Photos: Glorney, Gilbert, Robinson, Stokes.
This year's junior chess events involving teams from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland took place in the Park Inn Hotel, Cardiff over 3 days from Sunday 21st July to Tuesday 23rd July 2013. The hotel was a superb venue and the event ran very smoothly from start to finish, thanks to the sterling efforts of our Welsh hosts. They deserve particular credit for stepping in to run the tournament at a late stage owing to unforeseen difficulties encountered by Chess Scotland who had originally been scheduled to host the tournament in 2013.
The annual joust with Ireland's nearest neighbours involves 4 separate competitions. The Glorney Cup competition is contested by teams of five players under 18 years of age, the Gilbert Cup is for teams of three girls under 18, the Robinson Cup is contested by teams of 6 players under 14 and the Stokes Cup by teams of 6 players under 12.
The 20 Irish players were accompanied by two coaches, Pat and David Fitzsimons and a considerable number of parents and some siblings making the Irish party the largest at the event. Prior to the commencement of play, the Irish Head of Delegation, Colm O' Muiréagáin, read out a letter from President Michael D. Higgins wishing our teams every success in the tournament. The interest shown by the State's first citizen was warmly welcomed by the Irish party and served to galvanise the players for the event.
As the largest competitor nation, England's teams have performed strongly in the four events since the Robinson and Stokes Cup competitions were introduced to the International Junior calendar in 2007, to be run concurrently with the longer established Glorney and Gilbert (previously Faber) Cup competitions. In recent years, however, Ireland's teams have become much more competitive and have pushed the rival nations hard in some of the events.
While the British public spent the weekend awaiting news of the imminent arrival of a new royal heir, the only matter of interest to the Irish Party in the Park Inn Hotel was the fate of our four teams. In the event, Ireland had a very successful tournament, the highlight of which was the capture of the Stokes Cup by our under 12 team. All the details of the event, including player details, results and cross tables are available on the tournament web site.
In round one, the Irish teams faced hosts Wales, going down 3-2 in the Glorney Cup, 2-1 in the Gilbert Cup, while drawing 3-3 in the other two tournaments. After this relatively slow start for the Irish, next up that day were top seeds England. The Glorney team achieved a highly creditable 2½2½ draw, while the Gilbert Cup team succumbed to a 30 loss that did not accurately reflect the quality of the girls overall play against higher rated opponents. Irelands under 14s lost narrowly 2½3½, and the under 12s achieved the first Irish win of the tournament with a superb 3½2½ victory over England. On day 2, Ireland faced Scotland for the first time and won all 4 matches with the highlight being a 60 victory for the under 12s leaving them joint top of the table on 12.5 points with England at the halfway stage.
Round 4 was against England and there were decidedly mixed fortunes for the Irish Teams with the Glorney and Gilbert teams losing all their games in their matches while the under 14s put up a very creditable performance in losing narrowly by a score of 3½2½. Pride of place, however, once again went to the under 12s who repeated their success from day one by defeating England by 3½2½ to go a full point ahead at the top of the table with two matches remaining.
On the final day of the tournament, the excitement and tension in the Irish team room had reached fever pitch with the realisation that the Under 12 team was on the verge of creating history if they could hold their collective nerve over the final two rounds and outscore England against Scotland and Wales. In the morning session, England beat Scotland 5-1 for the second time in the event to move within a half point of Ireland at the top of the table following our 4½1½ victory over Wales. In the other events, the Glorney team suffered a 3-2 reverse against Wales, with the Gilbert team losing 3-0 and the under 14s also succumbing to the host nation on a 5-1 scoreline.
So the stage was set for a dramatic and tense finale to the Stokes Cup competition. As Ireland had a half point lead over England and had beaten the holders of the cup twice, we could take the Cup on tie break if both teams finished level on points.
The destination of the Stokes Cup for 2013 ebbed and flowed during a tense afternoon's play. There was an early boost for Ireland when, less than an hour into the playing session, the Welsh team manager called to the Irish team room to report an early win for one of the Welsh under 12 players. He was cheered to the rafters and this was the pattern for the afternoon where every Irish player who arrived in the team room, after completing his or her game, was cheered whether reporting a win, loss or draw. The Irish cause was further boosted shortly afterwards with a win for one of the youngest of the Irish players, Tom O'Gorman which extended our lead over England. England then won two and drew a third game against Wales, putting pressure back on the five remaining Irish players, two of whom were facing considerable difficulties on the board.
A win for Michael Higgins (to complete a perfect 6/6 score for the tournament) swung the balance back in Ireland's favour until the English board one ground out a victory against his opponent. This was followed by a win and draw for Fiachra Scallan and Padraig Hughes respectively leaving Ireland still a half point to the good. However, the remaining two games in our match were won by the Scots leaving the destination of the trophy resting on the result of the board 6 game between Arjan Bolina of Wales and Alex Sheerin of England. For the remainder of this game Arjan was Ireland's seventh man.
The game got down to a king and pawn ending (king plus five pawns each), but crucially, from an Irish perspective, the English player had an inferior pawn structure and Arjan was able to exploit this to achieve a win that copperfastened the success of the Irish under 12 team over the course of the tournament. When it was reported that Arjan had played the most forcing move, the cheers in the Irish team room were clearly audible in the playing room. 10 minutes later, having won the game, the Welsh player was invited into the Irish team room to receive the applause and appreciation of the Irish party and to be photographed with the Irish team!
Irelands other three teams also recorded victories over Scotland in their final round matches.
Prizes were awarded for the highest scoring players on each team and the Irish players who took the scoring honours were, Conor O' Donnell (Glorney Cup), Alice O' Gorman (Gilbert Cup), Kevin Singpurwala (Robinson Cup) and Michael Higgins (Stokes Cup).
Alice and Tom O'Gorman, who made their international debuts at the event, follow a long line of siblings who have played for Ireland over the years.
The overall talent on display for Ireland bodes well for the future of Irish chess. The experience of playing competitively at international level will stand to our younger players as they develop and hone their chess playing skills. While the results of the under 12s team were the undoubted highlight of the tournament from an Irish point of view, there were also very creditable performances across all the Irish teams. In many cases the overall quality of the play of some Irish players is not reflected in their actual scores.
Today, Ireland is now the proud holder of a junior international chess trophy (the Bernadette Stokes Cup), named after Wicklow Chess Club's Bernie Stokes, who, I am sure, shares our delight at seeing the Cup residing in Ireland for the next year at least!
Everybody involved in organising this year's event and in preparing the players and supporting them before and during the tournament deserves credit for the outcome of their efforts. The Glorney Cup events for 2013 will, however, be best remembered for the achievements of an extraordinary group of our youngest players who remained fearless, fit and focused in their quest to win the Stokes Cup. While the adults in the Irish party got caught up in the rollercoaster emotional ride that goes with competitive activities, our young tyros remained unfazed. The momentum of the event, their team spirit, embodying a high level of collective self-belief and their chess skills, enabled them to achieve something that has not been done before. They have set new records in the annals of Irish Junior Chess, including the not inconsiderable feat of beating their English counterparts, not once, but twice on their way to Stokes Cup Glory. Congratulations to Padraig, Ross, Tom, Michael, Fiachra and David, Stokes Cup winners all for 2013!