Congratulations to Elm Mount’s Thomas Syms who has been selected to represent Ireland in the under 10 section of the European Youth Chess Championships being held in Romania.
Best of luck to the Irish team pictured below (Thomas is first left on the front)
Elm Mount have won the 2023 Branagan Cup, beating Gonzaga A 4½-1½ in the final, which was played on Monday 31st July in the Artane-Beaumont Family Recreation Centre.
The winning team (from left) Shane Melaugh, Alice O’Gorman, Zygis Jakubauskas, Ciaran Quinn, Alvaro Bayo and Gerard MacElligott is pictured below with the trophy:-
Bernard Boyle, David Fitzsimons, Gavin Melaugh, Paul O’Neill, Florian Popist and Matthias Rahneberg also played in earlier rounds.
Elm Mount held a 5-minute blitz tournament on Monday 15th May. 28 players took part, divided into 4 all-play-all sections of 7 players.
Congratulations to Shane (section A winner), Luke (section B winner) , Eugene and Peter (section C joint winners), and Daniel and Vincent (section D joint winners). They are pictured below receiving their prizes from club secretary, Pat Fitzsimons.
Shane Melaugh – winner section A
Luke Keenan, winner section B
Eugene McMorrow and Peter Scott, section C winners
Daniel and Vincent (section D winners)
The remaining prizewinners are pictured below. Well done to all!
The 2022-23 Leinster league season finished on Sunday 7th May when all the last-round matches were played in Coláiste Éanna in Rathfarnham.
Elm Mount’s Armstrong Cup (division 1) team were in 2nd place going into the last round where they played leaders Gonzaga A who were 2½ points ahead. Unfortunately, the team lost 6-2 but still finished as runners-up. The top scorers on the team over the season were David Fitzsimons, Shane Melaugh and Zygis Jakubauskas who all scored 7 points.
In the Heidenfeld Trophy (division 2), Elm Mount drew their last match 4-4 and finished comfortably in in 6th place with 39½/80 points. The top scorer on the team was Oliver Dunne who scored 6½ points.
Elm Mount’s O’Hanlon Cup (division 4) team had a tough last match against Inchicore who were competing for promotion. In the end, the team finished 8th of the 12 teams. The top scorers on the team were Greg Coyle and Eavan Gleeson who both scored 4½ points.
Elm Mount had 2 teams in the BEA Cup (division 5) North section. The A team finished 6th place out of 12 teams with 25 points out of a possible 55. The top scorer on the team was Terry O’Connor who scored 5 points. The B team had a tough season, finishing among the relegation places in 11th place with 17 points. The top scorer on the team was Jack Herring who scored 8 points.
Elm Mount’s team in the Bodley Cup (division 6) North section secured promotion by finishing in 2nd place with 28 points out of a possible 40. The top scorers on the team were Yuhao Chan and Thomas Syms, who both scored 6 points.
The full league tables for all divisions can be found here.
It has been an interesting post-covid season with many new players and with a change of club venue in mid-season – roll on 2023/24!
Below is a picture of Harry Braine with his medal:-
Well done to all!
Elm Mount have moved to the Artane Beaumont Family Recreation Centre in Artane/Beaumont starting from Monday 6th March.
The new venue is very close to the Artaine Castle shopping centre.
The Leinster Chess Union blitz took place in the Ierne Club in Drumcondra on Wednesday 21st December. There were well over 50 participants and the event was organized as a number of all-play-all tournaments of up to 10 participants. Three Elm Mount players, Nicu Boldijar, Harry Braine and Thomas Syms won their sections and Gavin Melaugh took 3rd place in the top section. Below are photos of the Elm Mount prize winners:-
The Elm Mount Christmas Blitz was held on Monday 19th December. 21 players took part in 3 all-play-all sections of 7. The traditional time handicap system was used based on the rating difference between the players.
Elm Mount Christmas Blitz 2022 in progress
There were 3 clear first place finishers. Zygis Jakubauskas won Section A with 6/6, Nicu Boldijar won Section B with 5.5/6 and Thomas Syms won Section C with 6/6, giving them first pick of the prizes on offer. They are see below receiving their prizes:-
Zygis Jakubauskas 1st Section A
Nicu Boldijar, 1st Section B
Thomas Syms, 1st Section C
Paul O’Neill finished second in Section A , Jack Herring finished 2nd in Section B and Philip Fitzsimmons finished 2nd in Section C.
Donal O Danachair finished 3rd in Section A, Wayne Crowley finished 3rd in Section B and Rory Power-Breen finished 3rd in Section C. Jeroen O’Flaherty finished joint 3rd in Section B but took 4th place on tie-break.
They are pictured below receiving their prizes:-
Happy Christmas to all!
The Club Championships are in full swing with a good proportion of games completed in each of the 3 sections. The cross-tables have been updated – let me know if there are any results missing, or update the cross-table in the club.
Update 27 September:-
Shane Melaugh is the winner of Section A with a 100% score.
Kevin Summons-Walsh is the winner of Section B with 5½/7 just half a point ahead of Donal Ó Danachair.
There is a 4-way tie in Section C between Wayne Crawley, Jack Herring, Harry Braine and Dylan Jordan, all with 4½ points.