The annual Kilkenny Chess Congress kicked with just over 200 players attending in total, fighting for the 4 titles at stake, the prestigious Kilkenny Masters, the Major, the James Mason memorial and the Challengers.
Sebastien Maze played here a few years ago and this year saw his welcome return, his rating of 2575 easily placing him No.1 in this year’s Masters. However, Mark Hebden, Bogdan Lalic and Alex Baburin were the other GMs on hand to fight for this year’s title, not to mention Sam Collins and Mark Quinn, our resident IMs. Indeed, those of you with good memories may remember Mark Quinn beat Sebastien Maze here on his last visit !
(The photo on the left shows the start of their round 2 encounter)
The first round went almost to seeding, although the David Murray (Gonzaga) held GM Bogdan Lalic to a draw while our regular visitor from The Netherlands, Kees DeKruif managed to beat Conor O’Donnell on board 10.
In the second round there was a bit of an upset on board 3 as Mel O’Cinnneide beat Sam Collins when Sam went a bit astray in the complications in the following game. Philip Short seemed to be doing fine in this game against Mark Hebden, indeed he was probably a bit better but his 35.….d4 probably put him on the wrong track and Mark took control to claim the full point.
The photo on the left referred to earlier saw Sebastien get his revenge for their previous encounter in this tense game.
In round 3, Mel was rewarded with a crack at Sebastien but the gulf in their rating difference really proved a bit too much to bridge as he lost this game. In the meantime, Alex Baburin and Mark Hebden were playing their umpteenth game in an Irish weekender, this clash ended badly for Alex but it could have been different, as the note in this game shows.
Round 4 began on Saturday evening and if there was a crowd online waiting to see a tough battle between the leaders on board 1, they would have been disappointed as Mark Hebden and Sebastien Maze agreed a draw in 8 moves !
Mark is pictured right, this was taken just before their round 4 “epic” encounter.
The encounter on board 2 didn’t last much longer as Bogdan Lalic and Sam Collins agreed a draw in 12 moves, at least that was 50% more moves than board 1 managed. However, board 3 was a much different affair, here Anthony Fox was facing Alexander Baburin and no one expected Alex to be happy sharing the point. Indeed, he may not have been, but he didn’t have a choice in this game. .
Round 5 began at 9:00am and most players managed to turn up on time ! This time Mr. Maze had to face Bogdan Lalic and a draw was agreed on move 21. This left a little door open for Mark Hebden who had black against the inform Mel O’Cinneide, and Mark managed to get the full point from this game. This left Mark leading the event on his own with 4.5 / 5 going into the final round.
On board 3 Sam had the job of trying to beat Anthony Fox and you can check this game out here.
The final round pairings looked like this;
| 1 | Mark Hebden | 4.5 | Bogdan Lalic | 3.5 |
| 2 | Sam Collins | 3.5 | Sabestien Maze | 4 |
| 3 | Conor O’Donnell | 3 | Alex Baburin | 3 |
Quick GM draws in the final round are nothing new in Chess and they can be a disappointment for the spectators. On board 1 in the final round Bogdan offered Mark a draw after 12 moves, an offer he couldn’t refuse, of course as it gave him the title and first prize on his own but I can’t see the logic from Bogdan’s point of view? He could have given it a “go” as it was likely that Mark would have taken a draw at almost anytime.
Board 2 was also a very quick draw but board 3 was again a different story, as young Irish International, Conor O’Donnell tested Alex Baburin’s tried and tested Alekhines’s defense in the following game.
Prizes in the Masters
Crosstable1st Mark Hebden 5 / 6
2nd Sebastien Maze 4.5 5 / 6
3rd = Bogdan Lalic, Sam Collins, Alex Baburin and Bram Van Dijk
It should also be noted that, at the prize giving, Maurice Buckley of Kilkenny Chess Club presented both Bram Van Dijk ( pictured left )and Gearoidin Ui Laighleis, current Irish Champion ) with one of the coveted Kilkenny jumpers each. It goes without saying at this stage that both of them have been warned never to wear their new apparel at Bunratty !
Prizes in the Major
1st Carl Jackson
2nd = John Loughran, Jan Heinrich and Keegan O’Mahoney
1st - Grading Section - Mark Halley
2nd - Grading Section - Gary O’Grady
Prizes in the James Mason
1st = Paddy Quinlan and Barry Foran
2nd = Mariusz Lakasto, David O’Kelly, Odhran McDonnell and Stefan Baczkowski
1st - Grading Section - Sean Loftus
2nd - Grading Section - Pat McCarrick
3rd - Grading Section - Agustin Plaza Reino
Prizes in the Challengers
1st = Cian Murphy and Dean Copeland
2nd = Benen O’Toole and Jonathan Peoples
1st - Grading Section - Jose Devano
2nd - Grading Section - Oisin Tong
3rd - Grading Section - Sean Beatty
4th - Grading Section - Jasvinderpal Singh