Quick Summary
- Glorney: Ireland WIN
- Gilbert: Ireland SECOND (won by England)
- Robinson: Ireland WIN
- Stokes: Ireland THIRD (won by France)
Best overall squad in the tournament.
Team Board Prizes
- Glorney: Scott Muligan 5/5 on Bd 5
- Gilbert: Alice O'Gorman 3.5/5 Bd 1
- Robinson: Alex Byrne 4.5/5 on Bd 1
- Stokes: Sanjay Menon 3.5/5 on Bd 5
Many thanks to the ECF for hosting.
Next year the The Glorney Gilbert International 2017 will be in Cardiff, July 23rd - 27th.
Games, results and other details here
Wednesday 20th - Final Day, Aftermath
Wednesday 20th - Final Day, Final(5th) round
Final Day Pairings
- Ireland vs England A
- Scotland vs France
- Wales vs England B
Going into the final round, if France beat Scotland 5:0, Ireland need 2.5/5 to win the Glorney. The Robinson need 3/6 in the head to head with England.
An early win for Luke (4/5) and loss for Tom (3/5) has the Glorney on course for the minimum 2.5 required to retain while Mustakim also wins early to end unbeaten on 4/5 leaving the Robinson needing 2 from the remaining 5 to retain.
In the Gilbert, Ireland tie 1.5:1.5 with cup winners England.
Henry draws in the Glorney. A point from either Scott or Scotland should do it (for a tie-break win).
And Scott gets there first to secure the required point! Ireland retain the Glorney.
And Lennart Koehn on song with the win for Scotland on board 1 to put Ireland clear in first.
Meanwhile things are much tighter in the Robinson. 1.5 vs 1.5 with 3 in play. Ireland need 1.5.
Alex wins! Ireland need a draw from the last game in play.
And Denis does it - staying cool under his own time pressure to win on time! Ireland retain the Robinson.
Tuesday 19th - Day Two PM
Afternoon Pairings for Round 4
- Ireland vs England B
- Wales vs France
- Scotland vs England A
In the Glorney, Ireland beat ENG B 3.5 : 1.5 drop a point relative to France (who beat Wales 4.5 : 0.5) and half a point to ENG A (who beat SCO 4:1).
In the Gilbert, Ireland draw all three to lie second to ENG A who have won with a round to spare and lie in wait in the morning. The girls need to stay ahead of FRA, ENG B and SCO to finish second. All three work for each other analysing with England B in anticipation (see photo).
The Robinson has Ireland leading by half a point from England A. Both are well clear of the pack so tommorrow will be a head to head with Ireland needing 3/6 to retain the trophy.
In the Stokes (photo), Ireland lie third on 13 behind joint leaders England A and France on 16/24.
Tuesday 19th - Day Two AM
Morning Pairings for Round 3 are
- Ireland vs Wales
- England A vs France
- England B vs Scotland
Ireland have an early team meeting to set up for the day.
In a separate development, rumours have spread within the Irish camp that coach FM David Fitzsimons has shown great creativity off the chess board in refrigeration technology.
Early results have 1 wins for Ireland in the Glorney and 1 for Eng A in the Gilbert. 2.5 hours in and Ireland lead the Glorney, England the Gilbert and the Robinson, and France the Stokes. (scorers in action left).
Also in the team room David and Brendan are doing sterling work on the coaching (right).
Glorney: Ireland beat Wales 5:0 to take a 3.5 point leads over England A and France
Gilbert: Ireland draw with Wales to lie second to England A
Robinson: Ireland win 3.5:2.5 to lead by a point from England A
Stokes: Ireland draw 3:3 for third on 10.5 behind England A 11 and leaders France on 13/18.
Monday 18th - Day One
And we're off!
After a team meeting, the squad entered the playing hall as a group for the opening ceremony. A special welcome was extended to the French team rejoining the event after some time. It is hoped the Dutch will participate in Cardiff 2017.
First up were France. The Glorney, Gilbert and Robinson teams all got off to strong starts scoring 4:1, 2:1 and 4.5:1.5. The Stokes were just edged 2.3:3.5 a solid enough start given the event is game scored. The big upset of Round 1 was in the Glorney where England B beat England A 3:2.
In Round 2, France hit back hard against Wales to end the day joint third with England who came through 4:1 against Wales. Ireland however top the Glorney on 7 at the end of the day with a 3:2 win against the Scots who lie second after their morning 4.5:1.2 win against Wales for 6.5 total
In the Gilbert (photo), Ireland repeated the 2:1 result of the morning, to lie second on 4 to England on a perfect 6/6.
Ireland's afternoon in the Robinson can best be described as colourful with a number of hard foiught games in which Ireland again powering to a 4.5:1.5 finish to top the table on 9/12 by a point from England A on 8.
But it was the Stokes team with the Irish result of the afternoon, 5:1 against the Wales to lie 3rd, 1.5 behind joint leaders France and England both on 9/12.
Sunday 17th - Travel Day
Daventry is surrounded by airports, all about an hour away! So in we came, via Birmingham, East Midlands and Luton. A few came by the Ferry and A55, the brave tried Manchester and the trains with their Sunday engineering work. All arrived with no tales of undue woe. One group was delayed an hour in Dublin airport but this was put to good use (see picture).
Another had a minibus no show but adapted well.
The Managers meeting for the Draw was held at 8pm in the playing hall. As Glorney winners, Ireland drew first for games as follows:
- White vs France
- Black vs Scotland
- White vs Wales
- White vs England B
- Black vs England A
Team sheets were exchanged and published.
The playing hall sits quietly in wait and Scott takes a moment to visualise success.
Saturday 16th
Day before travel.
This year marks a significant format change from the past 4-5 years. Gone is the match play element where one played each opponent twice, once with each colour over 6 rounds.
The addition of the Paris Chess Club Team representing France and the England B team (as hosts to even the numbers) makes this year a 5-round all play all.
As 2015 winners of two of the four cups - Glorney and Robinson - and coming so close in a third - Gilbert - Ireland travel with a strong squad and expectations of another strong showings in all four.
No sign of any team details. Makes preparation all the harder.
Meanwhile some reminders of 2015......... The full photo album is here.
Article updated 5/9/16 with photo of oringal Glorney trophy