Round 1: 8pm Friday night. Tired before starting, but didn't notice that during the game. Nick's club is Limerick.

1. e4 e6 2. Qe2 b6 3. Nf3 Bb7 4. Nc3 c5 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Nc6 7. Be3 g6 8. O-O-O Nf6 9. Bg5 Bg7 Black hasn't seen 10. e5! 10. Nxc6 I was looking at Nb5 leading to Ne6, but thought as I was going to be a piece up I'd keep it simple. 10... Bxc6 11. e5 h6 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. exf6 Qxf6 14. Ne4 Bxe4 15. Qxe4 d5 he's clearly not on form today 16. Rxd5 O-O 17. Rd2 Rac8 18. Qe3 Kg7 19. Rd7 19. Qd4 might have been an option as I do want to swap off material. Not sure how it stands after 19... e5 though. 19... Qf5 20. Bd3 Qg4 21. Qg3 threatening Qxg6 21... Qxg3 22. hxg3 a5 23. Rb7 Rfd8 24. Rd1 Rb8 25. Be4 Rf8 26. Rd6 Rxb7 27. Bxb7 b5 28. Ra6 a4 29. Bc6 Rb8 30. Ra5 b4 31. Rxa4 Kf6 32. b3 Rb6 33. Be4 Ke5 34. f3 f5 35. Bd3 Kd4 36. Kd2 Kc5 37. c4 Kd4 38. f4 g5 39. Ra5 threatening 39... e5 40. Rd5# 39... gxf4 40. gxf4 h5 41. Rb5 I did consider 41. Bxf5! exf5 42. Rxf5 with a bit less hassle on my King-side 41... Ra6 42. Bb1 h4 43. Rxb4 e5 44. fxe5 f4 45. Ke2 Kxe5 46. Kf3 Rf6 47. c5 Rc6 48. Re4+ Kd5 49. Rxf4 Rxc5 49... Kxc5 has the same result after 50. Rc4+ 50. Rf5+ Black resigns 1-0 [Watkins, Mark]

Round 2: 9:30am Saturday morning. Still tired as R1 finished late. Joseph plays for Drogheda.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. Be3 Bg7 6. Nc3 d6 7. Bb5 Bd7 8. f4 a6 9. Nxc6 Bxc6 10. Bxc6+ bxc6 11. Qd2 Rb8 12. Rb1 Qa5 13. O-O Nf6 13... Bxc3 14. Qxc3 Qxa2 is probably a bit greedy on black's part 14. e5 this loses a pawn, but Joseph liked the space down the middle it game him - I agree 14... dxe5 15. fxe5 Qxe5 16. Bf4 Qc5+ 17. Be3 Qd6 18. Qf2 Rb7 a terrible move as Joseph demonstrated. I thought I'd castle and double my rooks on the b file. Now black's king is slowing down the centre. Much better was 18... O-O 19. Ne4 Qd5 20. Nxf6+ Bxf6 21. Rbd1 Qxa2 definitely a bit greedy on black's part. I was happy as long as I was defending f7 or f6 though. White definitely has the upper hand though. 22. Bh6 Qxb2 Still greedy, but I was hoping for 23. Rb1?? Qxb1! 24. Rxb1 Rxb1 25. Qf1 Bd4+!! 26. Be3 Bxe3+ 27. Kh1 Rxf1# 23. Bg7 Rg8 24. Bh6 better might have been 24. Bxf6 Qxf6 25. Qd2 Qd6 26. Qfe1 with a lot of pressure from white 24... Qb6 25. Be3 Qb4 26. Bc5 Qc4 27. Be3 Rb2 28. Qd2 Qd5 29. Qe2 Qb5 30. Qg4 c5 30... c5?? a terrible blunder, survival might be possible after 30... Qb7 31. Qc8# 1-0 [Watkins, Mark]

Round 3: Still tired, but feel I'm playing well.

1. d4 f5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 O-O 6. e3 Nc6 7. c5+ Kh8 8. d5 Na5 9. Qc2 c6 10. dxc6 Nxc6 11. a3 Qa5 12. Bb5 Ne4 I thought I might be winning the c5 pawn after this is over 13. Bxc6 Nxc3 14. Bd2 bxc6 14... Qxc5 seems to hold together as well, but I'm glad I didn't play that given her blunder next move 15. b4 suddenly white is down a piece! Much better was simply 15. Bxc3 Bxc3 15. Qxc3 Qxc3 16. bxc3 15... Qa4 16. Qxa4 Nxa4 although black is a piece up - it's useless on a4 trapped by white's pawns 17. Rc1 Ba6 18. Rc2 Bb5 19. Nd4 Bxd4 swap off material when you're ahead 20. exd4 Rfe8 21. f4 d6 22. Kf2 Bd3 23. Ra2 Bc4 24. Rc2 Bb3 25. Rcc1 having forced white's rook back the black knight can now leave a4 25... dxc5 26. dxc5 Rad8 27. Be3 Nb2 28. Kf3 Nc4 29. Rc3 Nxe3 29... Bd1+ would have kept the bishop for me, but I preferred my knight. She preferred my bishop and was probably correct in that! 30. Rxb3 Nc4 31. Rc3 Rd4 32. Rhc1 Nb2 33. R3c2 Nd3 34. Ke3 Nxc1 35. Kxd4 Rd8+ 36. Kc3 Nd3 36... Nd3?? lost the advantage, terrible blunder. Much better is 36... Rd1 when the knight escapes and possibly grabs c4 into the bargain 37. Rd2 Kg7 38. Rxd3 Rxd3+ I then compound the error by swapping off rooks into a fairly losing endgame. She's struggling on time here and I would almost certainly have won if I had kept the rooks on the board. 39. Kxd3 Kf6 40. Kd4 h6 41. a4 Ke6 42. b5 Kd7 This is very resignable for black now, but white was short enough on time to mess it up 43. Ke5 e6 44. g3 g5 45. bxc6+ Kxc6 46. Kxe6 gxf4 47. gxf4 Kxc5 48. Kxf5 Kd6 49. Kg6 Ke6 50. f5+ Black resigns 1-0 [Watkins, Mark]

Round 4 - by this time I was knackered after two very long, very tiring games. Luckily for me Christy was as fissed as a part. He's also a very offensive drunk and seemed to take offence that I might be American or German - commenting that it's not something to be proud of. Well done Christy! Christy's club is Limerick and everyone there seemed to know him and like him. All I know is the atmosphere over the board was the most unpleasant I've ever encountered - he is a complete wanker when drunk. I'm beginning to wish I kept a note of when draws were offered - for much of the game I had an offer at least once a move.

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd8 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bc4 Bf5 6. d4 e6 7. O-O Be7 8. Bf4 c6 9. Re1 O-O 10. h3 Nbd7 11. Bd3 I didn't think I had anything going on here, he's got a lot of k-side defence, so I thought I'd try to swap off some of his more useful pieces. 11... Bxd3 12. Qxd3 Nb6 13. a3 Nbd5 14. Be5 Bd6 15. Ne4 Nxe4 16. Rxe4 Planning Rh4 16... Bxe5 17. dxe5 He's let my pawn onto e5 while I'm planning an attack on his castled king. 17... Qe7 18. Rh4 ! black now came back from the bar to see this move and didn't believe it was possible. After much humming and ha-ing, and my reminding him we had previously exchanged knights on e4 he almost accepted this, so no arbiter needed to be called. The first draw offer came soon after this. 18... g6 19. Qd2 f5 Christy's good move for the match, though I think 19... f6 would have been slightly better 20. Qh6 Qg7 21. Qxg7+ Kxg7 22. Ng5 Rae8 23. Rxh7+ Kg8 24. Rxb7 Nf4 25. Rxa7 Ne2+ 26. Kf1 Nd4 27. c3 Nb3 28. Rd1 Nc5 29. f3 29. b4 was probably best, but I didn't like 29... Ne4 30. Nxe4 fxe4 though in fairness there was nothing wrong with that outcome. I just wanted to be able to play Rdd7 with almost certain mate and thought this was the best way of going about that. 29... Rd8 30. Rxd8 Rxd8 31. b4 Rd1+ 32. Ke2 Black resigns 1-0 [Watkins, Mark]

Round 5: We're all exhausted here. I had a bit too much wine and not enough sleep the night before. Well done me! Chris offered a draw early on after the d5 swap-offs, and it was very tempting (though I did think he was joking at first it was so early on)! Chris plays at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Ulster.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. Be2 O-O 8. O-O d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxc6 Chris thought this was getting drawish, but I was planning to level some bishops on his king. I might have preferred 10. Nxd5 Qxd5 11. Nxc6 Qxc6 when my queen has been developed for me 10... bxc6 11. Nxd5 cxd5 12. c3 Bf5 13. Bf3 e6 14. Re1 I think was expecting (hoping for) 14. g4 Be4 which is probably okay for white. Maybe he suspected I had a swindle. I would have been happy lining up on the black squares with his pawn on g4! 14... Qb8 15. Qd2 Be5 16. g3 h5 17. Bg2 h4 18. f4 hxg3 Tallo-ho, bombs away! 3 pawns for a piece when white has all the space and piece activity? I didn't like it particularly, but wanted an interesting game. 19. fxe5 gxh2+ 20. Kxh2 Qxe5+ 21. Bf4 Qg7 21... Qf6 22. Bg5 Qg7 gives the same sort of position 22. Rh1 22. Bh6 Qh7 doesn't pick up any material for white 22... f6 23. Kg1 g5 24. Bg3 Kf7 25. Qe2 Rh8 26. Rxh8 Rxh8 27. Rf1 Qh7 28. Qe3 Kg6 pin pin pin queen coming round the back of my defences, not many acceptable squares for the black king here. 29. Kf2 Draw agreed 1/2-1/2 [Watkins, Mark]

Round 6: See above for tiredness level. The hang-over was subsiding by now.

1. e4 c5 2. f4 Nc6 3. Nf3 g6 4. Bc4 Bg7 5. d3 d6 6. Ng5 e6 7. Nc3 Nge7 8. Qf3 h6 9. Nh3 a6 10. Bd2 ?? 10. Be3 is much better, and I was hoping to castle q-side 10... Nd4 11. Qd1 Bd7 12. O-O ? using the useful tactic of completely ignoring my opponent. It didn't work. Better is 12. a4 12... b5 13. Bb3 a5 14. a4 Nxb3 15. cxb3 b4 16. Ne2 Bxb2 17. Ra2 I was single-mindedly planning to double my rooks on the f-file, but the rook here proved a liability later when I let a knight back onto d4 17... Bg7 18. Ng3 Nc6 19. f5 gxf5 20. Qh5 Nd4 21. exf5 Be5 ?! Don't know what black could have played instead - the open file onto the king looks very ugly, but I was delighted with this move at the time. 22. Bf4 Bxf4 23. Nxf4 Qg5 24. fxe6 Nxe6 24... Bxe6 would have lost it after 25. Nxe6 Qxh5 26. Ng7+!! and white is a piece up or 25. Nxe6 Nxe6 26. Qxf7+ 25. Re2 Qxh5 26. Ngxh5 O-O-O 27. Nxe6 Draw agreed 1/2-1/2 [Watkins, Mark]