This years tournaments were hosted by England and took place in John Moores University in Liverpool from 23rd to 25th July. The teams from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland consisted of:
- 5 players (under 18 on 1 January 2008) for the Glorney Cup;
- 3 players (under 18 on 1 January 2008) for the Faber Cup (confined to girls only) which has been renamed the Jessie Gilbert Cup in memory of the deceased English Junior player; and
- teams of 6 players each for the under 12 and under 14 tournaments.
In all, the Irish Party was 38 strong including, parents and coaches. Host nation England fielded an A, B and C team in each competition except the Glorney so that we had six team all-play-all five round events in those tournaments. Stephen Jessel (FM) was the main coach to the teams with Liverpool based John Redmond also assisting during the tournament. I would like to express my appreciation for their immense efforts which were of invaluable assistance to the players.
In relation to the Glorney, as there were only 4 teams entered, England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, we had what was termed a "jambouree draw" so that this event also had five rounds of matches. This type of draw involved individual pairings in each round rather than "Nation v Nation" pairings.
Thus in each round Ireland's five players had two games against two players from two of the other nations and one game against the remaining nation. While it was somewhat confusing to follow, after five rounds, each player on each team ended up playing the three players they were due to play in any event plus two others! For example the Irish board one played the board ones from each of the other nations plus two of the three board twos. The draw was further complicated by the fact that England used a sixth player as a sub and a requirement from the arbiter that no player could be paired against the same opponent twice!
Not surprisingly, it was agreed at the annual meeting of the Glorney Cup Control Committee that for the future the events would either be extended by another day to have six rounds with each of the four teams playing each other twice or that additional teams would be entered to ensure that we would have six team events with a straightforward five round "all play all" format.
The games bulletin that is normally provided by the host nation at the end of every round of matches recording each game played was not available on this occasion. Accordingly, I have asked the Irish players to email details of any of their notable games to me asap so that they can be loaded onto the website. The details of the Irish Team's performances in each round and overall are set out in the Tables included in this feature.
Glorney Cup
The team was the same as the one that had finished runners-up to England in 2007, It was comprised of the highest rated juniors in Ireland; David Fitzsimons, Ryan Rhys Griffiths, Same Osborne, Jan Mueller and Liam Normoyle. In round one Ireland were paired against two English, two Scottish and one Welsh player, scoring 3½. This was followed by a score of 3 in Round 2 against two Welsh, two English and one Scottish player. Thus at the end of day one, Ireland trailed Scotland, who had a score of 7½, by one point with England back in third place on 6 points. Round three proved to be our most disappointing round with defeats on boards one and two for David and Ryan leaving Ireland trailing Scotland by 2 points with two rounds to play with England on a score of 8½ just a half point behind Ireland and 2½ points behind Scotland. Sam, Jan and Liam maintained their unbeaten records during round 3. The most notable features of round 4 were that all of Ireland's players took something from their games with a win for Sam against a Scottish player and 4 draws for the others. England had a good round gaining 4 points to put themselves right back in contention to retain the Glorney Cup.
Thus at the end of round 4 Scotland led on 13 points from England on 12½ and Ireland on 12. In the final round Ireland were paired against two Welsh players, two English players and one Scot while England and Scotland were paired against one another in two matches. Given that there was only one point separating three teams going into the final round the destination of the Glorney Cup was likely to go to the last few minutes of the final games to be completed and so it proved.
Ireland got off to a good start in round five with a swift victory for David against the Welsh board two in just 15 moves to put Ireland level on points with Scotland. However, later in the morning the Scottish players won both their games against the Welsh thus moving up to 15 points. With the Scottish board 1, Connor Woods being a piece up against England's Thomas Pym, it looked as if the pendulum was swinging decisively in favour of the Scots. However, Liam then won a piece against his Scottish opponent and achieved a dominant position in his game. A win for Liam and a loss for Jan left Ireland on 14 points trailing Scotland by one point with Sam and Ryan still playing.
With 25 minutes remaining of the final games, an impromptu meeting of the Glorney Control Committee took place to decide how the tie-break rules might operate in the event of a two or three way tie at the end of the competition! Because of the "jambouree draw", the normal tie-break rules were not appropriate. In the event it was agreed that if there was a tie on points, the nations involved would be joint winners.
With 15 minutes left, Sam and Ryan had better positions on their Boards while the two England Scotland clashes still looked to favour England in one game where Daniel Hall had just won a clear pawn in a rook and knight versus rook and knight ending (also 4 pawns v 5 pawns), while Thomas Pym (England) remained a piece down to Connor Woods. A few moments later Sam won his game against England's Mark Talbot taking Ireland to 15 points, level with Scotland and a half point ahead of England with three games to be decided.
With Ryan's game ending in a draw after a time scramble, Ireland moved onto 15½ points. However, a draw between Clement Shreeves (Scotland) and Daniel Hall (England) moved Scotland level on points with Ireland with England on 15 points just a half point behind. This meant that Ireland could only finish as runners up regardless of the result of the last game still being played between Connor Woods (Scotland) and Thomas Pym (England). This game went right to the wire with Thomas Pym recovering from being a piece down to win an opposite coloured bishops ending to deliver the victory required for England to retain the Glorney Cup with just half a point to spare over Ireland and Scotland. So Ireland's quest to end a 45 year wait for a second victory in the Glorney Cup extends to 2009 when Scotland will be the hosts for the tournament.
Overall, the Irish delivered a highly creditable performance with two players (Sam and Liam) remaining unbeaten over their five games with 3 wins and 2 draws each. With 4 of this year's team still eligible for selection in 2009 and with a fairly strong pool of other players to chose from, including emerging younger players, we can remain optimistic about our prospects of winning the Glorney Cup in the not too distant future.
Jessie Gilbert Memorial (Faber) Cup
The Faber team comprised of sisters Sarah and Ruth Cormican and 13 year old Sarah Jane Hearne who was making her international debut. This tournament was much more straightforward with two additional English teams entered to have an "all play all" five round event.
Ireland and England A started with 2 -1 wins against Wales and Scotland respectively with the Cormican sisters drawing their games on Boards one and two and Sarah Jane winning. The remaining round 1 game was won 2-1 by England C.
In round 2, Ireland drew 1½1½ with England C while Wales and England A beat Scotland and England B 2 1 respectively. In round 3, Ireland drew again, this time with England B while England and Scotland both had 2½-0½ wins over Wales and England C respectively. Round 4 saw draws between Ireland and Scotland and England B and Wales with England A getting the better of England C with a 2-1 victory.
Thus Ireland entered the final round needing a 30 victory over the much more highly rated England A team to win the Cup while England needed just half a point from the match. In the event, Ireland succumbed 21 after closely fought encounters on all three boards. Ruth's excellent win on board 2 was sufficient to clinch joint second place with the Scots and ensure that she remained unbeaten in the tournament while Sarah Jane ended up with a very creditable 3 wins, a draw and just one loss on her debut. Sarah found the going very tough on board one where her opponents average rating was around 400 points above her own.
Nevertheless this was the best Irish showing at the Faber (Jessie Gilbert) Cup for some time and given that two of the players are only in their early teens, it bodes well for the future.
Under 14
The Irish team was comprised of Hugh Doyle, Mark Bernie, Shane Manning, Chris Young, Daniel Cashin and Kieran O'Riordan. The team began the tournament with a 5-1 defeat to England whose ratings ranged from 19501850. Our boards one and two (Hugh Doyle and Mark Berney) both drew with our other players losing their games. While these games went to form having regard to the significant ratings disparity between the teams, it is fair to say that the results did not reflect the closeness of the individual encounters and the quality of the Irish players efforts on the board. Elsewhere in round one the Scots drew 3-all with the English Bishops while Wales overcame the English Knights team by 4-2.
In round 2, Ireland got off the mark with a comprehensive 4½-1½ victory over Wales while England scored an even more emphatic 5½-0½ win over Scotland. The English Bishops whitewashed the English Knights 6-0. In round 3, Ireland beat the English Knights 5½-0½ while England beat the English Bishops by a similar score. Wales secured a narrow 3½-2½ win over Scotland.
In round 4 Ireland secured their third comprehensive victory of the tournament by crushing Scotland 5-1. England recorded a 6-0 whitewash of the knights while Wales managed a narrow 3½-2½ win over the bishops.
Ireland finished their campaign with a 4-2 victory against the English bishops to finish a clear second to England with a creditable 20 points from a possible 30. England finished the tournament by defeating Wales 4-2, while Scotland beat the English Knights 6-0.
There were a considerable number of excellent performances from the Irish players including Mark Berney who remained unbeaten on Board 2 throughout the tournament. It is clear from the results that at this level Ireland appears to have moved significantly ahead of both Scotland and Wales. The key objective for the future should therefore be to catch up on England who are setting the standard to which other teams should aspire.
Under 12
The Irish Team was comprised of Ronan Magee, Oisin Murphy, John Cormican, Michael Sheehan, Billy McKenna and Richard Flynn. The team got off to a good start by defeating the English Knights 5½-0½. England beat Wales by a similar score while Scotland narrowly defeated the English Bishops by 3½-2½. In round two, there were 5-1 scorelines in all three matches with Ireland succumbing to England obtaining just two draws (from Ronan on Board 1 and Richard on board 6). The average rating difference between the teams was over 600 points! The English Knights and Scotland beat the English Bishops and Wales respectively.
Ireland got back on track in round 3 with a 4-2 win over Scotland with wins on the top three boards and board 6. The English Bishops lost 4-2 to Wales while England whitewashed the English Knights 6 0. In round 4 Ireland drew with Wales with wins for John, Michael and Richard. Scotland defeated the English Knights by a score of 4½-1½ while England defeated the English bishops by a score of 5-1.
In the final round Ireland clinched second place in the Tournament with a 5½-0½ win over the English Bishops. Wales lost to the English Knights by a 5-1 scoreline while England beat Scotland by the same score.
Richard Flynn was the only Irish player to remain unbeaten throughout the tournament.
Overall, the Irish team acquitted themselves very well against tough opposition. It is clear that our youngest group of junior players have great potential and will have benefited hugely from their experiences in the Four Nations Championships. For the future, the objective should be to find a way of accelerating their development so that they can become more competititve against England who are currently setting the benchmark for junior players amongst the 4 nations. Determining how this might be achieved (in respect of all our juniors) will have to be a priority for the incoming ICU Executive.