The Ennis Congress was held over the weekend, and attracted 111 players over three sections.
Generally, very few games have been available from this event, and so there is only one full report from a previous edition in the tournament pages here. This year, though, more than half of the games from the Open (37 out of 73) are available, along with a handful from the two lower sections. A full report for the Open has been added.
Oleg Gubanov from the local club finished clear first on 4½/5. Half a point behind were IM Mihnea Costachi of Romania, Colm Daly, and James Naughton, and a further half point back were GM Keith Arkell (who drew against Gubanov, and then lost in the last round to Costachi), IM Attila Turzó of Hungary, and Robert Arellano of the Philippines.
There were many interesting games. The most striking was the round 4 clash between Alina Kononova and James Naughton.
This could and should have been a significant rating upset, with Kononova outrated by over 400 points. She was a full rook ahead after complications, but missed several chances to simplify, and reached the following position after Naughton’s 51… f4.
52. ?
The finish was 52. Rc1 f3 53. Rxe5+ dxe5 54. c6 Kf4 55. Kg1 Kg3 56. c7 Rh2 57. Bh3 e2 58. Rf1 exf1=Q+ 0-1. Both players missed chances along the way; where and when?
[Click to replay the full game (with no notes).]