Galway Chess Congress 2021

Pete Morriss · 16-12-2020 8:51pm #1

The next Galway Chess Congress is scheduled for the weekend of 19th to 21st March 2021. It seems likely that, thanks to coronavirus, we will again be unable to hold it in our normal way in the Menlo Park Hotel. We really don’t want to lose the Congress for the second year in a row, and so we are intending to hold it online, which we hope will be better than nothing. Further information will be available early in 2021, but we are announcing it now so that you can put these dates in your diary.

Pete Morriss · 24-02-2021 11:53pm

We are now open for entries to the 2021 Galway Online Weekend Congress, which will be held from 19th to 21st March. You'll get seven rounds of games at nearer to a more normal time rate than you have probably played in the last year: 45 minutes plus 15 seconds increment. It costs only €10 to enter, and all surplus monies (after paying for trophies) will go to a deserving charity (Croí). To find out more, and to enter, go to our Congress webpage.

DmanDmythDledge · 26-02-2021 2:35pm

Sounds like a much better format than Bunratty

Pete Morriss · 09-03-2021 1:24am

DmanDmythDledge wrote: »

Sounds like a much better format than Bunratty

Thanks: we're looking forward to your entry! And for everybody else, please note that entries close on Thursday 18th at 6 p.m., as there is more liaising with players that needs to be done than for an OTB tournament. And if you can get your entry in sooner, we would appreciate it.

sodacat11 · 09-03-2021 11:55am

Pete Morriss wrote: »

Thanks: we're looking forward to your entry! And for everybody else, please note that entries close on Thursday 18th at 6 p.m., as there is more liaising with players that needs to be done than for an OTB tournament. And if you can get your entry in sooner, we would appreciate it.

I would have played as it sounds an excellent tournament but sadly there is a lot of televised sport on that weekend. The following weekend when there is no Premiership and only crappy international football to watch would have been better.

Pete Morriss · 09-03-2021 6:07pm

Well, every weekend will clash with something. As far as I can see, the only Premier League games that coincide this year are Fulham v Leeds and West Ham v Arsenal, and anybody who really wants to watch them can always take a bye in rounds 1 and/or 6. The last rounds on Saturday and Sunday have been timetabled to finish before the evening kick-offs, so you can still watch them after your games finish.

sodacat11 · 09-03-2021 6:30pm

Pete Morriss wrote: »

Well, every weekend will clash with something. As far as I can see, the only Premier League games that coincide this year are Fulham v Leeds and West Ham v Arsenal, and anybody who really wants to watch them can always take a bye in rounds 1 and/or 6. The last rounds on Saturday and Sunday have been timetabled to finish before the evening kick-offs, so you can still watch them after your games finish.

F.A Cup quarter finals are on too but yes every weekend will clash with something. I will check out the sports in more detail before making a final decision. I do like the idea of 45 minutes plus for each player for an online competition, I just hope that it never appears for OTB tournaments.

Pete Morriss · 20-03-2021 11:38am

The Galway Congress is now in full swing, with 88 players participating. If you want to follow it, here is a link to the pairings and results. Also, Blair Connell will be live-streaming his games (with a suitable delay built in), which is available here.

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup · 20-03-2021 6:03pm

i'm not playing but looks good, some good organising on the website. are you using the lichess API or manually getting results and putting into swissperfect?

Pete Morriss · 20-03-2021 6:22pm

Manually. Using accelerated pairing, which lichess doesn't support.

Inquitus · 20-03-2021 6:29pm

Pete Morriss wrote: »

The Galway Congress is now in full swing, with 88 players participating. If you want to follow it, here is a link to the pairings and results. Also, Blair Connell will be live-streaming his games (with a suitable delay built in), which is available here.

Blair's delayed stream is quite good.

Pete Morriss · 21-03-2021 3:15pm

The crunch game between the top two seeds takes place in the next round (the penultimate) starting at 2.30. Once the game starts you can follow it here. If you wish to follow anyone else's game, go to our pairings page, click on the player you wish to watch, and then on the little TV icon. There is a list on the RHS matching players' usernames with their real names.

Pete Morriss · 21-03-2021 9:45pm

The 2021 Online Galway Congress was won convincingly by FM Robin Moss with 6½ points. Second equal, on 5½ points, were Jason Liu, Adam McCoy and Atharva Paibir. Atharva would also have been eligible for a rating prize, but under the ‘one prize’ rule he has to be satisfied with a very deserved second place. Rating prizes went to Alex Wall (Band A) on 5 points; Kyle Milligan and Killian Gavin (Band

, 4½; and Conor Gunn, Markus Senzel, Pete Donlon and Marek Fijalkowski (Band C), all on 3 points.

A list of the full standings can be found here. We intend to tidy this page up over the next day or two and include links to the games.

Pete Morriss · 23-03-2021 12:49pm

Blair Connell will be doing a round-up broadcast about the Congress on his Twitch channel at 2 p.m. today (Tuesday 23rd March): link here. He played in it as Ushkothebear. (Apologies for the short notice, but I've only just heard about this.)

Pete Morriss · 27-03-2021 5:14pm

Pete Morriss wrote: »

The 2021 Online Galway Congress was won convincingly by FM Robin Moss with 6½ points. Second equal, on 5½ points, were Jason Liu, Adam McCoy and Atharva Paibir. Atharva would also have been eligible for a rating prize, but under the ‘one prize’ rule he has to be satisfied with a very deserved second place. Rating prizes went to Alex Wall (Band A) on 5 points; Kyle Milligan and Killian Gavin (Band , 4½; and Conor Gunn, Markus Senzel, Pete Donlon and Marek Fijalkowski (Band C), all on 3 points.

The final standings and crosstable are now available on a new page here. That page also contains links to all the games.

Ficheall · 02-04-2021 12:22pm

Blair's streams are only hosted for two weeks, so if anyone wants to catch those, this weekend is the last chance. They're a good watch.

Pete Morriss · 01-06-2021 12:28am

A final update. €664 was donated to Croí (the West of Ireland Cardiac and Stroke Foundation) from the entry fees, and a donation also made to lichess for the use of their server. Croí has asked us to thank all who contributed; so thanks to all who entered.

Galway Chess Congress 2021

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