The 2008 Irish Championships, sponsored by Island Oil and Gas, took place July 5-13 at the Academy Plaza Hotel in Dublin.

Final round results. Cross table. Games: R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9, PGN.

R9: In the battle for first place between Alexander Baburin, black against GM Stuart Conquest, and Alon Greenfeld, white against John Redmond, one could argue that the latter had the easier task, but not this easy! However, Alex also managed to win an interesting game to share first place after Stuart played a bit unsoundly in the opening. In the other main games Mark Hebden clinched 3rd by winning against fellow GM Butnorius and Colm Daly failed to get an IM norm when he was beaten by Stephen Jessel who came 4th.

R8: The two leaders continued their fighting chess with Greenfeld defeating Stuart Conquest in a long tense battle (the last game to finish) and Alex Baburin beating Philip Short to guarantee himself the title of Irish Champion with one round remaining. Eamon Keogh won in 13 moves against Stephen Short but White's resignation appears to have been unwarranted as his king was defensible.

R7: Alon Greenfeld beat Manuel Weeks in a complicated ending where both sides had pawns on the seventh rank. Stephen Jessel felt he had to swap rooks to break the pin he'd fallen into in an otherwise level game but he then succumbed to Alex Baburin's passed a-pawn in the ensuing N+P ending. However, both players had missed what John Redmond (spectating) saw and that was for Stephen to move his knight leaving his rook en prise but threatening a surprise mate in two (on move 43). Colm Daly continued his good form by drawing with GM Mark Hebden. Gearóidín Uí Laighléis won her first game!

R6: Apologies for lateness of today's report, you can blame Eamon Keogh's generosity as he hosted a meal in the hotel for a group of Irish players this evening, complete with Irish ballads from Michael Crowe, Eddie O'Connor and of course Eamon himself. Some big wins this round. Hebden had a good position against Baburin's QGA but "went a bit wild" (according to Alex) and lost. Greenfeld beat fellow GM Butnorius and Colm Daly beat Philip Short in a long maneuvering struggle.

R5: Good Irish performances today as Philip Short beat GM Stuart Conquest and Colm Daly drew GM Alon Greenfeld. With Butnorius and Baburin agreeing a quick draw and Hebden defeating Jessel, that left four of the 5 GMs in a tie for first place just after the half way stage. Stephen Short drummed up a nice attack against Peter Cafolla.

R4: The top board clash saw a hard fought and interesting draw between Baburin and Greenfeld, both experts on the fianchetto KID. Gerry O'Connell demonstrated how to win R+RP v B against Justin Daly knowing the theory having once drawn the weaker side against another Daly. John Redmond against Philip Short was mayhem at one stage but eventually frittered out to a draw.

R3: Some great games the best of which was Alex Baburin's positional exchange sacrifice. Philip Short could probably have beaten GM Algimantas Butnorius (instead of losing) if he'd chosen the right way to win the exchange. Alon Greenfield beat Mark Hebden in the first all-GM clash and there were great complications in Seamus Duffy's win against Gerry O'Connell. Tidiest score sheet of the day goes to Ryan Griffiths who beat the equally neat Bernard Boyle.

R2: Game of the round goes to Bernard Boyle firstly for the way he trapped Peter Cafolla's queen and secondly for a beautifully neat score sheet (much appreciated by the poor sap whose job it is to type in all the games).

R1: Notable was Ryan Griffiths drawing as White against GM Stuart Conquest after the moves 1.e4 c5 2.Na3. No, that's not a typo.

Round 9 Results

No Name                  Feder Total  Result   Name                Feder Total

 1 ALON GREENFELD         ISR   [7]      1:0    JOHN REDMOND        IRL   [4.5]
 2 STUART CONQUEST        ENG   [4.5]    0:1    ALEXANDER BABURIN   IRL   [7]  
 3 ALGIMANTAS BUTNORIUS   LIT   [5.5]    0:1    MARK HEBDEN         ENG   [5.5]
 4 STEPHEN JESSEL         IRL   [5]      1:0    COLM DALY           IRL   [5.5]
 5 PHILIP SHORT           IRL   [4.5]    1:0    MANUEL WEEKS        AUS   [4.5]
 6 MARK ORR               IRL   [4.5]   .5:.5   RYAN-RHYS GRIFFITHS IRL   [4.5]
 7 ANTHONY FOX            IRL   [4.5]   .5:.5   CIARAN QUINN        IRL   [4.5]
 8 JOHN HEALY             IRL   [4]     .5:.5   SEAMUS DUFFY        IRL   [4.5]
 9 DAVID FITZSIMONS       IRL   [3.5]    1:0    TIM Mc CARTHY       IRL   [3.5]
10 EAMON KEOGH            IRL   [3.5]    0:1    GERARD O'CONNELL    IRL   [3.5]
11 JUSTIN DALY            IRL   [3.5]   .5:.5   BRENDAN LYONS       IRL   [3.5]
12 ANDREA CAROSSO         ITA   [3.5]    1:0    HUGH DOYLE          IRL   [3.5]
13 JOHN LOUGHRAN          IRL   [3.5]    1:0    BERNARD BOYLE       IRL   [3]  
14 OISIN P. BENSON        IRL   [3]      1:0    PETER CAFOLLA       IRL   [2.5]
15 GEAROIDIN Ui LAIGHLEIS IRL   [2]      0:1    LIAM PORTER         IRL   [2.5]
16 STEPHEN SHORT          IRL   [2]      1:0    BYE                            

Cross Table

No Name                   Feder Rtg  Total  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9  

1  BABURIN, ALEXANDER      IRL   2526 8      8:W 15:W  5:W  2:D  6:D  3:W  4:W  7:W 13:W
2  GREENFELD, ALON         ISR   2545 8     21:W  4:W  3:W  1:D  5:D  6:W 17:W 13:W 14:W
3  HEBDEN, MARK            ENG   2520 6.5   30:W 12:W  2:L 16:W  4:W  1:L  5:D 14:W  6:W
4  JESSEL, STEPHEN         IRL   2294 6     28:W  2:L 22:W 19:W  3:L 15:W  1:L 18:W  5:W
5  DALY, COLM              IRL   2311 5.5   20:W 16:W  1:L 10:W  2:D  7:W  3:D  6:D  4:L
6  BUTNORIUS, ALGIMANTAS   LIT   2442 5.5   33:+ 17:D  7:W 13:W  1:D  2:L 12:W  5:D  3:L
7  SHORT, PHILIP           IRL   2300 5.5   26:W 24:W  6:L 14:D 13:W  5:L  9:W  1:L 17:W
8  FOX, ANTHONY            IRL   2068 5      1:L 23:W 32:D 12:D 16:D  9:D 15:W 17:D 11:D
9  GRIFFITHS, RYAN-RHYS    IRL   2069 5     13:D 14:L 29:W 21:W 18:D  8:D  7:L 19:W 12:D
10 DUFFY, SEAMUS           IRL   1901 5     11:D 21:D 15:W  5:L 24:W 14:D 13:L 16:W 18:D
11 QUINN, CIARAN           IRL   2156 5     10:D 22:D 19:L 20:W 12:D 16:L 27:W 23:W  8:D
12 ORR, MARK               IRL   2258 5     31:W  3:L 14:D  8:D 11:D 29:W  6:L 21:W  9:D
13 CONQUEST, STUART        ENG   2536 4.5    9:D 32:W 17:W  6:L  7:L 20:W 10:W  2:L  1:L
14 REDMOND, JOHN           IRL   2188 4.5   22:D  9:W 12:D  7:D 17:D 10:D 16:W  3:L  2:L
15 O'CONNELL, GERARD       IRL   2122 4.5   23:W  1:L 10:L 22:W 19:W  4:L  8:L 20:D 24:W
16 FITZSIMONS, DAVID       IRL   2147 4.5   18:W  5:L 24:W  3:L  8:D 11:W 14:L 10:L 26:W
17 WEEKS, MANUEL           AUS   2174 4.5   29:W  6:D 13:L 27:W 14:D 18:W  2:L  8:D  7:L
18 HEALY, JOHN             IRL   1864 4.5   16:L 20:D 28:W 32:W  9:D 17:L 23:W  4:L 10:D
19 LOUGHRAN, JOHN          IRL   1654 4.5    0:  31:W 11:W  4:L 15:L 21:D 24:W  9:L 29:W
20 CAROSSO, ANDREA         ITA   2046 4.5    5:L 18:D 26:W 11:L 27:W 13:L 28:D 15:D 25:W
21 LYONS, BRENDAN          IRL   2088 4      2:L 10:D 25:W  9:L 23:D 19:D 30:W 12:L 22:D
22 DALY, JUSTIN            IRL   1980 4     14:D 11:D  4:L 15:L 25:W 24:D 26:D 29:D 21:D
23 BENSON, OISIN P.        IRL   1852 4     15:L  8:L 31:W 29:D 21:D 28:W 18:L 11:L 30:W
24 KEOGH, EAMON            IRL   2092 3.5   25:W  7:L 16:L 26:W 10:L 22:D 19:L 28:W 15:L
25 DOYLE, HUGH             IRL   1697 3.5   24:L 26:D 21:L 28:W 22:L 27:L  0:W 31:W 20:L
26 Mc CARTHY, TIM          IRL   2020 3.5    7:L 25:D 20:L 24:L 31:W 30:D 22:D 27:W 16:L
27 PORTER, LIAM            IRL   1812 3.5   32:L 28:D 30:W 17:L 20:L 25:W 11:L 26:L 31:W
28 SHORT, STEPHEN          IRL   2033 3      4:L 27:D 18:L 25:L 30:W 23:L 20:D 24:L  0:W
29 BOYLE, BERNARD          IRL   1945 3     17:L 30:W  9:L 23:D 32:W 12:L 31:L 22:D 19:L
30 CAFOLLA, PETER          IRL   2055 2.5    3:L 29:L 27:L 31:W 28:L 26:D 21:L  0:W 23:L
31 Ui LAIGHLEIS, GEAROIDIN IRL   1985 2     12:L 19:L 23:L 30:L 26:L  0:W 29:W 25:L 27:L
32 JEFFARES, SIMON         IRL   2111 1.5   27:W 13:L  8:D 18:L 29:L  0:   0:   0:   0: