I’m reeling, as is anyone remotely linked with Irish chess, at the sudden and unexpected loss of Philip Short.
He was Irish champion five times—1981 (joint), 1986 (j.), 1988, 2015 (j.), and 2017 (j.)—and finished joint first in 1982, out of the 27 championships he competed in overall.
His win last year, in which he dominated the field, defeating each of the four top remaining finishers, was perhaps the most convincing of all. He earned a well-deserved IM norm for that performance, the first ever achieved in an Irish championship. I think it’s not widely known, though, that it was never submitted to FIDE: it seems Philip had no particular interest in titles and ratings and the like, and preferred to simply play chess.
The photo above (from the ICU Facebook page) is from his last Irish championship, completed less than three weeks ago.
Deepest sympathies to his family.
FM Philip Short was a regular player on the Weekend Tournament Circuit, throughout Ireland. Polite and courteous to all players, he loved late night sessions analysing games. With a pint in one hand, and often a cigarette in the other hand, he was a major personality in Irish Chess. Only the year before last, he regained the Irish Championship Title. Chess in Galway and Cork, will lament his sudden death. My heart goes out to his wife, and two daughters.
Sad and shocked to learn of Philip’s death – one of the great characters in Irish chess. Always open to converse with chess players irrespective of rating. My sympathies to his family.
Philip was my next door neighbour here in Cobh in the late 1970s and I remember playing him and as a less-than- average young player I was mesmerised by his talent and the fact he was willing to play someone like me and share is knowledge of the game. Very sad news indeed.
I was shocked and saddened to hear this news. I started playing competitive chess in Cork in the late 70s, and like anyone else from that era I was in awe of Philip’s ability. Years later, in the early 90s, we played on the Douglas team together. Most of Philip’s opponents were much weaker than he was, but he put his heart and soul into every game and was never happy to just wait for an opponent to blunder. Philip told me once that his ambition in chess was to play one great game, and he seemed to approach each game as if this might be the one.
He had a wonderfully varied style of play. He loved defence and counterattack, and had a great feeling for endgame play. I always admired how, in a very quiet position with seemingly nothing happening, his pieces would somehow gradually gain a bit more energy than his opponent’s and then he’d suddenly play a cracker (his word!) and the game would burst into life. He was also an absolute gentleman to play, and I think his presence at the board often inspired his opponents to play out of their skins. I bet this pleased Philip — he wanted a fight, not an easy win.
Analysing or blitzing with him was both hilarious and educational. When a piece was misplaced, he’d guffaw “who owns him?” My favourite aphorism of his was “I’ve a bad position, I’ll grab a pawn.”
I could ramble on reminiscing about Philip. The Irish chess world lost an enormously talented and popular player. Of course the greatest loss is to his wife, daughters, family and friends. RIP Philip.