Leinster Leagues: Heidenfeld Beat Balbriggan

A mixed week for our four league teams. The Heidenfeld made it three wins from three and the BEA shared the points with St Benildus, while the O’Hanlon lost at home and the Ennis went down by a single game at Malahide.

Heidenfeld: Dún Laoghaire 5½–2½ Balbriggan

Board	Dún Laoghaire	Rating	Result	Balbriggan	Rating
1	Peter J. Hayes	2072	0–1	Aleksejus Pachalov	1985
2	Suleiman Almousa	2008	0–1	Richard O’Donovan	1920
3	Kirill Kholyavko	1992	1–0	Sean Nolan	1930
4	Anthony Fox	1889	½–½	Thomas Brezing	1967
5	Sergey Beryozkin	1933	1–0	Pat Hogan	1852
6	Seamus Duffy	1867	1–0	Jaime Cruz Leo	1851
7	Lorenzo Bianchi	1821	1–0	Gerard Smith	1813
8	Ciaran O’Reilly	1782	1–0	Kieran Howley	1449

The Heidenfeld are still unbeaten in Division 2 after Saturday’s home win. Balbriggan took the top two boards, but everything below that went our way. Kirill Kholyavko won on board 3 with a nice king hunt, Anthony Fox drew with a higher-rated opponent, and Sergey Beryozkin, Seamus Duffy, Lorenzo Bianchi and Ciaran O’Reilly won the bottom four.

Ennis: Malahide 4–3 Dún Laoghaire

Board	Malahide	Rating	Result	Dún Laoghaire	Rating
1	James Kavanagh	1911	½–½	Joe Hackett	1816
2	Gerard Buckley	1890	1–0	David O’Connell	1825
3	Paul Taaffe	1875	½–½	David Mitchell	1786
4	Anthony Whalley	1864	1–0	Brian Martin	1777
5	Frank McMahon	1816	½–½	Peter D. Jackson	1738
6	Vincent Bissett	1804	½–½	Liam O’Daly	1697
7	John Shearan	1681	0–1	Sarthak Arora	1800

Saturday’s Division 3 trip to Malahide came down to one game, and the Ennis will wonder what might have been. David O’Connell was defaulted on board 2 when his phone vibrated, and Brian Martin was unlucky to lose on board 4. Sarthak Arora had a great win on board 7, while Joe Hackett, David Mitchell, Peter Jackson and Liam O’Daly all drew with higher-rated opponents.

O’Hanlon: Dún Laoghaire 1½–4½ Inchicore B

Board	Dún Laoghaire	Rating	Result	Inchicore B	Rating
1	Brian O’Gorman	1748	½–½	Ray Woodhouse	1686
2	Martin Lohan	1689	½–½	Declan Geraghty	1644
3	Chris Ducker	1565	0–1	Chris Sheridan	1639
4	Brian Dunnion	1598	½–½	Patrick J. McGowan	1634
5	Colm Ducker	1480	0–1	Rory Coleman	1699
6	Vedant Trivedi	1227	0–1	Gordon Roe	1691

Wednesday’s Division 4 South match at home was closer than the score suggests. On top board Brian O’Gorman got a lucky draw: Ray Woodhouse was a pawn up in a winning endgame, but panicked with very little time left and offered a draw. Martin Lohan was clearly winning until a missed tactic let his opponent equalise, and the draw was agreed more or less there and then.

Colm Ducker was slightly better but, short of time, missed a rook fork and never recovered. Brian Dunnion played a nice Danish Gambit and looked to have a winning endgame, but Patrick McGowan fought hard for the draw, and Brian couldn’t promote the h-pawn in a rook and pawn against rook ending.

BEA: Dún Laoghaire 2½–2½ St Benildus

Board	Dún Laoghaire	Rating	Result	St Benildus	Rating
1	Thomas O’Neill	1632	1–0	Yiming Fang	1485
2	Luke Thornton	1668	0–1	William Henry	1484
3	Yash Burman	1500	0–1	Rohan Megadi-Walia	1444
4	Dermot O’Reilly	1446	1–0	Serghei Zaporojanu	1550
5	Richard Daly	1507	½–½	Sebastian Johnston	1550

Also at home on Wednesday, in Division 5 South. Thomas O’Neill won on top board, Dermot O’Reilly had a great win over a higher-rated opponent on board 4, and Richard Daly’s draw on board 5 secured a share of the points. The captain’s verdict: unlucky, and on another day we’d have had them.

Next up

• Heidenfeld: away to Elm Mount, Monday 9 November
• BEA: away to Celbridge B, Saturday 14 November
• O’Hanlon: away to Bray/Greystones, Monday 16 November
• Ennis: home to Dundalk, Saturday 28 November

Full fixtures, results and tables are on the Leinster Chess Union league site.