Author Archives: Sean Coffey

Irish 50+ Championship 2024

Posted on February 4, 2024 by Sean Coffey

The “Irish International Festival 2024”, held at the Talbot Hotel Stillorgan from January 4-7, featured an open tournament and the Irish 50+ and 65+ championships, and the Leinster Junior Championships, as well as a blitz. Congratulations to Jonathan O’Connor, who … Continue reading →

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Galvin – Plotkin, Irish Universities v Scottish Universities match 1968

Posted on December 6, 2023 by Sean Coffey

The recent update here on Irish championship players added first names for many players. One of these was Roddy Galvin, who played in the 1967 championship in Cork. No games of his are currently in the ICU games archive. However, … Continue reading →

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Doyle – Ward, Hastings Major C 1933-34

Posted on December 3, 2023 by Sean Coffey

James J. Doyle was a long-time stalwart of Dublin C.C., playing on Armstrong Cup-winning teams spanning at least the 1921-22 to 1949-50 seasons, and was Leinster champion in 1925. He was also a regular at tournaments at Margate and Hastings. … Continue reading →

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UCD Congress 2023

Posted on November 21, 2023 by Sean Coffey

The inaugural UCD Congress ran the weekend before last, attracting 148 players over three sections, and thus sharply reversing a recent trend of sparse turnouts for Dublin tournaments. Congratulations to the organisers! A full report for the Masters section has … Continue reading →

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Irish championship players

Posted on November 7, 2023 by Sean Coffey

The lists of Irish championship players have been updated to reflect the 2023 championship, and to correct some errors and add details. Four players made their débuts in 2023, taking the total to 580 players in all, including 566 men … Continue reading →

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A great escape

Posted on October 13, 2023 by Sean Coffey

Steffen Slumstrup Nielsen is the current World Champion of Study Composition, and co-author, with Jacob Aagaard, of the freshly published book Endgame Labyrinths. He also has an account on X (formerly Twitter) that features many interesting studies and other curiosities. … Continue reading →

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Jessel – O’Donnell, Plancoët Open 2014

Posted on October 6, 2023 by Sean Coffey

Stephen Jessel and Conor O’Donnell competed in the strong Plancoët Open 2014, finishing with 6/9 and 5½/9 respectively. They met in round 8, in a game of changing fortunes. The first diagram shows one interesting moment. Jessel – O’Donnell, Plancoët … Continue reading →

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Irish Women’s Championship 2023

Posted on September 27, 2023 by Sean Coffey

The Irish Women’s Championship was held in Dublin last month, and a full report has now been uploaded here. The field of 13 spanned huge rating gaps, but as has happened in previous instances of this event, lower-rated players rose … Continue reading →

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Fox – D. Nolan, Irish Championship 2023

Posted on August 24, 2023 by Sean Coffey

Among the many interesting moments in the recently concluded Irish Championship was the following from the encounter between Anthony Fox and Dermot Nolan in round 6. Fox – D. Nolan, Irish Championship 202353. ? I was following the game live, … Continue reading →

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Irish Championship 2023

Posted on August 9, 2023 by Sean Coffey

The Irish Championship 2023 is reaching its halfway stage, with (as I write this) ronnd 4 completed. A partial report, [update, August 13: now final] reflecting progress so far, has been uploaded to the tournament pages here, and will be … Continue reading →

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