Category Archives: Players

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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Lara Putar qualifies for WFM title

Congratulations to Lara Putar, who has qualified for the WFM by scoring 7/9 at the Women’s Olympiad in Budapest. Direct WFM titles at the Women’s Olympiad require a score of at least 65% over at least 9 games, having at … Continue reading

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Eddie O’Connor 1956-2024

I was very sorry to hear of the passing of Eddie O’Connor. Sincere condolences to his family. His association with Dublin C.C. lasted over thirty years, and he also served as club President, most recently ending at the end of … Continue reading

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Maurice Coveney 1939-2024

I was very sorry to hear of the passing this week of Maurice Coveney. Sincere condolences to his family. His playing career spanned six decades, and he also contributed heavily in several administrative roles. He played in four Irish championships—1967, … Continue reading

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Patrick Alphonsus Duignan 1916-1997

The ICU website has two brief items dealing with the 1947 Irish champion. The longer one, by Enda Rohan, includes the photo at right, taken at the Irish Championship in Belfast in 1950, describes him as a principal officer at … Continue reading

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Memories of Morphy

No, not that Morphy. These memories are of the Dublin chessplayer John Morphy. In his Evening Herald chess column for Saturday 30 July 1932, the editor T.P. Donnegan shared a small reminiscence of chess in times past. MORPHY’S DIVAN We … Continue reading

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Irish championship players

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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Thomas Bewley 1926-2022

Thomas Bewley, who died aged 95 last June, was a highly distinguished psychiatrist who had a major impact on the treatment of alcoholism and drug addiction, as noted by extensive obituaries in the Irish Times, Guardian, Telegraph, and Times, amongst … Continue reading

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Irish championship players

The lists of Irish championship players have been updated to reflect the 2022 championship, and to correct some errors and add details. Five players made their débuts in 2022, taking the total to 575 players in all, including 561 men … Continue reading

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