Irish Championship 1977

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Sources and notes

Sources
Tournament book "65th Irish Championships, Cork 1977", Maurice Coveney (ed.), 44pp, (66 game scores (32 annotated), pairings & results, two photos, overview, results and selected games from concurrent events) (via Alan Ludgate)
Scoresheets John Gibson's scoresheets (9 games) (via John Gibson)
PGN file File with 35 games from the event: the 27 given in the ICU games archive as of the date of this report, plus 2 more games also given in the tournament book, plus 5 additional games of Tom Clarke's from his scoresheets, plus 1 additional game, plus all David Houston's 7 games from the Irish Championship Premier Tournament (via David McAlister). Click to download edited file containing all but one of these games.
ICU web site
Contemporary photographs The tournament book has two photos of the event itself: before the start, and during the prizegiving.
Irish championship 1977 prizegiving
In prizegiving photo: front row: Ray Devenney at left, Alan Ludgate at right. Second row: John Delaney, Keith Allen, Eamon Keogh second to foruth from left respectively.
(Click for full size version (2.4 MB).)

Irish championship 1977 opening dayEvening Echo, July 12, 1977 p. 5 (Sheehan). Nearest camera: Tim Harding. Facing, next board: Paul Delaney.
(Click for full size version (410 KB).)
Magazines
  • CHESS gave the score of Short - J. Delaney, round 8 (vol. 43, nos. 791-792, April 1978)
Ratings
Newspapers
  • Cork Examiner:
  • "Top players in action", July 11, 1977 p. 13 (photos of Tim Harding and Gerry McCarthy (Premier Tournament), results from rounds 1 and 2)
  • July 12, 1977 p. 8 (photo of 3 boards, possibly from Premier Tournament)
  • "Barry, Curtin in the lead", July 12, 1977 p. 11 (report after round 3)
  • "Leadership unresolved", July 13, 1977 p. 11 (report after round 4)
  • "Barry, Curtin still lead", July 14, 1977 p. 12 (report after round 5)
  • "Ludgate takes outright lead", July 15, 1977 p. 13 (report after round 6, results)
  • "Irish chess championship", July 16, 1977 p. 14 (report after round 7)
  • "Chess ends in a tie", July 18, 1977 p. 10 (final report, results of final round games)
  •  
  • Derry Journal:
  • July 26, 1977 p. 8 (report, leading and City of Derry C.C. scores, leading scores from subsidiary events)
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  • Evening Echo: (all "The Knight" except as noted)
  • "Cork's Week of Chess", June 21, 1977 p. 11 (details)
  • July 12, 1977 p. 4 (photo of all competitors plus organisers) (by Sheehan), p. 5 (photo of opening round) (by Sheehan), p. 11 (details)
  • "Irish Championships a Treat for Cork Enthusiasts", July 19, 1977 p. 11 (report, final scores, photos of joint winners)
  •  
  • Irish Independent:
  • July 2, 1977 p. 2 (first prize)
  • July 11, 1977 p. 2 (report after round 2)
  • July 14, 1977 p. 6 (report after round 4 first session)
  • July 15, 1977 p. 8 (report after round 5 first session)
  • July 18, 1977 p. 2 (final report)
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  • Irish Press:
  • July 14, 1977 p. 11 (report after round 4)
  • July 18, 1977 p. 13 (final report)
  •  
  • Irish Times:
  • "Inter-provinical match", June 25, 1977 p. 13 (approximate total prize fund)
  • "Late start for chess contests", July 6, 1977 p. 7 (schedule)
  • "3 share lead in chess championship", July 12, 1977 p. (report after second round)
  • "Dubliners lead in chess games", July 13, 1977 p. 9 (report after third round)
  • "Sharing lead in chess championship", July 14, 1977 p. 6 (report after fourth round)
  • "Barry remains leader", July 15, 1977 p. 6 (report after fifth round)
  • "Ludgate is new championship leader", July 16, 1977 p. 13 (report after sixth round)
  • "2 share victory in chess test", July 18, 1977 p. 14 (final report)
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  • Sunday Independent:
  • June 19, 1977 p. 25 (rating requirement, entry fee)
  • July 17, 1977 p. 23 (report after round 5)
  • July 24, 1977 p. 23 (report, Barry - Gibson (round 7) with annotation)
  • July 31, 1977 p. 23 (trophy)
  • August 7, 1977 p. 22 (Short - Quigley (round 6) with annotation)


Notes
Key In "Pairings & results",
  • "age" denotes the player's age on his or her birthday that year (even if the birthday fell after the event)
  • "x-ch" denotes former Irish champions
  • "ch#" denotes the number of championships the player played in, including this one
  • "ol" denotes members of the previous Olympiad team (Haifa 1976)
Outgoing champion Bernard Kernan, the 1976 champion and highest-rated player in the country (2380 FIDE) at the time of this event, did not play here and never played in another Irish championship.
Débuts and final appearances 15 players played in their first Irish Championship, including future winners Philip Short, John Delaney, Eugene Curtin, and Paul Delaney, as well as Allen, Barry, Butler, Carlile, Flannery, Harding, McCarthy, McConnell, O'Driscoll, O'Shea, Prendergast, and Roche. 12 players never played subsequently: Butler, Carlile, Coveney, Flannery, Kennedy, Kennefick, Lavery, McConnell, O'Driscoll, O'Sullivan, Prendergast, and Roche.
Walkover John Griffin was listed as conceding a walkover in round 1, and was not listed for any other rounds. It's possible he had withdrawn before the event started and was paired for the first round in error.
Clubs
  • Club affiliations are from the following sources:
  •  
  • Barry, P. Delaney: Irish Times, September 25, 1976 p. 5
  • Harding, Curtin: Irish Independent, March 18, 1977 p. 10
  • Keogh, Gibson, Byrne: Irish Press, October 14, 1976 p. 12
  • Kennefick, McCarthy, Short, James, O'Sullivan, Quigley, Flannery, O'Shea, and Roche: Evening Echo, March 1, 1977 p. 10
  • O'Driscoll, Kennedy: Irish Press, December 2, 1976 p. 12
  • Allen, Clarke, Blair: email from David McAlister, October 15, 2019
  • J. Delaney: Irish Times, March 30, 1977 p. 6
  • Barrington: Irish Press, November 3, 1976 p. 15
  • Killane: Irish Press
  • Coveney: Evening Echo, October 12, 1976 p. 10
  • McConnell, O'Hare: Derry Journal, July 26, 1977 p. 8
  • Prendergast: Irish Press, October 16, 1976 p. 13
  •  
  • Butler, Devenney, McDaid: ICU May 1977 rating list
Discrepancies
  • Two results from tournament book round reports had to be changed to match final scores, as also given by the tournament book: Kennefick - Butler, round 5 (0-1 → 1-0), O'Sullivan - Flannery, round 8 (1-0 → ½-½);
  • Clarke - Allen, round 7 is listed with colours reversed in the tournament book's round report, and several other colour sequences are suspect;
  • The tournament book gives "C. Roche", but newspaper reports of the event all give "L. Roche". Other reports of the era (for example, Evening Echo, September 23, 1975 p. 12) give his first name as Laurence.
Glorney Cup Five of the players played in the Glorney Cup in Gormanston, Co. Meath, July 27-30, 1977: Colm Barry, Eugene Curtin, Tom Clarke, Keith Allen, and Ivor McConnell (boards 2-6 respectively).
Ratings
Rating requirement
  • The nominal rating requirement was 1900. However, this was not strictly applied: Flannery, O'Shea, and McConnell were rated 1884, 1874, and 1869 respectively.
  • Lavery did not appear in the May 1977 ICU list (perhaps due to inactivity?), but was included, with rating 2021, in the September 1977 list. From the first round draw, he must have been rated between Killane and Clarke, i.e., betwene 2037 and 2010, for this event.
Versions
  • v1.0 (18 October 2019): first published version
  • v1.1 (2 July 2021): added O'Driscoll's first name throughout; added Roche's first name throughout, and modified third entry in Sources and notes → Notes → Discrepancies correspondingly; added ICU ratings (from Fred Harte's 1977 summary) for Barry and Kennefick, and (from Harte's 1983 summary) for Curtin, John Delaney, and Short; changed Quigley's club affiliation to U.C.C. (from Refinery); changed Barrington's club affiliation to U.C.D. (from Dublin); added club affiliations for Butler, Coveney, Flannery, James, McConnell, O'Sullivan, Roche, and Short; changed Griffin's place to "-" (from 35) in Pairings & results; added Evening Echo photo in Sources → Contemporary photographs; added "Clubs" entry in Sources and notes → Notes; added Evening Echo articles in Sources and notes → Notes → Newspapers; changed Débuts" entry in Sources and notes → Notes to "Débuts and final appearances" and modified accordingly; corrected typo in Barry - Harding, round 9; modified format to show direct link to "Sources and notes" page from every page, rather than having to go via Information → Basic data; changed http to https throughout
  • v1.2 (29 September 2021): added ICU ratings (from full May 1977 list) for 25 players (all except Barry, Curtin, J. Delaney, P. Delaney, Harding, Kennefick, Keogh, Ludgate, Quigley, and Short); corrected McCarthy's club affiliation (Refinery → U.C.C.); corrected Butler's club affiliation (Mallow → C.C.Y.M.S.) based on ICU May 1977 rating list (note: a second J. Murphy played for Mallow); added club affiliations for Devenney and McDaid; added note on Rating requirement on Sources and notes → Notes
Contributors Alan Ludgate, John Gibson, Seán Coffey, David McAlister


IRLchess: Irish chess history & records.
Version 1.2, published 29 September 2021. Comments/corrections? .
Download pgn file.