Strong opening as Raharney hosts first chess tournament
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Nikolay Karnaukh (joint second place), Nemhain Doolin (best woman) and Jonathan O’Connor (joint second place).Image 2 of 4
Mert Can Ozarpaci (grading prize 1800-1601), Stefan Kolev (grading prize 1600-1400) and Emir Abiltarov (FIDE unrated).Image 3 of 4
Sean Cummins (left) was presented with the overall prize by Krzysztof Nowak.Image 4 of 4
Senthilnathan Chirag was the youngest and Nowak Jacek was the oldest player.The Third Place was the venue for Raharney Chess Club’s first home tournament last month.
Organised by club founder Krzysztof Nowak, the tournament attracted 45 players from across the country, including a sizeable local contingent. The prize fund consisted of a €600 pot, as well as superbly crafted wooden chess trophies.
Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner, Krzysztof said that he and his club-mates were delighted with how their first tournament went. He also noted that there was an international feel to the event as a wide range of federations were represented, including India, Russia, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Ukraine.
Krzysztof started the club around six months ago. A keen chess player, he said that when he went to look for his nearest chess club, he was to surprised to find out that there was none in the Mullingar area.”I wanted to join a club, but the nearest were in places like Celbridge, Blanchardstown and Drogheda. Every Tuesday I used to drive to Drogheda to play.”We have quite a lot of older guys who haven’t played in ages because there was nowhere to play. We have been lucky to get The Third Place to meet in.”The chess club meets every Thursday at 7pm in The Third Place. For more information email: raharneychess@gmail.com.