The 2021 Irish Championships are underway in Coláiste Éanna – another sign that chess is slowly but surely getting back to normal again.
There are six Benildus players in the 36-strong field, and round 1 saw the first derby as I held Kavin to an eventful draw, albeit in a position where I missed a win on my 39th move, with two minutes left for my last two moves before the time control. How does black win here?
There were two other upsets involving Benildus players – Gerry surprisingly lost to Kevin O’Flaherty in 21 moves, while Leon beat 1974 champion Tony Doyle after the latter surprisingly hung a piece to a one-move tactic. Elsewhere, Lara and Brendan lost to titled players in Colm and David Fitzsimons respectively.
Today’s round 2 draw sees more derbies as Lara plays Gerry while Leon plays Kavin. The games are live on chess24.com from 3pm each day, except for round 9 which is 11am.
Answer to the puzzle – I wanted to win white’s knight, but after 1… Bb5+ 2. Kg2 (which was played) QxN fails to 3. Qf7+ and mate. Instead though, the nice 1… Bd5! puts white in complete zugzwang – f7 is covered and white actually has no way of stopping Bc4+ and picking up the knight. 2. Qe2 fails to 2… Bg2+! and either 3. KxB QxQ+, or 3. QxB QxB#, or 3. Kf2 BxB+ 4. QxB Qf3+ 5. Kg1 Bh3 and white can’t stop the mate or deliver his own. I’ll blame fatigue at the end of a 4-hour game, my first proper one in 18 months!