Glorney Cup 1951

The Glorney Cup in 1951 was held at the Dublin C.C. clubrooms, at 20 Lincoln Place, from July 25-27, 1951. For the first time, Scotland sent a team.

On the opening day, England, with Malcolm Barker back after taking the previous year off, beat Ireland 5 – 1, with only 13-year-old Sam Ferris, who beat Peter H. Clarke on board 2, preventing a whitewash. Wales beat Scotland 3½ – 2½.

On the second day, England beat Wales 5 – 1 and Ireland beat Scotland by the same score:

On the final day, England recorded an even more convincing win against Scotland, while Ireland drew with Wales:

(Note: board orders are not all certain.)

The three games available (pgn) appear in no database.

So England won easily once again, this time only losing one game (Ferris’ win over Clarke). Ireland and Wales tied on match points for the second consecutive year, and once again this seems to mean they tied for second and third places: Ireland’s better game total did not count. Scotland had a rough introduction to the Glorney Cup, losing all three matches and scoring only 4 game points.

Prizes for highest scores on each team went to Malcolm Barker, Norman Littlewood, and Michael Davis of England (all 3/3), Sam Ferris (2½/3), Brian F. Burrows of Wales (2½/3) and David Kinsler of Scotland (2/3).

The Irish team was Fintan Doyle (Terenure College, Dublin), Leinster Schoolboys’ champion 1951, Sam Ferris (Grosvenor High School, Belfast), ca. 1937-2018, Irish Schoolboys’ champion 1951, J. A. Norris (Synge St. C.B.S., Dublin & Rathmines C.C.), B. Gallagher (St. Mary’s, Rathmines, Dublin), Noel O’Brien (O’Connell’s School, Dublin), David Conlon (O’Connell’s School, Dublin), and Brian Hussey (St. Mary’s, Rathmines, Dublin). Of these, all but Doyle and Ferris made their débuts.

The English team was Malcolm Neil Barker, b. Birmingham, 1934 (see previous posts), Peter Hugh Clarke, b. London, 1933, FM 1984, correspondence chess GM 1980, who played for England in all Olympiads from 1954 to 1968, Norman Littlewood, 1933-1989 (Sheffield), who finished runner-up or joint runner-up in four British championships, and played for England in the Olympiads of 1964 and 1966, Robert Edmond Borland 1934-2017 (Plymouth), Michael Davis, 1935-1998 (biography), and Peter Campbell Gibbs (Bradford), later joint British Boys’ champion (1952). All except Barker made their débuts.

The Welsh team was J. Graham T. Jones (Port Talbot), P. K. Marshall, J. A. Cohen, Brian F. Burrows (Bridgend), A. C. Thomas, P. V. Williams, and D. Rowe Jones (Port Talbot). J. G. T. Jones, Marshall, Burrows, and probably Cohen had played before (“A. Cohen” played the previous year).

The Scottish team was Fergus George H. M. Nicholson, b. Dumfries, 1935, Scottish Boys’ champion 1951, later a leading light in the Communist Party of Great Britain, D. G. Weir, Raymond Wallace Martin Baxter, 1933?–2018 (biographical sketch), who played for Scotland in the 1964 Olympiad, David Kinsler (biographical sketch), and for the remaining players, L. G. Hepburn, and G. W. Kerr, I have no information beyond the scorecards.

A photo (of low resolution) of Barker – Doyle and Borland – Gallagher, round 1, appears in the Evening Herald, July 26, 1951 p. 3. A photo (of decent resolution) of Doyle – Jones, round 3, appears in the Irish Press, July 28, 1951 p. 9. A photo (of lowish resolution) of Malcolm Barker receiving the Cup from the Lord Mayor of Dublin, with the other team captains present, appears in the Evening Herald, July 28, 1951 p. 7. A photo of Fintan Doyle is given in the Sunday Independent, April 1, 1951 p. 8. A photo of the O’Connell School team, including Noel O’Brien and David Conlon, that won the Leinster Senior Schools’ League in 1950-51 is given in the Sunday Independent, January 22, 1951 p. 8. Photos including Fergus Nicholson (from 1950) and Malcolm Barker (from 1952) are shown on the Scottish Teams in the Glorney Cup page on the Chess Scotland web site.