Club blitz reminder

This Wednesday is the first day of spring, so it makes perfect sense that it’s the date for our annual Christmas charity blitz.   At least the weather is turning Christmassy!   We’ll be opening registration from 7:15pm and should be well under way by 8.   Entry fees are E12 adults; E6 other (incl unemployed/retired), though as all proceeds are for charity – specifically, the Simon Community and the Samaritans, any extra donations or, indeed, spot prizes, are always welcome.

The format is the same as always – all-play-all groups of 8, handicap time control to a max (or min, depending on which player you are!) or 2 v 8 minutes, with group winners plus some runners-up (depending on entry) progressing to the knock-out quarter-finals.   It’s always a fun evening, so make sure and head up if you’re around!

Gonzaga 2012

A number of St Benildus players bravely entered enemy territory at the weekend for the annual Gonzaga Classic.   It was a decent weekend all told – though we didn’t place in any of the sections, we came close.   Ger Reilly was unlucky, after taking a travelling bye in round 1, to be drawn against one of the top seeds in the 1200-1800 band; he lost that, but duly won his next three games to be up on board 4 in the last round.   Unfortunately, he lost to Tom O’Sullivan in the last round to finish out of the top 3, but was at least happy that he’s regaining the form which saw him above 1600 a few years ago.

In the bottom section, Odhrán McDonnell stormed to board 1 after scoring 3½/4.   The top two players were particularly strong for this tournament – Oriel O’Cathail is unrated, but after scoring 2/2 for Rathmines’ BA B team, he was elevated to their Heidenfeld A team, where he’s currently on an unbeaten 3/4, while Valery Leschenko is also unrated and is on 6/7 for Wicklow’s O’Hanlon team; both have rating performances in the leagues of 1500/1600 – and Odhrán dropped back to 3½/6 by the end.   It’s a first stint at the tournament top boards for him though, which hopefully will give a taste for more!

He was joined on 3½/6 by Dan O’Brien who, along with Mihailo (3/6), won his two Sunday games.   Two semi-Benildians were also in action – Mihailo’s sister Anastasija scored 2/6 (though seemed more interested in how Novak Djokovic was doing in the Australian Open final!), while Ross Beatty picked up an excellent 4/6.

Ennis and BA keep on promotion tracks

It was a busy night for the club last night with 12 games down for decision – eleven of which were against Bray.   The one which wasn’t saw the conclusion of an amazing tie as Kevin McHugh’s victory ensured a 4-4 draw against Gonzaga.   The draw leaves Rathmines A in pole position to win the league for the first time in five seasons, but more importantly establishes a nice barrier between us and the bottom two.   After including other round 8 results so far, the table looks like this –

Rathmines B v Trinity is the only outstanding result; Rathmines A play Kilkenny in two weeks’ time, while Dublin may regain three points on appeal.   We’ll probably have a four point gap to the relegation zone ahead of our next game, at home to Elm Mount B.

Playing alongside Kevin was the BA.   Captain Eddie Gahan reports that it was a bit of a get-out-of-jail-free night though.   He himself “ballsed it up” and lost.   Ed Tobin and Michael Kearney accepted draws in lost positions.   Harry was a pawn up and maybe should have won but ended with a draw, while Brendan won on time after his opponent’s flag fell in a completely drawn position.   His opponent could maybe have claimed a draw, but of course once your flag falls, it’s only a draw if your opponent doesn’t have mating material; any technical draw claims must be made before your flag falls.   Brendan’s win moves him onto 6/7 for the BA; a board prize is coming into view there.

As with last time, it would have been nice to pull further ahead, but not letting rivals (Bray were fifth) catch up is just as important.   Every title challenge has one slip-up; if that was ours, it didn’t harm us too badly.   We now have a 7½ point gap to third-placed Inchicore, who play Dún Laoghaire on Thursday, while it’s 6 points back to Ballinasloe A, who were away to Rathmines B last weekend.   I’ll ask the BA controller if he can provide a sneak round 7 update in the next couple of days.   The BAs play Dún Laoghaire next.

While Bray’s BA went to Benildus, our Ennis went to Bray.   A serious crash on the M11 at the Bray north exit meant traffic was backed up for miles; we decided to be clever and head via Shankill only to find everyone else was doing that as well.   To their credit, Bray very sportingly agreed to hold off starting the clocks until we arrived (just past 8), and play 1:30 each.   The games were generally fairly topsy-turvy affairs; Ray Bowe won a pawn but was first to finish after losing a rook – his opponent, Vincent Denard, was playing his third match of the season against St Benildus, having lost against both our Bodley teams.   On board 6, Dan O’Brien looked in all sorts of trouble as his opponent had three pawns and a rook for two pieces and three connected pawns racing towards promotion, pushing back everything in their path.   However, his opponent seemed not to push home his initiative and the game ended in a draw with material back at R+P each.   White’s pawn had been on f7 for a good while at this stage, but white never got around to getting his king up to support the final push home.

On 4, Kevin May had a nice win against Mervyn Honner after saccing two pieces for a rook and a pawn to drag Mervyn’s king out into the open.   Ger’s opponent seemed to neglect development entirely, so Ger launched a king-side attack which, once it broke through, was unstoppable.   Ciarán got into all kinds of trouble in a curious French line (1. e4 e6   2. c4) and was heading for defeat when his opponent overlooked a tactic which cost a piece, and the game soon followed – see diagram below.

Black has just played 29. … Rhe8.   It’s actually a game-losing blunder – f5 is equal, even though white has the rook pair and seems to have more activity against the opposition king.   Ciaran thought he was setting a trap, and white duly fell into it – 30. Nc6+ QxN??   31. QxQ?? PxQ and black went on to win.   Better was 31. PxQ! RxQ   32.Rxb7+ Kc8   33.Ra2 Re6   34.Raxa7 Rxc6   35.Rxf7 Kb8   36.Rxg7 and the power of the rook pair is shown.

The full game with a few comments went like this –

Ruane, Ciaran (1531) v Janowski, Tom (1309), Ennis Shield, 25 Jan ’12

1.e4 e6 2.c4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nc3 d4 5.Ne4 Bf5 6.Qe2 Qe7 7.d3 Bxe4 8.dxe4 Qb4+ 9.Qd2 Qb6? [9…Nf6] 10.a3 c5 11.e5 Ne7 12.Bd3 Nbc6 13.f4 0-0-0? [13…Na5] 14.Nf3 h6 15.0-0 g6 [15…Na5] 16.Qe1 Bg7? [16…Nf5 17.Bxf5+ gxf5 18.Qd1] 17.Rb1 Qc7 18.b4 cxb4? [18…Nf5] 19.axb4 Kb8? [19…Nf5] 20.Ba3? [20.b5 Na5 21.Bd2+-] 20…Rd7 21.b5 Nd8 22.Bd6? [22.c5] 22…Rxd6 23.exd6 Qxd6 24.Rf2? [24.Ne5] 24…Ne6 25.g3 Nc5 26.Ne5 Nxd3? [26…Rf8] 27.Nxd3 Nf5? [27…Qa3] 28.Qe4? [28.c5] 28…Ne3 29.Ne5? [29.c5] 29…Re8? [29…f5= 30.Qd3 Bxe5 31.fxe5 Qxe5] 30.Nc6+ Qxc6 31.Qxc6?? [31.bxc6 Rxe4 32.Rxb7+ Kc8 33.Ra2+- Re6 34.Raxa7 Rxc6 35.Rxf7 Kb8 36.Rxg7 Nxc4] 31…bxc6 32.bxc6+ Kc7 33.Rb7+ Kxc6 34.Rxf7 Rb8 [34…Bf8] 35.h3? [35.Ra2] 35…Rb1+ 36.Kh2 Rb7 37.Rxb7 Kxb7 38.g4 Nxc4 [38…d3!] 39.Kg2 d3 40.Kf3 d2 41.Rf1 Nb2 42.Ke2 d1Q+ 43.Rxd1 Nxd1 44.Kxd1 a5 45.Kc2 Kc6 46.Kb3 Kd5 47.Ka4 Bc3 48.f5 gxf5 49.gxf5 Ke5 0-1

Ciarán is now on 7/8 for the Ennis – six straight wins after starting with two draws.

I had my most enjoyable game of the season to date, finally winning a King’s Gambit game in something approaching proper King’s Gambit style –

Burke, Kevin (1617) v Brisson, Benjamin (1486), Ennis Shield, 25 Jan ’12

1. e4 e5   2. f4 Nc6   3. Nf3 Bc5

A line I hate; the bishop can make castling quite difficult, although here 2. … exf is better for black than Nc6.   In the game, I aimed to swap the bishop off as soon as possible; Fritz gives the following as grand for white – 4. fxe NxP   5. NxN Qh4+   6. g3 QxP+   7. Qe2 QxR   8. Ng6+ Ne7    9. NxR (D)

Positions like these are why I like the King’s Gambit so much!   Unfortunately, I didn’t see Qe2 – partly because I wasn’t looking for it; anything with Qh4+ and Qxe4+ is usually bad! – and partly because I just played to my plan, which is about level.

4. Nc3 d6   5. Na4 Bg4   6. NxB PxN   7. Bc4

Fritz wants to play 7. d3 here instead, protecting the f-pawn.   It doesn’t seem in the spirit of the opening though!

7. … BxN?!

This exchange is usually good for white.

8. QxB Nd4

Here, I spent 20 minutes looking at 9. Bxf7 or Qh5.   Unfortunately, 9. Qh5 fails to Nxc2+, when after 10. Kd1, Ne3+ picks up the bishop as the pawn is pinned.   Any other king move allows the queen to defend f7, while I didn’t have enough material out to make the tempting f7 sac work, so I humbly retreated, happy with my bishop pair and material equality, and down quite a bit of time in a shorter time-control game.

9. Qd1 exf   10. O-O f3!?   11. c3 Qg5?

This looks threatening, but it goes nowhere.   Black needs to finish development with Nf6.

12. Rf2 Ne2+ (D)

13. Kh1

Fritz doesn’t like this, saying I should take the knight and regain my pawn with a clear advantage.   At the time, I didn’t see why I should give up my best piece when the knight can’t stay on e2 anyway (it’s hanging after RxP).   It seems the problem is black’s c5-pawn.   Fritz suggests 13. BxN PxB   14. QxP O-O-O    15. d3 Qg6   16. Rf5 c5   17. d4 and the c-pawn dies.

13. … NxB   14. Qa4+

Again, not a plan Fritz likes.   I’m committing myself to the f7 sac (14. … c6   15. RxN b5 and black has a piece for a pawn).    It turns out the f7 sac isn’t sound though, and I basically wind up a piece down with not enough compensation.   The main problem is that black’s knight on c1 is actually holding his position together – it stops the queen check on b3, from where the queen would invade on b7 with an advantage.   I’d been looking at following up with RxP+ and Qc4+, but it’s not as strong.   While I waste time capturing the knight, black plays Nf6 and gets his king to safety.

14. … c6   15. Bxf7+? Ke7??

Fortunately – as so often happens – my opponent believed my attack and I’m back in the game.   There’s an interesting book in the club library called Pawn Sacrifice, where the author says sacs are often far more effective than they should be, mainly for purely psychological reasons.   His thread throughout the book is to hell with Fritz; play for complications and you’ll have more fun.   In retrospect, I may have pushed it here though!

16. RxN PxP+?   17. RxP Qe5   18. Rg1 (D)

Now after 18. … KxB comes 19. Qb3+ Ke8   20. Qxb7 Rd8   21. Qxc6+ and white is starting to rack up enough compensation for the piece.

18. … b5?

This lets white’s queen invade into black’s position.

19. Qa6 KxB   20. Qxc6?!

I didn’t really like 20. Qb7+ Ne7   21. Rxg7+ QxR   22. RxQ+ KxR   23. QxN+, when I’ve Q+6 v 2R+5.   Fritz tells me not to be silly and that black’s pawns are going to start falling (giving +4.5).   21. Rf1+ is better again though (+7).   The text is to improve on the first line by stopping 20. … Ne7, when Rf1+ is winning, and also to cut off the d6 square for the king (so I’m now threatening 21. Qb7+ Ne7   22. Rf1+ and the king has to go onto the back rank, when both rooks fall).   However, it does allow black time to defend, although I’m still winning (+2.8).   He needs to play 20. … Re8; anything else is crushing.   Black’s reply is mate in nine, for example.

20. … Ne7??    21. Rf1+ Nf5

After 21. … Qf6, white wins with 22. Rxg7+!  KxR   23. QxQ+ Kg8   24. Qf7#

22. RxN+ QxR   23. PxQ?

It’s not often taking a free queen is “weak”, but here, it loses the mating thread, which starts off with Qc7+, forcing the king to the back rank.   And then taking the queen.

23. … Rhe8   24. Qd7+ Kf6

It’s easy after 24. … Re7   25. Rxg7+ KxR   26. QxR+

25. Qxg7+ KxP   26. Rf2+ Ke4   27. Re2+

Again, missing mating lines, but the text picks up a rook.   26. d3+ leads to mate.   26. … KxP   27. Qd7+ Ke3   28. Qf5 Rf8   29. Qxc5+ Kd3   30. Qd4#

27. … Kd3   28. RxR RxR   29. Qd7+ Kc2   30. QxR 1-0

Actually, the game went on another 10 moves until I threatened to get a third queen, but I don’t think anyone wants to see that!

Our next game is the eve of the third anniversary of my last Ennis defeat!   21-5-1 is my Ennis record over the past four seasons (having missed last season due to being in the Heidenfeld).   More importantly, we’re now 5 points clear of third and 5½ clear of fourth, who play each other next week.   We really shouldn’t be strong enough to be challenging for promotion, especially with so many subs used, but the wheels are stubbornly refusing to fall off.   Granted, if we get promoted, we’ll get hammered as badly if not worse than last year in the Heidenfeld, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it!

St Benildus ease past O’Connell’s

There was a trio of schools games today, with Benildus easing past their opponents from O’Connell’s School on North Richmond Street.   O’Connell’s were drawn to face us at all three levels, taking on our Minor B, Junior B and Senior teams.   The aggregate result of 13½-1½ – while more points than we’ve dropped all season – is still a decent return for the day.

The Minor Bs were denied a whitewash when board 2 ended in a stalemate, while the Seniors – hit with a couple of withdrawals for the trifling reason of the Leaving Cert (and mocks) on the horizon – were 4-1 winners.   That left the Junior Bs to record a 5-0 whitewash win.

Gonzaga A are also in each of O’Connell’s groups, so our B teams may find it hard to progress in any event, but they’re certainly doing all they can to get through!

New ratings list out

The January ratings list was published at the weekend.   It’s a fairly quiet one – the Leinster underage championships weren’t received in time to be rated, and the leagues won’t be rated until after they’re finished, so it’s basically adjusting for Kilkenny.   There’s only two players who show gains – John Healy is up 39 points, while Nicky Benson is up a massive 108 points, getting back up close to her all-time high after four successive rating drops.

 

The list in full (active players only)

Name	Rating
Madynski, Pawel	2102
O’Connell, Gerard	2093
Bittner, Thomas	2053
McHugh, Kevin	2019
Lyons, Brendan	1855
Gibson, John	1762
Healy, John	1741
Hanley, Michael	1646
Willow, David	1609
Burke, Kevin	1606
Ruane, Ciaran	1531
Reilly, Gerard	1457
Dixon, Steven	1435
May, Kevin	1421
Cuffe, Brendan	1340
Higgins, Henry	1336
Tobin, Edward	1317
Gahan, Edward	1305
Cunningham, Stephen	1301
Benson, Nicola	1166
Bowe, Ray	1116*
Kearney, Michael	1060
Kearney, Tom	925
Power, Patrick	881
Kyne-Delaney, Andrew	869
Boland, Daniel	793
Fletcher, Peter	700*
Hehir, Colm	700*
McDonnell, Finn	700
McDonnell, Odhran	700
O’Brien, Dan	700

 

* indicates a provisional rating.

Armstrong go toe to toe with rivals Gonzaga

After a couple of poor results lately, the Armstrong had their work cut out last night when facing title challengers – and traditional rivals – Gonzaga.   John Gibson had already drawn his game on the Wednesday, and that set the tone for the game as we picked up another five draws to trail by just 4-3, with Kevin McHugh’s game to come.

Gerry O’Connell had earlier talked up his chances against Sam Collins IM – who earlier this month came within a whisker of becoming the first-ever Irish-born GM at a tournament in California – saying that while he hadn’t gotten a result off Sam in a while, he was usually black and this time would be white.   And he was right, earning a 22-move draw and then bemoaning the fact that he didn’t play on, when he could have won.   On board 7, meanwhile, Ger Reilly by his own account blundered to throw away a crushing position, but still ended up with a draw.   So decent and all as the result was, it could have been even better!

The table now looks like this –

Dublin were docked three points for failing to submit results on time; they may get these back (we did), in which case, it really is squeaky bum time at the bottom, with 1½ points separating the bottom five.

It’s a big week down at the bottom – on Monday, Elm Mount B host Celbridge and Rathmines B host Trinity, so last night’s result was particularly well timed.   Our next two games are against Elm Mount B and Celbridge, so we’ve a good chance to ensure safety before the last-round game against Rathmines A.   Two draws in the first two and 2½ against Rathmines would bring us to 38 points, more than anyone’s been relegated with over the past eight seasons.   The average for eleventh is 30½, though it looks like this season will be higher.

Ennis round 7 update

Unlike the BA controller, the Ennis controller isn’t – so far as I’m aware – off on a jolly at present, but he has still sent an updated league table as well:

Round 7 may have been the death knell of Portmarnock’s and Longford’s promotion chances; a four-point gap has now opened up between us and them after defeats to Drogheda (4½-1½) and us (3½-2½) respectively.   Of the top four, we’ve got the easiest run-un – Kilkenny still have to play both Drogheda and Naomh Barróg, whom they meet next.

BA round 6 update

The BA controller may be on a jolly in Germany, unable to update the Leinster League site at the moment, but fortunately for us, he also plays for our Armstrong, and has given us an exclusive update on our most likely source of success this season.   After round 6, the table now looks like this –

Despite “only” drawing against second place last time out, we’ve managed to extend the gap back to third (and non-promotion), as both Inchicore and Dún Laoghaire fell to defeat.   Portmarnock, whom we’ve already beaten 4-1, were the big gainers courtesy of a 4½-½ win over Blanchardstown.   Our BAs host Bray next Wednesday, with each game getting ever more crucial as the season enters the home stretch.

Bodleys’ form continues

The Bodley A and B teams continued their respective form in home games against rapidly improving Rathmines Juniors and Naomh Barróg last night.   On a night when we had ten Bodley games going – with one of the matches reduced to 1:30 each by agreement – it was a bit strange that the first match finished was the one Armstrong tie of the night; John Gibson playing out a GM draw with Gonzaga’s Carl Jackson.   The rest of the Armstrong play on Saturday; the recent dip in form hasn’t been too calamitous yet as teams below have failed to take advantage – we’re still in seventh, unless Dublin scored 5½ or more at home to Rathmines B in round 6.

The next four games finished were all for the As – Andrew lost early enough after hanging a piece, while sub Jamie Kearns drew praise from Rathmines manager Sam Osborne – a once familiar face on club nights! – for the way he finished off a rook ending, ruthlessly pushing his passed pawns home to promotion.   Next, Tom Kearney – suffering with the same illness which meant brother Michael missed the game; a novel problem of having two brothers on the same team! – sacced a piece for three pawns to get in at his opponent’s king; when his opponent didn’t find the best defence, Tom finished clinically enough.   4½/5 for Tom this season, 2-1 to us.   Dan Boland was next in, although I didn’t see what happened in his game at all, and when Paddy Power also lost later on, we were on the wrong end of a 3-2 defeat.

Meanwhile, the Bs were fairly level against their much higher-rated opponents – except for boards 5 and 2.   On the former, sub Luke Hayden made his debut, but unfortunately seemed to drop a piece early on.   There was all sorts of madness on 2 though, which from memory went like this –

M Manojlovic (Unr) v J Carroll (1122), Bodley Cup, 18 Jan ’12

1. e4 e5   2. Nf3 Nc6   3. Bc4 Bc5   4. b4!?
The Evans Gambit.   Not that often seen at Bodley level, I’d say!

4. …BxP   5. c3 Ba5   6. d4 PxP   7. Qb3 d5?
7. … Qe7 or Qf6 is called for here, to defend f7.   d5 ideas aren’t uncommon in some gambit lines (like the Bertin Gambit in the King’s Gambit); the idea is to give back some of the material gained to develop quicker.   It doesn’t really work here though; it’s basically a free pawn, and with the knight on c6, it’s doubly dangerous for black.

8. PxP Qe7+? (D)

This looks natural – the king must move, forfeiting castling rights (9. Be3 is met with d3, winning the pinned piece).   In actual fact, it’s the start of quite a ride for black!

9. Kd1
Mihailo and his dad disagreed on the best square for the king here.   Zdravko reckoned on king safety on f1 and developing while hitting the queen with Ba3, Nd2 and Re1; Mihailo preferred Kd1, allowing the immediate threat of Re1 in addition to the problem of the hanging knight.   After a minute’s thought, Fritz rates Kf1 0.17 better, but white has a clear advantage here either way (+3 or so).

9. … Ne5?
Again, looks natural, but is a mistake.   After 10. NxN, the queen can’t take back because of the Re1 pin.   Fritz suggests PxP here, giving up the knight as dead.   That’s the kind of move you like to see it recommend for your opponent!

10. NxN PxP   11. Qb5+ Kd8 (D)

12. d6!
The bishop isn’t free; white’s knight is hanging now that the king has moved to d8.   The text protects the knight, opens up a line for the bishop onto the weak f7 square, threatens to take the bishop on a5 AND hits the queen.   What more can you ask of one move?

12. … Bg4+   13. Kc2!
Actually stronger than NxB; black’s checks are going nowhere, and the knight is in too fine an attacking position to consider retreating.   Instead of the bishop check, black could have tried 12. … QxP+, but 13. Ke2 is grand, and the threats of NxP+ with the family fork, or Rd1 pinning the queen are more than black can cope with.   If he tries 13. … Qe7, then white has 14. Rd1+ Bd7   15. Bg5, bringing another two pieces into the attack, while all the threats on the previous move are still on as well.   Not quite as strong – but still winning – would be 12. … QxP+   13. Kc2 Bf5+   14. Kb3 Qb6, when the queens come off.   White’s still crushing though.

13. … Bf5+   14. Kb3
The king looks weird in here, but it’s actually quite safe.

14. … a6?? 15. PxQ+ 1-0
Black must deal with the check, leaving him no time to take white’s queen.   An unfortunate way to end a nice miniature, though black was lost anyway.   If the queen goes to e6 or h4, there follows 15. NxP+ Kc8   16. Qe8+ Qd8   17. QxQ#.   If 14. … PxP, then black’s position falls apart with checks – 15. NxP+ and there follows QxB+; which bishop is taken depends on which square the king moves to, and the other bishop will drop next move.   14. … QxP falls to NxP+, and the same family fork mentioned on move 13.

We were still well out-rated though; 300+ points on two of the other three boards.   However, the points kept rolling in.   Dan got a draw on board 1 – his opponent maybe offered a draw a bit early, but the pawn structure was the same on either side and major pieces were starting to come off.   Odhrán got his pieces and pawns nicely stuck right into the heart of his opponent’s position, picked up a piece, traded everything off and was left with enough passed pawns to win comfortably, while Finn somehow managed to turn around a R+5 v R+6 ending into a won K+5 v K+5 to bring home a rather outrageous result against a side with three 1000+ players.   Mihailo moves to 4½/5, Dan is on 4/5 while the McDonnells are inseparable on 3½/5 – a board prize somewhere on the team is looking increasingly likely, and the High Fives are in danger of becoming a Bodley B-only zone.

The table is now as follows –

The As have yet to play the sides in italics; the Bs have yet to face the sides in bold.

Inchicore beat Bray B 4-1, and are next up for the Bs in a massive top-of-the-table clash.   The As, meanwhile, have a bye next round before coming up against a Naomh Barróg side who’ll surely be gunning for revenge.

U-16s whitewash Blackrock

St Benildus recorded their sixth 5-0 win in seven matches this season with a whitewash of Blackrock College B.   The team of Tom Kearney, Andrew Kyne-Delaney, Conor Devilly, Dan Boland and Colm Hehir move to 10/10 with just one more match left in their group, against Clonkeen College.   The best of the three group winners will get a bye in the semi-finals and progress straight to the Leinster final.