IM Mark Quinn Lecture and Simul

International Master Mark Quinn will be paying us a visit on Thursday March 21st at 6pm for a chess simul and lecture. For those that don't know, a chess simul is when one person goes around the room and plays multiple opponents at the same time. Mark is currently ranked #6 in the country and has represented Ireland in the Chess Olympiad seven times (no big deal for us of course, is it, Hannah?). The chess simul has limited places, so if you would like a go at trying to beat Mark when he's at a slight disadvantage, email chess@csc.tcd.ie. His lecture will follow the simul and will be on a comparison between Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen. Garry Kasparov is considered by many to be the greatest chess player of all time. His feats are incredible. In January, however, a new person, Magnus Carlsen, made headlines by beating Garry's all-time highest rating. Magnus in 2004 became the second youngest Grandmaster in history (he's since become the 3rd). He's 22 now and playing incredible chess. How does he compare to the great man Kasporov? Come on March 21st to find out! (Room yet to be decided).

IM Mark Quinn in action

Visit Mark's website at  http://markquinnwriter.com/chess.html

A long-overdue update: Armstrong & O'Hanlon teams, and some success at Bunratty

Hi guys! A long time has passed since the last update, so I thought I'd do a major update now. Some very good results from the Bunratty Chess Festival first, then I'll get on to how our teams are doing in the leagues.

Firstly, the Masters Event, which was won, as it was last year, by English Super-GM Michael Adams, rated 2725. Trinity representation in this came in the form of Armstrong Team Captain and Secretary Anthony Bourached, former captain and Eternal President Stephen Moran, and Colin Menzies, who used to go to Trinity and about whom I don't really know enough to give any preamble. He was probably on committee too, back in the day. We did quite well in this event, with all 3 exceeding their official ratings in their performance ratings, but special mention must go to Anthony, who managed an impressive 3.5/6 (which included a bye), despite being outrated in every single game he played. For the record, Anthony placed 16th, Colin 23rd, and Stephen 25th, out of 39 competitors.

In the Challenger event, we were represented by Didier Kalemba Mukekwa, who finished a very respectable 30th of 68, with a score of 3.0/6. The Major event saw participation by Shane Sheedy, who should be very pleased with a score of 3.0/6, with a performance rating almost 250 points above his official rating, placing 41st of 76.

Finally, we were represented in the Minor by the ridiculously underrated committee member Jacob Miller, who has been annoying O'Hanlon opponents all year with his antics on Board 1, where 1400s and 1500s, expecting easy wins upon seeing his rating of 1082, have seen their own ratings potentially plummeting before their eyes as it turns out he's actually much better than that. Jacob had a very successful weekend, going undefeated, and finishing 2nd of 108 competitors with 5.5/6. The only blemish on his record was a draw in the 5th round.

Now, to the leagues, and things aren't quite so rosy as they have been. The Armstrong team have lost 4 of the 5 matches they've played since the last update, though the dominant fashion of that lone win means that those 5 matches have given a total team score of 19.5/40, which is a reasonable return. Unfortunately, however, a problem over payment of fees led to an 8 point deduction, so has led to a slide down the table, to 10th, though if this is rectified we will be in an excellent 5th position. The games were, chronologically: 5-3 defeats to Elm Mount and Kilkenny, a 4.5-3.5 defeat to Phibsboro, a 6.5-1.5 thumping of Rathmines B, and another narrow 4.5-3.5 loss to Bray./Greystones. The loss to Phibsboro, who lead the league with 8 wins from 9, was particularly unfortunate, as we were a player down (missing Anthony), and so forfeited a board before play had even began. The surprise result in that game was Charles Dillon (rated ~1300) pulling out a very surprising win over an 1800+ rated opponent on board 6. Of the Armstrong players, Rory Delaney has been having an very good season, scoring 5.5/8 with only a single loss, as has Anthony Bourached, with the same record. The ever presents on the team Oisín Benson, Stephen Moran and Karl McPhilips, have been doing well too, with scores of 5.5/9, 4.5/9, and 5.5/9 respectively. The table is as follows:

	Team	MP	GW	GD	GL	Def	Reg	Pts
1	Phibsboro	10	43	19	18	0	0	52 ½
2	Gonzaga	10	43	17	20	0	0	51 ½
3	Elm Mount	10	31	27	22	0	0	44 ½
4	Bray / Greystones	10	30	21	29	0	0	40 ½
5	Rathmines A	10	23	27	30	0	0	36 ½
6	St Benildus	9	26	21	25	0	0	36 ½
7	Dun Laoghaire	9	21	27	24	0	0	34 ½
8	Balbriggan	9	20	28	24	0	0	34
9	Kilkenny	9	18	31	23	0	0	33 ½
10	Dublin University	10	25	28	27	0	8	31
11	Dublin	9	17	23	32	2	0	26 ½
12	Rathmines B	9	14	21	37	0	0	24 ½

Now, to the O'Hanlon. The O'Hanlon team has been beset by struggles to get bodies on the boards, and concessions of walkovers against Celbridge (2 boards), Drogheda and Bray/Greystones A (each 1 board, with a penalty of -1 aganst Bray) have cost us. This has contributed to our current placing of 11th, which places us in danger of relegation if we cannot bridge the 1.5 point gap above us in the last two games (the game vs Dublin has not been played).  Credit must go to Jacob Miller, the only ever present in the team, who has managed to score 4/9 despite mostly playing vastly higher rated opponents on Board 1, and to Ross Byrne, Rob Murtagh and Conor Hickey, who have scored 4/8, 4/8, and 3.5/7 respectively, and have been our other consistently present team members. The table is as follows:

	Team	MP	GW	GD	GL	Adj	Pts
1	Drogheda	9	31	9	14	0	35 ½
2	Elm Mount	9	24	16	14	0	32
3	Inchicore	10	23	17	20	0	31 ½
4	Dublin	10	24	12	18	6	30
5	Celbridge	10	24	12	24	0	30
6	Curragh	9	23	12	19	0	29
7	Ballinasloe	9	24	8	22	0	28
8	Bray / Greystones A	9	16	19	19	0	25 ½
9	Finglas	9	16	17	21	0	24 ½
10	St Benildus	9	20	8	26	0	24
11	Dublin University	10	16	13	25	6	22 ½
12	Bray / Greystones B	9	11	13	30	0	17 ½

That's all for now: hopefully the teams do well in their remaining games and the O'Hanlon team can stave off relegation. Details of everything to do with league performances can be found at http://leinsterchess.com/lcu1213/tables.htm and via links on that page.

Till next time,

Charles

O'Hanlon Update

Hey again! This is the promised, though unfortunately low on specifics, O'Hanlon update.

The O'Hanlon year started quite brightly, with a heavy win 4.5-1.5 versus Bray/Greystones B, and continued well with a 3.5-2.5 win over St. Benildus, though 1 of the points against was a result of our forfeiting a board, which has been a persistent problem for us over the last few seasons.This left us relatively highly placed after two matches, with 7 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses and a forfeit (which counts as a loss).

Sadly, the next two games, against Bray/Greystones A and Drogheda, didn't turn out so well. Against Bray, an unexpected withdrawal left us with a forfeit and -1 points for not declaring it beforehand, and a tough opposition team yielded little in the way of points to make up for it. The result was 4.5-0.5 (after the deduction) and this was followed up by another loss to Drogheda. Away, to the furthest club from us in the division, we could only muster 5, and so again forfeited a board. The result was 5-1, leading to a lot of work needed to regain a firm footing in the upper regions of the division.

Due to the slowness of the upkeep of the website, the table isn't available, so this rather vague update is all that can be given right now. Stay tuned for more (and more lucid) updates!

Armstrong update

Hey guys!
Just thought I'd give an update on how the teams have been doing so far this year.

On the Armstrong front, the team have been doing pretty well, with the table currently looking as follows:

	Team	MP	GW	GD	GL	Def	Pts
1	Phibsboro	4	20	6	6	0	23
2	Elm Mount	4	15	10	7	0	20
3	St Benildus	4	15	9	8	0	19 ½
4	Dun Laoghaire	4	12	12	8	0	18
5	Dublin University	4	11	13	8	0	17 ½
6	Gonzaga	4	14	7	11	0	17 ½
7	Balbriggan	4	8	14	10	0	15
8	Rathmines A	4	9	11	12	0	14 ½
9	Bray / Greystones	4	10	6	16	0	13
10	Kilkenny	4	6	12	14	0	12
11	Dublin	4	6	12	14	1	11
12	Rathmines B	4	6	8	18	0	10

As you can see, we are quite reasonably placed in 5th, thanks in no small part to the form of Karl, who is currently 4 wins from 4 on board 1. Also notable is their recent 5.5-2.5 thumping of Rathmines A, despite being outrated on the majority of the boards. In particular, Anthony scored the full point on board 4 despite his opponent outrating him by a whopping 207 points.

The next match up will be Monday, against Elm Mount, who currently sit 2nd. A very brief and unscientific analysis of their players' ratings indicates it should be a very evenly matched tie, so hopefully we can get the win (notably, Karl will experience being outrated on board 1 for the first time, though only by a minuscule 2 points).

That's all for now, an O'Hanlon update will hopefully follow in due course!

Hannah Lowry O'Reilly in the Olympiad

A special mention needs to be given to our very own Hannah Lowry O'Reilly who represented Ireland in the recent Chess Olympiad (chess team world championships, so to speak)!!! If that isn't awesome, I don't know what is! Hannah pops in to our Tuesday meetings from time to time so you can ask her for her autograph then. Good stuff Hannah!

The scorecard of the Irish women's team is below:

Full team results for the women here

For the Open category here

League results from last year

For all who are interested here are the league results for last year:

Armstrong;

	Team	MP	GW	GD	GL	Def	Pts
1	Rathmines A	11	45	28	15	0	59
2	Gonzaga	11	47	18	23	0	56
3	Phibsboro	11	40	30	18	0	55
4	Bray / Greystones	11	38	24	26	0	50
5	Kilkenny	11	31	29	28	1	44 ½
6	Elm Mount A	11	29	28	31	0	43
7	Dublin University	11	27	28	33	0	41
8	St Benildus	11	27	28	33	0	41
9	Rathmines B	11	22	31	35	1	36 ½
10	Dublin	11	26	21	41	0	36 ½
11	Celbridge	11	18	28	42	0	32
12	Elm Mount B	11	22	19	47	0	31 ½

O'Hanlon;

	Team	MP	GW	GD	GL	Pts
1	Cavan	11	32	21	13	42 ½
2	Wicklow	11	30	23	13	41 ½
3	Finglas	11	31	18	17	40
4	Bray / Greystones	11	30	15	21	37 ½
5	Inchicore	11	29	15	22	36 ½
6	Drogheda	11	25	20	21	35
7	Celbridge	11	21	20	25	31
8	Dublin University	11	23	12	31	29
9	Curragh	11	21	12	33	27
10	Elm Mount	11	20	14	32	27
11	Phibsboro	11	16	22	28	27
12	Naomh Barróg	11	15	14	37	22

Hi Guys (and Girls)

 

Hows it going? (I don't care :p)

The DU chess society blog is once again active! The blog will be updated regularly(ish) from here on out with competetition results, league results and information about the club and members in general.

On a more important note....

The Chess Soc is back! This coming Tuesday, September 25th will be our first meeting. 7-9pm in the Maths Seminar Room, in the Hamilton building (see "HOW TO FIND US" for details). Signs will also be posted in the Hamilton building as you enter up the stone steps and keep in mind that most students in the Hamilton should know where the Seminar Room is so don't be afraid to ask for directions. The first meeting will be a casual one - friendly games with or without chess clocks. The regulars, though, will be more than happy to teach and give tips to anyone keen to improve. 

 

Hope to see you there,

 

Jacob