The Inaugral Veteran’s 50/65+ Championship has just ended and many a myth about Chess can be consigned to the bin. Not for the auld lads and one woman a gentle game followed by the Bar……………not a chance! The Ferocity of Play put both the GM and IM norm tournaments being played simultaneously in the Shade, and there were rating upsets every day. Who led the way…..the Malahide Crew….followed by just about everyone else in the field. Maybe it was the freedom of being spared the sight of a kid staring across at the board; or having to play too many games at one time, but of all the 3 tournaments………this one was by far the most competitive. The mindset in the Master’s tournaments was to isolate the weakest player and go hell for leather in beating them…….Ha! ………………….we had a Veritable Meat-feast in ours, …quite simply everyone went after each other…….then we went off to the Bar with our Battle Scars. As for our very own Dinosaur………he chomped and got chomped in return! The last round being especially vicious and more wounds were inflicted but at the end our Dinosaur finished with a credible 3/7. Does not sound too wonderful, or competitive, but a performance of 1722 as opposed to his normal FIDE rating of 1513 suggests a good week’s work.
Regarding Irish Chess History, IM Sam Collins made his 3rd & final Grandmaster Norm, and once his FIDE rating reaches 2500 he will become Ireland’s first ever GM.
Well done Sam……………if you want to leave Gonzaga, we’ll quite happily make you board 1 in the O’Hanlon team.
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