Five of Elm Mount’s players competed in this year’s Irish Junior Championships which were held in Blanchardstown recently. Philip Grehan and Gavin Melaugh played in the under 12s event, while Shane Melaugh, Luke Keenan and Alex Goss played in the under 14 section.

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:-

There was a good turnout from Elm Mount amoung the 160+ players at the City of Dublin tournament. There were four prizewinners who were presented with their prizes by Maureen O’Sullivan TD.

Karol Marzec came 1st with 5.5/6 in the Major:-

Eugene McMorrow and William Ffrench came equal first in the Challengers tournament with 5/6. Eugene finished 2nd and William 3rd on tiebreak (from Jacob Miller).
 

Alex Goss won a grading prize in the Junior tournament with 4/6:-

Three Elm Mount players played in the Irish Championships in Limerick between 6th and 14th July. David Fitzsimons scored 5.5/9 and Ciaran Quinn and Gerard MacElligott both scored 3/9.

Pat Fitzsimons came second in the Irish Championship Weekend Intermediate tournament with an unbeaten 3.5/5.

Alex Goss

Pictured above is one of the club’s younger members Alex Goss who recently competed for his school team in a tournament run by GM Alexander Baburin. Alex’s team finished as runners up and Alex was the highest scoring player in the event

John Loughran won a grading prize in Kilkenny with a score of 4/6 in the Major.

Oliver Dunne has submitted a new “Chess Piece” about George Orwell and Chess.

The current status of Elm Mount’s teams in the Leinster Leagues is:-
Armstrong Cup: 2nd
Heidenfeld Trophy: 5th
Ennis Shield: 8th (although having played less games than the other teams)
O’Hanlon Cup: 6th
Bodley Cup (Group B): 2nd
The latest league tables can be seen here.

Ciaran Quinn (right) receives his prize for finishing runner up in the Masters Section of the City of Dublin Chess Championships 2012 from Leinster Chess Union President, Charlie Talbot. Ciaran achieved a very creditable score of 3.5/5 in a very competitive event.