The “Varsity” matches between Oxford University and Cambridge University go back to 1873 in an almost complete sequence, broken only by World Wars. The latest in the sequence took place last month at the Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall in London. Oxford top board Tom O’Gorman won his game, and thereby completed a remarkable record: he becomes the first player in the entire series to score 4/4 with all games on board 1. He is only the sixth player ever to score 4/4; this was achieved twice in the twentieth century and three times in the nineteenth. Congratulations! All four of his games are av ..read more

The third event in the recent Dublin International Festival was the 65+ Championship. This attracted 21 players, including two from Iceland (there was a sizeable Icelandic contingent across the entire Festival), and resulted in a four-way tie for first, on 5/7, between Gerry MacElligott (first on tie-break), Pete Morriss, Tim Harding, and Tony Doyle. Congratulations to all. Eamon Keogh was the early leader with 3/3. He won his round 2 game against Frank McMahon after an interesting struggle. McMahon – Keogh, Dublin International 65+ 2024 11. ? In the diagrammed position, White would be winning ..read more

The recent Dublin International Festival also featured two age-restricted tournaments, the 40+ and 65+ championships. The 40+ championship attracted 18 players, and with one exception the field was relatively evenly matched, with over half the players having FIDE ratings in the 1700s and 1800s. The exception was John Delaney, top seed by a margin of almost 300 points FIDE (almost 500 points ICU), and he duly finished first with 6½/7, a point ahead of John P. Aherne, who was in turn a point ahead of Fred Armstrong, who took third place. Delaney did not have it all his own way, though, and in pa ..read more

The recent post about the DCU Majors 2024 gave the Bartczak – Spence game as the most interesting, with plenty of play left in the final position. I thought Black “should be able to draw”, but the line I offered also left plenty of play. Delving deeper turned up some interesting points. Bartczak – Spence, DCU Majors 2024 Final position; White to play From the final position, I think best play goes 31. Rxc2 Ba6+! 32. Ree2! Rxe2 33. Rxe2 c5! (slightly more accurate than 33… Bxe2+ 34. Qxe2 c5 as I gave before, since then Black has to work out the consequences of 35. Qa6) 34. Kf2 Bxe2 35. Qxe2 a5 ..read more

The third of the three sections at last weekend’s DCU Congress 2024 was the Challengers, for players rated under 1200 ICU and under 1650 FIDE, or unrated. 55 players actually played (as in the Open, there were five more who were paired for round 1 but played no games). The winner was Chima Mgbemena with full points, though he was fortunate to win his last round game against Malachy O’Neill, where he was queen for bishop down in the final position. A full report has been added to the Tournament pages here ..read more

The DCU Majors 2024 was the second of three sections of the DCU Congress last weekend. A full report has been added to the Tournament pages here. This section was the smallest of the three, with 29 players. Ruarai Goodfellow of U.C.C. took clear first with an unbeaten 4/5, ahead of six players tied for second place, half a point back. The most interesting game available was the round 2 top board clash between Korneliusz Bartczak and Beckett Spence. Bartczak – Spence, DCU Majors 2024 28… ? In the diagrammed position Black could have won quickly via 28… Qxc4+! 29. Kxg2 Qxa2+ 30. Qe2 Qxe6, when a ..read more

The DCU Congress attracted 180 players across three sections at the weekend, and the newly introduced Blitz attracted 59. A full report on the Open has been added to the Tournament pages here. 20 games are available via live boards, though a few of these were truncated. The event was open to all ICU members, and attracted a mammoth field of 96 players. Due to some snafu, IMs Artur Davtyan and Oleg Gubanov were listed in the field and paired for the first round, but played no games. This left as top seeds Tarun and Trisha Kanyamarala, Stephen Jessel, and Zalan Nemeth. Three players tied for fir ..read more

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 ..read more

The Irish 65+ Championship 2024 round 6 game between Tim Harding and Pat Reynolds reached the diagrammed position with White to play. Harding – Reynolds, Irish 65+ Championship 2024 48. ? While 48. Qe5 would leave White much better, the game continuation’s immediate simplification 48. Qe8+ Kh7 49. Qxf7 Qxc3 50. Qxe6 Qxa5 51. Qf5+ Qxf5 52. gxf5 is a definite win. The game later reached the second diagrammed position, with White to play. Same game 65. ? White wins via ‘corresponding squares’. Black must be able to meet Kf5 with Kf7, and must be able to meet Ke8 with Ke8; the square f7 ‘correspon ..read more

As mentioned in the last post, Gerard O’Connell won this year’s Irish 65+ Championship, with 5½/7, half a point ahead of Pat Hogan, Gerard MacElligott, and David Salter. Hogan won their individual game in round 6, after an oversight by O’Connell, and there was a three-way tie between O’Connell, Hogan, and Salter heading into the final round. In the final round the latter two drew against each other, and O’Connell’s win against Pete Morriss gave him the title. A full report has now been added in the Tournament pages here ..read more