The following notes are rather impressionistic. I have the benefit of hindsight, which always makes the annotator look smarter than the players, but in reality I don’t understand most of the games! We lost 5-1 in the end, but Derek, in particular, had a great game, and Niall might have snatched a draw in the end.
Baburin, Alexander vs. Stuart, Robert
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 The Budapest Gambit against a grandmaster. I take my hat off to Robert! 3. dxe5 Ng4 4. Nf3 Bc5 5. e3 Nc6 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O Re8 8. Nc3 a5 9. b3 Ngxe5 10. Bb2 d6 Black looks pretty Ok here, the opening has worked out fine for him. 11. Nd4 Qh4?? A pseudo-attacking move. He leaves c7 unprotected and threatens nothing. 12. Nd5! Bb6 13. Nxb6 cxb6 14. Nxc6 Now white wins the d and c pawns, with a comfortable position. 1-0
Smith, Derek vs. Quinn, Mark
A huge fight from Derek, for which he deserved better.
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d3 e6 4. g3 d5 5. Nbd2 Bd6 6. Bg2 Nge7 7. O-O O-O 8. Nh4 Bc7 9. f4 f5 10. exf5 Nxf5 11. Nxf5 Rxf5 12. Bh3 Rf6 13. Nf3 Qf8 14. Re1 h6 15. Ne5 Bxe5 16. fxe5 Rf7 17. c3 Bd7 18. Bd2 g5 19. Qe2 Qg7 20. Rad1 Raf8 21. Bc1 a6 22. d4 cxd4 23. cxd4 Ne7 24. b3 After the opening phase, which is a King’s Indian Attack, we see a pawn structure that looks like a French defence, with black pawns on e6 and d5, and white ones on e5 and d4. Technically, black has a bad bishop. The differences to a French position are that white also has a bad bishop here, he lacks a knight, and the black rooks already dominate the f-file. So black is quite equal. Bb5 25. Qd2 g4 26. Bg2 Nf5 27. a4 Bc6 28. Ba3 Rc8 29. Rf1 h5 30. Rf4 Qg5 31. Qe2 Rg7 32. Rdf1 Rf7 33. R1f2 Qg6 34. Bf1 Be8 35. Qe1 Rc6 36. Bd3 But now, it looks like white is in control. Derek has won the f-file, both his bishops are in good squares, and black’s c-file rook has nothing to do on the file. Bd7 37. Bxf5 exf5 38. Re2 Be6 Now black’s bishop at least has something to do – namely, blockade the passer. 39. Qb4 h4 40. a5 Qh6 41. Qe1 hxg3 42. Qxg3 Rh7 43. Rg2 Kh8 44. Qf2 Qg5 45. Rg3 Rh6 46. Bc5 Rc7 47. b4 Rch7 48. Rg2 Rh3 49. Rgxg4?? Unfortunately, this combination just doesn’t work. Black was gradually outplaying white, but it still looks even. fxg4 50. Rf8+ Kg7 51. Rg8+ Bxg8 0-1
Heidenfeld, Mark vs. Delaney, Killian
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6+ exf6 6. g3 Qd5 7. Nf3 Bg4 8. Bg2 Qc4 9. h3 Bh5 10. c3 Bd6 11. Be3 O-O 12. Nd2 Qb5 13. g4 Bg6 14. Qb3 Qa6 15. Ne4 Bxe4 16. Bxe4 Re8 17. Qc2 c5? Loses at least a pawn. He was relying on an optimistic combination. Where have we seen that before? 🙂 18. dxc5 Bxc5? 19. Bxc5 Qc6? Hoping to win back one of the bishops. But after… 20. O-O-O Taking on e4 loses to the back rank mate, while Qxc5 loses the rook in the corner. Ouch. 1-0
McCabe, Darren vs. Griffiths, Ryan Rhys
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. d4 Ngf6 5. O-O a6 6. Bxd7+ Nxd7 7. Nc3 g6 8. dxc5 Nxc5 9. Be3 Nd7 10. Qd4 e5 11. Qd2 Nf6 12. Rad1 Bg4 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. Qxd5 Qd7?? Let’s Darren uncork a game-winning combination. 15. Nxe5! Well-spotted. dxe5 16. Qxe5+ Qe7 17. Qxh8 Bxd1 18. Rxd1 Qxe4 19. Bh6? Hard to criticise, because this wins too, but Bc5! wins instantly…now it enters an endgame instead. Qe7 20. Kf1 Qc5 21. Qxf8+ Qxf8 22. Bxf8 Kxf8 23. Rd7 Rc8 24. c3 b5 25. Ke2 b4 26. cxb4 Rc2+ 27. Rd2 Rc4 28. a3 Ke7 29. h3 h5 30. Kd3 Rf4 31. Kc3 h4 32. Kb3 g5 33. Ka4 Rf5 34. f3 Re5 35. Rc2 f5 36. Rd2 Ke8 37. Kb3 Ke7 38. a4 Ke8 39. Kc4 Ke7 40. b5 axb5+ 41. axb5 Re6 42. Kb4 g4 43. hxg4 fxg4 44. fxg4 Re4+ 45. Ka5 Rxg4 46. b6 h3 47. gxh3 1-0
Keogh, Eamon vs. Killane, Jack
1. f4 e5 2. e4 A King’s Gambit. The romance never ends when Jack plays! d5 3. exd5 e4 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bc4 c6 6. dxc6 Nxc6 7. Nge2 Bc5 8. Na4 Bb6 9. Nxb6 Qxb6 10. h3 O-O 11. b3 Rd8 12. Bb2 Nd5 13. Bxd5 Rxd5 14. Nc3 Rd8 15. Na4 1-0 I think the score is incomplete, because Jack has no reason to resign here at all.
Whelan, Niall vs. Bradley, Sean
Niall gets outplayed for much of the game but manages to emerge into an endgame the exchange up and with 2 pawns vs. 4 pawns. But the pawns prove too powerful. He is to be commended for fighting to the end. 1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e4 d6 5. Bg5 O-O 6. Be2 Nbd7 7. Nf3 c5 8. d5 a6 9. Rb1 Qc7 10. O-O Re8 11. Nd2 e6 12. h4 exd5 13. exd5 h6 14. Bf4 Ne5 15. Bxe5 Rxe5 16. Bd3 Bd7 17. Nf3 Bg4 18. Qc2 Bxf3 19. gxf3 Rae8 20. Ne4 Nxe4 21. Bxe4 Rh5 22. Kg2 Rxh4 23. Rh1 Qe7 24. Qd2 Rxe4 25. fxe4 Qxe4+ 26. f3 Qxc4 27. Rhe1 Rxe1 28. Rxe1 Qxa2 29. Re8+ Kh7 30. Re7 Qxb2 31. Qxb2 Bxb2 32. Rxf7+ Kg8 33. Rxb7 Be5 34. Ra7 g5 35. Rxa6 Kf7 36. Ra4 Kf6 37. Re4 Kf5 38. Re1 c4 39. Re2 c3 40. Kf1 h5 0-1
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