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The Armstrong Cup

I got some feedback on this report and so based on this I have made some additions which I have coloured in red.

The final round of the Armstrong cup 03-04 was concluded on Saturday the 15th of May at the ALSAA Sports Complex Dublin Airport. I can safely say that this year represents a high point for the club. The A team won it's third successive title while the B team finished 5th easily it's best ever result. I will give below a brief report on how both teams performed as well as some comments on the event itself.

Leinster Chess Union Div 1 Armstrong Cup 2003 - 2004 Final Table

Po Team P W D L Adj Def Pts
1 Phibsboro A 11 56 17 15 0 0 64.5
2 Dublin 11 47 21 20 0 0 57.5
3 Gonzaga 11 41 21 26 0 0 51.5
4 Kilkenny 11 30 36 22 0 0 48
5 Phibsboro B 11 32 22 34 0 0 43
6 Wicklow 11 31 23 34 0 0 42.5
7 Rathmines / Crumlin 11 31 21 36 0 0 41.5
8 Dun Laoghaire 11 24 34 30 0 1 40
9 St Benildus 11 23 30 35 0 0 38
10 Bray / Greystones 11 26 25 37 0 1 37.5
11 Rathmines A 11 23 29 36 0 0 37.5
12 Rathmines B 11 12 25 51 0 2 22.5



Armstrong A team:

Ably captained by Stephen Brady who led from the front with a score of 9.5/11 on board 1. Other board prize winners were Paul Dempsey (8.5/10), John Nolan (9/11), Herbert Scarry (9.5/11) and finally, Tony Mooney with an amazing score of 10.5 out of 11. The team only used one sub for the entire season, which I believe, was the reason it did so well.

Armstrong B team:

Captained by myself. This season we were fortunate to add Joe Ryan on board one. Joe really showed the benefit of a strong board one with a score of 9 out of 11 (In fact apart from Phibsboro players only one other player won a board prize). I feel every player on the team contributed to our best ever finish. This year we won 5 matches, which is the most since we returned to the Armstrong 4 seasons ago.

The Season:

I personally believe that with the possible exception of the Irish Championship the Armstrong is the number one event in Ireland. It has a long history and tradition which the powers to be would do well to maintain. I have my own views, which I will express here on a number of matters.

The Good:

1. Gerry Behan does a superb job ever year of controlling the event I hope that he keeps doing this for many years to come.
2. In the last few years Peter Scott has been running the Leinster leagues site. This has been a superb service updated every week it's now possible to know how your team is doing throughout the season. Years ago this was always a matter of total mystery.
3. The last round. This innovation has been around for a number of years but I feel woks very well. The time control is good, plus having all the teams together adds a social element to what can be a very solitary activity. The above combined with the inevitable excitement and tension makes for a good day.

The bad:

1. The fixture list was a total mess this year. We had matches scheduled for both Patrick's day and Easter Saturday. It seems to me that this was extremely careless and no more then a few minutes work with a calendar to rectify.
2. FIDE rating. This was proposed and passed a couple of seasons ago and was as far as I know approved. What happened?
3. Prize giving. All I have said about the last day above is true yet there were no medals awarded and nothing was said the finale left a lot to be desired.

The ugly:

Just one here really, in the final round 3 teams realistically could be relegated with Rathmines B already gone. This left Rathmines A, Bray/Greystones and St. Benildus in the mix. For this match Bray managed to find new boards 1, 2 and 3, all strong players. None of these players to my knowledge were members of Bray chess club in fact 2 drove down from the North to play in the match. As far as I am aware there are no rules to prevent this but I do feel there is something very unsavoury about it. Anyone I spoke to about it (obviously apart from those from Bray) felt that it was wrong. It is interesting to note that a similar issue recently arose in the 4NCL and sparked of a row on the pages of the BCM website. I have outlined a few proposals:
1. A player must be a current or past member of the club to play in the leagues.
2. A player must have played at least one game for the club during the course of the season to play in the last round.
3. If a team has a shortage of players in the last round and must use subs that have not already played for them, then these subs will play on the lowest boards. E.g. Team has only 5 players and requires 3 subs for the last round then the 3 subs play on boards 6,7 and 8.

I recieved some emails from Bray chess Club and I would like to clarify my remarks. It was not my intent to pick them out and they quite correctly pointed out that they were not the first club to do this. In fact Phibsboro themselves added an extra player in the last round last year! However I don't feel that this changes the point I was trying to make. I will apologise if any offense was taken and do bear in mind this is just my view I am always happy to post a message that disagrees with me.

Events have moved on and the LCU have clarified the matter in their AGM. I think what I was trying to suggest was a level playing field for all.

 

copyright Phibsboro Chess Club 2004 all comments and opinions expressed represent the views of the contributors and not necessarily those of the club.