Today I had the pleasure of meeting a few of the players that have been following the daily reports that David McAlister has been kind enough to post every day. ( I must apologise to David as I'm sure I've been keeping him up long past his bedtime ! ) A couple of them asked how I enjoyed the John Martyn concert on Thursday night, it was great, a little too much electric and not quite enough acoustic for me but, you can't have everything.
Stephen Brady pushed hard for a victory today against Gawain Jones. He ended up two pawns to the good in a bishop of opposite colour ending but it still wasn't enough to give him the full point against stubborn and accurate defence. This game lasted the full 7 hours !
Karl McPhillips has dented his chances of putting his name on the trophy this year, he lost to Gordon Freeman in what was for him was a very disappointing performance.
John Joyce was just too strong for Tom Healy today, this is our featured game, see below.
No Name Total Result Name Total 1 GAWAIN JONES FM [5.5] 1/2 STEPHEN BRADY FM [4] 2 PHILIP SHORT FM [4.5] 1/2 JOE RYAN FM [5] 3 GORDON FREEMAN [4] 1:0 KARL Mc PHILLIPS [5] 4 TOM HEALY [2.5] 0:1 JOHN A. JOYCE [4.5] 5 JOSEF MUDRAK FM [3.5] 1/2 STEPHEN JESSEL [4] 6 RORY QUINN [3.5] 0:1 MARK ORR IM [3.5] 7 ALAN BEVERIDGE [3] 1/2 EAMON KEOGH [3] 8 EDMUND SOH [3] 1/2 PAUL WALSH [3] 9 ANTHONY FOX [3] 1/2 RAY BYRNE [.5] 10 KEVIN WHITE [2.5] 0:1 PAUL WALLACE [2.5]
Place Name Rtg Score M-Buch.
1 GAWAIN JONES FM 2453 6.0 29.0
2-3 JOE RYAN FM 2294 5.5 27.0
JOHN A. JOYCE 2271 5.5 26.0
4-6 KARL Mc PHILLIPS 2172 5.0 30.0
PHILIP SHORT FM 2298 5.0 26.0
GORDON FREEMAN 2066 5.0 21.5
7-9 MARK ORR IM 2338 4.5 28.5
STEPHEN BRADY FM 2365 4.5 27.0
STEPHEN JESSEL 2238 4.5 27.0
10 JOSEF MUDRAK FM 2391 4.0 27.0
11-17 PAUL WALSH 2012 3.5 23.5
RORY QUINN 2047 3.5 23.0
EDMUND SOH 2049 3.5 22.0
ANTHONY FOX 2123 3.5 21.5
PAUL WALLACE 2171 3.5 21.0
EAMON KEOGH 2122 3.5 21.0
ALAN BEVERIDGE 2138 3.5 19.0
18-19 KEVIN WHITE 2062 2.5 23.5
TOM HEALY 1902 2.5 20.0
20 RAY BYRNE 1941 1.0 22.5
This means that, effectively, the title of Irish Chess Champion 2004 will be decided on board 2 tomorrow. As four famous Swedish singers once said "The winner takes it all".
If it's a draw, and none of the Irish players currently on 5 win tomorrow, they'll share the title and the player with the superior M-Buch score will have the right to the Olympiad place. (Joe may be a point ahead now on M-Buch but that doesn't necessarily mean that he will still be ahead of John Joyce tomorrow, if they draw)
If, however, they draw and are joined by other players, oh crap, this is getting far too complicated for me now, let's sort it out tomorrow after reading all the rules tonight.
1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 e5 3.dxe5 Nxe5 4.Nf3 Nxf3+ 5.Qxf3 Bc5 6.Be3 Bb6 7.Bxb6 axb6 8.Bc4 Nh6 9.0-0 0-0 10.Nc3 d6 11.Qg3 Be6 12.Nd5 b5 13.Bb3 c6 14.Ne3 Qe7 15.f3 Bxb3 16.axb3
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Hiarcs 7.32 gives Black a slight edge here, especially after his next move. 16...d5! 17.Ng4? Not only does this move allow Black to "solve" the problem of his awkwardly placed knight on h6 but it also loses a pawn ! [The silicone beast recommends 17.Qf4 but after 17...g5 (or indeed 17...dxe4 Black still holds an advantage.) ] 17...Nxg4 Of course. 18.Qxg4 Qc5+ 19.Kh1 Qxc2 20.Rxa8 Rxa8 21.exd5 cxd5 22.Qd7 Qc6 23.Qf5 Swapping queens would be a very bad idea. 23...g6 24.Qf4 Qc2 25.Qf6 Qxb3 26.Re1 Qe3! The exclamation mark is not for the little mating tactic but for the overall plan, which continues with the next move. 27.Rd1 Qd2 See what I mean. 28.Rf1 Ra2 29.Qd8+ Kg7 30.Qd6 Qd4 [The computer would have continued 30...Qxb2 31.Rg1 (31.Qg3 Ra1) 31...Qd4 but John's plan works just as well.] 31.b3? There was no saving this position anyway but Hiarcs 7.32 doesn't give up quite yet and plays [31.h3 Rxb2 32.Re1 h5 33.Re8] 31...Ra1! 0-1
Here's what we can look forward to tomorrow;
1 GORDON FREEMAN [5] : GAWAIN JONES FM [6] 2 JOE RYAN FM [5.5] : JOHN A. JOYCE [5.5] 3 STEPHEN BRADY FM [4.5] : PHILIP SHORT FM [5] 4 MARK ORR IM [4.5] : KARL Mc PHILLIPS [5] 5 STEPHEN JESSEL [4.5] : RORY QUINN [3.5] 6 PAUL WALSH [3.5] : JOSEF MUDRAK FM [4] 7 ALAN BEVERIDGE [3.5] : EDMUND SOH [3.5] 8 ANTHONY FOX [3.5] : TOM HEALY [2.5] 9 EAMON KEOGH [3.5] : KEVIN WHITE [2.5] 10 PAUL WALLACE [3.5] : RAY BYRNE [1]
No Name Rtg Club Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1. GAWAIN JONES FM 2453 ENGLAND 6 11:W 8:D 4:D 5:W 9:W 6:D 7:W 3:D 14: 2. JOSEF MUDRAK FM 2391 CZECH REPUBLIC 4 12:D 5:D 14:W 4:D 7:L 17:W 3:L 8:D 18: 3. STEPHEN BRADY FM 2365 PHIBSBORO 4.5 13:W 10:W 9:L 6:L 15:W 7:L 2:W 1:D 5: 4. MARK ORR IM 2338 SCOTLAND 4.5 14:W 7:D 1:D 2:D 6:D 5:L 16:D 17:W 9: 5. PHILIP SHORT FM 2298 GALWAY 5 15:D 2:D 12:W 1:L 10:W 4:W 9:D 6:D 3: 6. JOE RYAN FM 2294 DUBLIN 5.5 16:W 9:L 18:W 3:W 4:D 1:D 8:W 5:D 7: 7. JOHN A. JOYCE 2271 WICKLOW 5.5 17:W 4:D 8:W 9:L 2:W 3:W 1:L 20:W 6: 8. STEPHEN JESSEL 2238 FRANCE 4.5 18:W 1:D 7:L 16:W 12:W 9:D 6:L 2:D 17: 9. KARL Mc PHILLIPS 2172 KILKENNY 5 19:W 6:W 3:W 7:W 1:L 8:D 5:D 14:L 4: 10. PAUL WALLACE 2171 ENGLAND 3.5 20:W 3:L 16:D 12:D 5:L 11:D 17:L 15:W 19: 11. ALAN BEVERIDGE 2138 SCOTLAND 3.5 1:L 18:L 17:D 19:D 20:D 10:D 15:W 13:D 16: 12. ANTHONY FOX 2123 DUN LAOIRE 3.5 2:D 15:W 5:L 10:D 8:L 18:D 13:D 19:D 20: 13. EAMON KEOGH 2122 KILKENNY 3.5 3:L 20:L 19:W 18:D 16:D 14:D 12:D 11:D 15: 14. GORDON FREEMAN 2066 GONZAGA 5 4:L 17:W 2:L 15:D 18:W 13:D 19:W 9:W 1: 15. KEVIN WHITE 2062 ENGLAND 2.5 5:D 12:L 20:W 14:D 3:L 16:D 11:L 10:L 13: 16. EDMUND SOH 2049 ENGLAND 3.5 6:L 19:W 10:D 8:L 13:D 15:D 4:D 18:D 11: 17. RORY QUINN 2047 GALWAY 3.5 7:L 14:L 11:D 20:W 19:W 2:L 10:W 4:L 8: 18. PAUL WALSH 2012 LIMERICK 3.5 8:L 11:W 6:L 13:D 14:L 12:D 20:W 16:D 2: 19. RAY BYRNE 1941 GONZAGA 1 9:L 16:L 13:L 11:D 17:L 20:L 14:L 12:D 10: 20. TOM HEALY 1902 CORK 2.5 10:L 13:W 15:L 17:L 11:D 19:W 18:L 7:L 12:
Oh, by the way, the Irish Junior (under 1500) and the Irish Intermediate (under 1900) got under way today. They are quite large events, the Junior has 54 players while the Intermediate has 30. Report tomorrow evening.
Slan,
Gerry.