For the ordinary player, the Confucius Cup is normally the highlight of the year’s competition calendar. Unfortunately this year we were the target of the disruptive storm Emma. The early forecasts suggested that we would be able to carry on as normal, but by Thursday all the airports had shut down, roads and railways became impassable, and a Red Alert was put in place countrywide by Met Eirann. As a result the Irish Rapid was cancelled and the Confucius Cup was only able to run in a reduced format. As usual, the Xiangqi competition ran alongside the Go, but it too was run in a reduced format. The Annual General Meeting was planned to take place during the event, but it too had to be cancelled given the weather.

Lukáš Podpěra (7-dan) emerged as the winner this year, collecting 200 euros by way of reward for managing to travel across to Dublin from the Czech Republic. In second place was Yishen Wang (5-dan), whilst Geoffrey Crespino (2-kyu) came in third. The final results can be seen at 2018 Tournament Results

Beyond that, the hard work of Prof. Liming Wang and the Confucius Institute in securing invites for professional players and special guests from China did not go amiss. Liu Shizhen (7-pro) and Chen Tianhui (6-dan) were both too strong to be stopped by a closed airport. They arrived and entertained with simultaneous games and teaching. Thanks go out to the organisers John Gibson, Arthur Cater, Carol Doyle, and referee Tony Atkins.

Lukas facing the professional

Lukas in action

Arthur Cater, with ghostly looking Tony Atkins in background

Thanks to John and Adriana for the photos