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Round 4 Today saw Brian Kelly take the sole lead and the only player on maximum points as he squeezed out a win in a very close rook and pawn endgame. The critical moment which I had observed was in the following position.
At the time I had a strong feeling that this just might be winning and the next day I asked Brian about this. He reckons that it seems to be but that he was surprised that Stephen resigned when he did a few moves later. It is a very unusual ending and it is clever the way Black has played it. After now Ra8 and...Rh8 White does have problems and the game only lasted another six moves! The following position being the point of resignation.
Colm Daly (thats me, your humble narrator) lost to Phillip Short in a tragic/comedy sort of way. I had got myself into a difficult ending which although I should have been able to draw was not easy. In a moment of madness which I cant explain and anyway happens to us all at times I just dismissed the safety concerns I had for my king and created a self mate net.
I now played Ke4?? after which I am totally lost and to be honest I actually didnt even see the final killer move until Phillip played it, by which point I was in a daze and the only reason I didnt resign was because I was not sure of what move we were on. To be fair though I have had at least two fluky wins against Phillip in the Irish ch, so as I admitted afterwards he was due one from me. I think this might be the first time I have lost to Phillip in an Irish ch? Which is surprisng in of itself. Embarrasing loss alright but funny too.
The other funny thing is that I done something almost exactly the same last year against Stephen Brady. My next move was Kd4?? Stephen then played Qf3 and I had to resign.
Then again I think I am developing a talent for such dramatic reversals. I have always had a high self destruct factor built in but maybe it is getting worse as I get older? I am begining to think so! I am doomed! Other notable results included Stephen Brady drawing (from a winning position) against John McMorrow in a surprising manner. apparently he had a bad headache for most of the game which might partly explain things. Meanwhile Gerry O Connell out in a brave and impressive defensive performance against Nick Pert who nevertheless was impressivley able to convert a very small advantge into a full point. After he was telling that he was not at all sure it should be a win but that the pressure both on the board and the clock were tough to defend against. Nice win all the same and worthy of study by young up and coming players. The games from this round are now publicly available for download as pgn files. Also See games section for an idea of how this round developed.
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