Irish Championship 2023

The Irish Championship 2023 is reaching its halfway stage, with (as I write this) ronnd 4 completed. A partial report, [update, August 13: now final] reflecting progress so far, has been uploaded to the tournament pages here, and will be updated for the rest of the championship.

There is once again a large field by historic standards, with 32 players: only ten of the last 101 championships have exceeded that number, and that ten includes four of the last five championships. It’s probably fair to say, though, that compared to the last few years of unusually strong events by historic standards, this one is relatively open, with none of the most recent available eight champions taking part.

After four rounds, the on-form Kavin Venkatesan—he has shot up the rating list over the past month, and has qualified as Ireland’s newest FM during this event—leads with 3½/4, but is closely followed by eight players (!— a full quarter of the field) just ½ point further back.

Update, August 9, 2023: the report has been updated with the games from round 5. On the top board, Kavin Venkatesan had a short draw with Jacob Flynn, and on the next two boards, Alexander Baburin and Conor O’Donnell had rather straightforward wins. Jonathan O’Connor won a rather complicated game on board 4 against Adam Collins, with the result that Venkatesan, Baburin, O’Donnell, and O’Connor lead with 4/5. Tomorrow Baburin plays O’Connor on board 1 and Venkatesan plays O’Donnell on board 2.

Elsewhere, Colm Daly lost against Oisín O’Cuilleanain, and must now surely be out of contention for the title. The most interesting game of the day was perhaps Melaugh – Keenan on board 5, where White won an unusual ending.

Update, August 10, 2023: the report has been updated with the games from round 6. On the top board, Jonathan O’Connor drew with the black pieces against Alexander Baburin, and even had the better of it. On the second board, Conor O’Donnell finally ended the excellent run of Kavin Venkatesan, who had held the lead or joint lead from the beginning of the tournament, winning convincingly with Black. Elsewhere Colm Daly avenged a recent loss to Lara Putar, while the most interesting game of the round was probably Fox – D. Nolan, in which the former recorded his first win.

The top three boards for round 7 are O’Donnell – Carroll, O’Connor – Flynn, and Baburin – Melaugh.

Update, August 11, 2023: the report has been updated to reflect round 7. Alexander Baburin had the first result of the day, winning a miniature against Shane Melaugh. On the top two boards, Conor O’Donnell was noticeably worse as White out of the opening against Peter Carroll, while Jacob Flynn equalised fairly easily against Jonathan O’Connor. But Carroll blundered, and while the game lasted a long while, the result was never really in doubt. Meanwhile, O’Connor created enough problems, out of not very much, for Flynn to go wrong. So the top three all won, leaving O’Donnell still in the lead on 6/7, with Baburin and O’Connor half a point further back. Tomorrow O’Connor has White against Baburin O’Donnell. Kavin Venkatesan won, and with 5/7 has perhaps an outsid chance of the title, if he wins his last two games.

Update, August 12, 2023: the report has been updated with the round 8 games. The dramatic events of the round are well-summarised by Tim Harding at Chess Mail. Jonathan O’Connor and Conor O’Donnell agreed a draw barely out of the opening, in which White had secured no advantage, and the focus switched to the board two game between Jacob Flynn and Alexander Baburin. In a level endgame, the former missed chances to liquidate to a draw (for example, 50. Nc4+ and 59. Nd5+, Nf6 & Kg5) and instead went for the technical 2N v P ending, with the pawn behind the ‘Troitsky line’ so technically winning, but crucially only if the 50-move rule is disregarded. As it was, the position was drawn with best play, but in the event White’s natural inaccuracies were met with a virtuoso exhibition of extraordinarily accurate play from Baburin to secure the win.

On board three, Peter Carroll collapsed virtually out of the opening against Kavin Venkatesan, who now, along with O’Connor, has an outside chance of the title.

This left Baburin and O’Donnell tied on 6½/8, with O’Connor and Venkatesan half a point behind. Tomorrow’s final round (which starts earlier—12.30pm) sees Baburin as White against Adam Collins, and O’Donnell as White against James Crowley, while Venkatesan has White against O’Connor. If Baburin and O’Donnell both win, we will have the first rapid playoff under the new (post-2017) system, to produce a single champion.

Update, August 14, 2023: the report has been updated with round 9, after one of the most dramatic and turbulent days in the long history of the Irish Championship.

At the outset, the likely storyline seemed to be, as Tim Harding put it at Chess Mail, “Baburin and O’Donnell to fight for the title”: both with White against much lower-rated opponents, and in all probability both winning and then playing a rapid playoff match, with Kavin Venkatesan and Jonathan O’Connor contesting third place.

Drama struck early when O’Donnell’s opponent James Crowley mistook the earlier starting time—despite it being announced before every round throughout the week—and arrived 53 minutes late. O’Donnell had a winning advantage out of the opening, but missed or avoided the most critical lines to allow rough equality around move 20, by which time his opponent was down to increments. He soon made a catastrophic error (21. Bh4??) that handed his opponent a huge advantage, and a position that was very easy to play.

Meanwhile Baburin had played an insipid opening against Adam Collins, and struggled to gain any advantage.

Meanwhile Jonathan O’Connor had built up a crushing advantage as Black against Venkatesan.

It therefore seemed likely that Baburin would draw, O’Donnell would lose, and O’Connor would win, leaving Baburin and O’Connor tied for first place and with a rapid playoff to decide the title.

Very, very unfortunately indeed, Jonathan mixed something up and failed to make his 40th move, losing on time. He had plenty of time for his last move, over five minutes. By this stage the task ahead had become more complicated, as he had presumably wanted to reach the time control before entering any variation that could go wrong, but his position was probably still winning.

Very unfortunate. Whether you see him as having the tournament of a lifetime, as some online put it, or simply hitting his best form and sustaining it throughout, as I think of it, he was well worth an equal first place finish in the Irish Championship.

Baburin now drew, joining Venkatesan on 7 points. It now seemed likely that O’Donnell would lose, setting up a rapid playoff between the former two. There was one more major twist. Crowley, though still clearly winning, started to lose the thread, and within some shuffling of pieces allowed a three-fold repetition: O’Donnell’s 57. Ra1 repeated the position that had occurred after 52. ra1 and 54. Ra1. A draw would have left Conor on 7 points, and with the title, without any need for a playoff. Though he had time—about 13 minutes or so—he missed this opportunity also. (In fairness, it must be said that most or all people watching online failed to spot it also, and several players had difficulty seeing it even after it was pointed out to them.) The game ground on to its increasingly inevitable conclusion, and O’Donnell resigned on move 91.

In retrospect, the bizarre conditions—a near-default, and an opponent playing on the increment for hours—did Conor no favours at all. A thorough revising of mental approach, while it might have been necessary, is easier said than done. As it was, he was thoroughly out of sorts, especially in the crucial stages leading up to and around move 20.

This set the stage for the rapid playoff between Baburin and Venkatesan, the first since the new system was introduced, before the 2018 championship. (Some people were still caught by surprise, though the conditions were prominently featured on the flyer, amongst other places.) The format was an initial two-game match with a time control of 15 minutes plus 10 second increment per move. Baburin won the first game as Black, ironically on time, and then in a better position took a perpetual check to secure the match 1½-½ and only his second Irish championship, fifteen years after the first.

Congratulations to the new champion, who was assured throughout, and produced one of the most memorable events of any Irish championship with his extraordinary win in the Troitsky 2N v P ending in round 8.