The 2009 Galway Chess Congress was held from Oct 9th-11th 2009 in the Salthill Hotel on the promenade in Salthill in Galway. The total entry of 174 was slightly down from last year but there was an excellent atmosphere where most people seemed to enjoy their weekend. Thanks to everyone, especially those who travelled long distances to play.

GM Baburin - winner of the Galway Masters 2009

Masters section

The Masters section entry list was dominated by Alex Baburin GM after the late withdrawal of last year's winner Yury Rochev. However, it turned out a little tighter than expected when Ryan Griffiths drew with Alex on Saturday night while John Merriman from England won a tense game with Zaidan Zulkipli of Galway to reach 4/4. John then beat Griffiths to reach 5/5 and set up a decider with Alex needing to win to take the title. In the final round both players were due black and Merriman, as the higher-placed player got the colour he was due, leaving Alex with the white pieces. John reported after the decisive game that he felt "battered" as Alex clinched the title for the 3rd time.

Much later on, David Fitzsimons beat Ryan Griffiths in order to claim a share of runners-up spot.

The games above plus a selection of other games can be found here.   Alex sent us a couple of copies of ChessToday where he analyzes his final round game with John Merriman (pdf | pgn | cbv ) as well as his first round game v Tony Scannell (pdf | pgn | cbv )

Final Standings

1st	Alex Baburin	5.5
2nd=	John Merriman	5
	David Fitzsimons	5

Grading prizes went to David Murray and Bernard Boyle.

Check out the Masters section final standings and cross-table.

---

Majors section

In the Major section (Under 1800 rating), Oissine Murphy won the title after winning his first five matches and then agreeing a draw with Dave Smith in round 6 to secure overall victory. Oissine was rated under 1200 only a year ago so he is obviously making strong progress! There was a log-jam for 2nd with Dave Smith (Cork) sharing second prize with Pat Fitzsimons (Elm Mount), Dave O'Kelly (Cork), Philip Munro (Celbridge) and Pat McMahon (Galway).

Below - winner Oissine Murphy:

Check out the Major section final standings and cross-table.

---

Minors section

In the Minor section (Under 1200 rating), Mark Monahan from NUI Galway with 5.5/6 won the Hugh Finan Perpetual trophy on a tie-break from Tim Wyse(Gonzaga) after both players won their last game. Curiously, they did not play each other due to the number of other players around full points during the comp. Mark who had to be content with 3rd place last year can now be happy to move into the Majors. Third place went to Peter Doyle from Cork.

Grading prizes went to Conall Hegarty (NUIG), Ivan Durdyich (Gonzaga), Catherine Hearne (Kilkenny), Herikson da Silva (Ennis), Patrick Gaughan (Belmullet), Cian Porteus (Gonzaga) and Diana Mirza (Limerick).

Below: Minor winner Mark Monahan can hardly contain his delight at his win:

Below: Diana Mirza, the happiest winner all weekend!

Check out the Minor section final standings and cross-table.