The first Leinster Champion of 2015, is Cillian Scallan, winner of the u10 Leinster Junior Chess Championships
Cillian, who, along with his title of Leinster u10 Champion 2014, also won the top prize money and a bonus of 70 euro for achieving a clean sweep of 7 wins from 7 games.
It was a great day for Rathmines Junior Chess Club , with the top 4 places awarded to Rathmines Juniors.
Cillian Scallan 1st, James Prenderville 2nd, Felix Jordan 3rd, Sanjay Menon 4th.
Pictured with Stephen Stokes, Left to Right are
James, Valera Zaharovs, top scoring girl, Sanjay, Felix and Cillian.
Day 2. The u12’s and u16’s took place over the 2nd and 3rd of Jan.
Another good day for Rathmines Club with joint winners in the u12’s Dayna and Sean and Henry Li placed 3rd u16.
Joint u12 Leinster Champions for 2014 are Dayna Ferguson and Sean Hunter. Dayna is the first girl to win a Leinster title since 1996.
U16 Leinster Champion Conor O’Donnell
Congratulations to Denis Ruchko (Galway) who won the tournament and to Johan Thomas won came 4th in the u12.s.
Congratulations to Mihalo Manojlovic 2nd u16 and Henry Li 3rd u16.
The club has a brilliant day at the Mick Germaine Cup. Three teams were entered from Rathmines Junior Club and competed against a very strong representation of clubs from throughout Leinster. 20 teams took part in all.
Ciara Scallan captained the Kings , Sean Hunter, Cillian Scallan, Alex Mulligan and Daniel Bibou, to an impressive 2nd place. The were pipped by Enniscorthy, who they drew with in round 4. Top scorer, Cillian Scallan scored 6 out of 6 .
The Rathmines Bishops and Rathmines Knights also performed very well, top scorer prizes were awarded to Felix and Sanjay. Almost 20 players from Rathmines took part on the three teams, some as subs. Congratulations to you all, every player put their all into their games and there was some very impressive matches played throughout the day.
Report by Pat Fitzsimons from the ICU website
This year’s Mick Germaine Cup competition took place on Saturday 11th October in the Ierne Sports and Social club, home of the Elm Mount Chess club. The competition is for teams of junior players rated under 900 or unrated and is open to both club and school teams.
This year’s event had a record entry of 20 teams involving 95 players some of whom were as young as five or 6 years old and were making their debuts in a competitive tournament.
The cup was won by the Enniscorthy Kings on an unbeaten score of 19/24 points over 6 rounds of matches from Rathmines Kings in the runners up spot on 16.5 points. 4 teams finished on 14 points with Blanchardstown finishing third and the Enniscorthy Knights securing 4th place on tie break from Shankill and St Catherines National School. The final standings are set out below. A number of school based teams competed for the first time in the event (Belgrove Boys, the North Dublin National School Project, and Our Ladies College, Greenhills). Another notable feature of this year’s competition was a welcome increase in the numbers of girls playing in the event.
Four players achieved a perfect score of 6/6 for their teams Mercedes Plaza Reino (Enniscorthy Kings), Cillian Scallan (Rathmines Kings), Vinajak Unitham (Rathoath), and Andrew Whyte (St Catherines National School).
Maura and James will be in the Ierne Sports club tomorrow morning at 10.30. We will make up the teams as you arrive and register teams before 11am. For those who cannot make it in the morning or those who have to leave early, we will arrange to swap players throughout the day, no need to ring. Bring 5 euro entry fee and some lunch.
Any queries email mauraosborne@eircom.net I am not contactable be phone this weekend.
The Mick Germaine Cup takes place this Saturday. We are going to enter 4 teams this year.
Meet up in Ierne Sports and Social Club, map below, at 10.30 for registration. Some players who are unable to play in the morning can make arrangements to sub on teams in the afternoon. Cost 5 euro per player.
Teams of 4 players play 6 rounds over one day.
Each team will need one guardian/parent to captain the team on the day.
5 Euro per person (20 per team) payable at registration on the day.
Saturday 11th of October 2014
In the Ierne Sports and Social Club
Gracepark Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9
Registration and Playing Timetable.
Registration 10.30am to 11am.
Round 1 11am.
Round 2 11.45am
Round 3 12.30pm
Break 1.15pm–2.15pm
Round 4 2.15pm
Round 5 3.00 pm
Round 6 3.45 pm
Prize-giving 4.30pm.
Eligibility Requirements.
Teams should be comprised of 4 players who are under 16 years of age on 1st September 2014.
Players with an ICU rating of 900 or less or who are unrated are eligible to compete
In the tournament.
(ICU May 2014 rating list applies).
There will be 3 /4 teams from Rathmines
Meet up in the Main Hall Ierne Sports Club at 10.20 to form teams and register.
There may be more that 4 players per team in which case we will have subs and alternate players each round.
Congratulations to the 6 members of Rathmines Junior Chess Club who have been selected to represent Ireland at the upcoming Glorney and Gilbert International in Sterling, Scotland in August. On the u18 Glorney team, Scott Mulligan, age 14, has been selected to make his first apperance on the Glorney team at this prestigeous team event.Scott represented Ireland on the u14 team last year. Michael Higgins and Fiachra Scasllan, who last year won the u12 section for Ireland are now on the u14 team for this years challenge. Henry Li, Matthew Gallagher and Mustakeim-Ul Hague make their debut on the u12 team. Liam Coman is on the reserves for the u14, only missing out on selection by 3 points and Muhtarim is on the reserves for the u12’s.Congratulations also to all the players selected for this great event and we look forward to bringing you all the details from Sterling in August for full details see http://www.icu.ie/misc/bulletins/JSC_2014_05.pdf
Congratulations to the Rathmines Junior Team who won the Philip Hogarty Rising Stars Tournament today in ALSAA
The team, Illona,Nedas, Melina, Gerry and Cathal, played for Rathmines against seven teams from Leinster, including , Blanchardstown, Skerries, Malahide and Elm Mount and were placed first.The B team, Sanjay, James, Eoin and Ethan had a great tournament with James Prenderville being one of the top scorers in the event and winning a board prize. Elm Mount came second and Skerries third.Rathmines O’Connell Cup Team, Ciara Scallan, Eoin Hunter, Alex Mulligan and Cillian Scallan, Captain Stephen Higgins , who won his first 3 games had to leave leave for an important Tennis Match and Ciara Scallan stepped in to win on board one in the final match.
James receives his board prize for scoring 6 out of 7
St.Benildus came first in the O’Connell Cup and were presented the perpetual trophy by their club president Gerry O’Connell. Many thanks to Gerry for joining us in ALSAA to present all the awards to the 80 junior chess players who took part. Rathmines came a very close second , Stephen, Alex, Cillian, Eoin and Ciara, played some really great games and finished one point behind the winners. St. Benildus were short one player and Daniel generously opted to play for the St.Benildus team, in particular winning a crucial last round game to help the team to victory and was rewarded for his sportsmanship with a first place O’Connell Cup trophy. Third place was won by Skerries.
The winning St. Benildus Team, including two board prize winners, pictured with Daniel being presented with the O’Connell Cup.
Thanks to all the parents and captains who looked after the teams today and made many trips back and forth across the M50 . Special thanks to Peter Scott who compiled all our results and to Gerry O’Connell for joining us for the presentation.
The May rating list has just been published and it is great to see the names of so many Rathmines players on the top juniors list. Congratulations to Scott Mulligan on making it to the top 5 on the u18 list, also to Michael Higgins and Fiachra Scallan in the top spots on the u14. In the u12’s , Henry Li, Matthew Gallagher and Mustakim-Ul Hague are on the team. All are due to travel to Scotland this summer to represent Ireland in the Glorney and Faber Cups.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qHa4PWPHP0&w=560&h=315]
On his recent visit to Ireland Garry Kasparov met with many of Ireland’s Chess enthusiasts and he was particularly keen to meet our young chess players. In the report it is lovely to see so many of our club members and their friends enjoying the occasion. Watch out for club members form Rathmines, St. Benildus, Shankhill, Blanchardstown, DunLaoighre,Enniscorthy and many more.
Chess Club is back this week after the Easter holidays. New club night on Tuesday nights from 7pm to 8.30pm, Wednesday club night continues as normal. For details, or to join, contact mauraosborne@eircom.net or 0858452008.
On April 14th, 8 teams met at ALSSA to take part in a team challenge between Manchester, Ulster and Leinster.
Leinster were represented by five teams of u14 players selected for their excellent performances in the Leinster Leagues from a wide range of clubs, Blanchardstown, Drogheda, St. Benildus, Gonzage, Rathmines, Elm Mount, Shankhill, Dun Laoighre, Enniscorthy.
Players who won the Stokes Cup in 2013 made up one team ,
Ross Beatty, Michael Higgins, Fiachra Scallan, David Halpenny, Tom O’Gorman, unfortunately Padraig Hughes was unable to make it on the day
.
The strength of the girls junior chess across Leinster made it possible to form a team of Leinster Ladies: Ciara Scallan, Eibhia Ni Muireagain, Alice O’Gorman, Dayna Ferguson and Dierdre Turner were joined by 8year old Admira Keschmeti from Belfast.
Ross Beatty takes on Alex Goss while Michael Higgins takes on Piotr BaczkowskiMihailo on bd 1 and Padraig on bd 3 v Manchester
North Dublin was represented by Danny Dwyer, Luke Scott, Alex Goss, Luke Keenan, Piotr Baczkowski and Jonathon Tsang
South Dublin by Alex Byrne, Padraig Sheehy, Tom Grennell, Mihailo Manojlovic, Joshua Redmond, Robbie Kildea.
There were a large number of Rathmines Juniors in the Leagues this year and they formed the Rathmines team : Liam Coman, Matthew Gallagher, Henry Li, Stephen Higgins, Sean Hunter and Eoghan Turner.
We were delighted to be joined by a team from Manchester led by Jullian Clissold. Kevin Ye, Jonny Shine,George Harman, Tom Green and Matthew Cavaliere travelled to the Irish Junior Championships the previous weekend and joined us on Monday in ALSAA.
Mark Newman brought two teams from Ulster, Team 1 ,Eoin McCorkindale , Andrew Todd, John Dawson , Jake Patterson, and Joel Dawson
Team 2,Hannah Patterson, Samuel Todd, Pete Todd, Phoebe Patterson and Calvin Patterson
Mark set all the teams a challenging puzzle test and certificates were awarded to top scorers.
Luke Keenan and Alex Byrne , left, and Daniel, right, excel at the challenge.
Rounds were scored as 1pt for a match win and .5 for a match draw, which made for a very tight scoreboard, with the Stokes Cup Team claiming top position. In 2nd place were South Dublin followed closely by North Dublin.
Board prizes were awarded to top scorers, Joshua Redmond scored 5 out of 5 for Leinster ,Kevin Ye was the top scorer for Manchester, Alice O’Gorman top scorer for the Ladies team, and John Dawson for Ulster.
We were joined by Leinster Chess Union President , Charlie Talbot , who presented all players with their awards.
Leinster Chess Union President, Charlie Talbot, presents the Leinster Ladies with their certificates
The Manchester team presented Leinster and Ulster with trophies especially designed for the occasion, Michael Higgins, Alex Goss and Luke Keenan accepted these on behalf of their teams.
Thanks to everyone who took part in making it a wonderful occasion. Thanks to Balazs Kecskemeti for the photographs, check out his web site for more photos of the day and other junior chess news http://www.logicni.com/news.html
