The inaugural Ennis Open was held at the Auburn Lodge Hotel over the weekend of the 13th-15th April. 59 competitors played over two sections, an open (including the North Munster Championship) and an U1400 with a number of players rated under 1400 opting to play in the Open. The organizers had hoped for a slightly larger turnout but a plethora of recent tournaments combined with the good weather meant that numbers were a bit lower than expected. Nevertheless those who did turn up were rewarded with some fireworks both on and off the board.
Top seed in the Open section was the chess coach at Millfield School and former Channel 4 Countdown champion GM Matthew Turner, a full 200 points higher rated than second seed Karl McPhillips. Last years North Munster champion, Gawain Jones, was not in attendance, having bigger fish to fry at the European Championships in Dresden. In any case Gawain would have been ineligible to win the North Munster as he is now resident in Enniskillen.
In the end Matthew fully justified his seeding with a comfortable win on 51/2 points. The only blot on his copybook was a draw with Rory Quinn in round 5 when on the black side of an Accelerated Dragon he seemed to stand better but, just as the clock started to become a factor, allowed a tactic which transposed into an opposite coloured bishop ending. In the previous round Matthew playing the white side of his favoured English opening dispatched Karl McPhillips and he has kindly annotated the game. In the last round Matthew beat Paul Kiely after breaking through on the qside in an English. This meant that Rory Quinn needed to beat Karl McPhillips on board two to catch him. After a complicated game in which the advantage swung back and forth a number of times the players entered a time scramble when, with both flags hanging, Karl blundered a piece only for Rory to miss the best continuation and a drawn position with knight and g pawn against f and far advanced a pawn was reached. This left Matthew in clear first, Rory finished second and won the North Munster title though he was helped somewhat by the vagaries of the Swiss system, receiving consecutive whites in the last two rounds. Karl finished in third place.
The U1800 section was won by Nick Larter from Ennis who also won a trophy donated by Marcel Castricums parents, Henk and Elly. The U1500 grading prize was shared between promising Cork junior Hugh Doyle (who followed up with a win at the Irish U12 championships the following weekend) and Yoel Ferrer who benefited from Stefan Tomczaks forfeit of both his Sunday games. Stefan (who maybe has watched "The Prestige" one too many times!?) did his very own disappearing act from a crowded Brandons nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning and subsequently forfeited both games later that day.
The U1400 turned out to be an eventful tournament with a mobile phone related incident and some controversy before the start of the 4th round with two participants disagreeing on the result of their round 3 game, one claiming that the result was a draw and the other that his opponent had resigned. The language barrier was something of an issue here but everything was eventually resolved amicably although it did delay the start of round 4 somewhat.
Darlington Mabazwe from Zimbabwe but now living in Ennis followed up his success at Bunratty by sharing first place in the U1400 with Lucas Almeida. Darlingtons last round draw with Anne Coughlan allowed Lucas to catch him with a win over Pat Coleman but Darlington won the Marcel Castricum shield on tiebreak. Third place was shared between Anne Coughlan of Cork and John Bourke of Castlebar. This may have softened the blow a bit for John, one of whose tips for the Grand National the previous day had fallen early. U1000 grading prizes went to Lathish Nair and Kevin Fitzpatrick. The U800 section was won by fast improving junior Billy McKenna on 4 points. Geronimo Alcantara from Letterkenny also won a prize in this section. Junior prizes for best Ennis, Killimer and Ballinasloe player were won by Karl Fitzmaurice, Jack McKenna, and Claire Bannon respectively. The prize for best girl in the U1400 section was won by Aoife Keane.
Finally special mention must go to the player in the U1400 who learned on Sunday that he had become a father for the first time. Undaunted he stayed to finish both his games. He lost both, later admitting his mind wasnt really on the games and that he found it difficult to concentrate. Now that's what I call dedication to the game!
Thanks to our sponsors the Auburn Lodge Hotel, Shannonside Building Supplies and Power One. Without their assistance the event could not have gone ahead.
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| Turner (right) v Kiely, K.McPhilips (left) and R.Quinn (behind) |
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| Elly Castricum (right) and Mrs Keane |
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| Billy McKenna |
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| Henk de Jonge and Gearóidín Uí Laighléis |