EVER HAD THAT FEELING OF DEJA VU?

I’m convinced that chess tournaments in Ireland are becoming like London buses – you can wait for ages for one to come along, and when it does you can be sure another one will be right behind it!

This rather obtuse observation is based on these two facts: in 13 years of the Bunratty Festival there had never been a five-way tie in the top section… until 2006; in 7 years of the Malahide Millennium event there also hadn’t been a five-way tie in the top section . . . until 2006.

And that wasn’t the only unusual thing about this year’s event. It’s the first tournament I can recall playing in when the venue changed from day to day.

To be fair, this wasn’t the fault of the organisers – a group of willing volunteers from Malahide Chess Club – but rather, a double booking at the excellent ALSAA sports complex, handily placed a short distance from Dublin Airport. The result was that on Saturday everyone played in the Tailteann Room; the Gold, Silver and Bronze Rooms were used for Sunday’s play; and on Monday all the games took part in the Banqueting Hall (the usual venue, and a particularly splendid place to play chess with a spectacular view of the Wicklow Mountains).

I asked one of the tournament controllers, Vincent Bissett, if they had received a discount or grovelling apology for the inconvenience.

“Yep,” he replied. “Both!”

For the players it probably mattered little; but for the organisers it meant packing up sets and boards at the end of Saturday and Sunday, and some very creative playing arrangements from one day to the other (including an additional change of seating between rounds three and four). “It gave us some extra work,” Bissett admitted. “But we got some help from club members who were playing in the event, so that was appreciated.”

At the closing ceremony, fellow controller John Shearan thanked Cormac Roche, Anthony Whalley and Gerry Smith for their help in staging the event, which began in 2000 – hence the word “Millennium” in its title.

And then there were the prizes: the five who shared first place in the MAJOR section were Colm Daly FM, Gareth Annesley, Brian Galligan, Stephen Moran and Martin Crichton. Going into the last round, Galligan was white against Daly, and Moran was white against Annesley, all four players on 4/5. Both games ended as draws, which enabled Crichton – thanks to a last round win against Semyon Mkrtchyan – to join the winning group.

It was a mixed event for Mkrtchyan. In the second round I was playing next to him when his mobile phone went off in his pocket. We all knew what that meant – a big zero – and Shearan had the unenviable task of reminding him that the tournament was being held under FIDE rules in this respect: one ring equals loss of game; second ring equals disqualification from the tournament. It may seem harsh (and Michael Burniston had to enforce this rule at the Cork Chess Congress in March), but the rules are the rules. In round three the same sad fate befell Anne Coughlan in the Challengers section.

Daly was clear favourite to win the Major section. His rating of 2354 was more than 300 points ahead of all his rivals except for Pawel Madynski (2176). But Daly suffered a 45-minute handicap in rounds one, three and five (his loss to Annesley in round three really threw the section wide open). I asked him why he was late on all three mornings, not sure if it was some kind of Bobby Fischer-type ploy to put psychological pressure on his opponents. Not a bit of it!

“I was working through the night,” he said. “I didn’t get home until about 9 every morning.”

Other significant performances in the Major section came from grading prize winners Nicholas Pilkiewicz, Gerry Smith and Oisin Benson. The latter’s score of 4/6 with a rating of 1543 was particularly noteworthy, and included two victories against 1800-plus players and one against a player rated 1781.

Three Major players received book vouchers donated by GM Alex Baburin for their performances in relation to their rating – and one of them was me (which is not my only reason for liking this tournament!); the others were Anthony Whalley and Ryan-Rhys Griffiths.

Like the forthcoming Limerick Open (this year October 28-30) and the Drogheda Congress (June 2-5), Malahide is held over a holiday weekend, which means two games each on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. And that, of course, means no game on Friday night often after a long and gruelling rush-hour drive, plus that ‘Saturday night feeling,’ when the third game of a long day can really be tiring.

There were two other different aspects to Malahide that are worth mentioning:
• For the first time ever at an Irish tournament, apparently, a Fischer time increment was added to each move (in this case 15 seconds in the Major section), which certainly eases the pressure somewhat during a time scramble;
• Players rated 1500 to 1599 could choose to play in either section. As it happens, every player above 1500 opted for the Major section and a rare chance to test themselves against higher-rated players. Which meant youngsters like Griffiths (1579), Benson (1543) and Robert White (1506) could show their precocious skills.

It also gave players in the CHALLENGERS section rated below 1500 a realistic chance to battle for the top honours. Those who took advantage were Raino Soikkeli and Brendan Corrigan, who shared first place with 5/6. The two drew their 5th-round game together, and Soikkeli had a half-point advantage going into the final round. Corrigan beat Michael Kane in a taught endgame battle that went right down to the wire on the clock, while Soikkeli was held to a draw by John O’Connell, which secured him a share of third place on 4.5/6 with Damien McCormick. O’Connell was ahead on tiebreak so won the third prize, with McCormick taking a grading prize. Other grading prizes went to Gregory Bailey and Senan Cullen.

Talking of grading prizes, another good service from the organisers were updated cross tables with the various grading bands in colour – nice visual idea.

In fact, nice tournament all round.

RESULTS:

THE LINDE MATERIAL HANDLING MAJOR
• 1-5 Colm Daly FM, Gareth Annesley, Brian Galligan, Stephen Moran, Martin Crichton 4.5/6
• Grading prizes: Nicholas Pilkiewicz, Gerry Smith, Oisin Benson
• Special prizes: Ryan-Rhys Griffiths, Clive Hutchby, Anthony Whalley

THE MALAHIDE HARDWARE CHALLENGERS
• 1-2 Raino Soikkeli, Brendan Corrigan 5/6
• 3-4 John O’Connell, Damien McCormick 4.5/6
• Grading prizes: Damien McCormick, Gregory Bailey, Senan Cullen