New Irish over 50's Champion

Having just turned 50 this year Gareth ventured down to Dublin to participate in the Irish over 50's Chess Championship which was held in the Talbot Hotel from 14th - 18th April. He played 7 rounds in 5 days and at the end of round 6 he was sitting in second place with a score of 4.5, just behind tournament favourite Colm Daly who was on 5. The scintillating final round game paired Gareth against Colm in a 76 move battle that resembled a heavyweight boxing match at Madison Square Gardens. The game swung one way and then the other, both players missing chances to win as their time ticked away, however Gareth held his nerve to win the match and the title!

Gareth has kindly added some notes to key positions from his final game against Colm.

A critical moment in the game. I thought about playing Be3 but didn't play it.

I played Bxf2 which let him off the hook a bit. After ....Be3, Qd1 Qc5 he is losing as taking on e3 loses a full rook. After ...Be3, Qc2 Qc5 its a similar problem. He can't take on e3 or c5.

I let him off the hook again by playing Qc2. There was mutual time pressure at this stage. He got on top from here until we got to about move 70.

Got to this stage were he had missed a forced mate earlier in the sequence and then he was losing.

He had played g4 to get to this position and it was over in a few moves.