News

The April blitz tournament, held on 10 April, was convincingly won by Alex Drimbarean, with 6½ points out of 7.  (The missing half-point was a penalty for arriving late and missing the first round.)   Second equal, on 5 points, were Pete Morriss and Roland Surlis.  Roland’s performance was particularly noteworthy, as he was one of the lowest-rated participants in the tournament.  The rating prize (for the highest-placed finisher rated in the lower half) would have been won by Roland, but he was ineligible by virtue of having achieved a prize already, and so it went to Padraig Crowe, who scored 3 points.

The Spring Rapidplay was held over three Thursdays in January, February and March. There were ten rounds in all, with players getting up to two half-point byes for each round missed – so that it was possible to get more points than games played. A total of 31 people played in the tournament, but only two dedicated members played in all ten rounds. The final results (with rounds played in brackets) showed that there was a tie for first place, on 6½ points, between Max Gavilovskis (from 10 games) and Pete Morriss (from 6), whilst third, close behind on 6 points, was Oleksandr Skorobogatko (from 7). The rating prize – for the highest-placed finisher rated in the lower half – was won by Fahad Ahmed, who came fourth with 4½ (10).

Our Autumn Rapidplay tournament was held over four Thursdays in October, November and December. The convincing winner was Oleksandr Skorobogatko on 7½ points. There was a four-way tie for second place, between Fionn Lennon, Cillian Bracken, Fahad Ahmed and Pete Morriss, each of whom scored 6 points. The rating prize – for players rated in the lower half who did not win a place prize – went to Jaden Kilmartin, who came next on 4½ points.

Ten hardy souls braved the snow to play in our November blitz tournament on 21st November, although several left early, which meant that the tournament had to be curtailed after six of the anticipated seven rounds as everybody still left had played each other. Nevertheless there was a clear winner, as Brian Gallagher won all six of his games. Second was Pete Morriss, with five wins and a loss (to Brian). The rating prize was won, narrowly, by Adrienne Reich, who scored two points in the four rounds in which she played, and also benefitted from our rule that nobody can win the rating prize two months in a row.

Our October blitz tournament, held on 31st October, was won by Lorcan Heron, with 6 points out of 7. Second was Ross du Berry, with 5½ points. The rating prize, for the highest-placed player rated in the bottom half, was won by Fahad Ahmad, with 4 points – which was an excellent achievement, as Fahad was actually the lowest-rated player in the tournament.

Our Opening Blitz tournament was won by Christy O’Sullivan, with 6 points out of 7. This was Christy’s first appearance in Galway Chess Club, although he played a lot in Dublin many years ago; Dublin’s loss is our gain, for a change. Second equal were Oleksandr Skorobogatko, for the second time in succession, and Pete Morriss, on 5½. The rating prize went to Aidan Kiely, who scored a highly commendable 4 points.

The August Blitz was won by newcomer Ronaldo Alonso, with 5½ points out of 7. Second equal were another newcomer, Oleksandr Skorobogatko, and very-much-not-a-newcomer Michael O’Donnell, who both scored 5 points. (Ronaldo and Oleksandr are both new to Galway Chess club, but are experienced players in their countries of origin, Brazil and Ukraine, respectively. We look forward to seeing them regularly at the club.) The rating prize, for the best-placed player seeded in the bottom half, was won by Cillian Bracken, on 4 points.

The July blitz tournament was a truly international one, as we were delighted to welcome visitors from the Czech Republic and Barcelona – and even Mayo – which made it a somewhat stronger tournament than we usually have.  The winner, with an excellent 6½ points out of 7, was Christopher Woods (Mayo) and second was Viktor Zigo (Czech Republic) on 5½.  The rating prize, for the highest-placed player seeded in the bottom half, was won by Aidan Kiely (Galway) who scored a commendable 3½ points.

Our June blitz was won by Chris Jonker, who won all his games – a rare event in our blitz tournaments. Second was Alex Drimbarean. The rating prize (highest finish of someone rated in the lower half) went to Adrienne Reich, who also came outright third – an excellent result.

Our season-ending blitz tournament, held on 16th May, was won by Pete Morriss, who scored 5½ points out of a possible 7. Second was Lorcan Heron, on 5 points; he would also have won the “most promising junior” accolade, if we had one. The rating prize, for the highest-finishing player rated in the bottom half, was won by Jayden Kilmartin, who scored an excellent 4 points, including wins against the three highest-rated players in the tournament (but somehow he couldn’t beat most of the lower-rated ones!).