Congratulations to Martin Crichton, who recently finished equal first in a small FIDE Open tournament in London, the Colin Crouch Celebration Congress Weekender. Always good to see IRL at the top of the leaderboard!
This was a decade since his last tournament win, also a joint first, in the Malahide Millenium 2006, and almost three decades since his first win, a clear first ahead of Philip Short in the Maurice Fitzgibbon Memorial in 1987.
Many thanks to Martin for sending several games: three from the Colin Crouch Celebration, one from the Maurice Fitzgibbon Memorial, and six from the Mulcahy Memorial 1988.
In the game referred to in the title above, he recorded an emphatic victory as Black against the English player Paul Moulton, then rated 2255. The diagrammed position is barely out of the opening and already White is in serious difficulties.
There followed 13. b4 exd3 14. Bxd3 c5 15. bxc5 Qxc5 and Black wins a safe pawn, but it’s not clear White had anything much better.
White (rather optimistically) offered a draw after 32. Bxb4, which momentarily restored material equality, but was efficiently finished off. [Click to replay the full game.]