Category Archives: Uncategorized

Sligo Spring Tournament Championship, Major, and Challenger 2023

Full reports have been added here for last month’s Sligo Spring Tournament remaining sections: the Championship (32 players, 1st Lukian Hushpit after blitz playoff), Major (10 players, 1st Oisín O’Sullivan after blitz playoff), and the mammoth Challenger (76 players, 1st … Continue reading

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Irish Championship 1951

A report on the 1951 Irish championship has been added to the tournament pages here. The championship was held in University College, Cork from the 16th to the 24th July. Eighteen players participated over eight rounds with the Swiss pairing … Continue reading

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Wenman-O’Hanlon, Hastings 1945-46

Sean has recently posted about a couple of newly rediscovered O’Hanlon games in A Lively Skirmish: O’Hanlon – Scott, British Championship 1921 and O’Hanlon – Seitz, British Championship Major Open B 1938. The nine-time winner of the Irish Championship lost … Continue reading

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The Road to Tel Aviv, or the misadventures of a photojournalist

I suspect I had as much fun on the road to Tel Aviv as ever Bob Hope had on any of his “Roads”. – Beth Cassidy, The Road to Tel Aviv Beth Cassidy played for Ireland in the very first … Continue reading

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Johannesburg 1955

In my earlier article Heidenfeld and the 1958 Irish Championship I touched upon the circumstances in which Wolfgang Heidenfeld, German born but resident in South Africa for over 20 years, came to Ireland. In Mark Orr’s broader biographical sketch Wolfgang Heidenfeld … Continue reading

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Karpov-Moles, Groningen 1967-8

In the comments to Walsh-Botvinnik, Martin Crichton mentions a game between Kiernan (presumably Bernard Kernan) and Karpov, when the latter was World Champion. I’m sceptical that such a game exists (I couldn’t find it in any of the normal databases … Continue reading

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The Chess Map of Ireland 1993: 20 years on

When I played in the 1994 National Club Championship at the Winston Hotel Bangor, I received the parchment map below. My slightly faded recollection is that all the participants received a copy to mark their participation in the event, but … Continue reading

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Eugene O’Hare and Bobby Fischer

Colin Fenton has brought to my attention this tribute to Eugene O’Hare from the Derry Journal. It referred to Eugene as “an internationally known chess player who once played against the late chess master, Bobby Fisher[sic].” There is no game … Continue reading

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O’Hanlon, Cox and the female impersonator

John (“J.J.”) O’Hanlon won the Irish championship nine times between 1913 and 1940. His most significant international successes were at Broadstairs 1922 where he tied with the future World Champion Max Euwe (winning their individual encounter) and Hyѐres 1928 where he tied with … Continue reading

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