Over the years regular participants playing for various clubs have included some of the strongest players in Ireland. Boards one and two, often have had players such as Alexander Baburin, Stephen Brady, Mark Quinn, Sam Collins, Mark Heidenfeld, Joe Ryan too mention but a few. Up until this year Mark Quinn being undefeated in over 5 years/seasons (at least), but the King of the Armstrong must be Stephen Brady who, for four out of the last five years, has scored 9.5 points from 11 all on board one.

The last time I played more than a few games in the Armstrong had been around 14-15 years ago. Back then I had scored ten points out of 11 rounds (two draws) and I was hoping I might score something similar again this year - well you have to be an optimist right? I knew it would be tough as there are a few very strong opponents to be faced.

However while I confidently assumed that I could get at least two, or two and a half, points out of three in the three most crucial games, and then basically win all of the other games. I was to be completely stunned and humbled by what actually unfolded. Never before had I had such weird and unpredictable results. It is not as if I have never had major reversals before. My sometimes erratic play has certainly provided me with all manner of tragic/comical misfortunes.

In the case of the Armstrong cup this year I could only laugh and conclude that I am truly on the slippery slope of a speedy decline as a chess player. Oddly enough, while this should be a somewhat traumatic experience, it turned out to be more of a liberating and bemusing sort of feeling.

It does help make things feel better for me when I follow the fortunes of one of my favorite top players around today. I speak of Grandmaster Alexander Morozevich who never fails to confound you with his erratic results and highly original and creative approach. One moment he is flying high and the next he is in last place at the likes of the 2009 Corus super GM event.

In my own case I have to admit that possibly my biggest weakness as a chess player has always been motivation and discipline. When I am motivated or fired up I usually play very well and achieve good results, but when I am lazy, or uninspired by the prospect of playing players much weaker, I sometimes go into an arrogant auto pilot mode and do some really silly things.

The extent of this should really only see me draw games I should win, but the other major flaw I have always had as a player is perspective, or timely objectivity in being able to just draw out a game when that is all is left in a position. Too often I have managed to lose games that were drawn and this at least has provided me with plenty of funny stories.

Round 2

The first game from round two against Karl McPhillips was a good start for me. Playing one of Ireland's rising stars who has won quite a few tournaments in recent years was interesting. I did do some preparation but it was me who, as White, was surprised first, and after losing the opening preparation battle we had the following interesting position below:

I had just played Qb1 and was trying to figure out if I could get some advantage. But Karl surprised me again with a very aggressive move which was also unsound. You can play through the game here to see how things unfolded, or just click on the diagram.

Round 3

So with a win under my belt against one of the top three, things were looking good. Next up would be Stephen Brady who up until 2002 had often been a problem opponent for me. But as I wrote elsewhere; around 2002 I changed my whole approach and instead of underestimating Stephen I took extra care to not take stupid risks or spurn draws. Well with one silly exception I have not lost a single game to Stephen since 2002, though we have not played as much as we used to. What was interesting about this game was that again I had prepared alot, but it was Stephen who was to gain the psychological edge by subverting my preparation completely.

The last time I had White against Stephen he had also avoided my preparation. That was back in 2005 at the Irish Chess Championships when he played his usual French defense, but after 1E4-E6, 2 D4 -D5, 3 Nc3 he played 3...dxe4 which spoiled my preparation, but still lead to a win for me nonetheless. Though I can hardly have claimed any opening advantage

In this latest game against Stephen after I played 1 E4, I was all set for E6 and a French defense, but to my utter amazement Stephen played 1... C6 and we had a Caro Kann, which is an opening he has hardly ever played as Black. Clearly this was strike one to Stephen, so in order to balance things out I played an off beat variation and after one mistake from Stephen I had a clear advantage, but then I made one mistake and the position was almost totally equal. But I had some pressure and my position, given below, looked more threatening than it was.

The position looks good for White in that he has ideas like Nd5 and maybe Nf4-d3,c5 or a timely Qf3 or d5, all dependent on Blacks next few moves. However the position is probably just equal or a fraction better for White. Still Black should be able to hold the position without too much difficulty. Black now played ...Bg7 and after Nd5 with the threat of a fork on b6 Black played ... Rb8 and I played the menacing Qh4 and we had the position below.

White now threatens Ne7 and Black probably feared Nf6-Bxf6 Qxf6 followed by ideas of h4-h5 and or g4 or even a timely D5 so I was not totally surprised when Black now blundered and made the game a purely technical affair. Can you see what Black now played?

Black played ...Qd8 and you can fill in the blanks to see how we arrived at the position below:

If Black had recaptured on D8 with the rook on b8 then White had Nc7 which forks the rook on e8 and the pawn on b5. In any event I was now a little bit worried as to how I might win and started to see some good ideas for Black which would make it very hard for White to win. Also because it was Stephen I was playing, I also knew he would be very alert to any chances that there were in the position. It was vital for me to keep a lid on the position and keep firm control or otherwise I could end up only drawing. This was underlined when Black played ...b4 and I had a very long think over how to best proceed. You can play through the rest of game and see how tricky it got. The key moment of a break through is from the position below:

From the above position White now launched a lethal attack with 47.Rb5 Rc1 48.Rc5+ Kd7 49.Rb2! (with the threat of Rb7) Kc8 50.Rb6! (with the threat of Rc6) Kd8 51.Rb7 Bg3 52.Rxa5 White had achieved all he wanted, so in desperation Black tried Rxc3+ 53.Kxc3 Be1+ 54.Kc4 Bxa5 but resigned soon after 55.Rxf7 g5 56.Kc5 Ke8 57.Rg7 Bd2 58.Kd6 Kf8 59.

So a better start I could hardly have hoped for? All I had to do now was beat Mark Quinn and I was odds on for 10 out of 10 right?. Now that would be a nice return to the Armstrong, or so I had been thinking! Such confidence or arrogance-depending on your perspective, is all too often punished brutally with a major reversal.

Round 4

The irony being that my first big setback was after I played a pretty good game against Peter Cafolla. This after arriving very late, and having showed due diligence and nursed an advantage all the way into the endgame. Peter understandably had been playing for a draw at every turn and though he tried to exchange as many pieces as possible I was still proud of the way I had engineered a position that gave good winning chances. From the position below I found a nice way to create real problems for White.

A few moves before I had decided to go for it and instead of playing it too safe, which may have resulted in a draw, I had sensed that there was a win to be had here. It is a very delicate position as if Black gets it wrong and does not see the active way to play the position he could even be worse! I now played ...Rd3 check and after Kf2 I took on c3 with the knight, so then after bxc3-Rxc3 it is easier to see the strength of this temporary piece sac.

Objectively I doubt Black is winning but he does have an advantage and the changed nature of the position is also sure to put White off balance. Maybe Ne1 was the best defence? After 35.Ne1 Rc1 36.Rb2! Ra1! With advantage Black.

In any event White played pretty much as I had expected and I was able to go into a technically winning rook ending only to blow it with an amazing blunder that left me with only a draw. A minor disaster for me- I could still aim for 9.5 out of 10 or so I thought - you have to love my positive outlook right?. White played 35.Nxe5? and after 35...Rc2 36.Nxc4 Rxc4 37.Ke3 Rc3+! I think maybe the position is won for Black [with best play]. You can see how the game ended and judge for yourself the relative merits of the resulting ending and how it was played.

I wrote off the game as great example of why it really does not pay to be very late for games, even against players rated hundreds of points below you in rating. This was ,oddly enough, also one of the rare times when I had a genuine reason for being so late. I departed with what I thought was plenty of time but spent about 40 minutes trying to get on to the N11 from the US Embassy which is a distance of less than half a mile!

Anyway while it is true that I should be able to beat Peter fairly easily regardless I can't really complain as he did not make many mistakes and took his chance well when it came. That chance you can see below:

Even one draw like this can be a painful result but worse was to come! My next game was supposed to be against Mark Quinn but because he was playing for Ireland at the Dresden Olympiad we would play our round five game only after I had played my round six game against Andrew Cooper. A tactically capable player.

Round 6

As with all the players I played this season, aside from the top three of Karl, Stephen and Mark, I did not bother with any preparation, as I felt there was no need and anyway it was also more "fun" to just decide on the night what I might play. The beautiful irony of this was that when it came to the top three I played, the preparation was rendered obsolete by clever choices by all three and I got little advantage from the openings, only gaining the upper hand in the middle game. By contrast my make it up approach in the other games was less fruitful indeed.

The position above is a typical Benko type position with Black having enough compensation for the pawn. However White now goes wrong and things seemed to be going quite well for me. There were many curious and interesting moves which now followed and you can play through the game, which has some notes,to see how things unfolded.

The tragic comedy aspect of this game can be seen from the position which resulted above after White had just played Rf2 and Black had very little time left. I now went very badly wrong and managed to throw away all my advantage. Then going on to lose ignominiously. I now played Bd4? [35...c2? 36.Rc1 Qxa2 37.Rfxc2 Qa7+ 38.Kh1 Rxd7 39.Rc8 Rdxf7 And Black should win by keeping on one pair of rooks and queens on the board. 40.Qb5 Qe3 41.Rxf8+ Rxf8 42.Rd1 Be5] 36.Kh1 c2 37.Rc1 Qd5?? and after a few more moves Black had to resign. My opponent could hardly believe his luck and was as shocked and stunned about this turn around as I was after the game.

Meanwhile I was losing any interest in keeping score and was just thinking in terms of saving my rating for the rest of the season. Next up would be Mark Quinn! Well at least this would give me a chance to get back some of the lost ratings points and it would be a game that would require me to play up a few gears.

Round 5

The last time I had played Mark was in a rapid play game in which I rode my luck a bit to gain a still nice enough win. However the time before that had been a very painful loss in which I played a really good game, one of my better efforts from the period, only to make a mess of things in the time scramble. Mark showed his usual tenacious fighting qualities to grab a win after turning the position around in a frenetic time scramble that saw me fiddling while Rome burns.

It was quite a shock to the system because the opening had seen some nice accurate moves by White and what was set up to be well played game had descended into a chaotic and shambolic defeat. The game is well worth a look. Anyway! Back to my Armstrong game, well this had a few twists and turns too.

Yet again my preparation was rendered useless by a surprise on move one! After 1E4 Mark played Nf6, again strike one to my opponent as I had to change my plans and consider my options after just one move. It had occurred to me that as a team mate of Alexander Baburin (he sometimes plays for Kilkenny too) who is one of the leading exponents of the Alekhines defense, I would be giving away my preparation against Alexander if I played one of the main line variations. So accordingly I opted to keep that in reserve and instead played the more modest 2 Nc3, which soon transposed into a French defense variation not at all far from some of my intended preparation for Stephen Brady. After the opening phase we had the position below:

I was hoping that Black might play ...Na4,...Nd7 or Nxd3 all of which give White an advantage but of course I expected that Mark would play the more bold move ...Ne4 instead. I was very unsure about how to assess things after this move but I reasoned that White could hardly be worse and the Black pawn on E4 should be as much a weakness as it was clearly a strength. I would not be able to just swap everything off on E4 owing to the weakness of c2 but I figured I might be able to set up a blocked position first and then later go after the E4 pawn. Soon we had the position below:

I now played Rac1 which seems natural enough, but after the game Mark suggested that Rf2 might have been stronger and I think he is spot on. After Rf2 I could follow up with Rae1 and I think White can get some advantage. However my plan was not to go after the E4 pawn quickly but rather to solidify my position in the center by setting up a strong blockade or fortress type set up and only then go on the offensive.

To that end I thought it a good idea to bolster the bishop on D4 and re-develop the knight to the Kside where it might have more offensive options available, this explains the position below:

This is a critical moment in the game. It seems like White has ideas like f4-f5 and or Nh5, Rae1 plus Nxe4 and Black must be very careful how he proceeds. Objectively I think Black is probably equal but he must play actively and with conviction. One clear option was ...Bh4 which seems to make things level straight away. If White plays Nxe4 then after Qc6 White has to play g3 which leads to a sterile endgame.

Instead I think that perhaps Mark was perhaps losing faith with the Black position and was perhaps unduly worried? During the game I was thinking that maybe he had intended to play Qa2 but got nervous about f4-f5 as a response? In any event Mark now played ...Qd3 which I think is risky, as one of his potentially most active piece gets taken out of the game.

The result of which after 22.Qxd3 exd3 23.Rcd1! [The more natural looking 23 Rfd1 to avoid the tactic of Bd5-Bc4 does not work because of the reply 23...a5 with more than enough counter play] Bd5 24.Rfe1 Bc4 25.Ne4 is an endgame below which requires very accurate play.

Mark now played a move which completely shocked me at the time and as it turns out I was right to be surprised because it is just bad. White was threatening to just play Nf2 and win the pawn on d3, plus ideas of Bc5 were in the air. However Black is still ok in this position and could have now played ...A5 instead of the very dramatic ...Rxd4? After ...Rxd4 26.cxd4 Rd8 27.Kf2 Rxd4 28.Ke3 Rd5 29.Nf2 g5 30.Nxd3 Black was in big trouble.

After this I felt that White was winning and it would just be a matter of technique, though as my previous loss to Mark had shown me so well, he was not going to go down without a fight, and a fight is exactly what I still had on my hands here in the position below:

After 30.Nd3 gxf4+ 31.Ke4! Black was in full retreat. A few moves later and White was on the offensive. A few more accurate moves and we had the position below:

White now threatens the Black king so Black makes some space with ...F5 then after 34.exf6 Bxf6 35.Rg3+ Kf7 36.Rf3 Ke7 37.Rh3 Kf8 38.Rd6 Ba2 we have the last bit of drama in the game:

For some reason, which I can not explain I now became very confused and then flustered, then with the looming time scramble I lost my balance and started to see all sorts of ghosts. The simple Rb6 I had seen but after a long think I inexplicably played Rxe6 with the idea that it was a way to simplify the position. It turned out I had to be very careful and in a sense had to win the game all over again. The rest of the game was played in mutual time trouble, but White just about managed to keep a cool head and prevail. Play through the game here.

Round 7

So it seemed I was back on track for some sort of a decent result and I might even make a few rating points? Alas this was not to be as I started 2009 with more stupid results. Playing White against another rising star David Fitzsimons I played such lazy and pedestrian chess as to give the impression that I thought I need only turn up and push pieces around the board to get an easy win. I recall thinking that after I played Qe2 I would just exchange bishops on a6 and somehow David would go wrong and I would win later on. Such an attitude is is odd and likely to lead to one mistake after another.

In fairness to David he played perfectly sensible moves, failed to make a mistake and after some very boring and robotic chess by me we ended up with the position below:

The endgame is quite equal and I really should have been content to write this off as a bad day and just accept that this was heading towards a draw. Now Nc2 followed by Kf1 was a simple way to keep things safe and dull.

If Nc2 Black can play d5! With a clear advantage, this owing to the fact that after E5, Nd7 - F4. Nc5 the pawn on g4 hangs and White has no good way to proceed. Instead the best move by far was Nf5 which would have been good enough to make a draw. In fairness to David, he did see this line and after I now played Nd5 he played accurately to win well in the end. You can play through the rest of the game.

So another major reversal which makes a mockery of my original aspirations for a high score or even just a rating gain from the Armstrong. Things could hardly get much worse right? Wrong! Things could get alot worse, but my next game was truly comical.

Round 8

I thought I would be playing Tony Fox but instead I had to face Bernard Palmer whom I had beaten every time we have played for the past 19 years or so. Well they say every dog has his day, and I guess this was to be Bernards. Firstly he arrived even later than me, which was great! I always appreciate such time gifts from opponents. Goodness knows I give out such gifts often enough.

However from the start it was clear he was going to keep the position as drawish as possible. To his credit he did that quite well and I never showed any imagination or guile to seriously test him. The hilarious part is that after I found myself in a sterile position I kept trying to create some unbalanced play and in typical suicide mode I actually went over the line and left myself in the position below:

Having played a sensible game as Black, but being frustrated with only a draw I should have just accepted the fact that White has played well enough to get a draw and after all Bernard did draw with a 2550 GM with the same opening just a couple of years ago.

Still unable to digest the bitter pill that was a draw against Bernard I over pressed and in the position above White agreed to a draw when in fact he should have won! I dont see how I can hold on after the exchange of Queens followed by F4. White is certainly experienced enough to know how to play the position so I guess I should be thankful that my season did not get even worse.You can play through the game with some light notes.

Round 9

By now it was clear that this Armstrong season was one big joke for me and goodness only knows what I might expect from the remaining games. The next game saw me face David Goggins whom I had not played in nearly twenty years. I sort of recall that it had been in the Branigan Cup and I had played The Schliemann Defence. (aka. Jaenisch Gambit) just for fun and managed to win a decent game. Now I just played a normal Sicilian which became a Sozin, and after one inaccuracy by David, and then one from me, we had the position below:

From the position above I had expected that White would exchange on E6 with the bishop and the weakness of the F and e pawns might then balance out to make the position about equal. However perhaps David felt this was too obvious and wanted to be more aggresive? In any event he now played F5 and after I took on b3 we had the position below:

Can you guess what Black now played? Well suffice to say that White resigned after Blacks next move. Sometimes the good players make their own luck and sometimes they are just lucky. In this case I could only laugh!

Round 10

With the boost from my last game I was now thinking I might as well enjoy my remaining games and playing Black against Gerry O Connell is actually quite tricky. He has not beaten me in so long now that I can not even remember it [ I am assuming he must have beaten me, but I don't recall if he actually has - considering how many time we have played there must be a loss of mine in there among a lot of draws?] , but anyway he is a dangerous player who has got results against all sorts of players from GM's downwards, even beating Stephen Brady twice in the Armstrong over the past few years.

Apparently along with Alexander Baburin (and myself this year) the only games Stephen has lost in at least five years on board one in the Armstrong Cup have been to Gerry. The point being that Gerry is no push over and you have to be on your guard, especially as Black when his experience and knowledge of his openings is such that it can be hard to get many serious winning chances.

Overall my success rate as either color against Gerry probably is something like 2 wins for every draw or perhaps just a win for every draw? I am not sure but I know he has drawn with me many times when it hurt badly. Then again he has provided me with the chance to have many nice wins too, and in this penultimate round game in the 2008/2009 Armstrong Cup I played possibly my best game from the season. Culminating in the position below with Black to move. It is a very pleasing end to an interesting game and a good fight which restored some little bit of pride for me in an otherwise bizzare and highly unpredictable season.

Once again suffice to say that White resigned after Blacks next move. If you can not guess Blacks moves from the last two rounds then send me an email and I will post the winning moves at the bottom of the page.

Round 11

So to my last game of the season, which was not without it's moments either. The curious thing about this games was that my opponent; Frank McMahon made full use of his time and instead of moving quickly he thought long and hard about his moves, which is exactly what a player shoud do when playing someone much higher rated.

At the end of the game I had over one hour and twenty minutes time advantage but I still had to play carefully, such was the fighting spirit of Frank. After a long period of not much happening in the position I finally had a chance to actually take complete control and win material. From the position below I found a direct way to proceed which nevertheless required a cool head after Whites response.

From the above position Black now played Bxd4 35.cxd4 Qd8! hitting both d4 and H4 and after White tried 36.Rd2 Qxh4 37.Ba2 Rd8! 38.d5 h5 39.d6 hxg4 40.fxg4 Qg5 41.Rd1 We had the position below:

Can you guess what Black played now? Well of course it is not hard to see, but the funny thing is that after I played ...Bc6 I actually got a bit of a fright. Amusingly just after I played my move, which I had been intending to do from a few moves back, I suddenly had my eyes playing tricks on my brain. Somehow for a moment I thought that after White took on C6 my intention of playing Qg4 check could be foiled by Qf3, which of course is impossible. It was only after I done a double check that I realised this and relaxed again. Soon after Bc6 the game ended in a few moves 42.Qxc6 Qxg4+ 43.Kf2 Qxd1 44.Qxb6 Qxd6 45.Qxa5 Qd2+ 0-1