Last year we had a photo from the Ballyfermot Open 1994, taken by Ray Woodhouse. He has now sent a set of newly discovered photos from the Ballyfermot Congress in 1995. It’s in the form of an A4 sheet with 30 photos, possibly used as a reference when storing negatives.
The 1995 Congress, sponsored by TSB, was held in the Mansion House on January 28-29, 1995, and had 220 competitors over four sections. One of the newly discovered photos shows the playing hall:
The event had a tense and dramatic finish, well captured by another photo in the new set:
Is there any other game where such a scene would be possible? The spectators are practically leaning over the shoulders of the players. I’d like to see how Rory McIlroy would manage in similar conditions. [Click for larger version.]
Colm Daly won the game, inflicting only Baburin’s second defeat by an Irish player since he had arrived in Ireland eighteen months earlier. As a result John Joyce finished clear first on 4½/5, followed by 2-4. Daly, Kevin Butler, and Mark Quinn, 4/5, with Baburin on (we must infer) 3½.
The game appeared the following week in John Hurley’s column in the Sunday Tribune, of which David McAlister has provided a copy. [Click to replay]. It’s possible to pinpoint the exact moment in the game captured in the photo: Daly has just played 36. Qd8-d3 and is either about to press the clock or has just finished doing so: perhaps the latter since Baburin is writing down the move.
Chess photography is not easy and it’s rare to find the atmosphere captured so well. Many thanks to Ray Woodhouse for an outstanding set of photos.
[Update, February 16, 2016: Ray Woodhouse has produced a YouTube video from these and several other photos (‘loughnafin’, 2 m. 38 s., YouTube, February 7, 2016).]
Sean, I think that’s me seated, closest to the samera on the right hand side. Also, I think the late Bernard Palmer is sneaking his head in to look on the left hand side.