Author Archives: Sean Coffey

Irish Women’s Championship 2021

Posted on September 26, 2021 by Sean Coffey

The Irish Women’s Championship took place last week in Portlaoise. Congratulations to Alice O’Gorman, who won for the first time. Though she was top seed, she did not have it all her own way, and in particular was clearly lost … Continue reading →

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Burning the Midnight Oil

Posted on September 24, 2021 by Sean Coffey

David’s post on the Irish Pawn Centre brought to mind the game Kavalek – Fischer, Sousse Interzonal 1967, which at one time defined the main line of the Sicilian Najdorf Poisoned Pawn. Kavalek – Fischer, Sousse Interzonal 1967 Position after … Continue reading →

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Glorney Cup 1955

Posted on September 8, 2021 by Sean Coffey

The Glorney Cup 1955 was held at Newman House, St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin, from July 27-28, 1955. The controller was Frank Maher, who had played in the 1949 event, and the chief organizer was Andrew O’Higgins. Once again, four teams … Continue reading →

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Irish championship players, updated

Posted on September 4, 2021 by Sean Coffey

The lists of Irish championship players have been updated to reflect the 2021 championship, and to correct a couple of errors. There are 570 players in all, including 557 men and 13 women. Of these, 49 have been Irish champion. … Continue reading →

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Irish Championship 2021

Posted on September 2, 2021 by Sean Coffey

A report on the Irish Championship 2021 has been added to the tournament section here. Yet another outstanding championship—the last five have never been surpassed in the history of the event, it seems to me—saw Mark Heidenfeld win for the … Continue reading →

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Conor Murphy qualifies for IM title

Posted on August 13, 2021 by Sean Coffey

Martin Crichton points out that Conor Murphy has just made his third IM norm at the Muswell Hill IM norm event, which concludes today. Since he had already crossed the 2400 mark, this fulfils the last requirement for the title. … Continue reading →

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Over-the-board chess

Posted on July 27, 2021 by Sean Coffey

It has been a long time since an over-the-board event was played in Ireland: I think the last one was the Irish Championship, which finished almost a year ago. This past weekend saw a very welcome return to over-the-board play, … Continue reading →

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Irish championship players, updated

Posted on July 18, 2021 by Sean Coffey

The lists of Irish championship players have been updated to add the previously missing players from the 1889 championship, i.e., those who received a handicap and who did not qualify for the final. With these additions, the lists contain the … Continue reading →

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Glorney Cup 1954

Posted on July 14, 2021 by Sean Coffey

The Glorney Cup 1954 was held at Cathays High School, Cardiff, from July 28-29, 1954. Once again, four teams participated, and again, only match results counted. Unfortunately, there was no BCM report on the event, and the available newspaper reports … Continue reading →

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Glorney Cup 1954: selection letter

Posted on July 11, 2021 by Sean Coffey

Continuing the Glorney Cup sequence, we come to 1954. I was very pleased to receive a message recently from one of the team, James Johnston, Ulster Schoolboys’ champion 1954, providing his selection letter: From this we have the full Irish … Continue reading →

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