The Irish Championship is in progress in Dublin, and reaches the halfway stage today. A report has been added to the tournament pages here; updates will be added round by round until the conclusion.
Numbers are down from the past several championships, which saw an extraordinary run, but the event has still attracted a good-sized field of 24 (starting) players, with 6-7 strong contenders for the title.
After four rounds, Tarun Kanyamarala has set a blistering pace, with successive wins against Colm Daly, Alexander Baburin, and Henry Li, to lead by a clear point. His opponent today, Conor O’Donnell, is one point back, along with Tom O’Gorman, and a group of seven players lie joint fourth on 2½/4.
Update, July 7: Tarun Kanyamarala and Conor O’Donnell drew on the top board in round 5. Tom O’Gorman won against Cathal Keenan, and Alexander Baburin won against Joe Ryan on board 3, in an interesting game where Ryan earlier had seemed better. Colm Daly won convincingly against Gerard O’Connell. Kanyamarala now leads by ½ point over O’Gorman, against whom he has Black in round 6, with Baburin, Daly, and O’Donnell a further half point back.
Update, July 8 (round 6): O’Gorman and Kanyamarala drew on the top board, and likewise Baburin and O’Donnell on board 2. Colm Daly surprisingly lost to Oisín O’Cuilleanain on board 3, and must now be out of contention. Peter Carroll defeated Jacob Flynn on board 4, and Henry Li beat Joe Ryan on board 5.
Eamon Keogh, who seemed well out of form throughout, played his last game of the tournament. It’s worth noting that this year marks the 60th anniversary of his first Irish championship, Derry 1962, where he scored 4½/8 to finish in 7th place, 1 point short of joint first. This year was his 30th Irish championship.
Update, July 9 (round 7): Tarun Kanyamarala had his easiest game of the tournament on board 1 against Oisín O’Cuilleanain, while there were draws on the next three boards: Carroll – O’Gorman, O’Donnell – Li, and Daly – Baburin, the last of these by far the most interesting. The upshot is that Kanyamarala leads by a clear point from O’Gorman with two rounds to play, with four players a further half point behind. Is it all over? Last year, O’Gorman seemed in an equally strong position at the same stage, and the last two rounds scrambled everything.
Update, July 11 (final rounds): Tarun Kanyamarala won his last two games to record a resounding victory, a point and a half ahead of the field, for his first Irish Championship, two weeks after his sister Trisha won her first Irish Women’s championship. The report has been updated. In round 8, he recorded a spectacular win in a very interesting game against Peter Carroll, while on the next board, Tom O’Gorman maintained the pressure by also winning as Black, against Henry Li, using the now-rare Polugaevsky variation of the Najdorf.
This left Tarun a point clear heading into the final round, and needing only a draw. In the event, he won fairly easily against Joe Ryan, while O’Gorman lost as Black against the always-dangerous Colm Daly. The latter pair shared thrid and fourth places, while Alexander Baburin finished in clear second, with 6½/8.
Well, Tarun ran away with the event but is older than Tom O’Gorman was when he became champion 2 years ago. Both were/are 17 when they won. Has there ever been a younger champion? Brian Kelly, maybe?
It’s fairly certain that Brian Kelly was the youngest champion ever, aged 16, and John Moles was second, also 16 but a couple of months short of 17. Some players are very sensitive to their full date of birth being published, so it’s hard to be definite on the next few, but they are probably 3. Tom, 4. Tarun, then 5-6-7 Porterfield Rynd (in 1865), Paul Henry (1970), Sam Collins (2002), all aged 19, 8. Paddy Kennedy (1949) (turned 20 during the championship).