Gonzaga’s five-year winning streak was finally broken in the 2018 charity blitz, but for the third time in four years, a runner-up spot was the best the home club could manage. And more importantly, the sum of €1,270 was raised for local charities over the course of the evening.
45 players turned out for the event, with five groups of 8 and one smaller group of 5. The handicap time limits once again helped even the tournament out, with no 100% records to be seen (bar one player who had to leave early). Group B was by far the tightest, with the winner scoring just 4½, and five players coming joint bottom on 3/7. Fiachra Scallan and Peter Carroll got the best score in the groups – 6½/7, including a draw against each other, saw them win Group C 3½ points clear of their nearest challengers.
I also managed 6½ in Group F, though from 8 games, as the smaller Group F saw two rounds played, one with white and one with black; I was particularly lucky to come through this group, drawing with Finn when he stalemated me in K+2 v K, while almost making an illegal move when facing mate in 1 against Donovan (trying to capture on h7 with my dark-square bishop…) – had I pressed my clock, I’d have forfeit the game, but I realised my mistake in time, and fortunately I could instead block the mate by hanging my bishop. That meant I reached the quarter-finals with a game to spare, which was just as well as I lost to Robbie Creasey in the last round, as he completed a clean sweep of 4/4 with white.
Group E was particularly topsy-turvy, with Gerry ending on 2½, losing to Luke, Yubo, Taylor and Eric, mostly from a piece up. Odhrán, bizarrely, managed three draws, but it was Luke who came through the group on 5½. Another draw in Group D was to prove crucial, with Denis Dempsey drawing with Dylan in the first round. Denis had claimed three-fold repetition, and Dylan agreed, but of course you can’t make such a claim in blitz, with no moves being recorded. However, once the draw was agreed, it couldn’t be retracted, and the half-point dropped meant Dylan was only joint winner of the group. There was further twists in the group – Dylan lost to Jacob Flynn in the penultimate round, who in turn could only draw his last round match against Liam Ó Laoide, which allowed Dylan back into things as joint group winner.
Three groups were jointly won, and this meant for possibly the first time ever, a group winner had to be eliminated at the group stage. After a little bit of confusion as to how to actually work this, it was agreed that the joint winners of Group B – whose 4½/7 was the lowest of the winners’ scores – would be the ones to draw a pawn for a quarter-final spot. Cian Bergin was the lucky one, with Cillian Scallan taking one of the chocolate spot prizes as a consolation!
The quarter finals saw no real upsets; Dylan beat Fiachra, who was higher-rated, but it can hardly count as an upset to lose to the club’s two-time blitz champion with 3v7! In the other ties, Jacob beat Sarthak, Peter beat Luke and I beat Cian.
Onto the semi-finals, and I managed to throw away a draw against Dylan with my last move; we had both queened, and when Dylan checked, I moved diagonally opposite my queen, allowing Dylan skewer my king and win the queen. Peter lost the other semi, and so Dylan went into a final against Jacob – who had only really reached the knock-outs by virtue of Dylan’s dodgy draw with Denis in the groups! Jacob had beaten Dylan in the group stage – and had lost to Ciarán in turn – and so Dylan was out not only to become the first home player to win since Thomas Bittner in 2012 (which was Dylan’s debut tournament, at which he scored ½/7), but also to gain a bit of revenge on his earlier defeat.
Both finalists were fairly evenly matched – and despite the time handicap, they were seeded fifth and seventh among the 45 entrants – and the time control was 5v5. Dylan wound up with an advantage, but the game ended in a ferocious time scramble, with precious half-seconds being wasted uprighting fallen pieces, and in the end, although Dylan had somehow won a rook, his flag fell in R+2 v 1, with his opponent having one second left on his clock.
So a cruel defeat, but then this is often a cruel tournament. Jacob becomes the second winner from Malahide, after Anthony Whalley in 2007; Dylan joins Brendan and Stephen as recent Benildus runners-up. The entry fees and the school’s contribution together came to €1,270, to be split evenly between the Simon Community and the Samaritans. Many thanks to all for supporting the event again, and to Gerry and Frank for helping run it.
Jacob is the tenth winner in the last 13 years; Dylan is the 18th different player to reach the final. My semi-final appearance means I equal Conor O’Donnell’s record of five semi-final appearances. Our updated table of knock-out qualifiers from the last 13 years looks like this –
Name | Winner | Finalist | Semis | Quarters |
Conor O’Donnell | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
Kevin Burke | 2 | 2 | 5 | 8 |
Oisín Benson | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Thomas Bittner | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
John Connolly | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Anthony Whalley | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Jacob Flynn | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Jan Zvolanek | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Killian Delaney | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Pádraig Sheehy | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Sam Osborne | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
Stephen Brady | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Thomas Hurley | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Dylan Boland | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Fiachra Scallan | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Gerry O’Connell | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Brendan Cooney | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Liam Coman | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Scott Mulligan | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
Lukasz Goralski | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Mihailo Manojlovic | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
Eric Bennett | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
David Murray | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Dermot Nolan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Ger Reilly | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Peter Carroll | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
William Kenny | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Paul Beirne | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Kevin May | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Alan Lane | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Alex Mulligan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Ben Cullen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Cian Bergin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Constantin Vogel | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Dan O’Brien | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Henry Li | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Luke Hayden | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Luke Hurley | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Luke-Andrew Feeney | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Mark McKenna | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Michael Donnelly | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Michael Higgins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Odhrán McDonnell | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Richard O’Rahilly | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Seán Devilly | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Shartak Bathla | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Tim McCarthy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Tom O’Gorman | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
William Ffrench | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
For the record, the full group results were as follows –
Group A | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Total | |
Ben Murray | 1137 | x | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
Robert Pluck | 865 | 1 | x | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Seán Jordan | 367 | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
William Kenny | 1533 | 0 | 1 | 1 | x | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
Sarthak Bathla | 1304 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | x | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
David Dooley | 683 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 0 | 2 |
John Moloney | 500 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | x | 0 | 3 |
Darragh Moran | 1600 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | x | 5 |
Group B | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Total | |
Cian Bergin | 1415 | x | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1/2 | 1 | 4 1/2 |
Joe Hand | 785 | 0 | x | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Zhengjin Wang | 1106 | 1 | 0 | x | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
Eóin Johnson | 594 | 0 | 1 | 0 | x | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
Felix Jordan | 1519 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | x | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Alan Lane | 1007 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | x | 0 | 1 | 3 |
Cillian Scallan | 915 | 1/2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | x | 1 | 4 1/2 |
Daniel Fox | 826 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | x | 3 |
Group C | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Total | |
Fiachra Scallan | 1950 | x | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 6 1/2 |
Niall O’Higgins | 1504 | 0 | x | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Joe O’Hanlon | 1493 | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Danny Kashanin | 977 | 0 | 0 | 1 | x | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Kavin Venkatesan | 1135 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Peter Carroll | 1830 | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | x | 1 | 1 | 6 1/2 |
Max Tempany | 1350 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | x | 1 | 3 |
Cal Nolan | 1126 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 2 |
Group D | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Total | |
Joe Sheahan | 479 | x | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Dylan Boland | 1727 | 1 | x | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1/2 | 1 | 5 1/2 |
Liam Ó Laoide | 1501 | 1 | 0 | x | 0 | 1/2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 1/2 |
James Kavanagh | 990 | 1 | 0 | 1 | x | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Jacob Flynn | 1699 | 1 | 1 | 1/2 | 1 | x | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 1/2 |
Alex Goss | 1727 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | x | 1/2 | 1/2 | 4 |
Denis Dempsey | 1250 | 0 | 1/2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1/2 | x | 0 | 2 |
Ciarán Ruane | 1764 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1/2 | 1 | x | 3 1/2 |
Group E | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Total | |
Luke Hayden | 1295 | x | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 1/2 |
Odhrán McDonnell | 1481 | 1/2 | x | 0 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 1/2 |
Yubo Wang | 781 | 0 | 1 | x | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
Gerry O’Connell | 2114 | 0 | 1/2 | 0 | x | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 1/2 |
Carl Morrison | 742 | 0 | 1/2 | 0 | 0 | x | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 1/2 |
Eric Wang | 1042 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | x | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Taylor Cahill | 476 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 2 |
Oscar Carruthers | 450 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | x | 4 |
Group F | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Total | |
Finn McDonnell | 1335 | x | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 1/2 |
Robbie Creasey | 676 | 1 | x | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
Donovan Fitzgerald | 450 | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Kevin Burke | 1634 | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | x | 1 | 6 1/2 |
Martin Kosykh | 450 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 0 |