O’Connell’s School, Leinster Schools champions 1957-58

Posted on October 31, 2021 by Sean Coffey
O'Connell's School, Leinster Schools Champions 1957-58
O’Connell’s School, Leinster Schools Champions 1957-58
Front row, L.-R.: W. Davis, John McMahon, Art Coldrick, Paul Cassidy

John McMahon sent me the very nice photo above in March, from the O’Connell’s School Yearbook of 1958. That season marked the fourth time in ten years that O’Connell’s had won; as John remarked, in those days O’Connell’s and Synge St. dominated.

The front row has three of the Glorney Cup team of 1958, which became the first Irish team ever to win the Cup, finishing ahead of Wales and Scotland; England had, controversially, decided not to participate.

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John McMahon 1940-2021

Posted on October 29, 2021 by Sean Coffey

I was very sorry indeed to hear this morning that John McMahon died yesterday.

We have been in regular contact over the past couple of years, mostly over the early history of the Glorney Cup. The history he compiled with his brother Frank, and Tom O’Neill, is available here, and later installments covered the years up to the most recently posted report, on John’s own début year of 1956, which was posted here on Sunday.

In addition to winning the Irish and Leinster Schoolboys’ championships, John finished joint 2nd-3rd behind John Reid in the Irish Championship proper in 1961, winning the formal silver medal that was awarded in those days to the runner-up on tie-break, according to most reports. He also played for Kevin Barry in the Armstrong Cup for twenty years, 1956-1976, and played for Lucan in later years.

Two recent photos are available on the Leinster Schools Chess Association web site, from a visit he paid to the Leinster Junior Championships in 2018.

Deepest sympathies to his family.

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O’Gorman – Grieve, Oxford v Cambridge match 2021

Posted on October 27, 2021 by Sean Coffey

Congratulations to Tom O’Gorman, who played board 1 for Oxford University in the annual Varsity match against Cambridge this past Saturday, and recorded a fine win against fellow FM Harry Grieve, to lead Oxford to a 5½ – 2½ win.

O'Gorman - Grieve, Oxford - Cambridge match 2021
O’Gorman – Grieve, Oxford v Cambridge match 2021 (1)
Final position

[Click to replay the full game.]

It’s unfortunate that Ryan-Rhys Griffiths was taken ill and had to drop out: he had been scheduled to play on board 1 for Cambridge. Has it ever happened before that two Irish players have faced each other on board 1 of this illustrious fixture? I think it would have been an historic first.

Tom O’Gorman is not the first Irish player to play on board 1 for Oxford, but he is the first in a long time: Horace Plunkett did the same in 1875, 1876, and 1877, and Richard Whieldon Barnett followed in 1887 and 1888.

For Cambridge, John Drew Roberts played board 1 in 1885, C. H. O’D. Alexander in 1931 and 1932, Brian Kelly in 1999, Ryan-Rhys Griffiths in 2017 and Conor Murphy in 2018.

The full lists can be found at the pages of Oxford and Cambridge players at BritBase, part of a very detailed series of pages on this event.

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Glorney Cup 1956

Posted on October 24, 2021 by Sean Coffey

The Glorney Cup 1956 was held at Liverpool C.C., from August 1-2, 1956. Once again, four teams participated, and again, only match results counted.

In the morning of the opening day, England beat Ireland 5 – 1, and Scotland drew with Wales.

England Ireland
R. Payne 1 – 0 M. McMahon
W. S. Deeth 1 – 0 R. Grogan
N. E. Lewis 0 – 1 T. M. Alcorn
B. J. McGreevy 1 – 0 A. Coldrick
C. F. Girling 1 – 0 D. Kennedy
J. C. Dore 1 – 0 D. Déiseach
5 – 1
Scotland Wales
M. Fallone ½ – ½ A. J. Davies
G. Dickson 1 – 0 P. M. Perry
J. Hennigan 0 – 1 F. S. Wusteman
J. A. Phillips ½ – ½ D. P. Bryon
P. McLaren 1 – 0 W. Gough
J. O’Sullivan 0 – 1 B. D. Josephson
3 – 3

In the evening, England drew with Scotland; this was the first time in Glorney Cup history that England had failed to win a match. Ireland and Wales also drew.

England Scotland
R. Payne ½ – ½ M. Fallone
W. S. Deeth 0 – 1 G. Dickson
N. E. Lewis 1 – 0 J. A. Phillips
B. J. McGreevy ½ – ½ J. Hennigan
C. F. Girling ½ – ½ P. McLaren
B. R. Ewart ½ – ½ J. O’Sullivan
3 – 3
Ireland Wales
M. McMahon ½ – ½ A. J. Davies
R. Grogan ½ – ½ P. M. Perry
T. M. Alcorn 0 – 1 F. S. Wusteman
D. Déiseach 0 – 1 D. P. Bryon
A. Coldrick 1 – 0 B. D. Josephson
J. McMahon 1 – 0 M. J. Mears
3 – 3

On the second day, England beat Wales 4 – 2, while Ireland beat Scotland 3½ – 2½.

England Wales
R. Payne ½ – ½ A. J. Davies
W. S. Deeth 1 – 0 P. M. Perry
N. E. Lewis 1 – 0 F. S. Wusteman
B. J. McGreevy ½ – ½ D. P. Bryon
B. R. Ewart 0 – 1 M. J. Mears
J. C. Dore 1 – 0 W. Gough
4 – 2
Ireland Scotland
M. McMahon 0 – 1 G. Dickson
R. Grogan 1 – 0 M. Fallone
T. M. Alcorn 1 – 0 J. A. Phillips
D. Déiseach 0 – 1 J. Hennigan
D. Kennedy 1 – 0 P. McLaren
J. McMahon ½ – ½ J. O’Sullivan
3½ – 2½

So England won yet again, though the BCM reported that “it was a less convincing win than in previous years due to the considerable improvement in the standard of play that has taken place in the other countries competing”. Ireland finished second, while Scotland and Wales tied for third and fourth places.

eng irl sco wls mp gp
England . 5 3 4 5 12
Ireland 1 . 3½ 3 3 7½
Scotland 3 2½ . 4 2 9½
Wales 2 3 3 . 2 8

No games are available.

The Irish team was Michael McMahon (O’Connell’s School, Dublin & Kevin Barry C.C.), b. 1938, Irish Schoolboys’ champion 1956 (biographical note), Richard Grogan (Synge St. C.B.S., Dublin), 1938-2016, Irish Schoolboys’ champion 1954, Leinster Schoolboys’ champion 1956 and Olympiad team member 1956 (obit.), Tom M. Alcorn, 1940-2003 (Royal Belfast Academical Instiution & C.I.Y.M.S. C.C.), Ulster Schoolboys’ champion 1956, Art Coldrick (O’Connell’s School, Dublin & Phibsboro C.C.), b. 1941, Olympiad team member in 1972, David Kennedy (Terenure College, Dublin), Donal Déiseach 1938-2018 (Coláiste Mhuire, Dublin, & Clontarf C.C.), Irish Schoolboys’ champion 1955, and John McMahon (O’Connell’s School, Dublin & Kevin Barry C.C.), 1940-2021. Of these, Alcorn, Coldrick, and John McMahon made their débuts. Michael and John McMahon are brothers; this was the first time that two brothers had played for the same Glorney Cup team. The manager was Tom Conlon, who had played in 1949 and 1950.

The English team was Roland Payne (Southend), ca. 1938-2014, London Boys’ champion 1956, William Stanley Deeth (Harrow County School), London Schoolboys’ champion 1955, Neil E. Lewis (Birmingham), Bruce John McGreevy 1938-2020 (Liverpool), Clive F. Girling (Gravesend, Kent), joint British Boys’ champion 1956, John C. Dore (Birmingham), and Brian R. Ewart (Wallasey, Merseyside), b. 1939. Payne, Girling, Dore, and Ewart made their début.

The Scottish team was Michael Fallone (Our Lady’s, Hamilton), b. Bellshill, Lanarkshire, 1938, later Scottish champion (1963), Olympiad team member in 1956, 1964, and 1966 (biographical sketch), George Dickson (Edinburgh), 1938-2017, Scottish Boys’ champion 1955 (obit., biographical sketch, photo, 2015), John Hennigan, John Andrew Phillips (Edinburgh), b. 1938, P. McLaren (Edinburgh), and J. O’Sullivan. Of these, Hennigan, McLaren, and O’Sullivan made their début. John Hennigan is the father of IM Michael Hennigan, British champion in 1993.

The Welsh team was Anthony J. Davies ([Bishop Gore School,] Swansea), P. M. Perry ([St. Illtyd’s College,] Cardiff), Frederick Stephen Wusteman (St. Illtyd’s College, Cardiff), D. P. Bryon ([St. Illtyd’s College,] Cardiff), W. Gough (Whitchurch G.S., Cardiff), B. D. Josephson (Cardiff High School), and M. J. Mears (St. Illtyd’s College, Cardiff). (Here, square brackets denote school affiliations from the previous year.) Of these, Gough, Josephson, and Mears made their débuts.

The top scorers for each team were Dore (England), 2/2, (Payne, Deeth, Lewis, and McGreevy scored 2/3), Alcorn (Ireland), 2/3, Dickson (Scotland), 3/3, and Wusterman and Bryon (Wales), 2/3.

A photo of all players and officials was given to the players and appeared in CHESS the following month. (See the Scottish Teams in the Glorney Cup page in the Chess Scotland web pages for a much higher resolution copy of the picture.)

Glorney Cup 1956 players

The key lists two players as ‘McMahon’. Many thanks to their brother, and later Glorney Cup player himself, Frank, who identifies 1 as John McMahon and 19 as Michael McMahon. The other Irish players in rough board order are Richard Grogan at 17, Tom Alcorn at 21, Dónal Déiseach at 2, Art Coldrick at 15, and David Kennedy at 14. The Irish manager Tom Conlon is at 5.

(In this photo, who is McWheeney, who appears at 8? He looks as if he is a player, but his name does not appear on any scorecards.)

  • Sources:
  • BCM 1956 p. 234 (all match scorecards)
  • CHESS, vol. 21, September 8th, 1956 p. 313 (match results, photo of all participants with key)
  • Ficheall, no. 6, January 1957, p. 8 (summary report with match point totals, overall outcomes of Ireland’s matches, and team composition; Alcorn Ulster Schoolboys’ champion 1956 and top scorer, his score given as 2½/3)
  • Belfast News-Letter, April 11, 1956 p. 7 (Alcorn club)
  • Belfast Telegraph, February 27, 1956 p. 10 (Alcorn Ulster Schoolboys’ champion 1956, Alcorn school, photo of Alcorn and Harry Harte), August 2, 1956 p. 10 (summary report on first day’s matches, with some inaccuracies)
  • Cork Examiner, August 2, 1956 p. 11 (partial match scores after round 2), August 3, 1956 p. 11 (final game totals, and corresponding places if game totals had counted, i.e., Scotland – Wales – Ireland, and with incorrect total for Ireland)
  • East Kent Times & Broadstairs Mail, May 2, 1956 p. 9 (Payne London Boys’ champion)
  • Evening Herald, August 2, 1956 p. 3 (scores of matches from first two rounds)
  • Harrow Observer, July 21, 1955 p. 1 (Deeth school, London Schoolboys’ champion)
  • Irish Independent, January 13, 1956 p. 12 (Coldrick club), April 7, 1956 p. 16 (Grogan Leinster Schoolboys’ champion 1956), July 6, 1956 p. 13 (schools of Coldrick, Déiseach, Kennedy, John McMahon, details of qualifying tournament), July 14, 1956 p. 14 (Michael McMahon Irish Schoolboys’ champion 1956; Déiseach earns place via qualifying tournament), August 1, 1956 p. 11 (Irish team, Michael McMahon Irish Schoolboys’ champion, Alcorn Ulster Schoolboys’ champion, incorrectly giving F. McMahon instead of John McMahon), August 2, 1956 p. 9 (scorecards for Ireland’s first two matches), August 3, 1956 p. 10 (final scores, scorecard for Ireland’s last match)
  • Irish Press, March 6, 1956 p. 11 (club of Michael and John McMahon), August 1, 1956 p. 8 (Irish team, Michael McMahon Irish Schoolboys’ champion, Alcorn Ulster Schoolboys’ champion), August 2, 1956 p. 9 (scorecards for rounds 1 and 2), August 3, 1956 p. 10 (final scores, scorecard for round 3)
  • Irish Times, July 5, 1956, p. 11 (initial selection, including Michael McMahon, Alcorn, Grogan, and Con Deasy, who later dropped out), July 19, 1956 p. 5 (Michael McMahon Irish Schoolboys’ champion, Coldrick and Déiseach earn places from qualifier), August 2, 1956 p. 6 (scorecards of Ireland’s first two matches), August 3, 1956 p. 7 (scorecard of Ireland’s last match), August 9, 1956 p. 6 (tournament review)
  • Lancashire Evening Post, August 31, 1956 p. 12 (Girling first name, joint winner of British Boys’ championship, occupation)
  • Sunday Independent, July 15, 1956 p. 17 (Coldrick earns place via qualifying tournament)
  • The Scotsman, August 2, 1956 p. 8 (partial results of four matches, partial scorecards of Scotland – Wales and England – Scotland)
  • Western Mail & South Wales News, April 4, 1956 p. 7 (schools of Wusteman, Gough, Mears), April 5, 1956 p. 8 (same, plus Josephson), August 3, 1956 p. 10 (final game totals, and corresponding places if game totals had counted, i.e., Scotland – Wales – Ireland, and with incorrect total for Ireland), August 21, 1956 p. 5 (Wusteman Welsh Boys’ champion 1956; Dore city)
  • 9th Glorney Cup: Liverpool (ENG), 1956, OlimpBase (match scores)
  • Scottish Teams in the Glorney Cup (ed. Alan McGowan), Chess Scotland history archive web pages (Scottish team; first name of Hennigan plus link to Michael Hennigan; photo of participants)
  • 43rd British Chess Championship, BritBase (ed. John Saunders) (Girling joint British Boys’ champion 1956, first names and cities for Deeth, Dore, Ewart, city for Wusteman)
  • 76th Varsity Match, BritBase (ed. John Saunders) (Deeth full name)
  • Harrow County School for Boys C.C. web page (re Deeth)
  • The nitrogen metabolism of Azotobacter vinelandii : with special reference to the mechanism of fixation, Frederick Stephen Wusteman, Ph.D. thesis, Imperial College London, 1962 (Wusteman full name) (note: name often given incorrectly as “Wusterman” in contemporary chess sources)
  • 42nd British Chess Championship, BritBase (ed. John Saunders) (cities for Deeth, Ewart, McLaren, McGreevy)
  • 1956 British Chess Federation (BCF) Grading List, BritBase (ed. John Saunders) (McGreevy first name)
  • John McMahon, Tom O’Neill, Fank McMahon, The Glorney Cup: Early Years 1948 – 1963, ca. October 2020 (Conlon manager).

[Update, March 12, 2022: Updated John McMahon’s biography to reflect his passing, shortly after this post; modified Coldrick’s biographical sketch to add Olympiad.]

[Update, June 20, 2022: corrected Déiseach’s name (deleting fada in first name), based on his own rendition in Family Life Education in Canadian Schools, Canadian Education Association, June 1977.]

[Update, May 25, 2024: added first name for McGreevy; added reference to The Scotsman; updated entries for Alcorn and Déiseach.]

[Update, May 29, 2024: added middle name and vital dates for McGreevy, based on cited post by Jon D’Souza-Eva at the English Chess Forum.]

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(Fr. / Canon) Séamus Cunnane 1929-2021

Posted on October 16, 2021 by Sean Coffey

Canon Séamus Cunnane of Carlow died last week in Cardigan, Wales, aged 92. His name will not be familiar to most readers, as he spent most of his life in Cardigan, where he was a parish priest from 1962 until his retirement in 2004 [but see note below]. He returned to Ireland to play in two Irish championships, 1968 and 1969, scoring 4½/9 and 4/9 respectively.

Like many Irish clerics before him, he played correspondence chess with distinction, and he won the Welsh correspondence championship three times, in 1969-70, 1972, and 1974.

He had the distinction of winning a world championship, of sorts, finishing first in Division 3 of an ICCF World Cup, run from 1974 to 1977, according to regional newspapers in Ireland at the time, though I have no other information about this event.

I can only find two games of his in the databases, one an over-the-board loss in a league game after his retirement, and one draw against Wolfgang Heidenfeld in a Wales v. Ireland correspondence match, run from 1970 to 1972. I would be very interested in any more of his games that might survive, particularly from his correspondence event wins.

He was a co-founder of Cardigan C.C. in the 1960’s, probably around the middle of the
decade, along with Iolo C. Jones, later FM, who played in the Irish championship in 2011. (In a sad coincidence, Iolo Jones predeceased Canon Cunnane by a few weeks.) He had played at Carlow C.C. from 1945 to 1948, but gave up when he started to study for the priesthood, only returning to the game in the mid-1960’s; with this background he turned in a very creditable performance in the Irish championships.

I had only recently connected Canon Cunnane with the player who played in the 1968 and 1969 championships, and attempted to contact him for any recollections he might have. Sadly, he was already very unwell.

A tribute from a local historical society can be found here. A brief biographical summary has been added to the Players page here.

[Update, October 17, 2021: Correction: Canon Cunnane retired in 1999, not 2004.]

[Update, October 19, 2021: Another game of Séamus Cunnane, and a notable scalp, is given in a nice tribute on the Welsh Chess Union website. In a club game at Cardigan C.C. in 2005 against Howard Williams, the following position was reached with Black to play:

Cunnane - Williams, Cardigan C.C. 2005
Cunnane – Williams, Cardigan C.C. 2005
33… ?

This position is trickier than it looks, and readers are invited to consider what Black should play here. I’ll just say that Williams’ suggested improvement for Black here might not actually be best. The game continued 33… a5? 34. bxa5? (a letoff; 34. h4! immediately wins) 34… Kxa5? (34… Kc5 is enough to draw) 35. h4! (“flashed out”) and Williams resigned: the black king has wandered too far and the h-pawn can’t be stopped.]

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

Posted on October 14, 2021 by David McAlister

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 FIDE Women’s Olympiad at Emmen, The Netherlands in 1957. Sometime after that (the precise year is unknown to us) she moved to New York, where in the 1960s she worked at the Manhattan Chess Club and for Chess Life, the official magazine of the United States Chess Federation.

It was through her work at Chess Life that she accompanied the U.S. Delegation to the 1964 Olympiad in Tel Aviv. An article on her experiences in Israel appeared in the January 1965 edition of the magazine. Here are a couple of Beth’s misadventures, retailed in her trademark humorous style.

A brush with officialdom

The long flight to Tel Aviv arrived at 9 p.m. Israel time but Cassidy nearly didn’t make it out of the airport.

I was trailing through Immigration in the wake of the U.S. delegation when I was stopped. “You cannot come in,” the Official said flatly. “You have an Irish passport and you need a visa; this will cost you money,” he added triumphantly, “the Visa Office is closed for the night.” He held onto my passport and let me loose in a small pen from which I frantically tried to hail one of the team. Another Official who was watching my performance with interest asked what the trouble was. I explained, and when I told him I was with the chess group he moved with alacrity. “I’m supposed to be looking after you people,” he said, and with that he hopped over the barrier and two minutes later returned with my passport complete with visa. It appears the Immigration Officer was also the Visa Office and he had apparently closed himself for the night. The nice Official handed me my passport with a bow saying, “You are our guest, there is no charge. Be happy in our country.”

Petrosian and the wannabe paparazza

Cassidy was the Official Press Photographer to the U.S. Team but in an encounter with the World Champion she cheekily exceeded the limits of her authority to take photographs during play.

Photographers, who had to have a Government pass, were permitted to work for the first 15 minutes of play, and then only from outside the ropes. I managed to get inside and photographed each of the Russians as they commenced to play. When I came to him, Petrosian was sitting just about ready to make his first move. I hissed his name and when he looked up I whispered to him to smile. For my pains I got the filthiest look I ever received and he looked away, refusing to move till I was hustled out if the arena. I got a good profile picture though!

Petrosian, photo by Beth Cassidy

Sources:
The Road to Tel Aviv by Beth Cassidy at pages 4, 5 and 7 of Chess Life, January 1965.
An abridged version of the article appears at pages 8-9 of the Official Book of the event, XVI Chess Olympiad Tel Aviv November 1964 by Moshe Czerniak.
Beth Cassidy: HER REMARKABLE LEGACY OF CHESS PHOTOJOURNALISM FROM A GOLDEN AGE by Tom Braunlich Oklahoma Chess Monthly July 2019.

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Irish Championship 1982

Posted on October 10, 2021 by Sean Coffey

A report on the Irish Championship 1982 has been added to the tournaments pages here. 16 of the 99 games are included; there are currently none in the ICU games archive.

The event, sponsored by IBM Ireland, took place (mostly) in the City Hall, Cork, from July 10-18. The field of 23 players included the defending joint champions David Dunne and Philip Short and three time champion Alan Ludgate, along with John Delaney, Colm Barry, and Keith Allen, in a young field.

The fourth seed Colm Barry unexpectedly lost in the first round to Gerry MacElligott and never really recovered, while fifth seed Alan Ludgate saw several half points slip away midway through the event, and also dropped out of contention. The event came down to a struggle between the top three seeds Dunne, Delaney, and Short, with no more than half a point separating any of them at any stage. Heading into the last round, Delaney and Short led with 6½, with Dunne on 6. Dunne won against Gerard O’Connell, while Delaney drew against Ludgate. This left Philip Short needing to win as Black against Keith Allen to finish clear first; a draw would leave him in a three-way tie, and losing out on tie-break.

Allen - Short, Irish Championship 1982

Allen – Short, Irish Championship 1982 (9)
Spectators: John Quigley (controller), David Dunne, David Leech (IBM Ireland)
(via ICU web site)

Philip reached the ending of King and Queen versus King and Rook. Though adjournments were in place for the event, that was only for the first eight rounds: the last round had to be played to a finish in a single session. This was only a few years after Walter Browne’s unexpected struggles with this ending in a 1978 challenge against the BELLE computer (Browne failed to win the first game within 50 moves, and succeeded in the second only on the 50th move (see Müller & Konoval, 2021)). It’s fair to say that the ending is one of trickier ones amongst the endings with so little material.

The game lasted from 10 in the morning until shortly before midnight. It had to be moved from City Hall to a hotel, probably the Imperial Hotel, South Mall, which had been booked for the prizegiving. After 128 moves, then a record for the Irish championship, an exhausted Philip ran into the 50 move rule and the game ended in a draw.

As a result, David Dunne was declared winner under sum of opponent’s scores, and was awarded the trophy and the title of Irish champion.

But wait—the entry form had specified a different method:

Irish Championship 1982 tie break method

Under this method, John Delaney would win. John accordingly appealed, and in early December the Irish Chess Union upheld the appeal and ratified John as champion, for his first title.

Gerry MacElligott, who was playing in his first Irish championship, and who was admitted into the event very late on, had an outstanding tournament and finished clear fourth, for his best ever result. Keith Allen finished clear fifth, followed by a group of five players sharing 6th.

(This championship was an unusually difficult one to reconstruct. No contemporary sources give even the correct final scores, let alone the pairings; for example, the Evening Echo report cited by the ICU tournament page has Gerry MacElligott and Keith Allen tied for 4th-5th; but since those scores added up to 108, if half a point was subtracted from Keith, where did it go? Newspaper reports gave many details, but sometimes listed only leading pairings, and adjournments always present problems. The reconstruction was only possible via Alan Ludgate’s scoresheets, which gave some more details of fixtures and intermediate scores, combined with Gerry MacElligott’s recollections and some detailed discussions with David McAlister; the trove of material provided by John Gibson was very helpful in supplying many details, including the entry form, tie-break rules, and ratings. The missing half-point is accounted for by John Kennedy missing the last round to travel to Scotland for the Glorney Cup which began on July 20, and receiving a half point bye rather than a full bye. Many thanks to all!)

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Lyons – MacElligott, Kilkenny Open 1982

Posted on October 4, 2021 by Sean Coffey

I was delighted to receive a comment and a separate email from Guy Lyons, whom I well remember from my playing days, not least because he beat me once, in a game that will appear here in due course. He was rated 30th in the country in the ICU list of July 1983, which would have been around the time he left Ireland for Scotland.

(The Players page is a work in progress, and omissions should be taken as my not having a chance to get around to it yet. New information for this page is always welcome.)

I was surprised to find that the IRLchess and ICU games archives had only one game of Guy’s, and a very incomplete one at that: his draw against Tom Clarke at the 1980 Irish championship. I think several more of his games survive. Here is one: a win against Gerry MacElligott from the Kilkenny Open 1982.

Lyons - MacElligott, Kilkenny Open 1982
Lyons – MacElligott, Kilkenny Open 1982
30… ?

From the diagrammed position, Gerry erred with 30… Kd6? (30… Kf7 seems to leave White with only a slight advantage), and after 31. Re2 Qf5 32. Qc1 Rc8 33. Qa3+, blundered with 33… Kd7??, allowing 34. Qe7 mate. Instead 33… Rc5 would have forced White to find the accurate 34. Re1!, when Black is lost; on the other hand, 33… Rc5 34. Qa6+ is much less clear, since White has to be wary of perpetual checks.

After 30… Kd6 31. Re2, the best chance was probably 31… Qf4!? 32. Qc2 Rc8, when White must be winning but the struggle goes on.

[Click to replay the full game.]

This was the 6th Kilkenny Open, which took place from December 3-5, 1982. The huge internationals still lay in the future, and 18 players played. Eddie O’Reilly (Raheny) finished first on 5/6, followed by four players sharing second on 4/6: Guy Lyons (Sandymount), Colm Barry (Rathfarnham), Michael Gaffney (Carlow), and Bernard Palmer (Dublin or T.C.D.).

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Porter – Griffin, Irish Championship 1978

Posted on October 1, 2021 by Sean Coffey

When I posted an initial report on the 1978 Irish championship here last year, I noted that there was one game that was known to survive, but was nevertheless missing: an annotation by John Griffin of one of his games, which appeared in CHESS in October 1980. My access to this was limited to a brief search engine ‘snippet’, so I did not even know who his opponent was.

David McAlister has very kindly provided the relevant pages, for which many thanks. In them, John annotates a fine win against the Czech IM Krzysztof Pytel, and also his win against Liam Porter from that Irish championship.

Porter - Griffin, Irish Championship 1978
Porter – Griffin, Irish Championship 1978
Position after 25… ?

From the diagrammed position, he continued 25… Bf5!, and after 26. Qxa8 (others also lose), 26… Bxd3+ 27. Ka1 Nb4. Now 28. Qxa7 and 28. Nc1 both lose, but Liam Porter’s choice was even quicker: 28. a3 Qb3 29. axb4 Qa4 mate.

[Click to replay the full game.]

I have updated the report to include this game. I’m not fully sure what round it appeared in—it must have been either round 2 or round 4—but I have been able to fill in many more details from the event via the full ICU rating list for May 1978, which was part of a huge trove of material I have acquired from John Gibson, for which many thanks. With all the ICU ratings, it is possible to reconstruct the full first round draw. Because of adjournments, it is difficult to carry this on beyond the first round, and there are still some unknowns among pairings and results from the first few rounds.

See the revised full report.

John finished equal third, with 5½/9, in what turned out to be his only Irish championship.

Posted in Games, Irish championships, Tournaments | 1 Comment

Irish Women’s Championship 2021

Posted on September 26, 2021 by Sean Coffey

The Irish Women’s Championship took place last week in Portlaoise. Congratulations to Alice O’Gorman, who won for the first time.

Though she was top seed, she did not have it all her own way, and in particular was clearly lost in her round 2 game against Dayna Ferguson and her round 4 game against Antonina Góra.

Two former champions played, of which one was the 1970 champion Elizabeth Shaughnessy. A very nice interview with her can be seen here.

A full report has been added to the tournament pages here.

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