Murray Chandler’s visit to Ireland in January 1984 saw him play four large simuls in as many days, in Dundrum, Trinity, Skerries, and Cork. In the opening event, at Dundrum C.C. on January 18, 1984, Chandler won 24 or 25 (accounts vary), drew 2, and lost 1, to Brian MacRéamoinn from the host club.
Brian’s win appeared in Fiacla Fichille in December 1984, but has never made its way into any databases. He won a pawn relatively easily in the opening, and after many exchanges the diagrammed position was reached.
41. ?
Chandler now played the disastrous 41. g4?? and had to resign after 41… Be3.
Was Black winning anyway? I’m not sure, but if forced to guess I would say not. It’s not at all evident how he can convert after, say 41. Ra3; suggestions are welcome.
[Click to replay the full game.]
This game appeared on pages 14 and 15 of the December 1984 issue of Fiacla Fichille. I had a copy of page 14 which I made in June 2010 (one of my own games is at the top of that page). Tony Foley very helpfully contributed page 15 earlier this week, for which many thanks.
The anonymous annotator in Fiacla Fichille commented that
“Chandler soon recovered from this setback and went on to take a brilliant 2nd. in a prestigious London tournament.”
This refers to the Philips and Drew / GLC Kings tournament in April-May 1984, a 14-player all-play-all, won by Karpov, with Chandler and Polugaevsky sharing second on 8/13, ahead of Timman, Ribli, Seirawan, Korchnoi, Vaganian, Andersson, Miles, Speelman, Mestel, Nunn, and Torre.