Irish Championship 2020

Retd.LoyolaCpt

Our preview of the Irish Championship is now complete with bios of the top 12 seeds: https://www.icu.ie/articles/912

Games start today at 3pm! Coverage will be available on chess24
https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/irish-championship-2020/1/1/1

Retd.LoyolaCpt

Retd.LoyolaCpt wrote: »

Our preview of the Irish Championship is now complete with bios of the top 12 seeds: https://www.icu.ie/articles/912

Games start today at 3pm! Coverage will be available on chess24
https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/irish-championship-2020/1/1/1

Unfortunately we’ve had an issue with a wire today so 6 boards aren’t broadcasting. We should be able to fix this evening.

cdeb

How come Sam is on board 10? Is that the divide between 1 board and 2 boards?

zeitnot

Nearly three hours in. Stephen Brady is in major trouble and I'm not sure how he survives the next few moves (after 14... Kh8).

Update (four hours in): wow--that was a crushing loss. Elsewhere some moves have appeared on the top boards, but they seem frozen now. Jonathan O'Connor had a great position at various times against Alice O'Gorman, but it seems level now. I didn't understand why he didn't just recapture on c3 earlier.

Retd.LoyolaCpt

cdeb wrote: »

How come Sam is on board 10? Is that the divide between 1 board and 2 boards?

Yes

sodacat11

Moannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn Last year I got two Black's in a row to start and then three Blacks in first four rounds and this year it's happening again. It is hard enough to score points in an Irish Championship without being handicapped in this way. The last time I got five whites in an Irish championship was 2011, what are the odds on that??

Joedryan

What has happened there in the Colm Daly game? after Nd5 Kavin resigned???

Surely the game goes on ...exd5 exd5 ...Kf8 etc. am I missing something?

zeitnot

Joedryan wrote: »

What has happened there in the Colm Daly game? after Nd5 Kavin resigned???

Surely the game goes on ...exd5 exd5 ...Kf8 etc. am I missing something?

There were problems with some of the live boards. About 7 games seem incomplete.

Earlier, the continuation of the Daly - Venkatesan game was available, but for some reason it disappeared.

Rolling report: https://www.irlchess.com/irlch2020_allfiles/pairings_irlch2020.html

RooksPawn

Today's pairings FYI, re-ordered by scores rather than board numbers.

Sorry, I originally posted this by mistake in the Tipping thread. Mods, please feel free to delete from there or leave as you prefer.

I hope it will be possible to follow all the games today; sympathies to those who are struggling overtime to get it working.

It's good to have the all-Kanyamarala clash out of the way early.
The other pairs of siblings may have to meet later but it's less certain.

Trisha K v Tarun K
S. Melaugh v Fitzsimons
Byrne v O'Donnell
D. Moran v Daly
S. Collins v Wallace
T. O'Gorman v O'Connor
Murray (.5) v Casey (1), all-Gonzaga clash
O'Connell (.5) v Jackson (.5)
Adam Collins (.5) v Leon Putar (.5)
Delaney (0) v Lara Putar (.5)
Brady (0) v Cafolla (0)
Venkatesan v Flynn
McHugh v Lyons, all-Benildus clash
Alice O'Gorman v Carroll
G. Melaugh v Peoples
Mirza v MacElligott

Retd.LoyolaCpt

RooksPawn wrote: »

Today's pairings FYI, re-ordered by scores rather than board numbers.

Sorry, I originally posted this by mistake in the Tipping thread. Mods, please feel free to delete from there or leave as you prefer.

I hope it will be possible to follow all the games today; sympathies to those who are struggling overtime to get it working.

It's good to have the all-Kanyamarala clash out of the way early.
The other pairs of siblings may have to meet later but it's less certain.

Trisha K v Tarun K
S. Melaugh v Fitzsimons
Byrne v O'Donnell
D. Moran v Daly
S. Collins v Wallace
T. O'Gorman v O'Connor
Murray (.5) v Casey (1), all-Gonzaga clash
O'Connell (.5) v Jackson (.5)
Adam Collins (.5) v Leon Putar (.5)
Delaney (0) v Lara Putar (.5)
Brady (0) v Cafolla (0)
Venkatesan v Flynn
McHugh v Lyons, all-Benildus clash
Alice O'Gorman v Carroll
G. Melaugh v Peoples
Mirza v MacElligott

One of the boards tricked us - has a fault where it goes down after 5 moves... not ideal when the morning tests are just a couple of moves per board. It’s swapped out and wires swapped out for boards 1-5 which only had intermittent power for whatever reason. Will keep the thread updated.

Joedryan

The game Eoghan Casey v Stephen was extremely impressive stuff, not sure where that went wrong but it was devastating and clinical.

RooksPawn

Rd 2. Trisha-Tarun, quick draw, not unexpected!
Fingers crossed all boards working today and will stay so.

Joedryan

RooksPawn wrote: »

Rd 2. Trisha-Tarun, quick draw, not unexpected!
Fingers crossed all boards working today and will stay so.

I hope you are not suggesting a pre-arranged draw

Retd.LoyolaCpt

RooksPawn wrote: »

Rd 2. Trisha-Tarun, quick draw, not unexpected!
Fingers crossed all boards working today and will stay so.

Problems with the O’Connell - Jackson board intermittently but otherwise I think it’s ok today.

zeitnot

Retd.LoyolaCpt wrote: »

Problems with the O’Connell - Jackson board intermittently but otherwise I think it’s ok today.

The full score of Daly - Venkatesan from round 1 (kindly supplied by Colm) is available--see the ICU archive (and IRLchess).

RooksPawn

Joedryan wrote: »

I hope you are not suggesting a pre-arranged draw

This is actually the first draw between them that I have seen; but in round 2 nothing else would make much sense.
A couple of years ago the British Championship arbiters (it is alleged, anyway) bent the rules to avoid a pairing N. Pert v R.Pert in an early round of the British Championship and instead it became a forced pairing in a critical round late in the event.

ADDED: G. Melaugh 1 Peoples 0, 15 moves, silly blunder losing a piece

Joedryan

RooksPawn wrote: »

This is actually the first draw between them that I have seen; but in round 2 nothing else would make much sense.
A couple of years ago the British Championship arbiters (it is alleged, anyway) bent the rules to avoid a pairing N. Pert v R.Pert in an early round of the British Championship and instead it became a forced pairing in a critical round late in the event.

ADDED: G. Melaugh 1 Peoples 0, 15 moves, silly blunder losing a piece

Pretty sure it was pre-arranged, or at least it seems so, not shouting them out, but in the old days siblings or not we always played to the death, think it would be better for them also. Saying that you are right, cant really blame them and rd 2 is a good time for it to happen.

RooksPawn

Here is the round 3 draw in order of cumulative scores. I will try to post this every evening.

O'Donnell (2) – Sam Collins (2)
Daly (2)–T.O'Gorman (2)
Tarun K (1.5) – S. Melaugh (2)
Jackson (1.5) –Trisha K (1.5)
Fitzsimons (1) –Murray (1.5)
Casey (1) –Delaney (1)
Wallace (1) –G. Melaugh (1)
Carroll (1) –Adam Collins (1)
MacElligott (1) –Moran (1)
O'Connor (1) –Byrne (1)
Leon Putar (1) –Brady (0.5)
Flynn (0.5) –McHugh (0.5)
Cafolla (0.5) –O'Connell (0.5)
Lara Putar (0.5) –Venkatesan (0.5)
Lyons (0.5) v Mirza (0)
Peoples (0) –A. O'Gorman (0)

cdeb

Any feedback from anyone playing on how the playing conditions are?

FutureCM

cdeb wrote: »

Any feedback from anyone playing on how the playing conditions are?

As good as possible given the circumstances

cdeb

Like, are the board setups awkward or do ye get used to them?

sodacat11

The room is extremely well ventilated with plenty of room between boards. During the game you forget about the dividing screen etc and the masks have been less uncomfortable than I'd imagined. Some of the players who wear glasses have been wearing visors instead of masks with no problems. All in all everything is very satisfactory.

anchor4208

In general, the playing conditions are great.

Distancing
They've done this really well, and in this regard, the conditions are way better than a normal tournament - loads of space.

Perspex barrier
These are great also, so unobtrusive that you forget they're there after a few minutes.

Face covering
By and large, this is fine too. Its not uncomfortable to wear the mask for the 4 hours, but you're always conscious of them. If one of the ideas behind the Irish this year is to trial safety ideas, probably the biggest conversation afterwards will be about these. The rules state that you have to wear a face covering (which is undefined) while your opponent is at the board, and its recommended, but not required when your opponent is away from the board. The first area of discussion is around that. Opponents sit 1.5 metres apart, but there's a big piece of perspex in between them. However, people at the another board are sitting 2 metres away from their neighbours, with nothing but space between them. At all times, your opponent is relatively protected and your neighbour isn't, so it doesn't make sense to allow a player to take their mask off at all while they're in the tournament hall.
In addition, while most players are wearing actual masks, some are wearing perspex visors. There's already a piece of perspex between the players, so its hard to imagine that an another piece of perspex offers additional protection.
And finally, the rules in this regard aren't being rigidly enforced. For example, a small number of players are occasionally but repeatedly lowering the mask so that it doesn't cover their nose (including one person who's doing this nearly all the time), and its not being addressed.
If there are to be lessons learned from this event, they should be that greater clarity is needed on the face covering rule, and then that new rule needs to be enforced.

cdeb

Out of interest as well, do people be leaving the board (looking at other games, for example) less often than normal?

anchor4208

cdeb wrote: »

Out of interest as well, do people be leaving the board (looking at other games, for example) less often than normal?

Hard to say if its less than normal, it still happens. What's definitely noticeable is that there's less casual conversations in the tournament hall, because there's none! There's a couple of nice outdoor spots including the analysis area where there's some chatting going on, and a bit also in the coffee dock, but it definitely isn't as sociable as other events.
The upside is that the playing conditions are amongst the quietest I've ever experienced.

sodacat11

anchor4208 wrote: »

For example, a small number of players are occasionally but repeatedly lowering the mask so that it doesn't cover their nose (including one person who's doing this nearly all the time), and its not being addressed.
If there are to be lessons learned from this event, they should be that greater clarity is needed on the face covering rule, and then that new rule needs to be enforced.

I did ask before the tournament what penalty would be in place for people breaching or ignoring the mask rules but as far as I know the penalty was never made clear. Anyone not wearing their mask properly or not wearing one at all is just showing a complete disregard for the safety of others and a lack of respect for fellow competitors and definitely the Controller should take action.

Eugene Donohoe

anchor4208 wrote: »

In general, the playing conditions are great.

Distancing
They've done this really well, and in this regard, the conditions are way better than a normal tournament - loads of space.

Perspex barrier
These are great also, so unobtrusive that you forget they're there after a few minutes.

Face covering
By and large, this is fine too. Its not uncomfortable to wear the mask for the 4 hours, but you're always conscious of them. If one of the ideas behind the Irish this year is to trial safety ideas, probably the biggest conversation afterwards will be about these. The rules state that you have to wear a face covering (which is undefined) while your opponent is at the board, and its recommended, but not required when your opponent is away from the board. The first area of discussion is around that. Opponents sit 1.5 metres apart, but there's a big piece of perspex in between them. However, people at the another board are sitting 2 metres away from their neighbours, with nothing but space between them. At all times, your opponent is relatively protected and your neighbour isn't, so it doesn't make sense to allow a player to take their mask off at all while they're in the tournament hall.
In addition, while most players are wearing actual masks, some are wearing perspex visors. There's already a piece of perspex between the players, so its hard to imagine that an another piece of perspex offers additional protection.
And finally, the rules in this regard aren't being rigidly enforced. For example, a small number of players are occasionally but repeatedly lowering the mask so that it doesn't cover their nose (including one person who's doing this nearly all the time), and its not being addressed.
If there are to be lessons learned from this event, they should be that greater clarity is needed on the face covering rule, and then that new rule needs to be enforced.

I think this is a very well balanced contribution and I've an interest in this as I hope to play in the Major. I was there on Saturday taking photos and totally agree with the above. One of the things I especially valued was the silence. People talking on the margins is often the bane of my tournament life. It felt totally safe and the space was magnificent. Really well organised.
I agree with the point of the masks. They need to be worn properly ie including the nose. I'm not sure if visors offer the same degree of protection for the wearer or the other person at the board? Certainly many public health experts think not
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/18/face-visors-may-protect-wearer-but-not-other-people-against-covid-19

RooksPawn

Huge time scramble in Conor O'Donnell v Sam Collins if the online clocks can be believed. Conor seems to have spoiled a slight edge he had but anything can happen.

Trisha seems to be weathering the storm against Carl's manic gambit.

Paul Wallace has won. Some other results are likely soon (writing just after 6pm).
The faster time limit compared with previous years is creating more early crises/

Leon Putar, after a wild opening, missed his chance at move 16 against Stephe Brady; Nh3 before Qxb4 would have chased the h1-N to an inferior square, I think.

zeitnot

RooksPawn wrote: »

The faster time limit compared with previous years is creating more early crises/

How is it faster than previous years? I thought the 30 minutes normally added in at move 40 was simply added in from the beginning, and the 30 second increment increased to 35?

Leon Putar, after a wild opening, missed his chance at move 16 against Stephe Brady; Nh3 before Qxb4 would have chased the h1-N to an inferior square, I think.

After a wild opening *that followed Casey - Brady from round 1*! it's strange, because White did seem noticeably better after move 15.

RooksPawn

All games ended now and Sam is in the sole lead but Tom O'Gorman, Colm Daly and the K-phenomena are breathing down his neck.
Expect a streak of wins from Conor to catch up by round 7 or 8 unless Sam can maintain the pace from 2014.

Impressive result by Sam, though: it's very hard to win with Black against a master in the Slav Exchange.