Category: Updates

November 2005, Limerick, Ireland. Another weekend tournament. This was a fairly small open where I was 1st seed and came 1st= tied with Rory Quinn, another Ennis chess player, with 5.5/6.   

November 2005, Galway, Ireland. This was a very strong weekend tournament where I managed to come 1st= with GM B.Socko. It was played in a very comfortable hotel and was organised very efficiently. I made 5/6, drawing with Socko who was top seed and a fide master and winning the rest of my games inclunding…

September 2005, Herceg Novi, Montenegro. I played in the European U18 Championships here but unfortunately did noy perform as well as I was hoping to. I achieved 4.5/9 and finished in around the middle of the 60 player field. However it was an enjoyable tournament to play in the beautiful settings of the old town…

August 2005, Bratto, Italy. When you think of Italy in the summer you think of sweltering heat in the hot sun. This tournament however was played in the mountains in the north near Bergamo and so temperatures were respectable! I played here with the intention of going on holiday with my Italian friends and also…

April 2005, Copenhagen, Denmark. Here I played a closed IM tournament. I also played this tournament last year. Last year I came 2nd and this year was very happy with my 6.5/9 which got me 1st place. The websites for this tournament are www.k41.dk which is the club in which the tournament was played and…

March 2005, Cork, Ireland. This year Cork hosted the first European Union Chess Championships. The website is www.corkchess.com I got 6/10 and gained some rating points. I lost just two games, both with black to two very strong grandmasters, one of which won the tournament. 

November 2004, Kilkenny, Ireland. I played in the famous weekend tournament here getting 4.5/6 and 3rd=. The field had many international players.

November 2004, Crete, Greece. The World Youth Championships took place in Crete from 4th-13th November. I played in the U18 section representing England and came 4th= out of the 90 or so players. The official website of the competition is: http://www.greekchess.com/wycc2004/wycc04.html. When I returned home I’ve found my IM (International Master) title has been ratified…

September 2004, Galway, Ireland. I played in the Infopoint Systems Galway Chess Congress 2004 and came 4th = with 4/6. A very enjoyable weekend tournament in a relaxing venue. The website is http://www.galwaychess.com. This was the 1st year it was held and I hope to play in it again next year.  

August 2004, Porto San Giorgio, Italy. I came 15= with 6/9. This tournament was a very enjoyable tournament by the sea and I was staying with some Italian friends who I hadn’t seen for a while. The website is http://www.torneoscacchi.it/edizioni/torneo.asp?codice=2004&torneo=open_a for the tournament.  

August 2004, Smith and Williamson British Championships, Scarborough. I came 10= and took the U21 title. I also received my final IM norm so should become an IM soon. The website is http://www.bcf.org.uk/events/bcf2004/index.html   

July 2004, Specsavers Young Masters, Millfield school, Somerset. Here I got 6.5/10 and 4th=. I had a chance for my final IM norm but unfortunately lost to the top seed in round 9. http://www.bowlerfc2001.fsnet.co.uk/ym/ is the official website.

July 2004, Irish Championships, Limerick. This was the first tournament I’ve won for a while with 6.5/9. Not being Irish yet I couldn’t take the title and this was taken by Joe Ryan. The website is http://members.fortunecity.com/irishchess/irish2004/irish_championship_2004.htm 

June-July 2004, K41 Closed IM tournament Copenhagen. Here I came 2nd with 6/9 and made an IM norm with a 2470 performance. Now I have 2 IM norms and a rating high enough for the IM title so all I need is one more IM norm.   

March-June 2004, Four Nations Chess League in England. I played for the Slough 2 team (now Sloughsharks) and made 6/6 including a win over the GM Mark Hebden and a rating performance of over 3000!  

March-April 2004, Italian Team Championships, Genova and Montecatini Terme. A team tournament in which I was board 1 for the Lucca team. It was held over two weekends; the first at Genova and the second at Montecatini Terme. During the first weekend I got 1 out of 2 beating an IM. The second I got…