Dun Laoghaire 50th Anniversary Champion of Champions Tournament
This tournament will be held at the Rochestown Lodge Hotel, 164 Rochestown Avenue, Dun Laoghaire on 16-19 October. The first round will take place at 7pm on 16 October and there will be two rounds (10am and 3.30pm) on each of the following 3 days.
The tournament has the unique format in being confined to eight previous Irish Chess Champions who will compete in an all play all event for generous prize money for first, second and third places and a cup which will go to the winner. There will also be a brilliancy prize (adjudicated by Jonathan O’Connor) and prizes for games won by non prize winners against each of the three prize winners. The tournament will be both ICU and FIDE rated and the controller will be Ivan Baburin. The participants are GM Alex Baburin, IM Mark Heidenfeld, IM David Fitzsimons, IM Tom O’Gorman, and Fide Masters Colm Daly, John Delaney, Joe Ryan and Eamonn Keogh. These are all icons of Irish chess who have won or shared the Irish Championship 20 times between them. We are thus promised a feast of quality and competitive chess in what will be one of the strongest tournaments held in Ireland for many years.
The Rochestown Lodge Hotel is convenient to a number of bus routes and people are welcome to attend. But the event can be viewed in the comfort of your home through a system of live boards. The tournament is a worthy commemoration of 50 years of chess in the Dun Laoghaire Chess Club. The club had a great season last year, winning promotion to the Armstrong and BEA leagues. Conveniently located at Eblana Avenue Dun Laoghaire and meeting on Wednesday nights, the club is always anxious to attract new members of all standards. Now that the club is again competing in the Armstrong Cup, the highest level of league chess in Leinster, there is a special emphasis currently on attracting strong players from about 1,900 rating.
The event was jointly won by David Fitzsimons and Colm Daly. The brilliancy prize was won by David for his win with black pieces against Joe Ryan. The best and most interesting games, some with annotations, can be found here: https://lichess.org/study/c42fGgWI