Leinster Schools Chess League – U16

The St. Andrew’s As scored a notable 4-1 win against the fancied Enniscorthy team on Wednesday, Jan 27^th with Alice and Tom O’Gorman, William Dowd and Sacha Bistany all securing wins.  The result puts the team top of the table in the race to qualify for the league finals later this month.

Inaugural Enniscorthy Chess Congress

Three of the team returned to Wexford, this time to Bunclody, for the inaugural Enniscorthy Chess Congress – a weekend event of six 4-hour games from Friday evening through to Sunday.

In the top Masters section, Tom O’Gorman secured a his FIRST DRAW with a chess Grandmaster, erstwhile St. Andrew’s parent, Alex Baburin GM, to come fourth. Tom was the top scoring untitled player behind only the two Grandmasters and the International Master in the field.

Ross Beatty WON the Major section. Unbeaten on 5.5 from 6,  third seed Ross took victory in each of his first five games, the latter three of which were live on the web. When a nice attack culminated in Ross spurning a free rook to instead go for (and deliver) mate against the second seed in Round 5, he was a full point clear of the field needing only the draw he duly secured in the final round.

In the Challengers section, Sacha Bistany played his FIRST CLASSIC* Weekender scoring a creditable 2 from 6.  It is hoped to see more members of the St. Andrew’s chess club take up the “Weekender” challenge.

*  Note: Classic (as distinct from Blitz and Rapid) chess refers to games with time controls greater than 60 mins per player.

The chess club meets every Monday lunchtime in Room 1.01. Drop in and give it a go.