Thanks to generous sponsorship from Island Oil & Gas, this year's championship is an open event attracting a number of foreign players including four GMs: top seed Eduardas Rozentalis from Lithuania and Englishmen Mark Hebden, Nick Pert and Stuart Conquest. Play is taking place daily from 29th June to 8th July at the Royal Dublin Hotel at the north end of O'Connell Street.
Round 1
The sensation of round 1 was victory for women's international Gearóidín Ui Laighléis (photo) against the experienced former Irish Champion Eamon Keogh. More games.
Round 2
Ireland 2½ - GMs 1½! John Redmond (photo) beat top seed Eduardas Rozentalis, Gerry O'Connell (photo) beat Mark Hebden and Simon Jeffares held Stuart Conquest. More games.
Round 3
Rain stopped play twice as the top table was moved to avoid drips from a leaky roof! None of this disturbed one of the main Irish hopes, IM Brian Kelly, as he demolished IM Mark Orr in a wild game. Peter Cafolla (photo) held GM Mark Hebden to a draw. More games.
Kelly, Brian—Orr, Mark J L
Round 4
Brian Kelly (photo) stormed into sole lead with a delicate win in a R+P endgame against Stephen Jessel. There was no luck for the Irish against the 4 GMs who all won their games. More games.
Round 5
Brian Kelly played a quick draw against GM Nick Pert allowing one of the other GMs, Stuart Conquest (photo) to catch up and share the lead with 4½/5 after he trapped Philip Short's offside knight. John Redmond held Mark Hebden to a draw. Top seed Eduardas Rozentalis (photo) showed his class against Simon Jeffares and 15 year old Sam Osborne (photo) defeated Colm Daly. More games.
Redmond, John P—Hebden, Mark
Short, Philip—Conquest, Stuart
Round 6
Brian Kelly scored a huge win today by beating Stuart Conquest as Black, putting himself back in sole lead. Half a point behind are Nick Pert (who beat Gavin Wall) and Eduardas Rozentalis (who beat Stephen Brady). Mark Hebden (photo) won beautifully against Tony Fox in a study-like ending. More games.
Conquest, Stuart—Kelly, Brian
Round 7
Rozentalis against Kelly and Pert against Glienke were draws but Conquest (photo, already preparing to mate Jessel down the a-file) and Short (who benefited from a terrible blunder by Orr) both won. This leaves Kelly still in first place with Conquest, Pert and Short a half-point behind. More games.
Short, Philip—Orr, Mark J L
Round 8
Philip Short held Brian Kelly to a draw while Nick Pert (photo) defeated fellow GM Stuart Conquest, which leaves Kelly and Pert in joint first with one round left. Mark Hebden continued his resurgence with a quick win over Colm Daly. Gearóidín Uí Laighléis was fighting for a draw against Stephen Short when suddenly a shock pawn move unexpectedly finished him off by cutting his bishop off from an advancing pawn. More games.
Hebden, Mark—Daly, Colm
Ui Laighleis, Gearoidin—Short, Stephen
Round 9
There was great drama in the last round. Brian Kelly, needing a draw for a GM norm, unfortunately could not stop the in-form Mark Hebden. With Pert and Rozentalis drawing, that meant Hebden and Pert shared first place and Brian was joint third and assured of at least a share of the title of Irish Champion, depending on the result of one other game - Philip Short versus Stephen Brady. This tense encounter was the last game to finish and involved more than one time scramble but eventually Stephen, who had the edge in a long bishop and pawn endgame, emerged victorious and thus shared the title with Brian.
While it's a shame that Brian didn't make his GM norm on this occasion, it's great that he (and other Irish players) had the possibility to make norms as well as a shots against GM opposition (which several players made the most of). All this was made possible by the sponsor (thanks again!) and the adoption of a open format which we can all be grateful is planned to continue next year.
Final standings. R9 Games. PGN for all games.
Hebden, Mark—Kelly, Brian