The eighth Galway International Chess Tournament, held at the Salthill Hotel last weekend, was the most successful yet for local chess players with Galway club members winning two of the three sections and collecting nearly €1,000 in prize money.
Oissine Murphy from Knocknacarra and Mark Monahan from NUIG both won their sections after three days of intense competition. Mr Murphy won €450 for winning the largest section of the tournament while Mr Monahan won the Hugh Finan Memorial Cup for winning the section limited to those relatively new to chess.
Mr Murphy is now in the top three in Ireland in his u-14 age bracket and will represent Ireland in the world u-14 championships in Turkey next month.
The tournament, which had an overall prize fund of €3,600, is one of the top three chess tournaments in Ireland and it attracted 175 players from as far away as Slovakia. The top prize was won by Russian grand master Alex Baburin, Ireland’s top player.
Other sections were won by Fintan Hegarty (NUIG ), Ruth Cormican (Oranmore ), and Conall Hegarty. Ms Cormican, who is a fifth year student, is already an Irish international and this was another impressive performance from a very talented player.
The Galway chess club, which ran this tournament, meets on Thursdays from 8pm at the Galway Bridge Centre. See the club website at www.galwaychess.net for more information.
