Category Archives: Games

Denis Irwin

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Sean Coffey

Around ten years ago, Denis Irwin gave an extensive interview to RTÉ as he was about to leave Manchester United after a glittering career there (1 European Cup, 7 Premier League titles and 3 FA Cups, among others), while also … Continue reading →

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Black to play and win

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Sean Coffey

As the title says: Black to play and win. (N.B. If you’d like to try it as an exercise, don’t read any further for now: the answer is given below.) This is from a game of Joe Ryan’s (White), played … Continue reading →

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Zukertort-Soffe, blindfold simul 1879

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Sean Coffey

Last week saw a welcome return of John Watson’s series of book reviews at The Week in Chess, after an extended break. And the very first book up for review is none other than Tim Harding’s Eminent Victorian Chess Players, … Continue reading →

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“Here’s one that wasn’t so good”: Alekhine-Barry, Dublin 1938

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Sean Coffey

The Simuls page has a list of the illustrious visitors to Ireland down the years: these include Steinitz, Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, Smyslov, and Topalov, all world champions at one time or other. But only one of these was the reigning … Continue reading →

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From Cork 2013

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Sean Coffey

TWIC 963 had 23 games from the Cork Masters 2013, now all posted in the games archive. In the second round, local player and newly minted Irish U-19 champion Hugh Doyle was up against Alexander Baburin, and reached the following … Continue reading →

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An Armstrong puzzle

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Sean Coffey

Black to play: how do you evaluate the consequences of 19. … f4!? This is from the game Oliver Dunne-Eoghan Casey, Elm Mount v. Gonzaga, Armstrong Cup 1999-2000. (Thanks to Oliver for supplying it.)

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Disinformator 42

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Sean Coffey

It has been an unusually eventful couple of weeks in Irish chess, with one of the closest (relegation) finishes ever in the Armstrong Cup on Sunday last, and the second e2e4 Dublin Masters beginning today. More on those items later … Continue reading →

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A missed opportunity

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Sean Coffey

The Bunratty Festival, now up to the 20th in the series, goes from strength to strength. This year’s event had not only the usual very strong Masters, an event that has been described as a ‘ridiculously strong weekender’, but also … Continue reading →

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Warsaw Olympiad 1935

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Sean Coffey

Ireland’s first Olympiad was Warsaw 1935, the 6th overall. As with all Olympiads, and indeed many other team tournaments, the definitive reference is the OlimpBase report, and there would be no point in assembling a different report here. However we … Continue reading →

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Waterford 2012

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Sean Coffey

Rory Quinn won last year’s Waterford Open in style, with 6/6, retaining his title from the year before. I asked him for his games for the archive, and he very kindly sent them. Alas! I ran into all sorts of … Continue reading →

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