We are delighted to announce the following sponsors of Cork Chess Congress 2003
| CHRISTIES FLOOR COVERINGS |
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| DONNYBROOK |
| DOUGLAS |
| CORK |
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The race for the Div.1 title is over. On Sunday 13th April Cork City “A” defeated Ennis 3-2 and are now 7 points clear of second placed Limerick “A” with just one match remaining. We can obviously now relax for the round up match v. Limerick on Sunday 11th May unlike 3 years ago when needing to just avoid loosing 4-1 we found ourselves 3½-½ down with the final game looking drawn. Paul Walsh then produced a grandstand finish to win and give us the first of a now 4 in a row by the skin of our teeth.
This comfortable situation did not look very likely when the League commenced last October. Of the 2002 winning team Paul Walsh, the 2000 hero, had left to join Limerick and Dave Path had “defected” to the “B” team! On the plus side Alex Lopez was not doing exams, Kieran O’Driscoll was going to be based permanently in Cork and Colin Harpur and myself were going to be available for most games. The plucking of Paddy McCarthy from semi-retirement and a promise from the “B” team to help out meant we still started as favourites.
| 1 | Alex Lopez | 1-0 | Dave Path |
| 2 | Kieran O’Driscoll | 1-0 | Stephen Short |
| 3 | Colin Harpur | ½-½ | Dave Smith |
| 4 | Kevin O’Shea | 1-0 | Simon Lawrence |
| 5 | Pat McCarthy | ½-½ | DJ O’Donoghue |
A solid start. Boards 1 & 5 were really complicated while Kieran and Colin had some difficulties before securing one and a half. My own game was quite satisfactory although Simon went on to lose just once more and gains a stack of rating points (see games O’Shea-Lawrence & McCarthy-O’Donoghue)
| 1 | Alex Lopez | 1-0 | Paul Kiely |
| 2 | Kieran O’Driscoll | 1-0 | Sean Nolan |
| 3 | Colin Harpur | 1-0 | Paddy Quinlan |
| 4 | Kevin O’Shea | 1-0 | David Kiely |
| 5 | Stephen Short | 1-0 | Jack McGrath |
Very satisfactory! Alex’s game was impressive. He appeared to be slightly worse for a long time. He went into an ending where most of us thought his c pawn was weak. We were wrong. (see Kiely-Lopez)
| 1 | Alex Lopez | 1-0 | Kieran Moynihan |
| 2 | Kieran O’Driscoll | 1-0 | Tadhg O’Leary |
| 3 | Colin Harpur | 1-0 | Finbar Allison |
| 4 | Kevin O’Shea | 0-1 | Pat Twomey |
| 5 | Pat McCarthy | ½-½ | Tom Myers |
A decent enough result. I was simply crushed when unjustifiably looking for more in an equal position. This was the only game defeat for the “A”team for a long time, something which I was to be reminded of regularly! (See O’Driscoll-O’Leary)
| 1 | Limerick “A” | 15/20 |
| 2 | Cork City “A” | 12½/15 |
| 1 | Kieran O’Driscoll | 1-0 | PJ Rea |
| 2 | Colin Harpur | 1-0 | Willie Rea |
| 3 | Kevin James | 1-0 | Philip O’Connell |
| 4 | Kevin O’Shea | 1-0 | Kieran Cole |
| 5 | Pat McCarthy | 1-0 | Noel Douglas |
Excellent & without our top board! Kieran won a bit early on, Kevin James (in the country just long enough to make his annual contribution!) & Paddy both won nice tactical games. (see James-O’Connell & McCarthy-Douglas)
| 1 | Alex Lopez | 1-0 | Carlos Buenos |
| 2 | Kieran O’Driscoll | 1-0 | Carsten Junker |
| 3 | Colin Harpur | 1-0 | Lorcon O’Toole |
| 4 | Kevin O’Shea | ½-½ | John Cassidy |
| 5 | Dave Smith | ½-½ | Gerry Casey |
Still on course. Colin played a nicely controlled game to defeat Lorcon O’Toole. (see games O’Driscoll-Junker & Harpur-O’Toole)
| 1 | Alex Lopez | ½-½ | Frank Noonan |
| 2 | Kevin O’Shea | ½-½ | Paul Walsh |
| 3 | Dave Path | ½-½ | Martin O’Grady |
| 4 | Kieran O’Driscoll | ½-½ | Gerry Graham |
| 5 | Colin Harpur | 1-0 | Liam O’Brien |
A 3 point gap becomes 4. We switched the boards to thwart Limerick’s preparation. Alex, prepared to play Jose Delgado, went wrong against Frank Noonan’s Alekhine’s Defence and found himself 2 pawns down from the opening. (If he does decide to do some study on this part of the game he could become quite a good player!) He created complications and fought back well to claim an important half point. I was slightly worse out of the opening but eventually won an exchange which was probably not enough to win the game. Dave sacrificed a pawn which didn’t look convincing to me. Kieran got nowhere against Gerry Graham’s Closed Sicilian and Colin won a good game against Liam O’Brien (see games O’Shea-Walsh & Harpur-O’Brien).
P.S. Kieran disputes my opinion of his game but I’m sticking to it!
| 1 | Cork City “A” | 24½/30 |
| 2 | Limerick “A” | 20½/30 |
Limerick’s average match score of approx 3.5 is normally championship winning form. Our winning score was 41½/60 in 2000 and 41/60 in 2002. It now looks very likely the winning teams average match score will be much closer to 4.
| 1 | Alex Lopez | 1-0 | Dave Path |
| 2 | Kieran O’Driscoll | ½-½ | Dave Smith |
| 3 | Colin Harpur | 0-1 | Simon Lawrence |
| 4 | Kevin O’Shea | 1-0 | Stephen Short |
| 5 | Pat McCarthy | 1-0 | DJ O’Donoghue |
Colin played the opening quietly and appeared happy to allow Simon an isolated passed c pawn. The pawn turned out to be strong and when Colin was forced to sac the exchange for it Simon’s technique in converting was flawless (see Harpur-Lawrence). Not for the first time Paddy won a mad time scramble, against DJ, with his very nervous team-mates watching on. (Also see Lopez-Path)
| 1 | Alex Lopez | 1-0 | Ian Sutton |
| 2 | Kieran O’Driscoll | ½-½ | Paul Kiely |
| 3 | Colin Harpur | ½-½ | Sean Nolan |
| 4 | Kevin O’Shea | w.o. | Paddy Quinlan def. |
| 5 | Pat McCarthy | w.o. | David Kiely def. |
Alex won a nice game having again looked worse in the opening (see Lopez-Sutton). Walkovers, here due to a mix up, are never welcome (imagine the reaction in Limerick) but Paddy and myself played a “friendly” which was drawn.
| 1 | Kieran O’Driscoll | 1-0 | Kieran Moynihan |
| 2 | Colin Harpur | 1-0 | Tadhg O’Leary |
| 3 | Kevin O’Shea | ½-½ | Finbar Allison |
| 4 | Paddy McCarthy | 1-0 | Pat Twomey |
| 5 | Simon Lawrence | 1-0 | Tom Myers |
Vintage get out of jail stuff. It’s hard to see how CY can survive with this luck. Paddy & I were completely lost and Colin’s game was not too convincing. Still Simon won well and Kieran got the better of Kieran Moynihan (see O’Driscoll-Moynihan).
| 1 | Cork City “A” | 36½/45 |
| 2 | Limerick “A” | 33½/50 |
| 1 | Alex Lopez | 1-0 | PJ Rea |
| 2 | Kieran O’Driscoll | 0-1 | Willie Rea |
| 3 | Colin Harpur | 1-0 | Philip O’Connell |
| 4 | Kevin O’Shea | 1-0 | Kieran Cole |
| 5 | Dave Smith | ½-½ | Donagh McCarthy |
Alex got a better opening! and easily converted helped by PJ arriving late (see Rea-Lopez). Kieran’s loss was a surprise. He has been playing so well I was sure he, along with Alex, would remain unbeaten however even before Willie could land a big donkey into d3, forking everything, he resigned. “Welcome to the Kevin & Colin club Kieran”. Colin showed great determination to win and did so after a few scares (see Harpur-O’Connell). My own game was quite acceptable (see O’Shea-Cole) and Dave was happy to accept a draw after sacing a piece rather speculatively.
| 1 | Kieran O’Driscoll | 1-0 | Carsten Junker |
| 2 | Colin Harpur | 0-1 | Lorcon O’Toole |
| 3 | Dave Path | ½-½ | Kieran O’Brien |
| 4 | Kevin O’Shea | ½-½ | John Cassidy |
| 5 | DJ O’Donoghue | 1-0 | Gerry Casey |
So we win the League in Limerick’s club premises! My 10 move draw with John Cassidy was a selfless team decision and had nothing to do with [A] The bar in Shannon Rowing Club being closed or [B] The Munster v. Leicester rugby match about to start on telly. John and myself joined Paul Carey at a nearby hostelry where Kieran reported the certainty of our win even before Munster’s glorious late tries. Any further information, on the chess, will have to be got elsewhere as for some strange reason my recollection of events after Munster’s win is a little hazy.
I would like to acknowledge the important roll of the “B” team in this win. They all played at various stages and in fact all remained unbeaten. They are also looking good for 3rd place which is a fine showing for a team many thought would be fighting relegation.
The “C” and “D” teams also look like having decent chances of pipping Limerick “B” for the one promotion slot from Div.2. How about 3 Cork teams in a 6 team Div.1 next year?
The Munster Leagues only started in season 1987-1988 after the amalgamation of the North & South Munster Unions. The Div.1 Roll of Honour is now:
| DOUGLAS | 7 | 89-93, 95-96 |
| CORK CITY | 5 | 98, 00-03 |
| CCYMS | 2 | 88, 94 |
| LIMERICK | 1 | 99 |
| WATERFORD | 1 | 97 |
