Here is a summary of the changes in the past two months that were not the subject of separate posts:
Branagan Cups: There have been quite a few updates here. Anthony Fox sent in details of the 2003 final, for which many thanks. I also found a clipping on the 1979 final, which I had downloaded some time ago, because I played in it myself! (On the losing side, unfortunately.) Other results that showed up were 1974, 1978, 1983 and 1984, and the finalists in 1975. I think Kevin Barry may have won in 1985: they won the National Club Championship and I have a vague recollection they must have qualified by winning the Branagan?
Simuls: Many more simuls have been added: Wade (in Rathmines) and Soultanbéieff 1954, Gligorić (four simuls in 1971), Euwe (two simuls in 1972), and Nunn (1985 in Belfast). For simuls by Irish residents, newly added items are Mary Rudge, G.D. Soffe, and J. Porterfield Rynd in 1889, the last of these blindfold, and another by Mary Rudge in 1893. She was English but resided in Ireland for some time and played in a few Armstrong Cups, and seems to have been living in Clontarf in 1889. Others added were Barney O’Sullivan (1974 in Waterford) and Alexander Baburin (Ballina 2002).
All these are based on newspaper reports. But there’s one other very obscure simul that didn’t appear in any reports, given by Wolfgang Heidenfeld at St. Benildus College in 1978. This had nothing to do with the current St. Benildus C.C., which didn’t exist until 1990 or so, but was instead arranged by the school (Frank Scott) as part of its German Night, and all the players were pupils. Winners were to receive a signed copy of Modern Chess Miniatures by Barden and Heidenfeld.
I hope he brought enough copies! He lost five games, rather a high loss rate for an 18-board simul. The winners were Oliver Dunne, J. Hayes, Jimmy McAndrew, Owen O’Mahony, and Ciarán Walker. (Source: Owen O’Mahony score book.)
TWIC Irish games: These had not been updated for a while. TWICs 904-912 were finally processed, with 327 new Irish games, taking the total up to 1392, from 82 Irish players. There are some duplicates, though, where the same game is given in different weeks: eventually I’ll figure out some way of filtering these out.
Comments: Quite a few people have sent in comments and others have sent email messages. This is all very welcome and encouraging, let me say: it’s very gratifying to see that anyone’s reading all this! In addition to comments from Anthony Fox, Ciarán O’Hare, and Paul Cassidy, we also received comments from Nena Jover Kelty (daughter of Tommy Jover and the author of My Father Was Carmen Miranda: Memoirs of an English Show Girl) and from Rafael Jover re David McAlister’s post from November on Tommy Jover’s win against J.J. O’Hanlon. Many thanks!