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David Fitzsimons wins Prague Open

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Elm Mount’s FIDE Master David Fitzsimons (pictured with the winning trophy) made Irish Chess history on 16th August 2014 by winning the Inaugural Prague Open Chess Tournament with an unbeaten score of 7.5/9. The event had almost 200 competitors including 11 International Masters and 10 FIDE masters. This is the first time an Irish player has ever won a major European International Open Chess event. Congratulations to David on his ground-breaking achievement.

Below is the final cross-table:-

Elm Mount win the Branagan Cup!

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Elm Mount have won the Branagan Cup for the 4th year in a row after a 3.5-2.5 victory over a strong Gonzaga team in the Ierne club last night. The match went down to the last couple of minutes of the 4 hours with Oliver Dunne’s win over John McMorrow clinching a narrow victory for Elm Mount. Below is a picture of the winning team:-  

Not pictured: Bernard Boyle, Adam Spirek

Killane Shield runners-up

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The final of the Killane Shield was played on 16th July between Elm Mount and Blanchardstown. Elm Mount lost narrowly (2.5 – 3.5) against a strong Blanchardstown team featuring a 2200 player on board 1.

The Branagan Cup final will take place between Elm Mount and Gonzaga next monday (21st July) in Elm Mount.

2013-14 Leinster League board prizes

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Board prizes for the 2013-14 Leinster league campaign were awarded at the AGM on Monday, 19th May to the highest scoring players on each team.

In the Armstrong Cup (division 1) Zygis Jakubauskas and Liam Porter each scored 8/11. They are pictured below being presented with their trophies by club treasurer, Gerry Barry.

Stephen Kelly won the board prize for the Heidenfeld Trophy (div 2) with a score of 8/11. He is pictured below with club president, Victor Murray.

In the Ennis Shield (div 3) Eugene McMorrow and Andrew Peters were joint top scorers with 6/11.

The top scorer in the O’Hanlon Cup (div 4) was club president, Victor Murray, who scored 7½/11. He is shown below receiving his prize from club treasurer, Gerry Barry.

In the Bodley Cup (div 6), the top scorer was Alex Goss who scored an unbeaten 6/8

O’Connell Cup news

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The Elm Mount Knights team finished runners up in the “rising stars” section of the O’Connell Cup competition held in ALSAA recently.

From left to right, the Elm Mount players are Cathal Hogarty (in green), James Jacobs, Philip Grehan and Martin Jacobs. Philip and James also got board prizes as they finished on scores of 6/7. There were 8 teams in all in the Rising Stars event in an all play all format.

12 of our juniors in total played in the event with no less than 9 of them making their competitive debuts for the club. The players who rotated through the Elm Mount Kings team during the event were Charlie and Josh Mahon, Andrew and Adrian John, Conor O’ Shea, Neville and Noble George and Conal Kirwan.

Some more photos below, including Charlie Mahon relaxing at lunchtime by playing soccer with some of the other competitors

Elm Mount prize-winners at Malahide

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The Elm Mount prize winners at the Malahide Millenium / Leinster Championships tournament are pictured below. A large number of Elm Mount players participated.

David Fitzsimons finished =2nd in  the Senior section.
Stephen Kelly finished 2nd in the Intermediate section.
Shane Melaugh and Gavin Melaugh won grading prizes in the Junior section.

. David Fitzsimons receiving his prize from Peter ScottStephen Kelly

Shane Melaugh

Gavin Melaugh

Chess Pieces

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Two new items have been added to Chess Pieces:-

  • a collage “Lenin Plays Chess” by Oliver Dunne & Siobhán McCooey which was published in a German chess magazine, KARL:Das Kulturelle Schachmagazin,  last year
  • a poem Deep Chess by Lawrence Ferlinghetti – sent in by Oliver Dunne

All suggestions welcome!