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