The 2004 Glorney and Faber Cup competitions were held in Scotland in the University of Aberdeen between 25th and 29th July. Competitors from six nations took part, Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, Belgium and the Czech Republic. The competition is open to players who were under 18 years of age on 1st January 2004. Ireland's Glorney team comprised of five debutants, Dublin's John McMorrow, David Fitzsimons and Graham Neary and Belfast's Eamonn Walls and David Grzymek. The Faber team was made up of players exclusively from Munster, Catherine Danaher, Emily Alfred and Deirdre Gleeson.
The draw for the competition was made on the morning of Monday 26th July and paired both Ireland's teams against Wales in Round 1, England in Round 2, Belgium in Round 3 the Czech Republic in Round 4 and Scotland in Round 5.The playing venue was the magnificent Elphinstone Hall just a couple of hundred yards away from the teams accommodation.
The Glorney Cup
Ireland's opening game against Wales finished all square, with wins for our two Davids on Boards 2 and 5 and a draw for Graham Neary on Board 4. Rounds two and three took place on Tuesday 27th July. Top seeds, and eventual winners, England, were first up for the Irish and we duly lost 4.5 - 0.5, with the only highlight for the team being David Grzymek's very creditable draw on board 5 with the 2096 rated Paul Plant. Incidentally, Paul Plant beat all of his other opponents to finish as the top scoring English player on 4.5 out of 5.
Ireland bounced back against Belgium in the afternoon with a superb 3 - 2 win against a strong Belgian team, with wins on Boards 2, 4 and 5. The highlight of this round was the win by David Fitzsimons on Board 2 against an opponent rated 1941, while David Grzymek maintained his upbeaten run with his win on Board 5.
Round 4, against second seeds the Czech Republic, proved to be a tricky assignment for the Irish team which resulted in a 4 - 1 defeat. The highlights, from an Irish point of view, were a very creditable draw for John McMorrow on Board 1 against the 2246 rated Tomas Zeleny and David Grzymek's draw on board 5 which extended his unbeated run to four games. Elsewhere England beat Wales 4 - 1 to record their fourth consecutive victory thus ensuring that they entered the final round with a virtually unassailable lead.
Ireland completed the tournament against host nation Scotland in the final round with a 3 - 2 win. The main highlights were John McMorrow's victory against the Scottish Board one Christopher McDonald (rating 1985) while Eamonn Walls broke his duck by defeating his opponent on Board 3.
Thus the Glorney Team, despite being bottom seeds in the competition, recorded a draw against Wales and 3-2 wins against Belgium and Scotland and losing only to the top two seeds, the highly rated English and Czech teams. Ireland finished in fifth place on 10 points ahead of Wales and just one point adrift of Scotland in 4th spot.
Ireland's youngest players, the two Davids (Fitzsimons, aged 13 & Grzymek, aged 14) both scored 3 out of 5, but the best Irish player prize went to David Fitzsimons as he had played on the higher Board.
The Faber Cup
The Faber Team was comprised of Catherine Danaher, Emily Alfred and Deirdre Gleeson. Catherine put in a very creditable performance with three draws on board 1 against much higher rated opponents, including a draw against England's Sarah Hegarty, who had a rating of 1891, making her the second highest rated player in the tournament. Catherine received the best Irish player prize for her efforts. The team's disappointing overall record of just 4 draws in 15 games was not, however, a true reflection of the closeness of some of the games played. While the Irish players were out-rated by all of their individual opponents, they definitely have the potential to play at a higher standard. With the benefit of having played in this tournament, and provided they gain further tournament and league experience in the forthcoming season, I have no doubt that the Irish players can narrow the gap in ratings and be far more competitive in next year's Faber Cup which will be held in England.
The Irish Team got off to a poor start by losing all three games against a strong Welsh team in round 1. In round 2, the team fared better against top seeds England when Catherine Danaher recorded the team's first half point with a draw against Sarah Hegarty. Against Belgium in round 3, the team again lost by 2.5 - 0.5. Ireland achieved their best result in Round 4 against the Czech's obtaining draws on the top two Boards and going down to a narrow 2-1 defeat. The final round match against Scotland resulted in a 3-0 defeat where missed opportunities deprived Ireland of further points.
England finished as clear winners from Wales in second place thus "doing the double" by winning both the Glorney and Faber Cups.
Glorney Cup 2004 - Players
SCOTLAND
Macdonald, Christopher 1985
Stokes, Ivan 1768
Thomson, Neil 1753
Curry, Charles 1662
Green, Andrew 1564
ENGLAND
Rendle, Thomas 2283
Linford, Charlie 2161
Eggleston, David 2140
Eggleston, Thomas 2096
Plant, Paul 2097
WALES
Rees, Ioan 2238
Arnold, Christopher 1831
Thomas, Joseff 1717
Thomas, Jac 1515
Inskip, Nathaniel 1468
IRELAND
McMorrow, John 1798
Fitzsimons, David 1733
Walls, Eamonn 1644
Neary, Graham 1598
Grzymek, David 1568
CZECH REPUBLIC
Zeleny, Tomas 2246
Jenicek, Michal 2137
Oulovsky, Pavel 2097
Dvorak, Stanislav 2011
Lampir, Tomas 1999
BELGIUM
Maenhout, Thibaut 2190
Devriendt, Jo 1941
De Bock, Lennart 1892
Verlinde, Tieme 1733
Mottart, Florian 1689
Glorney Cup 2004 - Cross Table 1 2 3 4 5 6 Total 1 England x 3.5 2 3.5 4.5 4 17.5 2 Czech Republic 1.5 x 3.5 3 4 3 15 3 Belgium 3 1.5 x 4 2 2.5 13 4 Scotland 1.5 2 1 x 2 4.5 11 5 Ireland 0.5 1 3 3 x 2.5 10 6 Wales 1 2 2.5 0.5 2.5 x 8.5
Glorney Cup 2004 - Results Round 1 26/7/2004 Wales 2.5 Ireland 2.5 Ioan Rees 1 John McMorrow 0 Q.G.D. Christopher Arnold 0 David Fitzsimons 1 Closed Sicilian Joseff Thomas 1 Eamonn Walls 0 Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Jac Thomas 1/2 Graham Neary 1/2 Colle system Nathaniel Inskip 0 David Grzymek 1 Orangutan Round 2 27/7/2004 Ireland 0.5 England 4.5 John McMorrow 0 Thomas Rendle 1 French Exchange David Fitzsimons 0 Charlie Linford 1 Sveshnikov Sicilian Eamonn Walls 0 David Eggleston 1 Sicilian K.I.A. Graham Neary 0 Thomas Eggleston 1 Petroff defence David Grzymek 1/2 Paul Plant 1/2 French Tarrasch Round 3 27/7/2004 Belgium 2.0 Ireland 3.0 Thibaut Maenhout 1 John McMorrow 0 Evans gambit Jo Devriendt 0 David Fitzsimons 1 Caro Kann Lennart De bock 1 Eamonn Walls 0 Q.G.D. Tieme Verlinde 0 Graham Neary 1 Dutch defence Florian Mottart 0 David Grzymek 1 Pirc defence Round 4 28/7/2004 Ireland 1.0 Czech Republic 4.0 John McMorrow 1/2 Tomas Zeleny 1/2 Classical Sicilian David Fitzsimons 0 Michal Jenicek 1 Siclian 3 Bb5 Eamonn Walls 0 Pavel Oulovsky 1 Siclian K.I.A. Graham Neary 0 Stanislav Dvorak 1 King's Gambit David Grzymek 1/2 Tomas Lampir 1/2 French Tarrasch Round 5 29/7/2004 Scotland 2.0 Ireland 3.0 Christopher Macdonald 0 John McMorrow 1 English 1 . e5. Ivan Stokes 0 David Fitzsimons 1 French Tarrasch Neil Thomson 0 Eamonn Walls 1 Alekhine defence Charles Curry 1 Graham Neary 0 Dutch defence Andrew Green 1 David Grzymek 0 Pirc defence
Faber Cup 2004 - Players SCOTLAND Macnab, Louise 1832 Officer, Amy 1360 HugHes, Rhian 988 ENGLAND Hegarty, Sarah 1891 Martin, Katie 1704 Miller, Naomi 1680 WALES Smith, Olivia 1969 Blackburn, Suzie 1872 Rees, Sioned 1272 IRELAND Danaher, Catherine 1396 Alfred, Emily 1315 Gleeson, Deirdre 906 CZECH REPUBLIC Mareckova, Martina 1662 Nytrova, Adela 1497 Kopalova, Zuzana 1468 BELGIUM Dierckens, Sarah 1688 Van Hoeche, Elena 1667 De Weird, Evy 1166
Faber Cup 2004 - Cross Table 1 2 3 4 5 6 Total 1 England x 3 2.5 2 2.5 2.5 12.5 2 Wales 0 x 1.5 2.5 2.5 3 9.5 3 Czech Republic 0.5 1.5 x 1.5 2 2 7.5 4 Belgium 1 0.5 1.5 x 2 2.5 7.5 5 Scotland 0.5 0.5 1 1 x 3 6 6 Ireland 0.5 0 1 0.5 0 x 2
Faber Cup 2004 - Results
Round 1 26/7/2004
Wales 3.0 Ireland 0.0
Olivia Smith 1 Catherine Danaher 0 Budapest Gambit
Suzie Blackburn 1 Emily Alfred 0 Torre Attack
Sioned Rees 1 Deirdre Gleeson 0 King's Indian Defence
Round 2 27/7/2004
Ireland 0.5 England 2.5
Catherine Danaher 1/2 Sarah Hegarty 1/2 Closed Sicilian
Emily Alfred 0 Katie Martin 1 Torre Attack
Deirdre Gleeson 0 Naomi Miller 1 Guicco Piano
Round 3 27/7/2004
Belgium 2.5 Ireland 0.5
Sarah Dierckens 1/2 Catherine Danaher 1/2 Queen's Pawn Opening
Elena Van Hoecke 1 Emily Alfred 0 London System
Evy De Weird 1 Deirdre Gleeson 0 Q.G.D. Irregular
Round 4 28/7/2004
Ireland 1.0 Czech Republic 2.0
Catherine Danaher 1/2 Martina Mareckova 1/2 Sicilian Dragon
Emily Alfred 1/2 Adela Nytrova 1/2 Colle system
Deirdre Gleeson 0 Zuzana Kopalova 1 English Opening
Round 5 29/7/2004
Scotland 3.0 Ireland 0.0
Louise Macnab 1 Catherine Danaher 0 Queen's Pawn Opening
Amy Officer 1 Emily Alfred 0 French Advance
Rhian Hughes 1 Deirdre Gleeson 0 Scandinavian Defence
Games: Glorney Cup, Faber Cup.