This was the thirteenth in a series of chess tournaments run by transition year students at Gonzaga College, Ranelagh, Dublin 6. The goal is not just to provide a traditional weekend event, but to raise as much money as possible for charity, in this case the Habitat for Humanity Project in Zambia. Later in the year a group of students will travel there to help build houses in partnership with local families.

The tournament was held over the weekend of 24-26 January 2014. The chief organisers were Joseph Carthy, Jarlath McDonnell, Peter Urwin, Turlough Hannon, Gabriel O’Rourke and Andy Keenan, with assistance from Daniel Lynch.

Favourite for the Masters section was Irish international David Fitzsimons who had won the event the previous four years. However he was handicapped by a bad start with a loss to Rathmines junior Scott Mulligan and a draw with Gerard Buckley, although a win in the last round against Killian Delaney would have given him a share of first place. In a sharp Alapin Sicilian, Killian sacrificed a piece to strand his opponent’s king in the centre and that proved sufficient to draw. So Killian emerged as sole winner and holder of the Philip Hogarty Cup.

All Masters games.

Apart from the chess, there was plenty of diversion for the players in the form of refreshments provided by the student-run shop, a talk and bookstall from GM Alexander Baburin on the final day, and most importantly, shelter from the torrential rain that fell throughout the weekend.

Total numbers were up again on the previous year to over 160.

The top scorers in each section were as follows:

Masters: 1 Killian Delaney 5/6; 2 David Murray 4½; 3-6 Peter Cafolla, David Fitzsimons, Miroslav Gallik, John Healy (grading prize) 4; 18 players.

Championship: 1 Cian McGovern Leahy 5½/6; 2 John M Buggy 5; 3-7 David McCann, Padraig Hughes, Donatas Jocius, Brendan Techlenborg, Paddy Divilly 4½; grading prizes: Marc Lincoln, Luke Scott; 63 players.

Challengers: 1 Alex Byrne 5½/6; 2-5 Tom Butler, Desmond Beatty, John Kinsella, Mustakim Ul-Haque 5; 6-11 Alex Start, Stephen Joyce, Cian Murphy, Vincent Denard, Richard Walshe, Colum O’Brien 4½; grading prizes: David Carney, Alex Goss, John Kinsella, Colum O’Brien; ladies prize: Dayna Ferguson; 84 players.