IRLchess

The last post commented that new games from long-ago events appear all the time. Here is another example, which has also surfaced this month, and which also involves John O’Hanlon.

This one is from a subsidiary event of the British Championship 1938, held in the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. The game appeared in the Augsburger Schachblatt a month after the event (discovered by Ulrich Tamm and contributed by him to BritBase). O’Hanlon’s opponent was Jakob Adolf Seitz, 1898-1970, joint winner of the section, who had a column in the publication at least earlier in the 1930’s (source), and was perhaps giving one of his own games here. It’s not a surprise to find, therefore, that O’Hanlon lost.

O’Hanlon – Seitz, British Championship Major Open B 1938 (8)
42. ?

The game itself is a puzzle, though. O’Hanlon outplayed his opponent and built up a decisive advantage. In the diagrammed position, 42. Rxb4 Rd1+ 43. Ka2 Rxg1 44. Rb7 is winning (44… h6? 45. Ra5). O’Hanlon seemed to lose the thread, though, and after a series of aimless manoeuvres and passive choices, finally lost.

[Click to replay the full game.]

Another game from the event, versus Alfred Joseph Butcher, has long been available in the ICU game archive. It was annotated by O’Hanlon for the Belfast News-Letter, and, naturally, features a fine win: click to replay.

O’Hanlon scored a respectable +4 =2 -5 in this 12-player all-play-all, finishing in joint 7th-8th places. Full event information can be found, once again, on the BritBase event page.

One of the interesting aspects of chess history is that missing games from long-ago events turn up out of the blue, rediscovered in some out-of-the-way publication.

One such game appeared this very month, discovered by “Tabanus” at chessgames.com and relayed via BritBase: the game between Irish champion John J. O’Hanlon and Roland H. V. Scott from the British Championship 1921.

This appeared the following day in the Westminster Gazette, August 18, 1921 p. 6, under the heading “A Lively Skirmish”, and the game itself doesn’t disappoint.

O’Hanlon – Scott, British Championship 1921 (9)
11. ?

The anonymous editor gave O’Hanlon’s previous move 10. Q(b7)xa8+ a question mark, but it turns out to be best. White would now have an overwhelming advantage after 11. a4!!, with 12. Bb5 to come. I must admit that this would not have occurred to me at all; I might have considered 11. Nd2, but this turns out to be about equal. O’Hanlon made the natural choice 11. gxf3.

Scott’s defence 11… g5 12. Bxg5 Bg7 13. Qxh8 Bxh8, though also natural, seems not to be best, and engines think White is winning again after 14. Nd2!. Why this is anything other than ‘unclear’ and why it is so much better than 14. b3 or David McAlister’s suggestion 14. Bc1!? (about equal, apparently) is mysterious to me.

O’Hanlon chose the natural enough 14. b3, and after the reply 14… Nxd4!, the second diagram was reached.

O’Hanlon – Scott, British Championship 1921 (9)
15. ?

Up to now, O’Hanlon’s choices have been understandable, but his next move 15. Be3? was poor: the continuation 15… Nxf3+ 16. Ke2 d4 was obvious enough, and left him irretrievably lost. Instead 15. Nd2 would have given him some advantage.

[Click to replay the full game.]

In this 12-player all-play-all, O’Hanlon finished 11th, with a record of +2 =0 -9. The full crosstable, with much other information, can be seen on the BritBase event page.

The last post gave one of John Gibson’s wins from Harrachov 1967, against the Dutch player Gerben van Manen. Curiously, his other win from the event came against the same player, also as Black, in the preliminary rounds.

Though the result was the same, the game itself (which has long been available in databases) could hardly have been more different. J. J. Walsh’s report said that John was “distinctly fortunate to win the first game”, and “The Knight”, writing in the Cork Examiner, similarly remarked that this game “should surely have gone the other way.” Indeed, it was a great escape of the sort that can bring more joy than a hard-fought and well-deserved victory.

Van Manen – Gibson, Harrachov 1967 qual-1 (2.4)
25. ?

The diagrammed position shows a critical juncture. White had under three minutes to make move 40, but has such an overwhelming position that it shouldn’t matter. 25. Rxf7+ leads to mate in 6, but 25. fxg6, 25. Qxc5+, and the game’s 25. Rbb7 are all around +8, according to the engine.

After 25… Rh7 26. Qxc5+ Kg7, though, instead of 27. Rxf7+, White erred with 27. Qd5??, and after 27… Kh6! was already lost. If 28. Rxf7 Rxf7 29. Rxf7 c2 30. Rxf6 c1=Q+ 31. Kh2 Qe1 and Black wins. The game finished 28. fxg6? c2 29. gxh7? c1=Q+ 30. Kh2 Bxg3 mate.

[Click to replay the full game.]

In 1967, Ireland sent a team to the World Student Team Championship, or “Student Olympiad”, in Harrachov, Czechoslovakia. As described here ten years ago, the Student Olympiads were very strong events, with far fewer weak teams than in Olympiads, and Ireland found the going very tough. Gerry McCurdy (½/11 on board 1), Noel Kerins (1/8) and Michael Roberts (½/8) had tournaments to forget, J. B. (Brian) Tomson scored a relatively respectable 2½/9, but the top scorer was John Gibson, with 3/8.

The excellent OlimpBase report of the event is missing one of his wins, and it is not currently available in the ICU games archive or in any other database that I’m aware of. I found it in two clippings (see here and here) in a package I received from John himself back in September, and as far as I know, it appears here for the first time outside those reports.

It’s a spectacular win as Black, against the Dutch player Gerben van Manen, 1946-2021, later a correspondence chess IM (1986).

Van Manen – Gibson, Harrachov 1967 final-B (6.4)
25. ?

In the diagrammed position, White has been thoroughly outplayed and is already lost. To meet the threat of … Rc2, the most natural move seems to be 25. Nde3, but after 25… Nxe3 26. Nxe3 Rd8! (threat 27… Nxe2+!!) 27. Kf2, Black has the spectacular 27… Nf3!!, winning after 28. exf3 Rxd3 29. Re2 Bd4 30. Qe1 Qd5; there must be other wins as well.

In the game, White surrendered more tamely via 25. Nd6 Qa7 26. Ne4 Rc2 27. Ra1 Qxa1! 28. Qxa1 Nxe2+ 29. Rxe2 Bxa1 30. Kf2 Bd4+ 0-1.

[Click to replay the full game.]