell(Gonzaga). Scott Mulligan scored 3.5 and Liam Coman and Oscar Twomey scored 3pts.
Cillian Scallan represented Rathmines in the u8′s and scored 3points

The previous weekend many of the same players took part in the CHESS FOR ALL, the biggest ever one day junior chess event to take place in Ireland. Over 400 players took part. Rathmines were again very well represented. The sections were divided into 3rd Class primary school players, in which Luke Rock received a merit award. In the 4th Class section Sean Hunter came 1st, Henry Li, 2nd, Eoghan Turner 3rd. In the 5th Class section Fiachra Scallan came third and in the 6th class section Michael Higgins came 1st.

Congratulations to all.

Maura and James can be rightly proud of the achievements of the Juniors.

 

 

Upcoming Events

April 8th, Monday: Rathmines Club Championships, Senior, Intermediate and Junior. entries on the night. Continuing each Monday apart from Bank Holiday

April 27, 28 Sat/Sun: The National Club Championships will be held in the Teacher’s Club, Parnell Sq. West, Dublin 1. Rathmines will be entering a team – contact Jack Killane, if interested.

Coming Soon: Cup Competitions, Branagan, Killane, Brennan

Back in Action

I came back to the club a few years back after what was intended to be a short break that stretched to 20 years! Mostly, it was just as it was back then and probably a lot like it was even 125 years ago. However, there was one noticeable change – technology had somehow managed to infiltrate and Rathmines Chess Club had a web site. And very interesting and relevant it was too. It was mainly down to Tony Scannell’s great efforts and the members owe him a debt a gratitude for the hours he put in and the quality of the work.

Unfortunately, Tony no longer has the time required to administer the site so the baton has been passed to me. Hopefully, I will be able to keep it at the high standard to which you’ve been accustomed. But, patience please, as I’ll undoubtedly need some time to find my feet.

I hope we can have lots of interesting content and plenty of relevant comment and response. So, to help me get this going I’d appreciate suggestions on content or, better still, contributions of content.

Tony Bermingham

Rathmines Club Championships 2013

This year’s Rathmines Chess Club Championship will start on Monday 8^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 rounds.  The schedule will be:

Monday 8th April 2013: Round 1

Monday 15th April 2013: Round 2

Monday 22nd April 2013: Round 3

Monday 29th April 2013: Round 4

Monday 6th May 2013: bank holiday – club closed

Monday 13th May 2013: Round 5

Monday 20th May 2013: Round 6

 

In the event of a tie for first place, the Champion will be determined by a rapid playoff (unrated) on the Monday immediately following the final round.  Open to all members.  Entries €5 to the controller, Michael Kennedy

Rathmines website closed temporarily

The club committee have handed over responsibility for the website to someone else. Before they are ready to start, I (Tony) am shutting it, partly, down. I’ve very much enjoyed running the site for the last few years, but I recently decided to step down as i cannot devote any time to it any more.

The website is for the purpose of informing members of up coming events, relaying games, reporting on results, etc. Recently, it has degenerated into a side show of petty commentary and irrelevant banter. I know i might stand accused of censoring light banter, which most of it is. But a lot of it is not in the interests of the club. So, i have deleted the previous top post to clear the most egregious examples. 

Please, no more comments until we are back up and running again.

 

 

Curragh chess club change address

Curragh Chess Club have moved…
01-Jan-2013 The Curragh Chess Club have moved to new premises. From 1st January the club will be located at

Teach Dara,
Academy Street,
Kildare Town (Exit 13 from M7).

All club matches will be held here including Thursday night and Saturday Leinster League matches.

The premises is fully wheelchair accessible with tea / coffee available. Access is from Exit 13 off the M7 same as Kildare Village Retail Outlet. Turn right at Tescos towards Town Centre (Monasterevin Road) and take next right approximately 200 metres from Tescos onto Academy St / Grey Abbey Rd. Teach Dara is 200 metres down this road on the left in the former De La Salle Brothers house.
Contact Mark McLoughlin at 086 – 8723297.

Blitz Tricks

It’s that time of year again – Blitz! I’ve (Tony Scannell) been playing a fair amount of it lately, on playchess.com. I am sure it has destroyed my long-time-control chess, but it certainly is fun.

I thought I’d show some neat tricks from a couple of my recent games. These were all 5-minute games played against opponents around 1600-1700 range. Killian, of course, beats GMs at 3-minute chess. I’m staggered at watching players bash out moves during those games and I find the pace just too much. Five minutes allows – I feel – a little amount of calculation at least.

Black to play and win.

I am playing black. White has just played the blunder 22. Bf4. I played the instinctive 22 … Rxf4! without a second’s thought. And after 23. gxf4 Ne3+  24. Kh3 Qg4#

The next game shows the value of quick development (I’m playing black again).

In the position above, white is terribly under-developed. But there don’t seem to be any clear ways through his defences and material is level.
After 17… Ne2+ 18. Kh1 Rd3 19. Re1 it still looks superficially level.

This is a move I spent over a minute calculating, which is quite an investment in blitz.

19… Rxf3!! I guess it is easy once you see it. 20. d3 (Of course, 20. gxf3 Bxg3#) Rf2 21. Be3 Rxg2? (Bxg2 is mate straight away!) 22. d4 Rg1#

In the next game, I am playing white and looking completely busted. After all, black is about to win at least an exchange and he looks comfortable enough. His king seems surrounded by pieces and pawns. But it is an illusion.

Here, I played 20. Qf2 which must have looked like capitulation to my opponent. I’m not even trying to win back the knight.
But after 20… Nxa1 21. Bxb7+ Kxb7 22. Qf3+ Suddenly white is closing in on the black king! 22… c6 (d5 is slightly better but is still losing).

23. bxc6+ Kc7 24. Na6+ Kc8 25. cxd7+ Rxd7 26. Qc6+ Rc7 27. Qxc7#
Even in that relatively short sequence, I missed many quicker alternatives. What about the amazing 23. Qxc6+!! which mates in 2. Or the relatively easy to find (but missed) 26. Qa8#? Even a winning combination can be far from optimal.

Christmas Blitz

The Rathmines Annual Blitz tournament will take place in the club on Thursday, 20th December, 2012, at 8pm.  All members welcome.  Free entry.  As usual, it´s sure to be great fun with generous prizes of wine, chocs, etc. up for grabs for players of all standards.  Note that this will be the last club night of the year, as we will be shut right through the Xmas/New Year period. I hope to see you there!

 

Kind regards,

 

Michael Kennedy

President, Rathmines Chess Club

Rathmines juniors selected for Ireland

Congratulations to all the Rathmines Juniors selected to represent Ireland in the Glorney Cup!

Maura reports:

“Some good news to report from the Junior Club. Three members have been selected to represent Ireland this summer when Ireland u18/u14 and u12 take on England, Scotland and Wales in Daventry. Scott Mulligan u14, Michael Higgins u12 and Fiachra Scallan u12 all had a very successful season in the Bodley and in the Irish Junior Championships,and were selected to play on the Irish Junuior Teams.
details are on icu.ie.”

ICU report on Junior selections

Junior Success

A Report from Maura and James Osborne
Last Saturday, Rathmines Juniors returned to the Teachers Club in Parnell Square to fight to retain the Mick Germaine Cup. It turned out to be a very exciting, round robin tournament against teams from Shankhill, Malahide, Bray Greystones, Elm Mount and Blanchardstown. Rathmines entered two teams, the Kings and the Rooks. Playing for the Kings we had Scott Mulligan, Fiachra Scallan, Michael Higgins and Oscar Twomey. The Rooks were made up of six players who took turns on the day. Liam Coman, Peter Carton, Matthew Gallagher, Cian O’Mahoney, Alex Mulligan and Stephen Higgins.

Both teams played their part in keeping Rathmines Kings in the lead all the way through. The Kings went into the last round against Malahide needing 3.5pts from 4 to beat our nearest rivals, Shankhill. Final result: Rathmines Kings 1st, Shankhill Juniors 2nd, Malahide 3rd and Rathmines Rooks joint 4th.

The juniors have had a great year, since winning the Mick Germaine Cup in 2011. They came first and second in the Dublin Junior Chess League Senior section and first in the intermediate section. Many of them played in the Irish junior championships also, winning 1st and 3rd place under 10, 2nd place under 12 and u14. They performed very well in the Bodley league, finishing 4th and winning two board prizes.

We would all like to thank the Rathmines Senior club for your support and fundraising.
Maura, James.

Leon’s miniature

John Healy (St. Benildus) vs. Leon Fagan (Rathmines A)
Round 11, Armstrong Cup.

Albin Counter Gambit
1. d4 d5
2. c4 e5?!
Already raises the tension, a good decision when seeking a quick win.
3. dxe5 d4
4. e3?

Already a wrong move.

4…       Bb4+
5. Bd2? dxe3!!

Giving away the piece but generating an over-whelming attack.

6. Bxb4?

He must play fxe3, but would still be lost after Qh4+, g3 and Qe4.

6…   exf2+
7. Ke2   fxg1N+!!

This is like one of those puzzle questions, where the solver must put a black knight on g1 in 7 moves…
8. Rxg1 Bg4+
0-1

Rathmines A win Armstrong

Rathmines A show off their trophies after winning the Armstrong Cup 2011-2012

Yesterday, Sunday 1st April 2012, Rathmines won Leinster’s top league, the Armstrong, by beating St. Benildus 7-1 in the final round. This was a comprehensive and truely convincing win, with only two draws conceded and six wins. (I will be posting a couple of pictures later today and showing you all the 8 move minature from Leon!). When the dust settled, we won the league by 3 clear points. Despite almost throwing away our lead over the final couple of matches, we pulled out our second-strongest result of the entire season just as it mattered most.

Congratulations to the entire team and substitutes. We managed to maintain a fairly consistent line-out all year which was part of the success of the team. Credit goes to Leon, captain, for organising the board orders to maximise our chances in every match.

Mel played board one most of the year and held his own with 7/11. Darren won a board prize in stunning fashion, winning 9.5/10.

Darren with Karl McPhilips and their board prizes. Karl topped the table with 10 points, with Darren a half point behind.

Manuel won two crucial games, against Sam Collins and David Fitzsimons, which both boosted the team and allowed us to win those matches. Aside from that, Manuel was a really positive influence on the team, always reminding us of what’s important and providing calming advice throughout. Killian, aside from a little stumble near the end, finished very strongly on 8/11. No one would have been surprised if he had won a board prize. Leon only lost a single game all year and finished on 8/11 too. Sam didn’t lose a single game all year, including a last round draw against Gerard O’Connell on board one. He can rue a few missed opportunities. Thomas finished very strongly and ended on 7/10. His win in Phibsboro kept us in the league lead just as the team had its worst day. Tony couldn’t play the last two games because of the birth of his beautiful daughter Amelia on 11th March, but had accumulated 5.5/9. The subs Daire, Peter Lynch, Paul and John Delaney all played their part in helping the team over the line.

The Rathmines B team managed to survive in the league, comfortably enough in the end, due to a very strong end to the season. Well done to everyone concerned. In particular, Ian Maloney provided one of the highlights of the year for the team, beating Yuri Firstov in the last game to finish yesterday. I have only one word to describe the finish – GUBU. Ian held his nerve to record a brilliant win.

As for the other teams and their performances – I don’t have that news. I apologise to everyone involved for the apparent snub! If anyone can update me on how they did, do email me and I’ll happily post it.