The 2004 Double Velvet All Ireland Junior Chess Championships were held in St. Marys School Galway on the 16th to 18th of April, with 142 participants, which makes this one of the largest Championships ever held.
The Venue
The event had a very impressive Mayoral reception to open the event (which was organised by Anne & Niall Murphy) and got the event off to a very good start and set the tone for the weekend.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Gerry Hughes of Double Velvet for their continued support (this sponsor has been with us 3 year) and it was evident that this event and Junior Chess in general is going from strength to strength.
The Championships covered the following age groups U8, U10, U12, U14, U16 and U19, this was the first time we had an U8 section which proved to be a great success with 17 entries and great fun was had by all (and good chess was also played).
With players from Derry to Kerry this was truly an All Ireland Championships, and with very strong players in each section it ensured that any title would be hard won.
It is very encouraging for Chess in Ireland when we can look at the each section and see several players with high ratings, for example in the U12 section we had players with ratings in the range of 1100 to over 1500, this is a real indication that Junior Chess is currently on the rise.
The U8 section which ran over 7 games on Saturday, and had 17 players was a very close affair with 5 players sharing the All Ireland title Shane Bowe (Laois) 1st place, Cian Kennedy (Kerry) 2nd place, Richard Flynn (Tipperary) 3rd place, Michael Mullooly (Limerick) and Claire Mc Carrick (Longford).
The Under 8 Champions
The U10 section was ran over 6 games on Saturday & Sunday and had 28 players again proved to be a very good competition with 1st Aravind Menon (Kilkenny), 2nd Mark Breslin (Longford) and 3rd Ruth Cormican (Galway). Cara Kennedy (Kerry) won the best girls prize.
The Under 10s Section
The U12 section was the largest section with 42 players with the first round commencing on Friday night with 3 games on Saturday & 2 on Sunday. We had some very strong players in this section with several players having ratings of 1200 + up to a high of 1530. 1st was Steven Hanly (Shannon) with a perfect score of 6 out of 6, 2nd place went to Catherine Danaher (Shannon) with Daniel Morrissey (Limerick) in 3rd place. Pooraminan Menon (Kilkenny) won the best girls prize.
Under 12 Champion Stephen Hanly
The U14 section was also a very hard fought competition, and indeed went right down to the last game and indeed the winner David Grzymek (Bangor) won on tie break with David Fitzsimmons (Dublin) in the closest of 2nd places with local hero Dara Murphy (Galway) in 3rd place. Emma Franks (Limerick) won the best girls prize.
The U16 section was again very strong with some of Irelands strongest Junior players participating with Matthew Dignam (England) and Karl McPhillips to the fore front as we all eagerly looked forward to the anticipated clash. On this occasion Matthew proved to be the have the edge and went on to win the title with Karl McPhilips (Kilkenny) second and John McMorrow (Gonzaga) in third place. Emily Alfred (Limerick) won the best girls prize.
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| Kark McPhillips | Emily Alfred |
The U19 section unfortunately proved to be very poor this year with a very disappointing turnout of only 5 players (3 of them rated under 1010) so it was decided to "move" the 3 lower rated players to the under 16 Championship and that Alex Lopez (Cork) and Killian Delaney (Dublin) would play over 3 games with the winner taking the title. Alex won 3 out of 3 and retains his title with Killian second and Richard Martin (Loughrea) in third.
Under 19 Champion Alex Lopez
The presentation commenced on schedule and was a real occasion with music and dancing provided by local artists.
With Shirley Flynn as MC and Gerry Hughes of Double Velvet and Pat McCarrick presenting the prizes. The presentation was completed in an organised and timely fashion which was in keeping with the entire event.
Special thanks to Gerry Graham (Chief Controller), who organised the draw for every round, and answered those technical questions in a clear and concise way.
Thanks to all the people who helped out in organising the event and making it the success it was, thanks to the parents who voiced their support & letters of thanks to the organisers.
Last but by no means least a very special thanks to all the children who participated and who were exemplary in their conduct and behaviour and who all had a good fun weekend as well as playing some great chess.
Best of luck to all and continued success in 2004 and we look forward to seeing you all again in 2005.
Photographs courtesy of Shirley Flynn and Gerry Graham