Kelly excels in Dublin

While many preferred the Ulster Rapidplay on Easter Monday, one hardy soul ventured South for the whole holiday weekend and picked up some prize-money for his efforts. Rookie reports:

At Easter in Dublin, Martin Kelly (Belfast South) followed up his 4/6 in the Gonzaga Under-1800s with 5/7 in the e2e4 Under-1750 Major. He was unbeaten in the 7 round event.

Final results of e2e4 Dublin Major

After a first round travelling bye, Kelly was full of the "joyce" of spring after a difficult draw with Stephen Joyce. After a win and draw in the next two rounds, he was able to "waltz" past Cathal Walsh in Round Five in the game below:

[Event "e2e4 Major"] [Site "Dublin"] [Date "2013.03.31"] [Round "5"] [White "Kelly, Martin"] [Black "Walsh, Cathal"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B90"] [Annotator "Kelly"] [PlyCount "74"] [EventDate "2013.03.29"] [SourceDate "2013.04.11"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. a4 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be2 Be6 9. Bg5 Nbd7 10. f4 h6 11. Bxf6 Nxf6 12. f5 Bd7 13. O-O Rc8 14. Kh1 Rxc3 $5 15. bxc3 Nxe4 16. Qd3 Nf6 17. Bf3 Qc7 18. Nd2 O-O 19. Ne4 Nxe4 ({Not} 19... Bxf5 {because} 20. Nxf6+ {wins a piece.}) 20. Bxe4 f6 {To avoid 21.f6.} 21. Qd5+ Kh8 22. Qxb7 Qxb7 23. Bxb7 a5 24. c4 Rb8 25. Ba6 Rb2 26. Bb5 $1 Bxb5 27. axb5 Rxc2 28. Rxa5 Rxc4 29. b6 Kh7 30. Ra7 Bd8 31. b7 Bc7 32. Rb1 h5 33. Ra8 Kh6 34. Rc8 $1 Kg5 35. Rxc7 Rxc7 36. b8=Q Rc4 37. Qxd6 Kxf5 $2 {38. Qd3 wins the Rook.} (37... Rf4) 1-0

In Round Six on Board Two, joint leader Ronan Murphy was "groanin'" after losing to Kelly in a swashbuckling, sacrificial game, not for the fainthearted. The final round saw Kelly on Board One face last year's winner, Bulgarian Atanis Kouthev, nicknamed "Attack" or "Attila the Hun", who was a half point clear and needed only a draw to win. Kelly remembered losing on Board Two in the last round at Gonzaga but knew a win this time would get him a first prize of 400 Euros. Instead, he chickened out with a Grandmaster draw to finish second. What would you have done in the final position in the game below? Answers on a postcard to......ROOKIE.

[Event "e2e4 Major"] [Site "Dublin"] [Date "2013.04.01"] [Round "7"] [White "Kelly, Martin"] [Black "Kouthev, Atanas"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B07"] [Annotator "Kelly"] [PlyCount "18"] [EventDate "2013.03.29"] [SourceDate "2013.04.11"] 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 c5 4. dxc5 Qa5 5. cxd6 $5 Nxe4 6. dxe7 Bxe7 7. Bd2 ({ White considered} 7. Qd5) 7... Nxd2 8. Qxd2 Be6 9. Bb5+ Nc6 1/2-1/2