The Limerick Open 2023 was held on 3rd-5th November at the West County hotel Ennis. There were 84 entries in both the Philip Hogarty Open(42 players ) and the Under 1400 Sections(42 players).
Prize Winners List:
Phillip Hogarty Open:
Joint First prize: IM Oleg Gubanov(UKRAINE, resident in Ennis) and FM Zalan Nemeth(Galway Juniors) who finished on 4.5/5 points.
In Round 5, the top seed IM Oleg Gubanov drew with 2nd seeded FM Zalan Nemeth, from Galway then won the best of 4 3 min + 2 sec blitz playoff games by 3-1 against FM Nemeth to win the perpetual trophy which is a solid two tier wooden carved chess set with a chess problem position.
Joint Third prize was shared by 2 players: Lara Putar(St Benildus) and FM Rory Quinn(Ennis) both on 4/5 points. Lara Putar beat young George Stack(Limerick) and FM Rory Quinn beat NM Robert Arellano(Limerick) in round 5.
Grading prizes:
Darun Govindaraju(Moate Juniors Club) on 3.5/5 points
Elias Faustino Lawlor on 2.5/5 points
Jose Luis Lenzi Bernardino(Brazil) on 2.5/5 points
For the final standings and round by round results please click section
(Click here for Open final standings)U-1400 section:
First prize: Hari Prasad(Limerick) 5/5 points.
Joint Second/Third prize: Jamie Comley(Limerick), Aidan Coll(Ennis), Gabriel Mirza(St Michaels) and Jakov Jagic all on 4/5 points.
Grading prizes
Conor Stinson(Limerick) on 3/5 points
Sam Morris(Limerick) on 3/5 points
Denis Silva(Brazil) on 3.5/5 points
Matthew Dzubiany on 3.5/5 points
Krish Bhattacharjee(Cork) on 2.5/5 points
Special thanks to John Cassidy for organising the Limerick Open and Colm O'Muireagain and Yuriy Petrenko for being the Arbiters.
Prizes were presented by John Cassidy. Congratulations to all prize winners!
OPEN SECTION:
2023 Limerick open tournament joint 1st IM Oleg Gubanov(Ennis) with his first prize perpetual trophy. IM Oleg beat the other joint winner FM Zalan Nemeth (Galway) in the best of 4 blitz playoff games 3-1 to decide who gets to keep the perpetual trophy
2023 Limerick Open tournament joint 1st FM Zalan Nemeth (Galway) receiving joint first place prize money from organiser John Cassidy.
2023 Limerick Open joint 2nd place Lara Putar(St Benildus) receiving prize money from John Cassidy.
Limerick Open 2023 joint 2nd place FM Rory Quinn(Ennis).
2023 Limerick Open grading prize winner Darun Govindaraju(Moate Juniors) receiving his grading prize money from John Cassidy. He finished in joint 5th which was a great achievement!
2023 Limerick Open top 3 boards. Closest are IM Oleg Gubanov v Bogdan Neaga. Board 2 were Lara Puter v FM Zalan Nemeth Board 3 were FM Rory Quinn v Darun Govindaraju in which Darun caused the upset of the tournament by winning on time when Rory forgot his clock in a drawish ending.
U-1400 SECTION:
2023 Limerick U-1400 1st prize winner hari Prasad(Limerick) being presented with the Jim Hussey trophy shield and prize money. Hari scored 5/5 points with wins in rds 4 and 5 after working night shift on Saturday.
Jamie Comley(Limerick) who finished in joint 2nd place in 2023 Limerick U-1400 being presented with his prize money by John Cassidy. Jamie is a talented player and one to watch.
One of the 5 Rating prize winners in the 2023 Limerick U-1400 section Conor Stinson (Limerick) who scored 3/5 points receiving prize money from organiser John Cassidy.
Open Section Blitz playoff photos:
The end game of the first Best of 4 Blitz 3+2 min playoff games 2023 Limerick Open section between IM Oleg Gubanov and FM Zalan Nemeth, Zalan has 3 pawns and R to White's 1 pawn, R and B. In the time scramble Zalan hung his R and resigned.
The Catalan was used by FM Zalan in the second Best of 4 Blitz 3+2 min playoff games 2023 in the Limerick Open section to win and tie the score at 1-1. So the Arbiter decided on 2 more blitz games to be played.
The end game of the third Best of 4 Blitz 3+2 min playoff games 2023 Limerick Open section between IM Oleg Gubanov and FM Zalan Nemeth, Zalan is in zugzwang after White's Kc3 IM Oleg plays Kb1 winning the b3 pawn and the game.
At the start of the final Best of 4 Blitz 3+2 min playoff games 2023 Limerick Open section between IM Oleg Gubanov and FM Zalan Nemeth, Zalan has played a Petroff Defence so IM Oleg is playing N takes the e5 pawn.
The final Best of 4 Blitz 3+2 min playoff games 2023 Limerick Open section between IM Oleg Gubanov and FM Zalan Nemeth to decide who gets the perpetual trophy. In this pic of the last game looks like White is 2 pawns down and losing it but IM Oleg turned the tables and won.