Naomh Barróg had its third and last game in the Killane Shield Group A on Thursday July 20th against Dublin Chess Club. The game was away in Dublin’s cosy clubhouse, which featured a welcoming bar and a not so welcoming flight of stairs. It was a tough match against the strongest team in the group, whose players outranked us by between 400 to 600 points.
Robert played the Alapin Sicilian and quickly traded off Queens. After a tense middlegame, he found a tactic where his opponent had to sacrifice their Knight for two pawns. Although he had a material advantage, it was a complex endgame with two Rooks against a Rook and a Bishop. A single subtle mistake was enough to cost him the game as it gave his opponent enough momentum to promote a pawn.
Seamus opened as Black with a variation of the Czech Defence but lost a pawn in the middlegame. His opponent miscalculated a combination when trying to simplify, and lost his Queen in the process, giving Naomh Barróg our only win of the night.
Suzanne played the English opening and fought a mostly even match but ended up losing in the endgame.
Martin played the Karo-Cahn and both players fought for the centre. It was an even game until his opponent sacrificed his Bishop on g6, taking out a pawn and gaining a winning position.
John played the Queen’s Gambit Declined as White. It was very even going into the middlegame, but he made a slight positional blunder and his opponent took full advantage. After a very long game, he resigned.
Paul played the Pirc Defence but blundered a piece. He counter-attacked and put his opponent under pressure for a while, but in the end his inferior position was untenable and he resigned.
