2005 irish open

The Irish Open is normally dominated by foreign players, but this year for once the homegrown talent outnumbered the guests.

It is held in the heart of Dublin at The Teachers Club in Parnell Square. For those seeking to relax a pint of the traditional Black stuff is available upstairs from the bar (non non smoking after new Irish laws). The Friday night sees a blitz tournament which features ever fast games as the rounds progress.Starting out at 20 minutes each but reducing down eventually to 10 ! A real bang the stones down time limit. It was won on tiebreak by the EGF president Tony Atkins visiting from England. The main event was won by a young Chinese man called Yung Chen who is studying in Dublin with a perfect 5/5. He beat the Korean Consul D.K.Kim in the last round.

Personally this was my best ever tournament, winning 5/5 - and beating two shodans! I think it's because I enjoy the relaxed atmosphere in Dublin. Aside from the normal Go we took time to enjoy ourselves. The traditional Saturday night meal was held in a local Korean Restaurant were we played liar dice and feasted. On Sunday there was the first game of VertiGo on Aidan Walsh's new board. It was handcrafted by him from 400 seperate pieces of timber. Next year the Irish Open will be even bigger as it is included in the European Toyota Tour.