Last Few League Results

We've had a couple of tough matches recently against teams up near the top of the table. First was Rathmines A:

Rathmines have a very consistent team rating wise, two and a half is not a bad result against them. A couple of games that they won could have gone either way, so the ratings did not count for as much as the scoreline suggests.

Next was Bray, who also have a very strong all round team: 

Everyone did exceptionally well against higher rated players, and like last time, with a bit of extra luck we could have tied the match. Everyone was ahead in their game at least once, so it's a little disappointing to only come out with 4 draws, but again not bad against a strong team.

Two games left for the Armstong team against Gonzaga and Dun Laoghaire and we've a 3 point cushion over the relegation places. 

The Ennis team are also doing their best with a few points cushion over the relegation places. Both teams will be run close though, so there's an exciting run in to look forward to.

More news soon,

Stephen

It's Been a Long Time...

Haven't posted in a while. Since the last one, the Armstrong team has played two of the best teams in the division, Kilkenny and Phibsboro. Kilkenny was a bit of an ugly result:

Tim and James doing well being the high points on a bad day.

However we rebounded excellently with a great win against Phibsboro:

On boards 7 and 8, Jack and John were making debuts on the Armstrong team and both overcame rating gaps in great wins. On board 1 John played his usual everything-under-control game and finished with a nice combination to win the queen. Hugely satisfying result.

The Ennis team are going to have a tough second half to the season. Laurence and Anastasia finished their Erasmus so we're a couple of players down there already. On top of that they're in a relegation place at the moment too. But we're always optimistic here, they won their last game 5-1 (!) against Wicklow who are probably in more danger of going down. This should take them out of the bottom two and there's a great chance of a few more good results like that.

Finally, probable blitz tournament in a couple of weeks at the club, keep an eye on the blog for news.

See you at the club,
Stephen

Bits and Bobs

I didn't put up the result from the Elm Mount game, so I'll do that now. 7-1 is not a nice scoreline to be on the end of, here's the scorecard:

We also held a blitz last night. The bad weather may have been the reason for the low turnout, but it was still good fun. Results of the round robin were as follows:

Look out for the LCU Christmas Blitz coming up in a couple of weeks, you can find details on the ICU website and I'll mention it on here again closer the time.

Next post will probably be after the big Kilkenny match, hopefully we'll have some good news.

Stephen

Tournament Tomorrow

We'll be having a blitz tournament tomorrow to get in practice for the upcoming Leinster Chess Union Christmas Blitz in a couple of weeks. Come down if you fancy sharpening up, it's always good fun :)
See you then,
Stephen

Looking to Improve?

Tactics tactics tactics. That's all you need. If you get your tactical sharpness up, you spot opportunities to go for the kill a lot quicker, and patterns that crop up time and again on the board will become easy to see. Chess Emrald is a particularly good site for training yourself in tactics. You create an account so it can track your progess with a rating, then you do a few problems. It quickly gets to understand your standard, and so gives you problems that will just about challenge you. You really do notice your standard getting better and I really can't overstate how handy the site is.

Here's one to get you started, it's a little tricky ;) White to play and checkmate in 2 moves:

Also, club night tomorrow night at 7 as usual. Check the sidebar ==> for directions.
See you there,
Stephen.

DU -v- Rathmines B

In the Armstrong, we got our second win of the season on Monday night against a good Rathmines B team.

Myself and John had nice wins, Alan and Fabian (super-sub!) had VERY nice wins. Overall, our bottom boards did well against higher rated opposition again which is great to see.

Next Tuesday the club will be back on after reading week. We'll be doing analysis that night. So if you've played a game recently in the leagues for one of our teams, or at home or online or anywhere else, I encourage you to bring it to the club and one of the more experienced players will have a look through it with you. I cannot stress enough how important this is for the player who is looking to improve. Analysing your own games shows you the strengths and flaws in your thinking processes and shows up any blind spots you might have.

If you don't have any games, you can still come down and play as normal, or even sit in on an analysis session for a few tips.

Final random piece of info: this page has been viewed once from Malaysia...just thought that was interesting :)

Till next week,
Stephen.

Blitz!

We held a blitz tournament on Thursday night in the club. Due to the club night being moved, numbers were down, but I think everyone enjoyed the round robin style this allowed us to play. This is how it finished:

The David versus Goliath prize (just pride I'm afraid) goes to Charles for his win over John. Very impressive all round tournament from Charles.

There won't be a club night on next week due to it being reading week for most people, and it'll be back to Tuesday nights from then on. I'll look at having another blitz the week we get back, or maybe the week after.
See you in a couple of weeks,
Stephen