Berkeley Bishops Welcome Irish Chess Champs
By Lanette C. Chan
During the latter part of June and early July, nine children and five adults traveled from their native village of Straffan, Ireland to visit friends they had made the year before from the Bay Area. One year ago, a group of eleven American children and four adults, had visited Ireland on a chess and cultural exchange program that positively changed their lives as well as the lives of their Irish counterparts.
Elizabeth Shaughnessy, founder and president of the Berkeley Chess School and former Irish Women’s Chess Champion had thought of having such an exchange for many years. In August of 2000, the top players from the prestigious Berkeley Bishops (the Berkeley Chess School team) got on a plane bound for Ireland, not knowing what to expect or whom they would meet. They only knew that they would be staying with the families of children who comprised the national championship school team from Straffan, Ireland, a small village in County Kildare, near Dublin.
Although chess was the link that brought these children together, the American and Irish children shared much more. They came to understand that even though they spoke differently because of their accents, lived over 5,000 miles from each other and had differences in what they ate and how they lived, they became friends.
This year these same children and their families hosted the Irish children whom they had befriended. The Bishops team was comprised of: Corey Chang from Redwood City, Gabe Gordon from Corte Madera, Nazee, Ahmad and Mahnoosh Moghadam from El Cerrito, Sam Petty from Kensington, Daichi and Yuki Siegrist from Orinda, Charlie Sprague from Orinda, Ravi Verma from Emeryville and Aaron Wilkowski from Oakland.
The Irish visitors included: Peter and Sean Coleman, Michael Devlin, Lesley Fennelly, Robert Kelly, Niall Kiernan, Robbie Lunn, Stephen McDonald and Donal Spring. They were accompanied by parents Marian Coleman, Sally and Sean Devlin, Eilish Fennelly and Carmel Kiernan.
“These children were given a unique opportunity, something they will remember for the rest of their lives,” says Ms. Shaughnessy. “These young children were able to travel with their friends, stay with different host families but also see each other everyday. They had the assurance of being with their friends and adults they already knew while reestablishing the friendships they made a year ago.”
The group spent several days at the summer chess camp offered by the Berkeley Chess School. In the official Bishops vs. Straffan match, two games were played, each child playing one game as White and one as Black. The Bishops won handily by a score of 13 ½ to 4 ½.
A Bughouse tournament was also held in which the American and Irish players who stayed together were paired together as a team. Gabe Gordon and Donal Spring were triumphant in the top category.
From the time of their arrival, the Irish contingent experienced a wonderful sense of the San Francisco Bay Area. They were met by a limousine and driven to a welcoming reception overlooking the Bay at H’s Lordships. They toured the UC Berkeley campus and walked down Telegraph Avenue where they “haggled” with the local street vendors, visited Alcatraz, Chinatown, rode on the world famous cable cars, and were awed by California’s redwood trees at Muir Woods. They got a true flavor of Americana at its best, experiencing a 4th of July BBQ and an Oakland A’s baseball game that was followed by a spectacular fireworks display. While at the game, they were surprised to see the flashing A’s scoreboard welcoming the Irish chess team. To top it off, they visited Marine World, the favorite spot of most of the American and Irish children.
The day of departure was a sad affair. Most of the children had tears in their eyes. “Will you be returning to Ireland next summer?” was the query heard from many of the Irish. Many of the American children were heard to say that they preferred going to Ireland to visit their friends rather than anywhere else. As for Ms. Shaughnessy, she is considering a Berkeley Bishops visit to Mexico, or perhaps Holland. Wherever the group goes, it will surely be another wonderful and exciting adventure for the children.
NEW! Irish Cultural Exchange Photo Album
For information on the Berkeley Chess School call (510) 843-0150
Daichi Siegrist (1613) Bishops
Robert Kelly (1338) Straffan
1. e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3. Be3 a6 4. Nd2 Nc6 5.c3 Bd7 6. Bd3 dxe4 7. Nxe4 Be7 8. Nf3 h6 9. Qe2 Nf6 10. Ne5 Nd5 11. f4 Bd6 12. O-O Nce7 13. Qh5 g6 14. Qf3 Nf5 15.Bd2 Bc6 16. Rae1 Qe7 17. Nxc6 bxc6 18. a3 h5 19. c4 Nf6 20. Nxf6+ Qxf6 21.Qxc6+ Ke7 22. Bxf5 gxf5 23. Be3 Rhc8 24. c5 Bxc5 25. Qxc5+ Kd8 26. d5 Qxb2 27.dxe6 fxe6 28. c6 Ke7 29. Bc5+ Kf7 30.Qxe6+
1-0 {Black lost on time}