Irish Junior Championships 1999

by Herbert Scarry (May 1999)

This event is held in the week after Easter during the school holidays. This year the migration of the Irish Championships to this very timeslot from its normal July date meant that a clash of some sort was inevitable. To facilitate players wishing to play in the Irish Senior, the under 16 and under 19 events were moved to 17-18 April, while the under 12 and under 14 events were left as they were on 8-9 April. Unfortunately the late change meant that the older age events were not as well publicised as the younger age ones, and consequently attracted less support. The U12 and U14 event was held in the Teachers Club, Dublin and the U16 and U19 in St Benildus College, Dublin. Both were controlled by John Forde and Herbert Scarry. 

Under 12 
1st  	Sarah Hegarty	 9½/10  
2nd  	Alex Lopez       7½  
3rd  	Brian Fitzgibbon 7  
4th  	David Barry      7  
5th-7th Eamon Keane      6  
  	Chris O'Connor   6  
 	Robbie Lunn      6  

Under 12 Girls 
1st	Sarah Hegarty  
2nd  	Nicola Hood  
3rd  	Sinead Dowling  

Under 14 
1st  	Robert Kelly  	 5/6  
2nd  	Daniel Hegarty   4  
3rd  	Killian Delaney  4  
4th-7th Stephen McDonald 4  
 	Steven Dixon     4  
 	Michael Devlin   4  
 	Donal Spring 	 4  

Under 16
1st  	Steven Dixon  	 4/5  
2nd  	Stephen Stokes   4  
3rd  	Graeme Walsh     3½  

Under 19
1st  	Sam Collins  	 4½/5  
2nd  	Adam Kelly  	 4  
3rd  	John Kennedy  	 3

Instructive positions which provided analytical food for thought in the post mortems.









White to move

After the ill-advised 8... b5?? White exploited Black's weakness on the long white diagonal with 9. Ne5! After 9... Bxe5 10. Bxc6+ Bd7 11. Bxa8 Qxa8 White realised that it was possible for lightening to strike twice, and sure enough it did after 12. f4!? Bg7?? 13. Nxb5! 1-0.









White to move

In this position White played 1. Kd6 and the game was eventually drawn. Afterwards the players worked out the winning method:

1. Kf6! Kc7 2. Bc6! Kb8 3. Bd7 Kxb7 4. Bxe6 Bd3 [4... Bxe6 5. Kxe6 Kc6 6. Kf6 Kd6 7. Kxg6 Ke7 8. Kh7 wins] 5. Bf7 Kc7 6. Bxg6 Be2 7. Bf5 Bh5 8. Be6 Kd8 9. Bf7 Be2 10. g6 Bd3 11. g7 Bh7 12. Kg5 Ke7 13. Bb3 and 14. Kh6 driving the Bishop off the short diagonal. {Once Black cannot use his king to control the queening , nor keep his bishop on the short diagonal, he is lost.}

If instead of 7...Bh5 Black plays 7... Bc4 then 8.g6 Kd6 9.g7 Bg8 10.Bg6 Kd7 11.Bf7 Bh7 12.Kg5 winning as before.

White could also play 3.Be8 with the point 3... Kxb7 4.Bxg6 Bg4 5.Be4+ Kc7 6.g6 winning, and if 3... Kc7 wins in the usual way with 4. Bxg6 Bg4 5.Bf7 Bf5 6.Bxe6 Be4 7.Bf5 Bxb7 8.g6 etc.

This is the decisive game in the under 16 section between the leader after three rounds and the eventual winner.

Walsh, Graeme - Dixon, Steven
IRL-chJ U16, Dublin, R4, 1999, 0-1

Michael Dooley was returning to the tournament fray after a fantastic 5/9 in the Irish Senior Championships, but found the transition from a seven hour session to a three hour session rather difficult to handle.

Dooley, Michael - Casey, Eoghan
IRL-chJ U19, Dublin, R1, 1999, 0-1

Dooley, Michael - Kelly, Adam
IRL-chJ U19, Dublin, R3, 1999, 0-1

New under 19 champion Sam Collins (last year's under 16 champion) dropped only half a point on his way to the title, against second placed Adam Kelly.

Freeman, Gordon - Collins, Sam
IRL-chJ U19, Dublin, R3, 1999, 0-1

Collins, Sam - Kelly, Adam
IRL-chJ U19, Dublin, R4, 1999, ½-½


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