Today, March 24, marks the 50th anniversary of the Viscount air disaster. One of the 61 people on board was Noel Mulcahy, one of Ireland’s strongest players. He was Irish champion in 1953, and equal second or better in five Irish championships in all, among many other distinctions.
His game against Hans Bouwmeester from the penultimate round in the Munich Zonal tournament in 1954 is his best known, and was the one chosen in the obituary articles in the Irish Times, April 5, 1968 and the Cork Examiner, April 10, 1968.
White to play
From the diagrammed position, play continued 29. Nd5 Nxd5 (29… Qf7 30. Nxb4 cxb4 31. Bd5 Re6 is also hopeless) 30. Qxd5+ Kh8 31. Rxh7+! Kxh7 32. Qh5+ Kg8 33. Bd5+ Kf8 34. Qf5+ 1-0.
In ‘Mulcahy’s Selected Games of Chess 1949-67’ Maurice Kennefick introduces this fine game with the insightful summary:
‘Bouwmeester appears content to wait passively for the young unknown Irishman to commit hara-kiri, but instead finds himself being gradually outplayed and finally crushed.’