Irish Tournament Round-Up

Irish Tournament Round-Up

Irish Open/Leinster Championships Dublin 14-16 April 2001

The Easter holiday weekend saw the revival of the Irish Open. The event was jointly organised by the Irish Chess Union and the Leinster Chess Union and incorporated the Leinster Championships. Five Ulster players made the trip to Dublin and three of them, most notably Desmond Moreland equal first in the Intermediate, featured among the prizewinners.

Leading final standings (all events 6 Round Swisses): Ulster players in bold:

Senior (14 competitors):
1=2. Daire McMahon, Colm Daly 4.5
3=4. Joe Ryan, Mark Quinn 4.0

Intermediate (28 competitors):
1=5. Alan McDonagh, Fernando Alvarez, Pat Twomey, 
Desmond Moreland, Roland McDermott 4.5
6=7. Peter Hayes, Danny Mallaghan (Grading prize) 4.0
8=11. James Buchanan, Fred MacDonald, Bernard Boyle, Nicholas Pilkiewicz 3.5
Grading prize: Karl McPhillips

Junior (31 competitors):
1=2. Daniel Lynch, Luigi di Maggio 5.0
3=5. Paul McLoughlin, Eoin McNena, Niki Mullins 4.5
Grading prizes. Eamon Pitts, Damien McCabe, Shane Hall

Ladies prize: Michelle Cowley:
Under 18 grading prize: Peter Hayes

MALAHIDE MILLENNIUM TOURNAMENT 5-7 MAY 2001

A small contingent of Ulster players journeyed south for the richly endowed Malahide tournament. In the Open Danny Mallaghan and Nicholas Pilkiewicz both finished on 3.5 and won grading prizes, but Desmond Moreland, after his first place in the Irish Open Intermediate, found it tougher going in the top section here and only scored 1.0. In the Major Paul McLoughlin finished equal second.

Open (34 player 6-Round Swiss)
1-3 Jorg Weidemann, Stephen Brady, Joe Ryan 5.0; 
4-5 Colm Daly, Pablo Garcia 4.5; 
6-7 John Joyce, Daire McMahon 4.0

Major (34 player 6-Round Swiss)
1 Joseph Reid; 5.5; 
2-3 Paul McLoughlin, Shannon Clements 5.0; 
4 Roderick O'Mahoney 4.5

PHIBSBORO TOURNAMENT 18-20 MAY 2001

The fifth major tournament to be held in Ireland in the last two months saw two Ulster competitors travelling south. Both Danny Mallaghan in the Open and Desmond Moreland in the Intermediate turned in excellent performances.

Open (20 player 6 Round Swiss)
1. Colm Daly 5.5; 
2. Stephen Brady 4.5; 
3=6. Daire McMahon, Mel O'Cinneide, Jorg Weidemann, Gordon Freeman 4.0; 
7=8. Danny Mallaghan, Michael Dooley 3.5.

Intermediate (25 player 6 Round Swiss)
1. Dean O'Neill 5.5; 
2. Desmond Moreland 5.0; 
3=5. Roland McDermott, Sean Loftus, Mark McGovern 4.5.

Junior (26 player 6 Round Swiss)
1. David Chin-Shong 5.5: 2. Jack McCann 5.0; 3. Gerard Healy 4.5.