This years Irish Junior Chess Championships was held in the Marist College, Athlone from 4-7 April 2002. It was sponsored by Tara Tissue, manufacturers of the well-known Double Velvet brand in Ireland. Their expertise in the area of publicity meant that there were numerous chess-related photographs in the national and provincial papers in the run-up to the championships, and a slot on TV3 during the event.
The move outside Dublin did not prove an impediment to entrants, and numbers were up by a third on the previous year. The venue was large and brightly lit, with playing fields outside for the players to recover from the intensity of the chess games.
RESULTS:
UNDER 10 1-2 Jamie Flynn, Max Drakeford 6½; 3 Sean McCarrick 6; 4 Stephen Hanly 5½; 5 John Brennan 5; 19 players. Girls prize: Catherine Danaher.
UNDER 12 1 Jamie Flynn 7; 2-3 Shane OConnor,Niall Kiernan 6½; 4 James Spencer 6; 5-8 Steven Siew, Ciaran Burke, Ben Quigley, John Perrott 5½; 9-12 Dara Murphy, Melissa Scott-Hayward, Peter Brennan, Raymond Campbell 5; 45 players. Girls prize: Melissa Scott-Hayward.
UNDER 14 1 Sarah Hegarty 6; 2-3 Matthew Dignam, John McMorrow 5; 4-6 Rory Delaney, James Vaughan, Emily Alfred 4½; 7-14 Robbie Lunn, Aileen Wallace, Ciaran Sheridan, Diarmuid Sheridan, Kevin Foley-Friel, Ben Quigley, Deirdre M Gleeson, Peter Coleman 4; 54 players.
UNDER 16 1 Alex Lopez 5; 2-3 Matthew Dignam, Sarah Hegarty 4½; 4-7 Karl McPhillips, Michael Hughes, Graeme Walsh, Michael Devlin 4; 28 players. Girls prize: Emily Alfred.
UNDER 19 1 Alex Lopez 5½; 2 Karl McPhillips 4½; 3 Stephen Stokes 4; 4-6 Simon Jeffares, Emilio Alba, Mark A Collins 3½; 14 players.
Due to a new rule that players can only hold a title applicable to their own age group, the five champions for 2002 are: under 10 Jamie Flynn, under 12 Shane OConnor, under 14 Sarah Hegarty, under 16 Alex Lopez, under 19 Stephen Stokes.
The prizes for best local players went to Emilio Alba (a student at the Marist College) in the under 19 section and James Roche in the under 14 section.