The 2018 Elm Mount Christmas Blitz took place on Monday 17th December. There were 30 participants in 3 all-play-all groups of 11, 9 and 10 players. Games were played using the usual time-handicap system with game times varying from 5 minutes each to 2 minutes against 8 minutes depending on the rating difference between the players.

Food was provided before the final couple of rounds. After all the games were ompleted, the prizes were presented by the club secretary, Pat FItzsimons. The top 3 in each section received prizes. The cross-tables from the 3 sections can be seen at the bottom of this page. The winners of the 3 sections are shown receiving their prizes below. Gavin Melaugh won section A, Eugene McMorrow won section B and Bren Ó Móráin won section C.

The runners up in the 3 sections were Shane Melaugh in section A, John Dooley in section B and Nicu Boldjar in section C.

Zygis Jakubauskas took 3rd place in section A, Luke Keenan  was 3rd in section B and Atharva Rajeshkumar took 3rd place in section C.

The cross-tables are of the 3 sections are pictured below.

Final Ranking Crosstable Section A

Final Ranking Crosstable Section B

Final Ranking Crosstable Section C

Happy Christmas to all!

Mick Germaine Cup 2018

 This year’s Mick Germaine Cup competition for teams of four juniors from schools or clubs took place recently in the club’s premises.

 22 teams took part in the event, including two from the club. The Cup was won for the second year in a row by the Rathmines Kings who won all 6 of their matches. The Elm Mount kings finished second while the Elm Mount Knights team, comprised of players making their competitive debuts in the event, also performed well.

 The final standings are set out below and full details of each round can be viewed on www.chessresults.com.  The two Elm Mount teams are also pictured below with Mick Germaine who presented the prizes at the event.

Pictured below are the Elm Mount Knights from left: Arjun Rajeshkumar, Atharva Rajeshkumar, John Connolly, Joseph Connolly.

Pictured below are the Elm Mount Kings. Back row from left to right are Rory Power Breen, Cillian Doherty, Raphy Isnard, Mick Germaine and front row left is Cathal Hogarty.

Congratulations to David Fitzsimons, joint winner of this year’s Kilkenny Open with 3 grandmasters. Gerard MacElligott finished joint 2nd in the Major section also. There is a report on the tournament here.

The Elm Mount Christmas blitz for club members will take place next Monday, 17th December.

The Leinster Chess Union Christmas Blitz will take place in the Ierne club on Wednesday 19th December.

The club championships are coming to a conclusion:-

• Section A and the title of club champion was shared by Gavin Melaugh and Paul O’Neill who both scored 8.5/10. Bernard Boyle and Zygis Jakubauskas finished joint 3rd on 5.5/10.
  
• Andrew Peters won Section B with 7.5/9 with Adam Murphy and Peter Scott joint 2nd on 6/9.

David Fitzsimons won the Bray Rapid tournament and is representing Ireland at the Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia from 24th September to 5th October.

There were good results for Elm Mount players in the City of Dublin tournament held from 14th to 16th September. Alvaro Valdes Escobar finished 2nd in the Masters section with Shane Melaugh in 3rd place. Gavin Melaugh won the Championship section with Ray O’Rourke in joint 2nd place. Alex Goss was joint winner of the Major section with two others.

The Leinster League season is about to start with the first match taking place on Monday 24th September when Elm Mount’s Armstrong team are at home to Dublin.

Alvaro Valdes Escobar and Ciaran Quinn finished joint 1st at the Irish Open Weekender which took place in Stillorgan on 10th-12th August alongside the Irish Championships. Both scored 4½ / 5 and shared first place with two others in the 64-player field..

Shane Melaugh finished joint 5th in the main event, the 9-day Irish Championship and also won a grading prize. Shane finished with a score of 5½ / 9. Paul O’Neill and Gavin Melaugh also took part in the tournament, scoring 4 / 9 and 3½ / 9 respectively in one of the strongest ever Irish Championships.

Update: Gavin Melaugh finished joint 2nd with 4/5 in the Weekday Open which was played in the mornings of Monday 6th through Friday 10th August.

Pictures below of Alvaro, Ciaran and Shane receiving their prizes from Ossian Smyth, the Mayor of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.

The 2018 Club Championships are well underway in 4 all-play-all sections. There is a link to the cross-tables here. The cross tables will be updated as the tournaments progress.

Gerard MacElligott represented Ireland in the World Senior team championships in Dresden, Germany, scoring 2.5/8 on board 2 in the tournament which ran from 7th to 15th July. There is a team photo here.

A number of Elm Mount players made their way to Bray on Sunday 24th June for the annual Bray Rapid tournament. David Fitzsimons won the tournament outright with a score of 6½/7. Alvaro Valdes Escobar finished in 3rd place with a score of 5½/7 while Alex Goss won a grading prize.

Below are photos of David, Alvaro and Alex receiving their prizes:-

Congratulations to David Fitzsimons who has clinched the International Master title by winning his round 9 game in the four Nations Chess League in the UK on Saturday 5th May. David is the first “home grown” member of Elm Mount Chess club to achieve this distinction and only the eighth Irish Chess Player to become an International Master

The 2017-18 League season has now ended. The last rounds were played in ALSAA on Sunday 29th April. No trophies were won and no teams were promoted but the Armstrong team finished as runners-up and  three board prizes were won

Armstrong Cup – Division 1
The Armstrong Cup team finished in 2nd place, 2 points behind Gonzaga. The team was leading going into the last round but were overtaken by Gonzaga who won 7-1 against Balbriggan while Elm Mount fell to a 3½-4½ defeat to Bray. Below is a picture of the team receiving their runners-up trophies.

The top scorer was Alvaro Valdes Escobar who scored 9½ points and won a board prize. Ciaran Quinn (8½) also won a board prize.

Heidenfeld Trophy – Division 2
Elm Mount’s Heidenfeld team finished in 3rd place, missing out on promotion by 1½ points. The team were in 3rd place going into the last round but the teams in first and second place drew against each other and Elm Mount’s 5-3 in against Bray was not enough to overtake them. The top scorer was Sean Murphy who scored 8 points.

O’Hanlon Cup – Division 4
The O’Hanlon Cup team also finished in 3rd place. A 3-3 draw with Gorey in the last round left the team 2 points behind Trinity College, who won 4-2 in the last round. Andrew Peters was the top scorer with 9/11 points, winning a board prize. The team went through the entire season without needing a single substitute.

British Airways Cup – Division 5
Elm Mount had 2 teams in the North Section of the British Airways Cup. The A team finished 4th with 28 points, 3 points ahead of the B team in 8th place. The A team finished just half a point behind 2nd placed Malahide. The top scorer on the A team was Eugene McMorrow with 7 points. Ronan Murphy and Terry O’Connor were joint top scorers on the B team with both scoring 6 points out of 10.

Bodley Cup – Division 6
Elm Mount’s team finished in 4th place in the North Section of the Bodley Cup, behind Malahide A, Skerries and Malahide B. The top scorer on the team was Nicu Boldijar who scored 6½ out of 9 in the 10-team league.