In the evening we all came together
again for our celebration dinner. This
was the occasion to mark 25 years of
the Braille Chess Association of
Ireland. In all there were 68 people
present. We were very pleased to
welcome as our special guests Des
very much the byword during this
part of the evening.
With the formalities out of the way, it
was time to get the party going.
Guitarist and singer, Martin Kenny,
was our musician. There were also
some singers in the audience who
Photo by Michael Germaine
Kenny, Chief Executive of NCBI with
his wife, Terry, and Michael Lavin,
Secretary of the National League of
the Blind, with his wife, Teresa. We
were also very pleased to welcome
Michael and Una Keane with their
daughter and son-in-law, Carmel and
Noel Kennedy.
Mick, now aged 81, played a key role
in the setting up of the O’Hanlon
Chess Club in 1960 which led to
blind players competing against
sighted players. He also represented
Ireland at international tournaments
for blind players between 1964 and
1985.
Following an excellent meal there
was a short address from our
Chairman, Eamonn Casey and some
words of congratulations and good
wishes from Des Kenny and Michael
Lavin.
Notwithstanding
the
promptings of Barry O’Brien, now
fulfilling the role of MC, brevity was
32 | P a g e
stepped up to the microphone to
perform their party pieces. The
entertainment ended shortly before
midnight.
Next morning saw games in the
fourth round of the tournament being
played. In the open there were wins
for Patrik Berggren over Ernie
McElroy and for Michael Delaney
against Philip Doyle. This placed
Patrik and Michael in joint leadership
on 3.5 points. Markus Berggren
joined Ernie on 3 points with victory
over David Hodgkins (England). In
the afternoon round Patrik drew with
Michael and Ernie lost to Markus.
Philip Doyle bounced back with a win
over Colin Chambers. This moved
him up into fourth place, just half a
point behind.
The feature of the Sunday games in
the minor tournament was 2 more
wins by Fredrik Ljungdahl. This
placed him in an unassailable lead
on 5 points, 1.5 ahead of his nearest
rival, Philippe De Coninck (Belgium),
with a round to go.
Following dinner on Sunday evening
many people opted for an early night.
A 9.30 start next morning would be
followed for many by the journey
home in the afternoon. A small
number found time to get together in
the bar for an hour or so.
When the final round was played on
Monday
morning
Ljungdahl
completed a perfect weekend in the
Minor Tournament with his sixth win.
Gary Wickett (England) and Martin
Kane came joint third and Shane Hall
took the grading prize.
The battle for the leading places in
the open was fought out on the top 3
boards. The Berggren brothers drew
with each other, as did Michael
Delaney and Ernie McElroy. This
allowed Philip Doyle to move into the
prize money with victory over Joe
McAloon. The grading prizes resulted
in more success for our Swedish
visitors. A draw with Colin Chambers
was sufficient for Håkan Thomsson,
but Olle Engström needed to win,
and this he did in the very last game
to finish.
Our grateful thanks go to our
tournament controller, Tim Conlan,
and his assistants, Mick Germain
and John Crowley. Tim has been our
arbiter since the late 1980s and has
always performed this task with great
skill and efficiency.
We also wish to acknowledge the
great help given throughout the
weekend by Barry and Mary O’Brien
and also Noreen Cleary.
A special word of thanks is due to the
staff of the Marine Hotel who spared
no effort to make our stay so very
pleasant.
Amid much clicking of cameras the
prizes were presented by our
Chairman, Eamonn Casey. Then it
was time to say our goodbyes and
for our visitors to make ready for their
homeward journey. All expressed
great satisfaction with the weekend
Irish Chess Journal