A report on the Irish Championship 1985 has been added to the tournament pages here.
The event was held in Dublin, at Ardscoil Rís on Griffith Avenue, from July 6-14, 1985. 30 players took part, including defending champion Eugene Curtin, former three-time champion Alan Ludgate, top seed (by FIDE rating) Mark Orr, Keith Allen, Colm Barry, Pat Carton, Tom Clarke, and Eddie O’Reilly. The event also featured two women for the first time ever, April Cronin and Ann Delaney, setting a record that would not be beaten until 2019. Nine players made their Irish championship débuts, including Peter Cafolla. Five members of the Glorney Cup team, including future champions Colm Daly and Niall Carton, also participated.
All the highest rated contenders dropped points early on, and after five rounds it was David Smith (Raheny) who led with full points, a point ahead of Curtin and Orr. After a loss to Orr in round 6, he won again in round 7 against Pat Carton, to regain the clear lead. He lost a long game against Curtin in round 8. In the last round, Orr could only draw against Ludgate, while Curtin won “a blunder filled game” against Barry. Both Curtin and Orr thus finished on 7/9. They could have been joined on that score by Smith, had he managed to win as White against Kilian Hynes; because of the tie-break system for a tie involving three or more players (progressive / cumulative), Smith would have been sole champion. As it was, though, he was only able to draw, and so Eugene Curtin and Mark Orr became joint champions.
As of today, only one game from the event is available in the ICU games archive: Orr’s win against Smith in round 6. However, the report adds 33 more: Alan Ludgate contributed all his scoresheets, Jonathan O’Connor contributed a games file containing all his games, J. J. Walsh’s report in Fiacla Fichille had fifteen games, and David McAlister contributed a games file of six games, one from a Tom Clarke scoresheet and the rest from various newspapers. Many thanks to all!
There were some very interesting games. Here are two critical moments from the round 8 game between Mark Orr and Colm Barry.
Which way should the king go, and what is the evaluation with best play?
31… ?
Three moves later, it’s White to play. How should he continue, and what is the evaluation with best play?
34. ?