Foreword

This year's junior internationals between England, Ireland, Scotland (our hosts) and Wales will be held at the University of Stirling in Scotland. The University is located just two miles from the centre of Stirling. Set in the shadow of the Ochil Hills, the magnificent 310-acre campus encompasses a loch, a golf course and the 18th-century Airthrey Castle. It is one of the most attractive campuses in Europe.

This surely will be a wonderful experience for players and accompanying members of the Irish team which are due to arrive on August 3rd competition proper starting August 4th. I am honoured to be head of delegation for 2014 and I would like to wish all our players the very best of luck and to the other members of the travelling squad a memorable and enjoyable time. Based on last year's excitement and nail biting finish to secure the Stokes cup the bar has truly been raised for Irish junior chess.

This has generated no end of excitement and anticipation for the upcoming competition. No pressure teams, but our target should be to try to achieve more than last year. Is it possible? Of course it is with the backing and support of parents and coaches and good overall team spirit anything is possible. As each game unfolds the squad will share in the ebb and flow of emotional swings and parents will definitely feel it even more. As a parent myself I will also share in these emotions and having been involved in the last 5 competitions can fully appreciate all that is involved. Stirling is a famous historical area in Scotland and was made famous by none other than William Wallace who led the Scots to victory in 1297 at Stirling bridge. So our minimum target should be to retain the Stokes cup thus creating another piece of memorable history (in Stirling) for Irish chess but why not try for more! Let’s bring back something extra? Let us build on our current strengths and work from there. We are also very lucky this year to have a very strong coaching presence led by IM Tibor Karoyli, with assistance from Brendan Buckley and Daniel Lynch, which will throw a different and interesting dimension to what we have previously experienced in the past.

I am looking forward to personally welcoming you all on Sunday next and we have a meeting scheduled for 6pm to discuss any last minute details etc and anybody who cannot attend will be updated accordingly at a later stage. Everything is organised for the entire travelling party and I would like to thank our hosts Chess Scotland for their assistance throughout.

So let’s make this another memorable year for Irish chess.

Live Update

(Ed.) This website's chief editor travelled to Stirling University on the last day of the competition to find out why no live updates were coming from the Irish contingent (as had been planned) and quickly found the answer: the campus internet was being upgraded and nobody (except the lucky few with phone adapters) could get emails out. Head of delegation Noel Keating eventually concluded this report (see below) after he got back to civilisation. Below are few photos and there are more here:

Glorney: Ireland 2½-2½ Scotland

Gilbert: Scotland 1-2 Ireland

Robinson: Ireland 3½-2½ Scotland

Stokes: Scotland 0-6 Ireland

Final Report

This year's junior chess event involving teams from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales took place in University of Stirling in Scotland. Our hosts Scotland were excellent and made everybody most welcome. The competition was held from August 4th through to August 6th 2014 with two games per day between the competing nations. The four separate competitions which are held annually are the Glorney, Gilbert, Robinson and Stokes cups. After last year’s success in the Stokes cup there was a great air of expectancy from the entire travelling squad that we would perform as well and maybe pull off another great result. The university accommodation and food was very nice and the playing venue was ideal for the competitors. The entire tournament ran like clockwork and with only one hitch regarding communications in the university, which was outside our host’s control. The three days flew and what made this year’s tournament so special was that all boards were live. This made all the players feel extra special. 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 Irish squad was accompanied by no less than four coaches, Tibor Karoyli IM, Brendan Buckley, Pat and David Fitzsimons and a fifth joined us for day 2 and 3 of the competition in the person of Daniel Lynch who was on his way back from holidays. For a junior event this was great for the players to have so much coaching resource available to them over the course of this event. Not to mention that two of the parents Zdravko Manojlovic and Paul Higgins were also on hand if required.

The squad travelled Stirling on Sunday August 3rd with some travelling separately and the bulk flying out from Dublin. After one flight, one missed train connection, two trains and a taxi we arrived at our destination. Ironically as we arrived in sight of the national Wallace Monument the heavens opened to welcome us and we truly felt at home. There was a scheduled meeting planned for six o’clock which eventually got underway closer to seven due to the main contingent being slightly delayed. I, Noel Keating as Irish Head of delegation started proceeding by welcoming all the players and travelling party. I gave all the players a particular mention as they were the centre of all the attention. After a few words of encouragement with particular emphasis to any new players I quickly, in a friendly manner, rebuked the squad for brining Stokes cup with them as I felt it could safely have stayed at home ( a bit of psychological banter). I then explained that Tibor as head coach would be arriving later and would organise the coaching arrangements. I finally encouraged everybody to work as a unit with enthusiasm and support for all our players. I finished my address by informing all that a number of the squad had the necessary vetting clearances with regard to child protection as this is now an important area of concern and is now standard practice in any organised event. I finished by wishing everyone an enjoyable tournament and stay at the university.

After that I set about finding out where our host, the president of Chess Scotland, Mr. Hamish Glen was and he wasted no time in showing me around the facility and introducing me to various members of his committee. We then broke for evening dinner in the Pathfoot eatery. After that the Heads of Delegation from each nation met for our first meeting to discuss various issues and how the competition was going to commence. We then held the draw for to seed the teams in number order and Peter Purland prepared the draw on this basis. Ireland was drawn out as number 2. During this first meeting it was mentioned that our IT man Dave Claymore was having issues regarding communications but that would be hopefully resolved when the university opened in the morning.

Before round one commenced I was informed by Chess Scotland that the university had pulled the plug on the entire Wi-Fi system, as they were moving their entire system to another building and that it was unlikely that we would get any for the rest of the competition.

The AGM was held during the first day’s games and my thanks to Desmond Beatty for attending and giving some general details regarding various possibilities of venues that may be available to us as host nation for 2015. The other heads of delegation gave a general thumbs up to our suggestions. They were also happy with our proposed dates but this still has to be approved by the ICU.

Round 1

The Irish teams faced England, going down 3-2 in the Glorney Cup, in the Gilbert Cup we beat them 2-1, in the Robinson we lost 4-2, but as holders of the Stokes cup we set down an early marker winning 4½-1½ which was superb.

Round 2

It was Wales and in the Glorney we won 3-2, in the Gilbert we lost 2-1, in the Robinson we an emphatic win 5½-½ and in the Stokes we won 4-2.

So after the first day, there was everything still to play for and our Glorney team were only a point short of England at this stage, The Gilbert team were also only a point adrift of Wales, The Robinson team were only a mere half point behind England and our Stokes team lead by a point over England.

Round 3

It was the host nation Scotland and in the Glorney we lost 3-2, in the Gilbert we won 2-1, in the Robinson we lost 4½-1½ and in the Stokes we had another great victory with an emphatic 6-0 win.

Round 4

It was Wales and in the Glorney we drew 2½-2½, in the Gilbert we lost 2½-½, in the Robinson we won 4½-1½ and in the Stokes we had another great victory 5-1 but this win was not without drama. As Head of Delegation I moved from room to room to keep an eye on proceedings and as luck would have it I was in the Stokes room when Daniel Dwyer was finishing his game which was looking like a comfortable win except when Daniel queened his pawn, he forgot to press his clock. You need only imagine the state of my mind at this point. I looked on in horror to see that his Welsh opponent had spotted this and was settling down to leave the clock run down. I think it was nearly 1½ minutes (felt like an eternity) had lapsed when it dawned on Daniel that his clock was still running. Much to my relief he pressed the clock and my heart rate returned to normal.

So after day 2, our Glorney team had lost some ground and were 4 points short of England at this stage but still had them to play in round five, The Gilbert team were 5½ points down to England and would require a miracle, The Robinson team were only 3½ points down with everything still in the melting pot, and our Stokes team were level with England at 19½ points each. The excitement was really mounting for day three.

Day 3 arrived and all the players were in good form and relaxed and looking forward to the next two rounds. We had the potential of winning three trophies at this stage which would have been incredible. So the final games were played and the results were as follows.

Round 5

In this round England emphatically made their claim three of the trophies with a 4½-½ win in the Glorney, and a 3-0 win in the Gilbert, and a narrow win of 3½-2½ in the Robinson and finally our gallant Stokes team who had played so well over the last four rounds were beaten 4½-1½.

So Standings at this point were that the Glorney team was in 3rd position on 10 points and 3½ points behind Scotland. The Gilbert team was also in third place on 5½ points and 2 points behind Wales. The Robinson team was in third on 16 points just 2 points behind Scotland. The Stokes team was in second place on 21 points and still only 3 points adrift of England. So was there to be a repeat of last year’s drama?

Round 6

In the final round the Glorney team drew with Scotland 2½-2½ and so finished third overall.

The Gilbert team beat Scotland 2-1 and also finished third.

The Robinson team had a 3½-2½ win and unfortunately England had an emphatic win over Wales to win the cup with our team finishing third.

Finally our Stokes team did all they could do with an emphatic 6-0 win only for England to have another big win themselves against Wales leaving our team just 2½ points short. Heroic stuff by our under 12’s and they did us proud for their valiant efforts.

Prizes were awarded for the highest scoring players on each team and the Irish players who took the scoring honours were, Ossine Murphy (Glorney Cup), Catherine Hearne (Gilbert Cup), David Halpenny (Robinson Cup) and Daniel Dwyer (Stokes Cup).

A special mention must be made for Mustakim, Mathew Gallagher and David Halpenny in the under 12’s (Stokes cup) for scoring 5½ points each on boards 4, 5 and 6. Well done boys!

All the details of the event, including player details, results and cross tables are available on the tournament web site.

If we can continue in this vain going into next year’s competition, which Ireland will be hosting, then who knows what we might achieve. The future undoubtedly lies with all our talented players and it is up to us as parents, coaches and our chess union members to ensure that this vain of competitive players are given every available opportunity to develop their real potential fully.

I would like to thank the Irish Chess Union for their support (and Mark Orr for the surprise visit) and to the coaches in particular who blended in so well with each of the players so much so that all of the coaches at one point or another were advising any player regardless of what team they played on which was testament to the overall team work and spirit in the squad. Well done to all and finally a word of thanks to all the parents/guardians who travelled in support of the players they made the stay all that more enjoyable. Everybody made this competition - thank you.

The games can be downloaded at here (ChessBase only).