Category Archives: Irish championships

Irish championship 2012, and an update to the equal-first-in-an-Irish-championship-but-never-Irish-champion list

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Sean Coffey

Congratulations to the joint Irish champions for this year, FMs Stephen Brady and Colm Daly, after one of the closest finishes ever. A fuller report later, but for now we should acknowledge that first place was shared by, and indeed … Continue reading →

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Irish championship 2012

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Sean Coffey

This year’s Irish championship is heating up, with a great win by David Fitzsimons over Stephen Brady in round 4 blowing the race wide open; he is now joint leader with John Redmond, last year’s runner-up, and they meet in … Continue reading →

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P.J. Laracy, Philip Baker and the 1927 Leinster Championship

Posted on May 7, 2012 by David McAlister

When compiling the Roll of Honour for the Leinster Championship, there was a particularly tricky decision to make about the 1927 renewal. There was evidence pointing towards two possible candidates. They were Philip Baker, champion the previous year (and also … Continue reading →

Posted in Armstrong Cup, Irish championships, Leinster championships, Players, Tournaments | 1 Comment

Irish championship 2000, Castleconnell, Co. Limerick

Posted on January 14, 2012 by Sean Coffey

Irish Ch 2000 flyer header

To this day the topic of where to hold Irish championships is hotly debated, with a division between those who say choosing Dublin all the time is monotonous and unfair to non-Dublin players, and those who say that non-Dublin venues result in much smaller tournaments. The 2000 championship, held in the “scenic village” of Castleconnell Continue reading →

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Duignan-Diskin, Irish championship, Galway 1949 (brilliancy prize)

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Sean Coffey

Returning to , the next on the list is another win by P. A. (Paddy) Duignan, this time against P. Diskin in the 1949 Irish championship in Galway, winning the tournament brilliancy prize. P. Diskin of Galway was Connacht champion … Continue reading →

Posted in Connacht champions, Games, Irish champions, Irish championships, Players | 1 Comment

Irish championship 2009

Posted on November 12, 2011 by Sean Coffey

The 2009 Irish championship, described by Peter Cafolla as one of the most enjoyable for years, had a larger-than-usual field of 29 players, featuring all the perennial contenders and in addition IM Mark Quinn, playing for the first time since … Continue reading →

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Irish championship 2006

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Sean Coffey

Participation in recent Irish championships has ebbed and flowed. In 2007 participation hit an all-time high of 52 players; for 2006, on the other hand, the participation was very much at low ebb, with only 12 taking part. Still, on … Continue reading →

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Irish championship 2007

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Sean Coffey

The 2007 Irish championship featured the largest field ever, 52 players, including 4 grandmasters, a major turnaround from the previous year’s turnout of just 12. The primary factor in the change was generous sponsorship from Island Oil & Gas, and … Continue reading →

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From the 2011 Irish championship

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Sean Coffey

Administrative note: post reformatted, 20 August 2012.

Keogh-Doyle, Irish Ch 2011The 2011 Irish championship was hugely enjoyable and a credit to the players and organisers. Is it a trick of the imagination, due to the presence of live games and almost instant availability of game scores, or was the chess really more entertaining than usual? Perhaps a mixture of both?

Here is a finish with a timeless appeal:

Black now played 49 … h3. How do you evaluate this move and the resulting position with best play? Was there anything better?

See the solution. Continue reading →

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And they’re off …

Posted on July 2, 2011 by Sean Coffey

The 2011 Irish championship has started. There is some excellent live coverage available from the organisers, the highly reputed e2e4 Chess, including live games for the first time ever in an Irish championship.

We gather all the information we have in a tournament report, which we’ll update continually while the championship unfolds.

July 10: Stephen Brady wins the Irish championship for the 7th time. Rory Quinn wins the weekender. July11: Eric Bennett earlier won the intermediate. Mark Finnigan won the junior. Continue reading →

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