Category Archives: Games

Drogheda Super Rapid 2K24 KlimaX 2024

The inaugural Drogheda Super Rapid 2K24 KlimaX 2024 was held on December 28-29, 2024, with a field of 76, and 15 rounds. A full report has been added to the tournament pages here. The organisers provided twenty live boards, with … Continue reading

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A king hunt

From an Armstrong Cup game played on Wednesday: Jonathan O’Connor, on X, remarked that “My opponent went downhill very quickly after forgetting his Sveshnikov theory”. This happened around ten moves before the diagrammed position. Beatty – O’Connor, Armstrong Cup 2024-25 … Continue reading

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Zalan Nemeth, FM title and two IM norms

Congratulations are due to Zalan Nemeth, who recorded two IM norms within the span of the past few weeks, at the SixDays Budapest IM-C January 2025 and the 1st EUTender Sinus Sárkány IM 2025. Each was structured as a ten-player … Continue reading

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Kilkenny Masters 2024

The Kilkenny Congress took place last weekend, attracting 246 players (apparently a record) over three sections. A report on the full Congress by Gerry Graham, with many photos, can be found on the ICU web site. The Masters attracted a … Continue reading

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Ireton – Cox, Wexford Premier 1973

The 1968 Irish championship, covered here recently, featured seven teenagers. Two of these were David Cox of Dublin C.C., and Oatlands College, Dublin (my own school), who finished equal 3rd-4th, and Tom Ireton of C.C.Y.M.S. and Sullivan’s Quay C.B.S., Cork, … Continue reading

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A game of Jim Phelan’s

John Saunders’ outstanding BritBase website provides a constant stream of newly discovered games, aided by contributions from a set of regular contributors at the English Chess Forum, and some of these involve Irish players. One game, added there today, is … Continue reading

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Irish Championship 1968

The first Irish championship held under the newly introduced rules discussed in the last post was the 1968 event, held in Dixon Hall in Trinity College, Dublin. The field of 21 included the defending champion Wolfgang Heidenfeld, previous champion and … Continue reading

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Sligo Spring Tournament 2024, other sections

The Sligo Spring Tournament had four sections in all, and the organisers made live boards available for all games in each. Full reports have been added here for the Championship (40 players, 1st Nitish Arun), the Major (44 players, 1st … Continue reading

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Sligo Spring Tournament Masters 2024

The Sligo Spring Tournament was held in Enniscrone from February 2-4, 2024. The flyer gives testimonials from players (“the best tournament in Ireland at present”, “by far the most professional weekender I’ve been to”), and these seem no idle boasts. … Continue reading

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Eddie O’Connor and the Armstrong Cup 1988-89

The 1988-89 season of the Armstrong Cup turned into a battle between the defending champions, and favourites for the new season, Kevin Barry, versus the previous year’s runners-up, Rathmines. The background and atmosphere was described vividly by Michael O’Brien in … Continue reading

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