Irish Championship 1988

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Sources and notes

Sources
Irish Chess Journal
  • Vol. 1, no. 5, August-September 1988, pp. 3-8 (all pairings & results, 4 games (including two fragments)) (via Alan Ludgate, for which many thanks)
  • Vol. 1, no. 4, May-June 1988 p. 27 (schedule), vol. 1, no. 5, August-September 1988, front cover and p. 14 (Orr's annotation of Short - Orr, round 5) (via David McAlister, for which many thanks)
Games
  • Martin Crichton provided his 8 games, for which many thanks
  • David McAlister provided the game N. Carton - Short, round 7, from Martin Kelly's column in the Irish News, July 28, 1988, for which many thanks
ICU web site
TICA Irish Men's Championships, Mark Orr, TICA (The Irish Chess Archive), 2001 (via the Wayback Machine) (final scores)
Newspapers
  • Belfast Telegraph (William J. Collins):
  • July 9, 1988 p. 21 (announcement, location, organiser)
  • “The crowning glory for Philip—at last”, September 10, 1988 p. 9 (report, all player scores)
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  • Cork Examiner (Jim Olney):
  • July 22, 1988 p. 8 (report, all player scores, finish of Short - McMahon, round 8, as puzzle (from 21W))
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  • Evening Echo (Jim Olney):
  • “Irish chess has a new king!”, July 26, 1988 p. 15 (report, all player scores, scores of Crichton - Ludgate, round 7, and Short - McMahon, round 8, photo of Philip Short)
  • July 27, 1988 p. 15 (score of Short - Orr, round 5)
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  • Irish Times (J. J. Walsh):
  • "Chess competition", June 26, 1988 p. 20 (announcement)
  • "Irish chess test begins", July 11, 1988 p. 10 (rounds 1 and 2)
  • "Chess results", July 14, 1988 p. 22 (round 5 results, scores of joint leaders)
  • "Clear lead in chess event", July 15, 1988 p. 9 (round 6 results, scores of top four players)
  • "Narrow lead in chess contest", July 16, 1988 p. 5 (round 7 results, scores of top two players)
  • "Senior chess championship", July 18, 1988 p. 10 (Short winner, scores of top four players)
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  • Sunday Press (Tim Harding):
  • March 20, 1988 p. 30 (location, dates, qualifier abandoned)
  • "Irish chess championships", June 26, 1988 (announcement)
  • July 31, 1988 p. 28 (report, final scores) (via David McAlister)


Notes
Key In "Pairings & results",
  • "(age)" denotes the player's age on his or her birthday that year (regardless of whether the birthday fell before, during, or after the event) (see note on "Record" below)
  • "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 (Dubai 1986)

In playable games,
  • "RR" denotes editorial comment
Débuts and final appearances Six players made their Irish championship débuts: Stephen Brady, Martin Crichton, Anthony Fox, Alan MacDonagh, Pat Reynolds, and Joe Ryan. Six players made their final Irish championship appearance (so far): David Colhoun, David Dunne, Alan MacDonagh, Adrian McDaid, Eric McMahon, and Eddie O'Reilly.
Ratings
  • FIDE ratings are from the July 1988 list
  • ICU ratings are from the Irish Chess Journal, August-September 1988, p. 7 ("the 1987 rating list has been used but, in consultation with Fred Harte, the ratings of some players have been adjusted to take into account significant changes - namely S. Brady and A. McDaid").
Defaults
  • Anthony Fox's round 2 result is given by the Irish Chess Journal report as "Default", and by the Irish Times as "default due to illness", but as he had no opponent, he is listed here as "Did not play"
  • John Redmond's default against Niall Carton in the last round was because he mistook the starting time (Sunday Press, July 31, 1988)
Discrepancies Martin Crichton's rating was given as 1950 by Jim Olney (Evening Echo, July 26, 1988 p. 15) but as 1896 in the ICJ report.
Olympiad The Irish Chess Journal (August-September 1988, p. 3) announced that the Olympiad team would be David Dunne, Mark Orr, Philip Short, John Delaney, Colm Barry, and Eddie O'Reilly, with reserves Keith Allen, Pat Carton, Tom Clarke, and Kilian Hynes.
Mark Orr title Mark Orr earned his third and final IM norm at the Haringey Masters tournament in London, which started a few days after this Irish Championship ended (July 21-29, 1988). Orr thus became Ireland's first IM (not counting C. H. O'D. Alexander, born in Cork in 1909, and included in the first list of IMs in 1950, but whose primary nationality was English) (Evening Echo, August 2, 1988 p. 14).
Clubs Club affiliations are from the following sources:
  • Short, Crichton: Evening Echo, April 5, 1988 p. 15
  • Dunne, McMahon, Reynolds: Irish Chess Journal, August-September 1988, p. 3
  • Orr: Belfast Telegraph, December 31, 1987 p. 6; Wandering Dragons C.C. Club championships page (club champion in 1987-88)
  • Clarke: Belfast Telegraph, April 16, 1988 p. 9
  • O'Reilly, Brady: Irish Chess Journal, vol. 1, no. 4, May-June 1988, p. 7
  • McDaid: National Club Championship page, Irish Chess History web site
  • Redmond: Sunday Press, March 20, 1988 p. 30
  • MacElligott: Gerard MacElligott has played continuously for Elm Mount since around 1975-76 (via Gerard MacElligott, for which thanks)
  • MacDonagh: MacDonagh was listed as affiliated with Elm Mount in the 1987 ICU list, and seems to have played continuously for the club since that time
Tie-break The tie-break method noted in Information → Basic data is the one that was specified for all championships from 1981 to 1986, and one of the two that was specified for 1987
Versions
  • v1.0 (29 May 2021): first published version
  • v1.1 (6 June 2021): added additional analysis provided by David McAlister in Short - Orr, round 5; removed age from entry for Eric McMahon based on comment via email from Martin Crichton (year of birth had been taken from ICU records (https://www.icu.ie/players?last_name=McMahon&first_name=Eric), but year of birth given there seems wrong); modified format to show direct link to "Sources and notes" page from every page, rather than having to go via Information → Basic data
  • v1.2 (26 June 2021): added age to entry for Eric McMahon, based on source that gives his full date of birth
  • v1.3 (28 Mar 2023): corrected link to Irish Chess Journal annotation in Short - Orr, round 5; corrected Eric McMahon's (implied) year of birth (1965 → 1968); added club affiliations for Brady, O'Reilly, and MacDonagh; added reference to March 30, 1985 Sunday Press article; added XML directory and file; changed "tie break" to "tie-break" throughout
  • v1.4 (8 Apr 2023): changed "age" to "(age)" in Pairings & results, and modified Key in Sources and notes → Notes accordingly; corrected typo; modified spaces in Pairings & results
Contributors Alan Ludgate, Martin Crichton, David McAlister, Seán Coffey


IRLchess: Irish chess history & records.
Version 1.4, published 8 April 2023. Comments/corrections? .
Download pgn file.