Irish Championship 2015 information

Irish Championship 2015

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Information

[ Basic data | Tournament review | Interesting games]

Basic data

Irish Championship 2015
Dates	July 4-12, 2015
City	Dublin
Venue	Academy Plaza Hotel, 10-14 Findlater Place, Dublin 1
Organiser	Pat Fitzsimons, Peter Scott
Chief Arbiter	Ivan Baburin
Deputy Arbiter	Ruth Redmond
Players participating	19
Games played	79
Competition format	9-round Swiss
Eligibility	IRL registration with FIDE; rating requirement nominally 1900+, with players 1850+ permitted at the discretion of the arbiter, and with many further exceptions (see Sources and notes).
Tie break	Not explicitly stated. Almost certainly, two players who tied for first would share the title. For three or more, unknown. (See Sources and notes for more information and for tie-break for Olympiad place.)
Time control	40 moves in 100 minutes, plus an additional 40 minutes at move 40, plus a 30 second increment from move 1.
FIDE rated?	Yes (ID 116402)
Games available	All 79 (one incomplete).
Videos	Colm Daly took several videos and photos (see Sources and Notes). Above: Brady - O'Donnell, round 7, as the players agreed a draw (see full video (10 minutes, 5 seconds)).
Concurrent events	Irish Intermediate Championship 2015, 1st Denis O'Connell (Cork) Irish Junior Championship 2015, 1st Gerard Condon (Cork) 1st Scarry Cup 2015.
References	Sources and notes. If you have any other documents, reports, references, biographical information, annotations or (in particular) photos, please .

Tournament review

“It was a week for the veterans at the 2015 Irish Championship in Dublin as FIDE Masters Stephen Brady and Philip Short outpaced the younger generation to share the honours with 6.5/9. Dubliner Brady, 48, claimed his ninth title, equalling the record of John O'Hanlon (1876-1960) who secured his victories between 1913 and 1940. ... It was 55-year-old Short's fourth national success and comes 34 years after the Cork player won his first championship (shared with David Dunne in 1991) and 27 years after his last triumph in 1988. ... In a very tight finish, the co-winners had just a half-point to spare over the four other FMs in the 19-player field: Stephen Jessel, top seed David Fitzsimons, Conor O'Donnell, and former champion Colm Daly. ...”

— Jim Olney, Irish Examiner, July 25, 2015 p. W55

Interesting games

Miracle escape:
         O'Rourke, Ray – Daly, Colm      ½-½

A wild, see-saw struggle ‘who was winning and when?’:
         Kennedy, John P. A. – O'Gorman, Tom      ½-½

Mating net:
         O'Donnell, Conor – Fitzsimons, David      1-0

Poisoned pawn:
         Fitzsimons, David – Brady, Stephen      1-0

Flawed gem: White wins with a dazzling, but unsound, combination:
         O'Gorman, Tom – O'Rourke, Ray      1-0

The black king caught in a queen & rook crossfire:
         Short, Philip – Fitzsimons, David      1-0

White on the ropes but Black fails to land the knockout blow:
         Brady, Stephen – O'Donnell, Conor      ½-½

A chaotic finale where White ultimately loses the thread:
         Jessel, Stephen – Daly, Colm      0-1