Heidenfeld 2013/14

cdeb

The season kicked off on Monday with the meeting of the two relegated teams, Rathmines A and Rathmines B. The game ended in a 4-4 draw, which can't really have pleased the A team!

The scoresheet is here on the Rathmines site. The obvious thing that jumps out is how many players Rathmines have lost due to their relegation. Abul Kalam was board 5 in the final round last year, and played as low as board 7; he was the highest-rated player on Monday.

Subs on boards 1 and 3 is interesting also; are Michael and Tony on the Ennis normally?

The A team looks like it should have enough for promotion, though it won't be straightforward at all. They should mop enough points on the lower boards though.

Rathmines have derbies in the Ennis tonight and the BA on Monday. Nightmare season for their captains!

L1m1tless

Drogheda 7 Phibsboro 1

Ciaran

Wow, that's a huge win. Are Phibsboro weaker than last year?

L1m1tless

Not sure, got the result from Facebook.

cdeb

Kilkenny 4-4 Inchicore.

Brief bit of a report on the Inchicore site -

Although missing four of our starting players, we still had a very good team (out-rating Kilkenny on all boards except board 8). Kilkenny (who lost a lot of players last season to emigration etc) were still feeling the loss of so many high rated players.

At 2 - 2 it looked likely to be a 6 - 2 win for us, but mistakes in the end games cost us, and we had to settle for a 4 - 4 draw.

Are Kilkenny and Phibsboro quite weak this year then?

Inchicore you'd expect to be stronger than last year after merging with Tallaght.

Irish Warrior

On Saturday Kilkenny had a 1600, three 1400's and four 1300's.

They are weaker (on paper at least) than last year, and I'd say they'll do well to avoid relegation.

From talking to players at the city of Dublin, I believe Naomh Barróg have also lost players off their Heidenfeld team (the Lucan v Naomh Barróg result will tell.). If true then they could be looking at relegation too.

cdeb

That's a similar enough team to last year in fairness. They had two sub-1100s last year (granted, they're 1370 and 1160 now). It's hard to call them if they've some improving juniors on their team.

We've three players and five subs for tonight; if we keep that up, we'll be struggling this season too.

Irish Warrior

Kilkenny managed to get two 1600's and three 1500's for a number of game last year (or maybe the 1500's went down in rating and are the 1400's now?).

They had two junior players, and to be fair, both of which are good. But for a home game I'd have thought the team be stronger across the 8 boards.

We've three players and five subs for tonight; if we keep that up, we'll be struggling this season too.

Ouch, good luck for tonight. I think it takes the first league game for clubs to get the wheels moving again.

Ciaran

We (Benildus) lost 6-2 in the end. There was probably another point there in an ideal world but we were outrated on every board (I think Elm Mount's lowest rated player was higher than our highest!) so it's probably a little better than par.

Airbender

Tough luck. Elm Mount seem to have a very good team this year.

cdeb

Yeah, Elm Mount are a good bit stronger than last year. They had three 1400s when we beat them last season; they had none this time. If you win a league based on the bottom boards, Elm Mount should be definite contenders this year.

We got 1½ out of five quite close games, in three of which we were up material for nothing, and we stole half a point out of three games we were definitely second-best in, but that maybe should have been a win for us in the end (Elm Mount were two pieces and three pawns for a rook up and declared mate - but it just hung a pawn; maybe flustered, the guy hung a piece next move!) Maybe we can feel a bit disappointed by 2 points, but it was more than twice our expected score, so I'll settle for it if we can get more than three players out for round 2!

Sparks

Writeup on the Benildus-Elm Mount games on the Benildus site here:

Three-man Heidenfeld double expected score

A severely depleted Heidenfeld did what it did all of last season and successfully pulled a decent result out of nowhere against Elm Mount last night.

Given myself and Ciarán were the only two from last year’s Heidenfeld to be playing, it rather felt we had been demoted rather than that everyone else was subbing – it didn’t help that the third actual member of the squad had been on last season’s O’Hanlon. Elm Mount, for their part, were significantly stronger than last year, having dispensed of the 1400s that made up the bottom three boards when we beat them last season; I wouldn’t have made the Elm Mount team, though I was the closest matched to my opponent, a mere 198 points out-rated.

We had a mixed start – Mihailo won a pawn on 8, and with it got a potentially very dangerous outside passed pawn, but Dylan took my advice to take the game to his opponent maybe a little too seriously and sacced on f7 when his opponent had castled, picking up rook and pawn for bishop and knight – time has shown that that’s often not a great deal for white. Meanwhile, Eddie hadn’t changed at all on last season and was finished within an hour; a loss this time.

...continues

caissa007

Lucan 3.5 Naobh Barrog 4.5

cdeb

Benildus 3½-4½ Bray.

zenobi

looking bad for benildus , I think you'll struggle this season and don't have the safety net of Tallaght team to protect you.

cdeb

Yup. We'll go through a lot of subs too, which won't help.

But then we lost 4½-3½ to Rathmines last year, and Bray effectively took their place, so we haven't really lost any ground on last season.

Phibsboro look like thy might be down near the bottom too; that wasn't a strong team they had out in the first round. Ditto Kilkenny.

Sparks

Solid writeup on the Benildus site for last night's Heidenfeld (with mentions of the O'Hanlon and the last Armstrong round):

Three games, three defeats…

...snip...

The Heidenfeld were at home against Bray/Greystones. As is usual with the Heidenfeld, things didn’t go smoothly in the build-up – at 1pm, John Healy said he’d just met Brendan, who said he wouldn’t be able to play. At 1:05, Brendan texted me to say he could play, but would be blitzing it to leave by 10. Crisis averted – till 5pm, when Steven Dixon said he was awaiting a jury and probably wouldn’t be out. I asked what the case was and got the reply “Alleged possession of heroin. It was in our house. After a house party. We deny knowing it was there. Jury have to decide whether to believe us.” This wasn’t quite the reply I’d expected! It turns out barristers always talk about their clients in the first person, so at least Steven will be a free man come the next game!!

Anyways, we cobbled together 8; Brendan was underway immediately while the rest of us were slightly more leisurely in starting! Things were going well to start; Michael worked up a decent position out of a French Exchange as only he can, Ross and Ciarán were just pawns up and Brendan was on the attack, leaving pieces hanging all over the place. It’s not much of an exaggeration to suggest that John Healy could pick up a few tips in attacking chess from Brendan!

Things got better as Jack, playing his first game outside the Bodley, picked up two knights for a rook, but most eyes were on Brendan’s game at this stage where, having used just half an hour to his opponent’s hour and a half, he had sacced a piece and two pawns, had most of his other minor pieces hanging and hadn’t bothered with castling. Not the best of examples for the four juniors on our team, but good fun to watch! His opponent hadn’t castled either, had both of his bishops and rooks at home and had opened up a potentially dangerous diagonal to his king.

...continues...

Irish Warrior

Inchicore 2½ - 5½ Rathmines A

L1m1tless

Drogheda 3-5 Elm Mount

cdeb

Interesting game last night. Boards 1 and 2 of Lucan v St Benildus were played early. On board 2, we had a clear win, Lucan's flag fell, our player didn't notice it (with five minutes left), threw away the win to reach a drawn king and pawn position and then offered a draw!

I hope that doesn't prove decisive come the season's end...

Looking through the teams, and Naomh Barróg seem very weak. Hard to see them staying up unless they were missing a couple of players from their first match (and only one player played for their BA team in the first round, so they don't seem to have used a huge amount of subs)

They still managed to beat Lucan though. Reckon it's between those two and us for the drop. Phibsboro are weaker than usual, but the 7-1 defeat against Drogheda looks like a freak score.

Sparks

Drogheda has a good writeup on their Heidenfeld (and Ennis) games on their website:

Leinster league update

It was a tough day on Saturday for our Heidenfeld and Ennis sides. Our Ennis, making their first match in the new division, went down 2-4 to Portmarnock away. It was a good day though for Michael Johnston, marking his debut with a fine win on board 6. Draws were recorded by Brendan Evers and Paddy McDonnell. Nick Roitters played well in his debut for the side but just lost out in the end game. However he will be encouraged by this outing. Frank and John will have better days!

The Heidenfeld came up against Elm Mount ...continues

SingleMalt

Saturday 19th - Naomh Barrog 1.5 - Kilkenny 6.5

Sparks

Writeup on Heidenfeld Round 3 (Benildus-v-Lucan) on the Benildus website:

The week in review

...

Alongside the Armstrong were the first two games of the Heidenfeld’s game against Lucan. For the second time in a week, we were up against one of the sides promoted from the Ennis (and almost by definition, favourites for relegation). Things again didn’t go too well though – Michael Hanley again got in a good position when 100 points outrated only to run out of time in the middlegame just as things started to get interesting, while Ciarán, also 100 points down, played excellently to reach a knight and pawn endgame. Making a break on the kingside, he got to N+5 v N+3 with his opponent’s flag hanging. His opponent made a desperate pawn rush on the queenside, and Ciarán erroneously sacced his knight, thinking his two passed pawns on the other side would win in time. Of course, with knights being so clumsy at defending pushed pawns, had he blocked the pawn instead, he would have won quickly. As it turned out...continues

Irish Warrior

Phibsboro 3 - 5 Inchicore

cdeb

Lucan 4-4 St Benildus.

If it was Sky Sports, the commentators would be saying that a draw suited neither team...

Past sell by Date

Elm Mount 6 1/2 Bray/Greystones 1 1/2

cdeb

Ooh, we're out of the relegation zone!

Sparks

Heidenfeld writeup on the Benildus site, along with truly, truly terrible pun...

Not Lucan great for Heidenfeld

The Heidenfeld look to be in for another long season after failing to beat a promoted side for the second round in a row.

Starting into the game ½-1½ down, we did at least fight back to 4-4. Desmond brought the tie level with a win over Lucan’s 693-rated board 8, whose only previous tournament had included defeats to Dan and Anastasija at the Leinster u-19s, though he was on 1½/2 in the Heidenfeld to date. Desmond reached a fairly mundane major piece ending in which he didn’t look to have any great advantage, but then his opponent missed the one move to rescue himself from the pin Desmond was building up, which cost him a rook and, shortly after, the game. Ross followed up with a draw shortly later; the two Beatties are unbeaten on 2/3 for the season each.

On the other boards, Jack’s opponent never castled, which is a dangerous thing to do ...continues

Chess_Coach

cdeb wrote: »

Kilkenny 4-4 Inchicore.

Brief bit of a report on the Inchicore site -


Are Kilkenny and Phibsboro quite weak this year then?

Inchicore you'd expect to be stronger than last year after merging with Tallaght.

Kilkenny lost one player to emigration RG who is in UK at the University and that is all . The main think in Kilkenny is that we do not care much for league games - I dont for example . I wanted to win one Armstrong Cup and I have . Was happy that 4 of my students played in this team with me. All in all I lost the interest playing LCU leagues . I think that they are great and it is amazing to see so many clubs playing .Ireland should be proud of that but it is not easy to give your Saturday and play for club . Kilkenny Chess Club members never met that I know to discuss the teams , players , plans etc . We take that as a fun and nothing else.
It is great to have two teams so that new juniors can play strong players very fast . I am not coaching juniors in Kilkenny for 5 years now and that is why Kilkenny is short with new talents . My students were 60 percent of the teams in the past . Hope that Kilkenny Chess Club will find the way to found new talents in Kilkenny .

Sparks

Chess_Coach wrote: »

it is not easy to give your Saturday and play for club

True, but it's a lot easier than giving up your friday evening, all of saturday and almost all of sunday, especially when you have kids and a fulltime job and stuff that has to get done for that. They're not for everyone, but the leagues do fill a very real need, and one that would grow if the number of chess players in Ireland grew.

(Seriously, aside from juniors whose time is a lot more flexible, the only way you'll increase players in Ireland is by recruiting more adults; and their time just has so many demands on it that weekender tournaments are not going to be an option for many of them. Things like the leagues and one-day tournaments are fairly important for that demographic).

Past sell by Date

rathmines B 4.5 Elm Mount 3.5

cdeb

Great result for Rathmines B!

Ciaran

Benildus 3.5-4.5 Kilkenny.

Time trouble hit us hard on 6 and 8, I didn't see the finishes but we had good positions earlier but miles down on the clocks and lost both on time in the end I think.

I got my first win of the year despite some wild sacrifices around my king from my opponent.

Chess_Coach

Great result for Kilkenny !

Ciaran

Chess_Coach wrote: »

Great result for Kilkenny !

That result puts them third I think. they're having a great season, miles away from the relegation battle I thought they'd be in.

Chess_Coach

They are doing well but they still have to play top teams so lets see .I shout for enniscorthy anyway

cdeb

Disastrous result for us though; the expected score was 5½-2½ to us. We were a piece up and cruising on 8 and the game turned on one crushing move. We missed a win on board 2 as well. Ho hum.

League table is like this -

Pos	Team	        MP	GW	GD	GL	Pts
1	Elm Mount	4	16	10	6	21    
2	Rathmines A	4	14	10	8	19    
3	Kilkenny	4	15	7	10	18 1/2
4	Rathmines B	4	11	14	7	18    
5	Lucan	        4	13	9	10	17 1/2
6	Malahide	4	13	9	10	17 1/2
7	Drogheda	4	11	11	10	16 1/2
8	Inchicore	4	11	10	11	16    
9	Phibsboro	4	8	12	12	14    
10	St Benildus	4	9	8	15	13    
11	Bray/Greystones	4	7	8	17	11    
12	Naomh Barróg	4	6	8	18	10

Though we've played (and failed to beat) three of the teams who look like they'd be down in the relegation mix (Bray, Lucan and Kilkenny) Next up - Rathmines A...

Chess_Coach

What was result on each board please ?

Ciaran

Chess_Coach wrote: »

What was result on each board please ?

Benildus won 4, 5 and 7. Kilkenny won 2, 3, 6 and 8.

cdeb

Draw on 1; Kilkenny won on 2, 3, 6 and 8

Past sell by Date

Elm Mount 6.5 Lucan 1.5

Irish Warrior

Rathmines B 3½ - 4½ Inchicore

caissa007

Drogheda 3.5 Naomh Barróg 3.5 (1 adj.)

Ciaran

Rathmines A 7-1 Benildus.

cdeb

That's relegation decided so.

I was winning my game until literally the last move. :mad:

We keep playing ok but throwing away points during the game; can't keep doing that.

Echecs

Don't think relegation is decided. It looks like it will be between three teams this year: St. Benildus, Bray/Greystones and Naomh Barrog.

2bts

It ain't over 'til it's over. 6 rounds to go.

Ciaran

Echecs wrote: »

Don't think relegation is decided. It looks like it will be between three teams this year: St. Benildus, Bray/Greystones and Naomh Barrog.

I'd agree with this. It'll be pretty much neck and neck between the bottom 3 after this round probably (hopefully!) and we've played the likely top two. I think we've been a little unlucky in the last couple of games too so maybe we're due some good results.

Sparks

Writeup on the Benildus-Rathmines match here on the Benildus site:

Heidenfeld in trouble

The Heidenfeld look like they need a miracle on a par with last season’s O’Hanlon escape after a 7-1 thrashing against 2011/12 Armstrong champions Rathmines A last night.

Resuming 1-0 down after Ross’ defeat on board 1, the match started strangely. I tried a short-cut, got lost in a maze of one-way streets, no right turns and heavy traffic and took 15 minutes to do a large and pointless loop about a quarter of a mile from the venue, debutante Brendan Cooney was in a room with the BA due to playing a blind player while Mariusz’s opponent was in Benildus wondering where the rest of us were! All told, four of us – myself, Michael sub Mihailo and Mariusz’s opponent – were down 15 minutes on the clock before the first move. Annoyingly, the game also marked Rathmines’ first full team of the season, with a 1700 on board 8 instead of the 1300 for the rest of their games.

Still, the match started quite well, with Ciarán – a three-time Killane winner – winning against Jack Killane in little more than an hour. It’s a game well worth sharing!
...continues, with two analysed games

Nice tactic with that last move Ciaran, darn sure beat my first thought oabout that position (NxP) :pac:

Rathmines' report so far is shorter but faster, being on twitter (damn nice to see clubs using tech like this btw):

Ciaran

Sparks wrote: »

Nice tactic with that last move Ciaran, darn sure beat my first thought oabout that position (NxP) :pac:

I'd seen that threat the move before thankfully. It was 10.Nxc7 that wrecked my head.

cdeb

Any word from Kilkenny v Bray yesterday? Last game before the Christmas, and a big one in the relegation battle.