Author Archives: Sean Coffey

Horace Plunkett and the Parliamentary Cable Match, 1897

Posted on June 11, 2020 by Sean Coffey

In 1897, the British House of Commons played a challenge match by cable against the U.S. House of Representatives. The top two boards on the House of Commons side were filled by players from Irish constituencies: the then Hon. Horace … Continue reading →

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Sir Horace Plunkett, circa 1920

Posted on June 7, 2020 by Sean Coffey

A group including Sir Horace Plunkett (front row centre), Trinity College Dublin, circa 1920. Image © UCD National University of Ireland, Dublin licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Last year, I posted on Sir Horace Plunkett, longtime … Continue reading →

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Li – Williams, 4NCL Online 2020

Posted on June 2, 2020 by Sean Coffey

The 4NCL Online event launched last month, and the first round Henry Li, playing board 1 for the Gonzaga B team (“Gonzaga B Sharps”), had White against Simon Williams. The game reached a rook ending in which Black was two … Continue reading →

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Cork Congresses

Posted on May 30, 2020 by Sean Coffey

A new sub-page on Cork Congresses has been added to the Tournament series page here. This event, which started in 1993, was originally called the Cork City Congress, presumably to distinguish it from the Cork Chess Congress series that ran … Continue reading →

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J. J. O’Hanlon medals, 1928-1943

Posted on May 17, 2020 by Sean Coffey

Last week, I belatedly stumbled across an auction of Irish chess interest, of a collection of medals won by J. J. O’Hanlon between 1928 and 1943. From the description by the auctioneers, Whyte’s: A Tailteann Games gold award medal, for … Continue reading →

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Littleton – Ludgate, Irish Championship 1978

Posted on May 14, 2020 by Sean Coffey

Going into the penultimate round in the 1978 Irish championship, Alan Ludgate led the field, half a point ahead of Colm Barry and Eugene Curtin, and a full point ahead of Conor Barrington and Michael Littleton. In round 8, Ludgate … Continue reading →

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McDaid – Ludgate, Irish Championship 1978

Posted on May 7, 2020 by Sean Coffey

Another critical moment in the 1978 Irish championship came in round 3, when Alan Ludgate had Black against Adrian McDaid. In a complex struggle, chances were around equal until quite late on, when an error from McDaid caused his position … Continue reading →

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Clarke – Ludgate, Irish Championship 1978

Posted on May 4, 2020 by Sean Coffey

One of the critical games of the entire Irish championship in 1978 occurred in the opening round, when Tom Clarke had the white pieces against the top seed Alan Ludgate. Clarke built up a large advantage, turned down a draw … Continue reading →

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Irish Championship 1978

Posted on April 27, 2020 by Sean Coffey

A report on the Irish Championship 1978 has been added to the tournament pages here. The event returned to Galway, for the first time since 1965, and 23 players entered. In a well-contested championship in which many players were in … Continue reading →

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A puzzle solved

Posted on April 24, 2020 by Sean Coffey

Three years ago, when a report on the Bunratty Masters 2006 was posted here, I asked how on earth White could have recovered from the diagrammed position, where Black has just played 31… Qh3 (How?, February 28, 2017). Van Voorthuijsen … Continue reading →

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