Mr. and Mrs. Rowland

Posted on May 31, 2026 by David McAlister

Thomas Benjamin Rowland and Frideswide Fanny Beechey married on the 5th of June 1884.

In its August-September 1884 Issue, the British Chess Magazine reported on a presentation to Mr. and Mrs. T.B. Rowland by the Reverend William Anderson. A large set of Staunton pattern ivory Chessmen, accompanied by a letter from  Anderson, and a list of donors, had been sent on the occasion of their marriage.

The text of the letter read as follows:

I beg to inform you that many persons – ladies and gentlemen – anxious to mark their great appreciation of your varied labours in support of Chess, and the ready courtesy with which you constantly place your skill in the game at the service of all your friends, have entrusted me with their subscriptions, and commanded me to obtain for you a set of ivory Chessmen. I have now to fulfil the last part of my trust, and, in the name of the subscribers, to request your acceptance of the Chessmen which have been forwarded to you. I am able to assure you that all the subscribers, one and all, express their pleasure it gave them to add their names to the list; and on their behalf I beg more respectfully to offer to you the most hearty congratulations, and may you long be spared to ‘take sweet counsel together;’ and in health and happiness to receive the warm and affectionate esteem of your many friends.

List of donors

The BCM report continued with a reply from the Rowlands:

Mr. and Mrs. Rowland respectfully beg to return sincere thanks to all the donors for the very kind manner in which they have shown their appreciation of Mr. and Mrs. T.B. Rowland’s humble efforts on behalf of Chess; also for their warm congratulations and good wishes. The valuable present, all the more enhanced by the gift of a handsome full-sized Chess-board from the Rev. Wm. Anderson, will always be treasured in remembrance of the givers. The kind givers of over one hundred other valuable presents are also sincerely thanked, particularly T.R. Derry (a tea service) and J. Crake (a large silver salver.)

The BCM concluded its article with a game played on the 3rd of July 1884 between Mrs Rowland and Porterfield Rynd, “it being the first game with the large handsome set of Staunton pattern ivory Chess-men” presented by “the Chessists of England, Ireland, and Scotland.”

Frideswide Rowland – Porterfield Rynd
Clontarf, 3 July 1884
Notes by T.B. Rowland: British Chess Magazine, Volume 4 (1884) page 308

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 exd4 7.0–0 dxc3 8.Qb3 Qf6 9.e5 Qg6 10.Nxc3 Three to one on White. 10…Nge7 11.Re1
The newest continuation is 11.Ba3 0–0 12.Rad1 b5 13.Bd3!
11…0–0 12.Ba3 b5
The Rook being at e1 prevents the Knight taking.


13.Bxb5 Rb8 14.Nd5
A counterstrike now, or the Bishop is lost.
14…Nxd5 15.Qxd5 Bxe1 16.Bxf8 Bxf2+ 17.Kxf2 Qc2+ 18.Kg1 Kxf8 19.Ng5 Nxe5!
What means this coup? Black cleverly brought his Queen to c2 to frustrate White’s design of Bxc6. Will he now exhibit a new resource?
20.Qxe5 Bb7 21.Be2 f6
He does indeed, but he’ll find a Rowland for his Oliver (get the eraser!)
[The eraser is needed to remove the ‘w’ in Rowland, and then we have “a Roland for an Oliver”, which means “a tit-for-tat” or “a blow for a blow”.]
22.Nxh7+ Qxh7 23.Qxc7 Re8 24.Re1 Qe4 25.Qd6+ Re7 26.Qb8+ Re8 27.Qd6+

27…Qe7 28.Qxe7+ Rxe7 ½–½

What everyone seems to have missed is that Black’s 27…Qe7 was a mistake, and that Black should have acquiesced in the perpetual check by playing 27…Re7. White then missed the opportunity presented by Black’s 27th move. Instead of exchanging Queens, she should have played 28.Bh5 and if 28…Qxd6 then 29.Rxe8 checkmate, while anything else for Black loses Queen for Rook, and ultimately the game.

[Click to replay the game]

Frideswide and Thomas Rowland continued well into the 20th century to support many aspects of chess, particularly with their journalistic efforts. Frideswide edited long-running columns in the Weekly Irish Times and the Cork Weekly News while Thomas did the same for the Dublin Evening Mail and another Dublin newspaper, the Evening Herald. There were many other publications with which they were associated, very well documented in Tim Harding’s book British Chess Literature to 1914 (McFarland, 2018). There is a modern reprint of Mrs. Rowland’s book Pollock Memories (Moravian Chess, 2000), originally published in 1899.

A Dublin Woman Remembers

In 1885 a daughter, Frideswide Adelaide Beechey, was born to the Rowlands on the 15th of April 1885 but she sadly died later that month on the 26th. The following year, twin daughters were born, firstly Lucinda Emily Beechey at 10.30pm on the 2nd of July (who also died very young on the 7th of September that year) and then her sister, born at 12.30 am on the 3rd of July and given a similar name to her sister born in 1885, Frideswide Annie Beechey. On the 18th of May 1930 she married Nicholas Lawrence in the East Assembly Room, Bray.

In 1951 Mrs. Lawrence came across an article in the Irish Independent which made reference to her mother as Ireland’s “most illustrious woman chess expert”. She contacted the newspaper and this resulted in an article headlined “A Dublin Woman Remembers” that appeared in the issue for the 8th of December. Below we provide an abridged version:

Mention last week of Mrs. T. B. Rowland, Ireland’s most famous woman chess player brought a response that throws back the curtain on a phase of Dublin’s history and the history of a remarkable woman. It came from Mrs. Rowland’s daughter and only child, Mrs Frideswide Lawrence, now in her middle sixties and living in Monkstown within sight and mind of her old home in Clontarf.

If Mrs. Lawrence in her teens and twenties developed something akin to horror for chess it was because she had had too much of it.

At five years old she was playing under the expert guidance of her mother and father, whose courtship had practically been carried on over a chessboard when they were conducting a chess column together in an English newspaper. She was even then an honorary member of the New York Women’s Chess Club.

Mrs. Rowland, whose problems are still, after forty to fifty years, tantalising chess players, herself began to play when she was eight years old.

Her father, Admiral Beechey, explorer and painter, whose family gave their name to Beechey Point and Beechey Island within the Arctic Circle, had been sent to Ireland to survey the Western Islands for the British Admiralty. In Galway. his daughter Frideswide, Mrs Rowland was born.

Father Burke, a curate in an out-of-the-way parish in the West introduced the Admiral to chess. The Admiral bought a text book, and the eight-year-old Frideswide absorbed it. She began to worry out the problems.

Her first attempt at writing chess came later when she was in England and offered a chess column to a small local paper, the editor of which, she frankly admits in her memoirs, accepted it as a space filler and labour saver,

Her first book, “Chess Blossoms,” was brought home to her from the publishers in a wheelbarrow. In it, the serious business of chess playing is humorously spiced with verses, many of them parodying such popular songs as “The Last Rose of Summer,” and “Excelsior.”

In Ireland at the same time, T. B. Rowland was making a name for himself in the international chess world. He was probably curious to see the only woman composer of chess problems in the world at that time, particularly when he began to share with her the direction of a newspaper column.

They met, and Frideswide Beechey became Frideswide Rowland and came to Ireland again and to Clontarf.

Ireland was still home to her in spite of her years in England and her English family background. The first edition of the “Four Leaved Shamrock,” the chess magazine which she established and edited, contains an almost credible account of a chess game suggested, appropriately enough, as one of the causes of the Battle of Clontarf.

Mrs. Lawrence’s memories of her home and her parents are all linked with the chessboard, for their home in Clontarf was the hub of Dublin chess. Among the visitors was John Howard Parnell. brother of Charles Stuart Parnell, and Mrs. Lawrence recalls him as a solemn and not over-sociable man with a beard. Some of the visitors, like the Jesuit Father Fernandez [sic – this is very likely to be Fernando Saavedra], brought her toys. Every time she won a game, she was rewarded with a penny.

Sir Horace Plunkett, founder of the Irish Co-operative movement was also a friend. He was patron and member of the Dun Laoghaire Chess Club which the Rowlands helped to establish when they moved to the other side of Dublin bay to live.

Miss Rudge, woman world chess champion was a guest for many years in the Rowlands’ home. Mrs, Rowland could always quote her in defence of her theory that a brilliant chess player need not necessarily be clever at everything else. Mrs. Lawrence remembers the champion as a woman quite incapable even of helping herself.

She had to be waited on hand and foot, mostly by Mrs. Lawrence, though she had no means and was to live in poverty in England into her seventies, crippled by rheumatism and dependent on the help of friends and on subscriptions collected on her behalf by the “Four-Leaved Shamrock.”

For most of those years, Mrs. Rowland was an invalid, confined to a bath chair, unable to walk. Even before her daughter’s birth, she had gone completely deaf, and every message to her had to be written.

Some years before her death in 1919, she lost her sight and had to give up active chess; but she still composed poems, one of which on her blindness was taken down at her dictation by a priest friend and published in a Catholic paper of the time.

Perhaps it was as a reaction to such dynamic mental activity that Mrs. Lawrence took up nursing as a career; but even here chess haunted her and she played with her parents [sic -patients?]. When her mother died, and she came home again to look after her father, she helped him with the chess column which he was editing in the “Saturday Herald.” But her heart was not in it, and when he died [in 1929], she had neither the confidence nor the wish to continue it.

A chance request for a game brought her in touch with one who had known of her family in the old days in Clontarf. Now she has her weekly chess evenings, and she wants to start a club in Dun Laoghaire. The wheel has turned full circle.

 

Posted in Books, Games, Players | Leave a comment

Porterfield Rynd on James Mason, and the Simpson’s Divan Handicap 1884

Posted on May 28, 2026 by David McAlister

Prospecting for chess reportage one occasionally finds a gold nugget in an unlikely place, though there might have been a certain logic in going there. Recently I found one such little treasure in the Saturday 4th February 1905 edition of the “Kilkenny Journal” (or “Kilkenny Journal, and Leinster Commercial and Literary Advertiser”, to give its full title).

James Mason was one of the most significant chess players in the final quarter of the 19th Century. Although his origins are shrouded in mystery, it is widely believed that he was born in Kilkenny before emigrating to the United States, where he found fame over the chess-board. Having done so, he then returned to the Old World, residing in England and playing in many of the major European tournaments. In this latter period he paid a number of visits to Ireland – these included playing in the 3rd Irish Chess Association Congress in Dublin (1889) and the North of Ireland Chess Congress in Belfast (1892).

Mason also had a residency at Morphy’s Divan in Dublin during the summer of 1888, which included playing a short match with Porterfield Rynd, generally recognised as the Irish Chess Champion from 1865 to 1886, and again from 1892 to 1913.

Porterfield Rynd edited a chess column in the (Dublin) Evening Herald (to be precise, the Saturday Herald) for about 20 years, and the item I discovered in the Kilkenny Journal contained a verbatim repetition of one that presumably had previously appeared in Rynd’s column. The strange thing is that searching for the Herald original in the online British Newspaper Archive and Irish Newspaper Archives drew a blank. The explanation for this seems to be that both online sources for the relevant date are a late edition of the Saturday Herald (“Last Extra Football” is the legend above the masthead on page 1) and though Rynd’s chess column had appeared in an earlier edition that day, it was later excluded to give space for the extra football. This replacement may have occurred on other occasions and possibly some more of Rynd’s chess columns did not find their way into bound archives and subsequently modern online sources.

Anyway, here is the “gold nugget”: Porterfield Rynd’s obituary, or perhaps it might be more accurately described as a personal memoir, of James Mason.
[Source: Kilkenny Journal, Saturday, Saturday 4 February 1905, page 4]

A GREAT CHESS PLAYER.
CAREER OF A KILKENNY MAN.

The following interesting sketch appeared in the Herald of Saturday night last :- “The career of a great Irish chess-player has ended. James Mason, native of Kilkenny, is no more. Many in Ireland have profited by his “object-lessons” in chess, those contained in the books entitled “The Principles of Chess” and “The Art of Chess.” As it was our privilege to meet Mason in literary and other work done for the Liberty and Property Defence League, we were the means of inducing Mason to visit Dublin. A little match was the outcome resulting in a draw with the score Mason, 2; Ourselves, 2; and 2 drawn.

[Rynd’s recollection appears to be slightly faulty here, in that the match score was Mason 2 wins, Rynd 2 wins and just one draw. A sixth game had been scheduled but Rynd’s professional commitments as a barrister meant that the game could not be fitted in before Mason travelled to Bradford, England for an international tournament there. It is possible that in these circumstances Rynd considered the sixth game to have been deemed drawn.]

It was during that period that his chess-works were conceived on lines thrashed out in Dublin. One important item has been neglected, however – that was to allow each diagram to tell its own case, as it were, before investigation; in other words, to answer the first question always asked: “Whose move is it?” By stating at the top or bottom of the diagram whether White or Black has to play first. If judged by the enormous sale his books obtained, they must have done an immense good in diffusing the love of chess, and thus leading to mental developments.

As a player Mason stands among the greatest; and there is no knowing what he might have done but for a little weakness to which unfortunately his early life in America but made him a prey. When nothing more than a poor street vendor, his potential faculty for chess was accidentally discovered by kindly yet imprudent patrons. The influence upon the lad was irresistible. It made him at the same time a chessist and a precocious cocktailer. It was sad. He sometimes strove might and main against it; but was beaten. He always felt that in the long run be would be better emancipated; and yet whenever he made the attempt he was speedily shown that be could not – even in Chess do so well “without” as “with.” He could not get over the irritative collapse. In tournaments and matches his best bits were under moderate stimulation. Unfortunately success, or approaching success, seemed to require such celebration as generally defeated itself gloriously. Thus the sceptre of Chess was never gained by Mason, though he often proved his capacity for it. It is well known that all the great Masters feared Mason more than any other man. Some of them could never win a game on him, He was exceedingly honest and modest and frank to men of mind. As to his life principles, may we tell of a little occurrence which happened a few years ago in connection with one of Simpson’s handicaps – at the Strand of course — when Mason’s exclusion for disorder was got over by our intervention on his behalf, quite unknown to him at the time?

Old Bird was pretending to be sorry that Mason was excluded, and yet he was implying that his admission would mean troubles and expense — even to himself, Bird, such as getting Mason home in a cab, etc. We came forward naively to inquire: “If the gentleman referred to was necessarily subject to fits?” “Yes,” at once answered Bird, “Tight fits.” When we had finished laughing with the crowd, we went downstairs to the manager and guaranteed responsibility for Mason’s good conduct and paid his entrance fee of half a sovereign. Some three weeks later (Mason having won the handicap) we were surprised to find that Mason had made the manager tell him who paid the entrance fee, and that Mason in a very nice letter conveyed his appreciation, and sent us on the no longer required guarantees and also the half sovereign. That was Mason; and that also was Bird.”

Now we move on to the Simpson’s tournament that Mason won, after Rynd’s and Bird’s help.

The Simpson’s Divan Handicap Tournament, London 1884

In its June 1884 issue (Volume V pages 289-291) the Chess Monthly reported on the tournament’s birth:

As far as we can recollect, this is the first important contest which has been arranged without the customary tedious preliminary negotiations. As soon as the idea was broached, a few gentlemen were asked if they were inclined to play and on their replying in the affirmative a few necessary rules were drawn up; a committee elected; the proprietors of the Divan promised £5 towards the prizes, and the preliminaries were thus settled. Some of the competitors suggested that, in order to shorten the contest during the present season, the players should be divided into two sections, this was agreed to, and the drawing by lot for the sections were preformed by Messrs. Blackburne, Hoffer, and Walton. The handicapping also met with no objection whatsoever.

The entrance fee was 10 shillings and sixpence. So, Rynd’s recollection on the fee was out by sixpence – the fee equalled half a guinea rather than half a sovereign which amounted to 10 shillings only. For those unfamiliar with Old Money, the modern equivalent of a guinea is one pound and 5 pence, and a sovereign exactly one pound. Four prizes were on offer.

Play was to commence on Wednesday 21st May 1884. The Conditions of Play included a time limit of 20 moves per hour, if required by either player, and not less than two games per week to be played by each competitor. All games were to be played at Simpson’s Divan, with two sessions available (1pm to 6pm and 7pm to 11pm).

The players were divided into two sections of ten each, with the winner of each section to play for the first and second prizes, and the second placers for the third and fourth prizes. The play-offs to be for the best of three games.

That issue and the following one of July 1884 (at pages 322-323) reported on the progress of the preliminary sections. The August edition (the final one of Volume 5) at page 357 carried the news as to the winners of the two sections and the progress of the final match stage:

Mr. Guest is first in Section A, and Mr. Mason is first in Section B. According to the conditions, the best out of three games  to decide the order of merit. Mr. Mason lost the first game, the others will be played as soon as Mr. Guest returns from the “Counties” meeting. Messrs. Blackburne and Gunsberg’s score is equal; but Mr. Blackburne having resigned to Gunsberg the latter is second in Section A and Mr. Donisthorpe second in Section B . Both gentlemen agreed to a division of the third and fourth prizes.

It is apparent that already the tournament had lasted longer than the three weeks of Rynd’s recollection. Perhaps Mason had returned the entry fee once he was certain of at least the second prize.

The Chess Monthly for September 1884 (Volume VI at pages 2-3) detailed the conclusion of the first Simpson’s Divan Handicap Tournament:

The following are the winners:

First Prize, £8 8s James Mason
Second Prize, £5 5s Antony Guest
Third Prize and Fourth Prize (£3 3s and £2 2s) Tie and division between Wordsworth Donisthorpe and Isidor Gunsberg

Although this contest has been arranged to tide over a part of the dead season, it created, nevertheless, a great deal of interest, and it is contemplated beginning the winter season with another Handicap on a larger scale. The individual merits of some of the competitors have been ascertained and some of them have shown considerable skill and tenacity. Notably so Messrs. Mundell and Hirsch. Messrs. Donisthorpe and Guest were well-known as dangerous opponents, at the odds of Pawn and move., before the contest. Mr. Blackburne resigned to Mr. Gunsberg, owing to his desire to go out of town for the sake of his health, and Mr. Mason beat Guest in the tie for first and second prizes, two games to one. The following is the final score:

Simpson’s Divan Handicap 1884

Leopold Hoffer, the joint-editor of Chess Monthly, had been appointed by the organising committee to be the umpire for the tournament. He was therefore in the perfect position to report on the event for his magazine. The British Chess Magazine had not been quite so fortunate.

In its August-September issue – page 19 of Volume IV (1884), the BCM had reported that Guest had beaten Mason in the play-off for the first prize. In the following October issue, this correction appeared:

I can assure you readers that I have had a lively time of it over my unfortunate blunder anent the Divan Tourney. My friend of Purssell’s was the first to give me the pleasing intelligence of my error. “Seen Mason lately?” was his greeting as he met me in the Strand, “I know he’s looking for you.” “No!” was my response, “I haven’t seem him for some time.” “Ah I thought not! or you wouldn’t be smiling so,” and a very grim smile lightened (or darkened) my friend’s face. “Smiling! why shouldn’t I smile when I see him?” “Why wouldn’t you smile? Why, didn’t he win the first prize in the Divan tournament and haven’t you put him down as being defeated by Guest and only winning the second? Smile! why he’s going to lynch you!” However Mr. Mason was made of other stuff and bears no malice for my blunder, which after all was not so much mine as that of a person who assured me that he was present when Mr. Guest actually won the deciding game. In this he was mistaken and I fell into error by following his statement. As a matter of fact Mr. Mason defeated Mr. Guest after very fine play and therefore comes out the winner of the first prize … Mr. Mason is to be congratulated on his victory which will add even to his great reputation. Mr. Guest too, though just missing first place, has proved himself to be little beneath the strongest of our first class.

Three of Mason’s games appeared in the Chess Monthly, and we present them below with selected annotations therefrom.

Rudolf Loman – James Mason
Simpson’s Divan Handicap Section B, London 1884
White received the odds of Pawn and Move: Remove Black’s f-pawn

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.Bxe7 Qxe7 7.exd6 cxd6 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Qh6 Nf6 10.Bd3 Rf8 11.Nf3 Na6 12.0–0–0 Bd7 13.Rhe1 Nc7 14.h3 0–0–0 15.Nd2 Kb8 16.Nb3 Rc8 17.Qd2 Bc6 18.Be4 Bxe4 19.Nxe4 Nxe4 20.Rxe4 Rf5 21.Rde1 Rb5 22.Kb1 Qd7 23.c4 Rb6 24.c5 Rc6 25.cxd6 Qxd6 26.Qe2 Qd5 27.g3 b6 28.Re5 Qd7

29.a4
The object of this move is not quite apparent, unless it is that White underrated the strength of Black’s position. This advanced Pawn forms a handy peg to hang on Mr. Mason’s pretty final combination.
29…a5 30.Qd3 Qd6 31.Qe4 Rc4 32.Rc1 Qb4!
RR Not 32…Rxa4 because after 33.Rc6! Qb4 34.Qc2! the threat of Rexe6 would leave Black in a lot of trouble.
33.Rxc4 Qxc4 34.Nd2 Qxa4 35.Qd3?

35…Qd1+! 36.Ka2 Nd5! 37.Ka3
A blunder, of course, but White’s game is lost anyhow.
37…Qa1+ 38.Kb3 a4 checkmate 0–1
[Source: Chess Monthly Volume V (July 1884) pages 333-334]
[Click to replay the game]

Antony Guest – James Mason
Simpson’s Divan Handicap Play-off (Game 2), London 1884
White received the odds of Pawn and Move: Remove Black’s f-pawn

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 d6 3.e3 Bg4 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c4 e5 6.d5 Nb8
RR 6…e4 would have been objectively better but after 7.Bxe4 Nxe4 8.dxc6 bxc6 the resulting position would provide less opportunity for Mason, already one game down, to win the game and match.
7.Nc3 Nbd7 8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 Nc5 10.Bc2 Be7 11.h4 0–0 12.b4

12…Ncd7
RR Again here the obvious 12…Nfe4 would be best in normal circumstances but after 13.Qh5 g6 14.Qh6 Nxc3 (or 14…Nxf2) Guest could have claimed a draw with 15.Bxg6 hxg6 16.Qxg6+ and a perpetual check.
13.h5 Nb6 14.g4 Nfxd5 15.Qe4 Nf6 16.Qd3 d5 17.cxd5 Bxb4 18.Bd2 Bxc3 19.Bxc3 e4

20.Qf1
RR A strange move. The straightforward 20.Qd4 would have been much better.
20…Nfxd5 21.0–0–0 Qe7 22.Bb3 Qc5 23.Qe1 a5 24.a4 Rad8 25.Kb2 Nc4+ 26.Kb1 b5 27.Bxc4 bxc4 28.Bd4 Qa3

29.Qxa5
Abandoning her consort to his fate. White had, however, no saving move; if 29.Rd2 then 29…Rb8+ 30.Rb2 c3
29…Rb8+ 30.Kc2 Rxf2+
Hastily played: Black mates in two moves with 30…Qa2+ 31.Kc1 (or 31.Bb2 Qxb2#) 31…Rb1# mates.
31.Rd2 Qd3+
RR As the prosaic 31…Qb3+ also works, perhaps Mason chose this flashy finish for the onlookers instead of the annotator’s mate in two.
32.Kc1 Rb1 checkmate 0–1
[Source: Chess Monthly Volume VI (October 1884) page 42]
[Click to replay the game]

Antony Guest BCM July 1909 Vol XXIX p281

Antony Guest – James Mason
Simpson’s Divan Handicap Play-off (Game 3), London 1884
White received the odds of Pawn and Move: Remove Black’s f-pawn

1.e4 d6 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.h3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.d4 Be7 6.Bc4 d5 7.Bd3 Bb4 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 10.0–0 Bxc3 11.bxc3 0–0 12.e5 Qf7 13.Nh4 Ne7 14.Qg4 Bd7

15.Ng6 Nxg6 16.Qxg6 Qxg6 17.Bxg6 Bb5 18.Bd3 Bxd3 19.cxd3 Rac8 20.Rac1 c5 21.dxc5 Rxc5 22.d4 Rc4 23.Rb1 b6 24.Rb3 Rfc8 25.Ra3 R8c7 26.Rc1

26…Kf7
RR Mason could have played 26…Rxd4 27.cxd4 (The counterstroke 27.Rxa7 is also possible) 27…Rxc1+ 28.Kh2 Rc7 – after his 30th move a similar position arose.
27.Kf1 Kg6 28.Ke1 Rxd4 29.cxd4
RR 29.Rxa7 does not work here because of 29…Re4+
29…Rxc1+
If White had played 28.Ke2 instead of 28.Ke1 he would not have lost a Pawn immediately. As it is, however, Black takes the Rook checking and has time to defend his own Pawn.
30.Kd2 Rc7 31.f4 Kf5 32.Ke3 h5 33.g3 g5 34.fxg5 Kxg5 35.Kf3 Kf5 36.g4+ hxg4+ 37.hxg4+ Kg5 38.Kg3 Rf7
Black’s game is now practically won, and the remainder only a matter of time. White’s King is shut out from the defence, and Black forces the game by the simple process of advancing his Pawns.

39.Rd3 Rf4 40.a3 Rxg4+ 41.Kf3 Rh4 42.Kg3 Rf4
and after a few more moves, White resigned. 0–1
[Source: Chess Monthly Volume VI (September 1884) pages 20-21]
[Click to replay the game]

Posted in Analysis, Games, Players, Tournaments | Leave a comment

Irish Championship 2006, contd.

Posted on May 19, 2026 by Sean Coffey

A report for the Irish Championship 2006 appeared here in 2011 (cf. cover post), and has been updated in only minor ways since. Only 14 of the 52 games were available, which meant it had the sparsest coverage of any championship since 1989.

I am delighted to report, however, that Gerry O’Connell, who was tournament director, has very kindly provided scans for all scoresheets from the event, for which many thanks. I have now (after a considerable delay) finally transcribed them all and compiled them into a revised and expanded report, including all games and also adding annotations.

Only 12 players participated. The shortfall was on the youth side: only three of the players were aged under 35: Stephen Jessel, Killian Delaney, who was making his Irish championship début, and David Fitzsimons, who turned 15 that year and was playing in his second championship.

As reported previously, Stephen Brady and Stephen Jessel were neck and neck for most of the tournament. A disastrous time trouble blunder by Jessel in his round 7 game against Philip Short saw Brady move into the sole lead for the first time, and a draw and a win in the last two rounds were enough to clinch the title.

Defending champion Colm Daly lost an interesting game in round 3 to Jessel, and then disastrously stumbled into a mating net against Brady in round 5. In round 8, he lost again, this time against Matt O’Leary, who finished equal first in the 1972 championship, narrowly losing the playoff match to Wolfgang Heidenfeld.

O'Leary - Daly, Irish Championship 2006
O’Leary – Daly, Irish Championship 2006 (8)
40… ?

O’Leary had an edge out of the opening, before giving up two minor pieces for rook and two pawns. In the diagrammed position, Black is fine after 40… Be7!, with a view to liquidating the queenside, e.g., 41. Rb6 Nd3 42. Re3 Nxb4 43. Rxb4 Bc5=. Instead the game continued 40… Bf6?, and after 41. Rc7? (better 41. Rb6) 41… Bxe5? (41… Nd3! 42. Re3 Bxe5=) 42. Rxc6 Bd4+ 43. Kf1 Rf8 44. Re4! White stood much better, and eventually won a long rook and pawn v. bishop and pawn ending.

[Click to replay the full game.]

Keogh - Short, Irish Championship 2006
Keogh – Short, same event (8)
41… ?
 

In the same round, the game between Eamon Keogh and Philip Short had a puzzling finish. In the diagrammed position, Black, to play, is easily winning after 41… Rg2+ 42. Ke1 Rxd2 43. Kxd2 Rb3 44. c5 Ke5, or here 42… Rg1+ 43. Ke2 Rb3. But instead Short took the immediate draw by checking on g2 and g1. He must have been quite low on time to have given up here.

[Click to replay the full game.]

Posted in Irish championships, Tournaments | Leave a comment

S. A. French, Seán French

Posted on May 2, 2026 by Sean Coffey

David McAlister’s post on O’Hanlon at the 1940 Irish Championship included an additional postscript comment by him, saying that the original version of the post had a couple of naming errors, now corrected.

This post concerns the second of these, concerning S. A. French. The error came from me and affected several other pages on this site.

S. A. French of Dublin C.C. was on the Dublin team that won the Armstrong Cup in 1932-33. As reported here previously, the January 1934 issue of B.C.M. had an excellent photograph of the team, with S. A. French at back left; he looked clearly the youngest of the team.

The Players and Players: References pages here provide biographical information about players, and naturally I sought more information on him, starting with his name: what did the “S. A.” stand for? This was not easy to answer, as sources stuck rigidly to the initials. Eventually I found an Evening Herald article from June 19, 1926 that listed 85 Irish players who were to play in a mammoth Anglo-Irish correspondence match against a team chosen by the British Chess Federation, and one of the players listed was Sean French. This seemed straightforward, and the Players and Players: References (“FRENCH, S.[eán] A.. Evening Herald, 19 June 1926 p. 8 (first name).”) were updated accordingly.

When David posted on the 1940 Irish championship and began his tournament report on it, I reopened the search to see if I could find his year of birth or other information. But further information on “Sean French” and Dublin chess did not emerge, and even mentions of “Sean French” and “chess” proved elusive. All I could find was a review of “Sport in the South”, from the Sunday Independent in December 1934, covering rugby, tennis, golf, boxing, and bowls, but devoting a good quarter of its discussion to chess, which mentioned that “Ald. Sean French, the Lord Mayor of Cork, is a “fan””. This seemed thin, as someone—especially a politician—can be a fan without being a player, and this seemed a little unlikely to be the same person as the Seán French from the 1926 Anglo-Irish correspondence match. But in any case, it couldn’t possibly be the same person as the S. A. French wo played in the Irish Championship in 1940, because the Lord Mayor died in 1937.

S. A. French, Dublin C.C.
Evening Herald, January 26, 1935 p. 8

On the other hand, references to S. A. French, a solicitor in Greystones, without mentioning chess, were common. Some stories on Evening Herald fundraising events for the Warsaw Olympiad 1935 said that S. A. French of Greystones had suffered a recent bereavement with the death of his father. Finally (or so I thought), I found the birth cert. for Samuel Allen French, born in Dublin in 1899, son of a solicitor’s clerk, and thought that must be the same person. But his father, Samuel Henry French, didn’t die until 1955, so how did the bereavement fit in? (A clergyman who died in Greystones around the right time did not fit either, as two of his three sons were in Canada and the other was a rector in Cork.)

I found a little later that Samuel Allen French’s mother died on May 16, 1935. So perhaps the Evening Herald correctly reported a bereavement, but had the wrong parent.

This still left a sliver of doubt, but searching via “Greystones” “chess” found an Irish Independent story on the founding of Bray/Greystones C.C. that mentioned him, finally giving his first name (“Sam French was one of the most experienced players in the club, and indeed, his photograph taken in 1920 adorned the walls of Dublin Chess Club for many years, when he was an ‘international for Ireland’”). David McAlister then provided the final proof with an obituary from the Irish Times from 1978 for Samuel Allen French.

FRENCH, Samuel Allen, b. Rathmines, Co. Dublin, 7 March 1899, d. Dublin?, 29 April 1978.

He was a local historian in Greystones, and authored a booklet Greystones 1864-1964 to mark the centenary of St. Patrick’s Church in the town.

S. A. French’s paternal grandfather was the celebrated and historically significant photographer Robert French (1841-1917), whose “photographs provide an invaluable visual record of urban and rural Ireland over a period of almost forty years”, according to his entry in the Dictionary of Irish Biography. Around 30,000 of his negatives are held by the National Photographic Archive in Dublin.

* * *

But this still left the question of who was the Seán French who played in the Anglo-Irish correspondence match in 1926? After searching further, I found a report of a Cork v. Limerick inter-city match, held in Cork on St. Patrick’s Day 1927. On board 6 for Cork, out of 14, and winning his game, was “the Lord Mayor of Cork, Mr. S. French”. So the player and the politician were the same person after all.

Sean French
Seán French
EchoLive.ie, November 22, 2023

Seán French’s colourful life is captured in an article in the Dictionary of Irish Biography. He was born in Cork in 1889, and after “a brilliant collegiate career studying chemistry, he became a partner in a well-known Cork firm of pharmaceutical chemists, Whelan & French. Although he never held any high rank in the Irish Volunteers or later the Irish Republican Army (IRA), he was very active in the independence movement and spent a considerable period of time interned or on the run. He was a close associate and friend of both Terence MacSwiney and Tomás MacCurtain” (Sinn Féin Lord Mayors of Cork who died during the War of Independence). He opposed the Treaty and was interned during the Civil War. He was subsequently elected as Lord Mayor of Cork in 1924, and repeatedly re-elected, serving from 1924-29 and 1932-37. He was a founding member of the Fianna Fáil party in 1926, and served as a T. D. for Cork Borough, in the 5th and 6th Dáils, from 1927-32.

He was known as a rugby player and oarsman as a youth, but was chronically infirm later in life. He died in 1937.

FRENCH, Seán, [John French], b. Cork City, 29 May 1889, d. Cork City, 12 September 1937.

His son, also Seán French, 1931-2011, served as a Fianna Fáil T. D. for various Cork constituencies from 1967 to November 1982, and was also Lord Mayor of Cork, from 1976 to 1977.

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National Club Championship 2026

Posted on April 30, 2026 by Sean Coffey

The National Club Championship was held last weekend at Coláiste Éanna in Rathfarhnam, Dublin. Seventeen teams contested a 5-round Swiss.

The event was well covered, with live games available at Lichess and Livechesscloud, and results, etc., available at Chess-Results.com.

The event turned into a three-way struggle between Gonzaga, who were top seeds, Master C.C., who, though a Heidenfeld Trophy team this year, were second seeds, and Knights of Éanna.

After two rounds, all three of these, plus Elm Mount and Limerick, had won their first two matches.

In the third round, Gonzaga fell to a surprising 2 – 4 defeat to Knights of Éanna. In a closely contested match, the crucial turning point was in the game on board 4, where Gordon Freeman turned a winning position into a losing one with a very strange blunder, so odd that it looked like a live boards glitch. What happened?

In the fourth round, Master C.C. had a decisive 4½ – 1½ win against Knights of Éanna, sweeping the bottom three boards. Indeed, their progress had been powered all along by these boards: they would have drawn two matches and lost two if only the top three boards had counted. Was it a strategy to arrange boards this way? If so, it worked out handsomely for them. If so, they were also within their rights, as “[t]here is no restriction on how the board order is decided” in the National Club Championship rules (item 16). Though it did not affect the match result, game points also turned out to be important, and Knights of Éanna dropped a half point through an agonising blunder on board 2.

The final round saw Master C.C., on the maximum 8 match points, paired against Gonzaga, and Knights of Éanna against Cork, with the last three teams on 6 points each. Crucially, Gonzaga was well ahead on the first tie-break criterion, game points, with 17½, with Knights of Éanna on 16, Master C.C. on 15½, and Cork on 13. Thus Gonzaga were assured that if they beat Master C.C., and scored 4½ or more points in the process, they were assured of finishing at least equal first with Knights of Éanna on game points.

Gonzaga duly recorded an impressive win of exactly 4½ – 1½ aaginst Master C.C. On board 1, Sam Collins squeezed out a win in an ending Seán J. Murphy could have held, while on board 4, Gordon Freeman won an interesting game against Darun Govindaraju,; this was the only loss by Master C.C. on the bottom three boards over the entire event.

Knights of Éanna came close to tying on game points, with a 5½ – ½ win against Cork. Their only dropped half point came on board 6. Derek Smith had earlier had an overwhelming position, but made everything immensely more complicated for himself.

Hackett - Smith, National Club Championship 2026

Hackett – Smith, National Club Championship 2026
82… ?

He could still have won in the diagrammed position, via 82… Kd1!. The reader is invited to work out all the variations. Instead, he erred with 82… Kc3?, and after 83. Ra3+ Kb2 84. Re3, the win was gone.

[Click to replay the full game.]

This left Gonzaga, Knights of Éanna, and Master C.C. tied for first on 8 match points each. Gonzaga had scored 22 game points, and took first place ahead of Knights of Éanna on 21½, with Master C.C. well back on 17.

Even if Derek Smith had won the game above, Gonzaga would still have finished first on tie-break after applying the next tie-break criterion, Sonneborn-Berger for Team Tournaments (the sum of the products of the scores made by each opposing team and the score made against that team). Gonzaga was so far ahead on this metric under the actual results that they were probably assured of finishing first under any permutation of final round results, though I did not verify this. Incidentally, it’s worth pointing out that the NCC rules, cited above, are admirably clear and thorough on how ties are resolved (item 21), enabling teams to see exactly where they stand; this is an area that has often caused difficulties in other tournaments.

This was Gonzaga’s first National Club Championship win since the pandemic; they had recorded four in a row from 2016 to 2019. Congratulations! The winning team was Sam Collins, Killian Delaney, Jason Liu, Oliver Barnes, Gordon Freeman, Carl Jackson, Rowan Field, and Gavin Sheahan. The National Club Championship page has been updated accordingly.

114 games from live boards have been added to the Tournament pages here.

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Tony Miles simuls: Dublin, Cork, and Galway

Posted on April 25, 2026 by Sean Coffey

In the recent post on Tony Miles and the Dundrum International Congress 1975, I wrote that Miles had greatly raised the profile of the event via a series of mammoth simuls in Dublin, Cork, and Galway in the lead-up.

On reviewing the details, that doesn’t turn out to be quite right. The Dublin simul preceded the International Congress, while the Cork and Galway exhibitions came after.

In fact, it was a whirlwind tour, with all the activity compressed into seven days:

Thursday, March 13: Simul, Dublin (Gorman Brothers Garage, Rathmines): played 42; +36 =3 -3.
Friday, March 14–Monday, March 17: Dundrum International Congress Open, Dublin (Wesley College); =1st-5th / 58.
Tuesday, March 18: Simul, Cork (Lee Maltings, U. C. C.): played 36; +28 = 6 -2.
Wednesday, March 19: Simul, Galway (U. C. G. / Jesuit College): played 44; +44 =0 -0.

The Dublin simul made RTÉ news, with a 22 second report, broadcast on March 14, 1975:

Still from Chess Challenge 1975, RTÉ archives
(video at link)

RTÉ say only that the exhibition was “in the showrooms of a Dublin garage”. It was actually Gorman Bothers Ltd. garage (or showrooms) in Rathmines, an establishment that had assembled competitive racing cars, as documented here.

After the Dundrum International Congress, Miles headed to Cork, where he gave a 36-board simul at the Lee Maltings, U.C.C. Amongst the six opponents who drew were a 14-year-old Philip Short and Orison Carlile. He lost two games, and one of these was published in the Evening Echo. It has not appeared anywhere else up to now.

McCarthy - Miles, Simul, Cork 1975

McCarthy – Miles, Simul, Cork 1975
20… ?

Miles played Black in many games, as is shown in the RTÉ video. In the diagrammed position, against Pat McCarthy, 20… f5 would have left White with only a slight advantage, but there followed 20… Ne5??. After 21. Qf6+ Kg8 22. Rf4, Miles gave up a piece via 22… Ng4 23. Rxg4 to stave off mate, and resigned a few moves later.

[Click to replay the full game.]

One day later, Miles had moved on to Galway, where he gave a 44 board simul, at either U. C. G. or Jesuit College, winning all 44. As reported by J. J. Walsh in the Irish Times, afterwards “he sportingly accepted challenges from local schoolboys who were unable to obtain a board in the main exhibition”. Given his schedule, this was very sporting indeed.

Up to now, these simuls have not appeared here. They have now been added to the Simuls page.

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Tarun Kanyamarala, Javokhir Sindarov, and the World School Open U15 Championship 2019

Posted on April 16, 2026 by Sean Coffey

Following Javokhir Sindarov’s resounding victory at the Candidates Tournament this week, Tarun Kanyamarala posted a congratulatory message on Facebook. They had met at the World School Championship in Antalya, Turkey in 2019, where they both competed in the Open U15 event, and even shared the podium, with Sindarov taking first place, and Tarun taking second on tie-break.

Tarun posts two photos from that event. Though he doesn’t mention it, there is a video on YouTube of the prizegiving ceremony:

There were no games from the event here or in the ICU games archive; none had appeared on TWIC. However, most games from the event were available at Chess.com, including 7 of Tarun’s 9. Alas! His 6th round encounter with Sindarov is not included. The games, including stubs for the missing 6th and 7th rounds, have been added to the games archive here.

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Tony Miles and the Dundrum International Congress 1975

Posted on April 8, 2026 by Sean Coffey

In describing the life and contributions of the late Henry Higgins here a few months ago, I gave my impressions of the Dundrum International Congress of 1975, the first of a series of two mammoth events that were his landmark contribution.

I was ten years old when I was taken there, and you might think allowances have to be made for youthful wonder. But I was far from the only one impressed. An article in the Derry Journal (March 28, 1975 p. 19) gave a rave review:

A GREAT WEEK-END

In recent years the short week-end congress has become an increasing feature of the chess world. …

This year a group of dedicated and lively citizens from the Dundrum Family Recreation Centre … organis[ed] a giant four-day congress over the St. Patrick’s Day week-end which turned out to be the most successful chess event ever held in Ireland. That is, if you judge success as I do, by the number of ordinary players taking part and the enjoyment they get out of doing so.

Two hundred and eighty players turned up and were graded into three sections. The venue was Wesley College, Ballinteer, Dublin, and the playing conditions were very good, all players together in a large hall with a split level which allowed spectators to lean over a sort of balcony and watch the play some three or four feet below. …

It is yet another sign of the times that spectators did turn up, several hundred, and a startling number were equipped with pocket sets on which they followed the play. All this gave rise to a heady atmosphere which infected the players and the battles were full of excitement and enjoyed even by the losers. …

[N]o one who experienced the happy, crowded Dundrum Congress will fail to cry “more of the same.”

The large international field had many strong players. Of these, perhaps the most star power was brought by the reigning World Junior Champion, 19-year-old Tony Miles, who helped raise the profile of the event markedly via a series of mammoth simuls in Dublin, Cork, and Galway in the lead-up.

In the end, the top section, the “Irish Civil Service Building Society Open”, resulted in a five-way tie between Miles, Robert Bellin, reigning World Cadet Champion Jonathan Mestel, and the locals Eamon Keogh and Jim Cummins, on 5/6.

There followed 6th-7th Mark Orr, Tony Dennehy 4½; 8th-15th Ray Cassidy, Charlie Barnwell, Robert Pye, Oisín McGuinness, Eamonn Martin, Gerald H. Bennett (ENG), Peter Jamieson (SCO), and Graeme McCormick on 4; 58 played.

We have mentioned John Saunders’ outstanding BritBase (British Chess Game Archive) website here several times before. One of the regular features is a series of games collections for individual players. In February, a new collection of the games of Tony Miles appeared there, comprising 975 games, of which a large number (over 200) were entered directly from Miles’ original scoresheets by Geoff Lawton. The Dundrum International Congress 1975 is covered, with all of Miles’ games included; only one had been available previously. The games have now been added to the archive here.

In the first round, Miles faced ‘E. Higgins’ according to his scoresheet. A contemporary report said he had won against “local player Ted Higgins”. It seems very likely that he was the same Edward Higgins who played on an Eoghan Ruadh team that won the Armstrong Cup and National Club Championship in 1956, and who played in the Irish Championship 1956. He was also, as J. J. Walsh informed me some time back, the father of event organiser Henry Higgins.

The game itself was one-sided. The diagram below shows the position after White’s 19th; Black resigned on move 22.

Miles - Higgins, Dundrum International Congress 1975

Miles – Higgins, Dundrum International Open 1975 (1)
Position after 19. Nd4

[Click to replay the full game.]

In the second round, Miles had a harder time breaking down Robert Pye. The players reached a double rook ending that really should have been drawn quite easily. Pye drifted, however, and problems mounted. The diagrammed position is still holdable. But it is losable as well, and that is what happened.

Pye - Miles, Dundrum International Open 1975

Pye – Miles, same event (2)
49. ?

[Click to replay the full game.]

In the third round, Miles’ scoresheet shows his opponent as “J. Byrne”. I had never heard this name, and there is no J. Byrne in the entire August 1976 ICU rating list. I wondered if this could be a mistake, and his opponent might have been Ray Byrne. Whoever Miles was drawn against on 2/2 had to have been doing well after two rounds, and Ray seemed the only player who might fit. I asked Gerry MacElligott yesterday if he happened to be in touch with Ray, and was delighted to get a prompt reply this morning, relaying Ray’s answer:

“Indeed it was me. An English opening as I recall. Harry Golombek was in attendance and chose this game to demonstrate the skill of GM-to-be Tony Miles. My full name is James Raymond Byrne. This explains the J.”

Ray’s memory of the game does not fail him, 51 years later; an English it was. In the diagrammed position, after the continuation 21. d4!, the black d-pawn was doomed. Black resigned at move 32.

Miles - Byrne, Dundrum International Open 1975 (3)

Miles – Byrne, same event (3)
21. ?

[Click to replay the full game.]

In the fourth round, Miles agreed a shortish and uneventful draw with fellow Englishman Gerald H. Bennett.

[Click to replay the full game.]

In the fifth round, Miles faced Ray Cassidy, a veteran of five Olympiads, the most recent of which was the previous year in Nice. This game was the sole one involving Miles in the ICU archive; it had appeared in BCM.

Miles- Cassidy, Dundrum International 1975

Miles – Cassidy, same event (5)
28… ?

BCM commentary thought that 28… Re2 was now winning, but BritBase suggests Stockfish 17 has it equal. It seems it’s at least equal, and Black is also fine after the move played, 28… Rxa4. In the sequel, though, Cassidy was outplayed and resigned on move 40.

[Click to replay the full game.]

In the final round, Miles had White again, against Robert Bellin, and the players agreed a short draw. As noted above, they finished in joint first with three other players; without knowing the other scores entering the last round, it’s not possible to know if this short draw guaranteed them a share of first.

[Click to replay the full game.]

[Update, April 10, 2026: David McAlister has answered the question in the last paragraph above, also providing much more information besides, by sending a copy of Robert Bellin’s detailed tournament report in CHESS, for which many thanks.

The final round top pairings were Miles (4½) – Bellin (4½); Dennehy (4) – Mestel (4½); Bennett (4) – Keogh (4); Cummins (4) – Harding (3½).

Bellin reports that “[p]artying until the small hours had not left the leaders at their sharpest, so when Jonathan agreed a quick draw the same followed in the Miles v Bellin encounter.” The report also includes four annotated games (none involving Tony Miles). The games, though not the notes, were already in the ICU games archive.

Here too, there was praise for the organisers, and “tournament director Harry Higgins … justly received a really appreciative ovation at the closing ceremony.”]

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Paul Cassidy on the Irish Championship 1968

Posted on March 31, 2026 by Sean Coffey

A little while back we had a post and report on the Irish Championship 1968. Wolfgang Heidenfeld won the fifth of his six titles, holding off a strong challenge from Paul Cassidy, who was making his début, as was over half the field.

There was a large amount of information about the event, and the only major lack was in games: only three of the games were available, plus a position from a fourth game.

I’m delighted to report that Paul has provided eight of his nine games from this event, with comments and impressions, for which many thanks. The report has now been updated with all the new material.

Paul’s overall summary is as follows:

“This was a weak Irish Championship which quickly developed into a two horse race between Wolfgang Heidenfeld and me. We were tied together for most of the week, occasionally swapping places as each of us were held to a draw in different rounds. We entered the final round tied on 7/8, a full two points ahead of the nearest competitor. Had I accepted a draw in my last round game, I would have finished runner up on 7½ points, possibly the highest runner up total in the history of the championship.

I did not, however, play to my best chess in this championship. I won a lot of games through sheer dogged determination and good middle game play after coming out of the opening with not great positions. I was very lucky that David Wilson resigned a drawn position and it could have been worse. Wolfgang Heidenfeld was the deserving winner of the championship.”

The tie-break system had been changed earlier in the year from sum of opponent’s scores to a playoff match. In the last round, Heidenfeld faced Peter O’Kane, while Paul had White against David Cox.

Heidenfeld beat O’Kane, but Paul ran into severe difficulties against Cox. In a King’s Indian, he had a slight advantage in the opening, when he disastrously castled on the queen’s side. Perhaps this was understandable in a must-win situation, but his position went steeply downhill almost immediately. With nothing to lose, he sacrificed heavily, and Cox slipped before the time control to allow him back into the game.

Cassidy - Cox, Irish Championship 1968 (9)

Cassidy – Cox, Irish Championship (9)
Position after 43. Qxb5

In the diagrammed position, White has just captured a black knight on b5. But, though it is not entirely clear-cut, there is no win. After 43… Qd4+, Cox offered a draw. Needing a win, Paul declined, and eventually lost.

“Despite its many flaws, this was a most exciting game, a real titanic struggle. I still remember the crowd of spectators around the board during the final 10 moves of the first session with both of us in severe time pressure and in a hugely tension filled position.”

[Click to replay the full game.]

Among Paul’s other games was a convincing win against former champion Brian Reilly, one of half a dozen wins.

Perhaps the most difficult moment in all his games occurred in his fifth round win against David Wilson. In the diagrammed position below, Paul discovered only recently that engines find that White has a very strong continuation; in fact, it seems White is winning. What should White play now, and what is the winning plan? (I found this very non-obvious, even with the help of the engine.)

Cassidy - Wilson, Irish Championship 1968

Cassidy – Wilson, Irish Championship 1968 (5)
37. ?

[Click to replay the full game.]

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Choudhury – Sallan, DCU Majors 2026

Posted on March 25, 2026 by Sean Coffey

The last post mentioned that Cahit Furkan Sallan recorded a perfect 5/5 in last month’s DCU Majors. In the last round, he faced Darshan Choudhury, who had also reached that point with a perfect score.

The game had an interesting, but quite puzzling, finish.

Choudhury - Sallan, DCU Majors 2026

Choudhury – Sallan, DCU Majors 2026 (5.1)
41… ?

The diagrammed position is crushing for Black, and now 41… Rb2 is the simplest way to proceed. Instead the game continued 41… Qg1+ 42. Kf3 Qf1+ 43. Kg4, and now Black erred irrevocably with 43… f5+??.

After 44. exf5, he erred once again with 44… gxf5+?, instead of 44… Qxf5+ with equality.

Choudhury - sallan, DCU Majors 2026 (II)

Same game
45. ?

Amazingly, after 45. Kh5!! White would now be winning. The threat is 46. Kg6 and 47. Rxe7, and Black has no effective defence. After 45… Qh3 46. Qf3 Kf7 47. Bf4 Ra3 48. Bg5, White has a winning attack.

Instead White missed the opportunity with 45. Kg5?. The difference is that after 45… Qh3!, 46. Qf3? (46. Qxf5=) would now lose to 46… Rxd2! 47. Rxd2 Be3+! 48. Qxe3 Qg4+ 49. Kh6 Qg7+ 50. Kh5 Kh7 and mates.

The game continuation as shown on live boards was 45… Bf6+?, which loses, and then 46. Kg6 Qh3 47. Bg5 Rxe2 48. Qxe2 Bxg5 49. Qe6+, followed by the two illegal moves 49… Bf6 50. Qe2, followed by 0-1.

This is the puzzling part. The last two moves are clearly spurious ‘live board’ moves, but Black is irredeemably lost after 45… Bf6+, and it is not evident what the actual game was. Did White lose on time?

[Click to replay the full game.]

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