I was delighted to receive a comment and a separate email from Guy Lyons, whom I well remember from my playing days, not least because he beat me once, in a game that will appear here in due course. He was rated 30th in the country in the ICU list of July 1983, which would have been around the time he left Ireland for Scotland.
(The Players page is a work in progress, and omissions should be taken as my not having a chance to get around to it yet. New information for this page is always welcome.)
I was surprised to find that the IRLchess and ICU games archives had only one game of Guy’s, and a very incomplete one at that: his draw against Tom Clarke at the 1980 Irish championship. I think several more of his games survive. Here is one: a win against Gerry MacElligott from the Kilkenny Open 1982.
30… ?
From the diagrammed position, Gerry erred with 30… Kd6? (30… Kf7 seems to leave White with only a slight advantage), and after 31. Re2 Qf5 32. Qc1 Rc8 33. Qa3+, blundered with 33… Kd7??, allowing 34. Qe7 mate. Instead 33… Rc5 would have forced White to find the accurate 34. Re1!, when Black is lost; on the other hand, 33… Rc5 34. Qa6+ is much less clear, since White has to be wary of perpetual checks.
After 30… Kd6 31. Re2, the best chance was probably 31… Qf4!? 32. Qc2 Rc8, when White must be winning but the struggle goes on.
[Click to replay the full game.]
This was the 6th Kilkenny Open, which took place from December 3-5, 1982. The huge internationals still lay in the future, and 18 players played. Eddie O’Reilly (Raheny) finished first on 5/6, followed by four players sharing second on 4/6: Guy Lyons (Sandymount), Colm Barry (Rathfarnham), Michael Gaffney (Carlow), and Bernard Palmer (Dublin or T.C.D.).