Ladder

By Peter Bishop
The Rathmines Chess Club runs a perpetual trophy competition throughout the year, known as the Ladder Competition. It is open to club members and allows them to play each other under competitive conditions. The winner  wins the Murphy Cup for one year. There is no entry fee.

You enter the ladder by simply challenging another member to a ladder game and then agreeing to a day to play. At the end of the game, simply record the result on the sheet available in the club rooms. Periodically, the ladder standings will be published. While the rules for calculating positions are Byzantine, the basic principle is straightforward enough: winning against higher rated players adds more to your points. As you accumulate points during the year, your rating rises (not your ICU rating, just the ladder rating).

The Ladder is extremely useful for low rated and inexperienced players to rapidly gain experience under competitive conditions similar to those that they will face in the League, the Club Championship or in weekend competitions. It helps teach them not be distracted by recording moves or forgetting to press the clock costing them valuable playing time.
Players of all levels need to analyse their games to be able to improve.  Unlike skittle games ladder games allow them to do this because there is a record of the game.

The traditional time control is 90mins for all moves. By agreement players may play any time control of at least 90mins per players. Increments are calculated on the basis of 60moves. For example, 75mins + 15sec or 60mins + 30sec are acceptable.

Players may play rapid time control of 15mins + 10sec or 25mins flat. In this case the gain or loss is half that awarded for a classical time control game. Note that players may play 2 rapid games in a session.

Winners of the Ladder Competition (the Murphy Cup) can be found in our Roll of Honors Section. Here are the recent winners
Murphy Cup Winners
2006-07 M Kennedy
2005 T Scannell
2003-04 P Mogerley
2002 J O’Connell
2001 A Rooney
2000 P Mogerley
1999 K Cranny
1998 P Lynch
1997 C J Byrne
1996 J Moriarty
1995 P Mogerley