Leinster Championship 2007

Posted on June 24, 2021 by Sean Coffey

A report on the Leinster Championship 2007 has been added to the tournament pages here.

All 36 games are available, though none appear in the ICU games archive as of the date of this post. I downloaded the first copy of the games file from the Phibsboro C.C. web pages on December 16, 2010, i.e., over ten years ago, so this report has been in progress for a long time.

The event resulted in a resounding win for Gavin Wall, who finished 1½ points ahead of the field on 5½/6 for his first Leinster title, incidentally doing vastly better than the previous year’s event, when he finished with +1 =5 -0.

However, the event is principally notable as the last tournament of the late Philip Hogarty, who tragically died in the early hours of January 1, 2008, little more than a day after the end of this event.

One of his two wins came in round 5, versus Ryan-Rhys Griffiths.

Hogarty - Griffiths, Leinster Championship 2007

Hogarty – Griffiths, Leinster Championship 2007 (5)
21. ?

White’s advantage has gone beyond decisive to spectacular. The finish was 21. dxc4 hxg5 22. Rd1 g4? (22… Rh6 and Black can struggle on for a while more) 23. Rd7+ Ka8 24. h4 (quicker 24. Na4 immediately) 24… Rxh4 25. Na4 Qb7 26. Rxb7 Kxb7 27. Qd7+ 1-0.

[Click to replay the full game.]

Posted in Leinster championships, Players, Tournaments | Leave a comment

Ten years of IRLchess

Posted on June 21, 2021 by Sean Coffey

This website turned 10 years old last Tuesday: the first post was on June 15, 2011. See Monthly archives, June 2011 for the first few posts. (For the post at the top of that page, click on the title for the corrected version.)

This is the 430th post in all, between the three of us; many thanks first and foremost to my fellow posters David McAlister and Tony Doyle.

Many thanks also to the many people who have contributed material, including games, tournament and match records, entry forms, photographs, annotations, and corrections. I apologise profusely to anyone I am leaving out here, but in addition to David McAlister, who has contributed in one way or another to virtually every item on the entire website, I have received huge amounts of material from John Gibson, Alan Ludgate, and J. J. Walsh, along with contributions from Kevin O’Connell, Martin Crichton, Pete Morriss, Gerry Graham, Gerry MacElligott, Jack Killane, Herbert Scarry, Philip Doyle, Jonathan O’Connor, Tim Harding, Colm Daly, David Kennedy, Oliver Dunne, Owen O’Mahony, Jim Johnston, Seán Terry, Ivan Baburin, Alan McGowan, Tony Gillam, John McMahon, Frank McMahon, Tom O’Neill, Andy Ansel, P. C. Gibbs, Stephen Brady, Ivan Baburin, Mick Germaine, Mark Orr, Peter Scott, Pat Fitzsimons, Ciarán Quinn, John Donaldson, and Paul Whitehead.

Thanks also to all commenters: Christy Archer, Damian Artt, Eric Bennett, Tony Bent, Anthony Bourached, Paul Brown, Maurice Buckley, Kevin Burke, Gordon Cadden, Peter Cafolla, Lloyd Campbell, Paul Cassidy, Tim Conlan, Suzanne Connolly, David Cox, Martin Crichton, Colm Daly, Niall Daly, Stephen Danaher, Ian Davis, John Delaney, Denis Dempsey, Mark Dennehy, Tony Doyle, Oliver Dunne, John Gaffney, John Gibson, Tony Gillam, John Griffin, Gerry Graham, Larry Graham, Fe Jover Halliwell, Warwick Harte, Clive Hill, Shirley Hovda, Rafael Jover, Nina (Jover) Kelty, Shane Lee, John Loughran, Brendan Lyons, Chris Maunder, Gerry MacElligott, Gerry McCarthy, Derek McGill, Oisín McGuinness, John McKenna, John McMahon, Gabriel Mirza, John Moles, Werner Moller, Stephen Morris, Frank Noonan, Ray O’Brien, Úna O’Boyle, Mel Ó Cinnéide, Jonathan O’Connor, Patricia O’Donovan, Jack O’Hare, Fionán Ó Héalaí, Noel O’Mara, Jevon O’Neill, Tom O’Sullivan, Chris Owen, Bernard Palmer, Rob Parr, Steve Price, Dominique Primel, Ciarán Quinn, Rory Quinn, Philip Reilly, Pat Reynolds, John Roycroft, Ciarán Ruane, Joe Ryan, Dan Scoones, Gerry Smith, Andrew Steel, Roberto Tedeschi, Peewee van Voorthuijsen, Tim Walsh, Jim Wilson, and Andrew Wright.

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Irish Championship 1988

Posted on May 29, 2021 by Sean Coffey

A report on the Irish Championship 1988 has been added to the tournaments collection here.

The event was held in Dublin, at Árdscoil Rís in Griffith Avenue. The field comprised 21 players, with Mark Orr, David Dunne, Philip Short, Pat Carton, Alan Ludgate, and Eric McMahon all rated 2250+ FIDE, and future champions Stephen Brady, Niall Carton, and Joe Ryan also in the mix. The defending champion John Delaney was absent.

In the end Philip Short won the third of his five titles by a clear point; this was the only time he won the title outright, without sharing. Despite the eventual margin of victory, it was a keenly contested event that could have ended differently. In particular, Short was clearly lost in round 7 against Niall Carton, before the latter made a strange oversight that destroyed his entire advantage. And in round 5, he could well have lost against Mark Orr in a game he eventually won: reversing that result while keeping all else the same would have left Orr clear first by ½ a point.

The Short – Orr game was a fascinating battle that will be a strong contender if a list of the most interesting games ever played in an Irish championship is compiled. It was heavily annotated by Orr in the Irish Chess Journal, but does not appear in the ICU games archive or any database as of the date of this post; in fact, no games from the event currently appear anywhere.

Mark Orr’s insightful notes are well worth reading, but here is one critical moment where he (and I think Short as well, in the post mortem) missed a difficult and deeply hidden resource.

Short - Orr, Irish Championship 1988, 42B

Short – Orr, Irish Championship 1988 (5)
43. ?
(White to play and win)

It’s White to play and win. After the move played in the game, Orr could have drawn. With the right move here, White has a study-like resource later that finesses Black’s defence. I’ll leave this as an exercise: how does White win against Black’s best defence? Warning: this is a very difficult exercise.

After some further twists and turns, the game reached the following interesting ending:

Short - Orr, Irish Championship 1988, 49W

Same game
49… ?
(Black to play and draw)

Here Orr went wrong, and soon lost. The notes indicate the right continuation, but soon went awry. But the diagrammed position is drawn. How?

[Click to replay the full game.]

[Update, June 6, 2021: The report has been updated with additional analysis in Short – Orr, at move 27, provided by David McAlister, and removal of Eric McMahon’s age as suggested by Martin Crichton. Many thanks to both.]

[Update, June 26, 2021: The report has been updated to add Eric McMahon’s true age. Because the source gives his full date of birth, I have not linked to it, but he turned 23 in 1988 [but see below].]

[Update, May 6, 2023: The report has been updated (March 28, 2023) with a correction on Eric McMahon’s age: he was born in 1968, not 1965.]

Posted in Games, Irish championships, Tournaments | Leave a comment

Rynd – Baker, Armstrong Cup 1907-08

Posted on May 24, 2021 by Sean Coffey

The sixth Irish champion was Philip Baker, 1879-1932, who won in 1924, 1927, 1928 and 1929. A recent blog post Philip Baker, the Jewish refugee from Latvia who became Irish chess champion, by Patrick Comerford (October 22, 2020) gives very detailed information about his life, including much that was new to me. Highly recommended.

As Comerford notes, after moving to Dublin from Tralee in 1903, Baker joined Sackville C.C. Here is some more information about his early years in Dublin.

Baker also played for the Chess Circle of the Jewish Literary and Social Club, and in 1907-08 the club entered the Armstrong Cup for the first time, joining Sackville (holders), Dublin, Blackrock, and Dublin University. Each team was to play each of the others home and away. Matches were over six boards and only match results counted.

The first match should have been away to Dublin, but the latter withdrew due to a dispute with Sackville over the outcome of the 1906-07 season. So the Jewish club’s first Armstrong Cup match was instead at home to Sackville, played at 57 Lombard Street West on December 19, 1907. Philip Baker, who had played on board 8 for Sackville at the conclusion of the previous season, was on board 1 and had Black against Porterfield Rynd, reigning Irish champion, who had also played board 1 the previous season. This gives some indication of the relative strengths of the teams, and Sackville must have been confident of victory. It caused a sensation when the match ended in a draw, with Sackville indeed having to struggle to achieve that.

Baker’s win on board 1 appeared in the Saturday Herald two days later with notes by “Neo-Chess”; David McAlister points out that this was Rynd himself.

Rynd - Baker, Armstrong Cup 1907-08, 17W

Position after 17. Ne5

From the diagram, Baker surprised his opponent with 17… Rxe5!, resulting in a double-edged game with approximately equal chances.

Rynd - Baker, Armstrong Cup 1907-08, 30W

Position after 30. Qe2

Rynd went wrong in later complications, and from the second diagram, Baker efficiently snuffed out White’s chances via 30… Rf7!.

After 31. e6 Rxf6 32. e7 Rd6+ 33. Kc1, the finish was 33… Qh6+ 34. Kb1 Qh7+ 35. Kxa1 Qxe7! 36. Qf1 Qd7 0-1.

[Click to replay the full game (which is not available in the ICU games archive as of the date of this post).]

As occasionally happened in those days, only the winners on either side were named in the article. White is given as simply “P.”. In the return match “J. A. Porterfield”, another of Rynd’s aliases/name variations, defeated Baker, so the only reasonable inference is that Rynd was White.

That he left his own name out of the report may indicate some embarrassment at the unexpected loss. On the other hand, the notes are generous to Baker, and end with a warm note of congratulation for what was indeed a very well played game.

Posted in Armstrong Cup, Games, Irish champions, Players | Leave a comment

Glorney Cup 1952

Posted on May 18, 2021 by Sean Coffey

The Glorney Cup in 1952 was held at the College of Preceptors, Bloomsbury Square, London, from July 23-24, 1952. Once again, four teams competed.

On the opening morning, England started with a 5 – 1 win against Scotland, while Wales beat Ireland 3½ – 2½.

England Scotland
B. Cafferty 1 – 0 G. W. Kerr
M. N. Barker 1 – 0 R. W. Smeeton
P. C. Gibbs 1 – 0 D. G. Weir
P. D. Sanderson 0 – 1 G. Sachs
R. E. Borland 1 – 0 M. Fallone
D. F. Griffiths 1 – 0 D. S. Brotherton
5 – 1
Wales Ireland
P. K. Marshall 1 – 0 A. Montwill
B. F. Burrows 1 – 0 F. Doyle
M. J. Williams ½ – ½ O. Ó Siochrú
B. E. Foan 0 – 1 D. Conlon
B. Foster ½ – ½ B. Neville
P. V. Williams ½ – ½ B. Hussey
3½ – 2½

In the afternoon, England beat Wales 5 – 1 and Ireland beat Scotland 3½ – 2½:

Wales England
P. K. Marshall ½ – ½ P. C. Gibbs
B. F. Burrows ½ – ½ M. N. Barker
M. J. Williams 0 – 1 P. D. Sanderson
B. E. Foan 0 – 1 B. Cafferty
B. Foster 0 – 1 M. Davis
P. V. Williams 0 – 1 D. F. Griffiths
1 – 5
Ireland Scotland
O. Ó Siochrú 1 – 0 R. W. Smeeton
F. Doyle 0 – 1 G. W. Kerr
A. Montwill 0 – 1 D. G. Weir
D. Conlon ½ – ½ G. Sachs
B. Neville 1 – 0 M. Fallone
D. McArdle 1 – 0 D. S. Brotherton
3½ – 2½

On the second day, England beat Ireland 4½ – 1½, while Scotland drew with Wales:

England Ireland
P. D. Sanderson 1 – 0 F. Doyle
M. N. Barker ½ – ½ O. Ó Siochrú
B. Cafferty 1 – 0 A. Montwill
P. C. Gibbs 1 – 0 D. Conlon
M. Davis 0 – 1 B. Neville
R. E. Borland 1 – 0 D. McArdle
4½ – 1½

(See note in the Conlon – Gibbs game: these players also met, with the same colours and result, in the Glorney Cup 1951. There is some uncertainty about whether the game shown here was played in 1951 or 1952.)

Scotland Wales
G. W. Kerr 1 – 0 P. K. Marshall
D. G. Weir ½ – ½ B. F. Burrows
R. W. Smeeton 0 – 1 M. J. Williams
G. Sachs 0 – 1 B. E. Foan
M. Fallone ½ – ½ B. Foster
D. S. Brotherton 1 – 0 M. Parsons
3 – 3

The six games available (pgn) are from BritBase and the Glorney Cup Chess web site; the latter at least appear in no database.

So England won easily once again, with results very similar—indeed near-duplicates of—those from the previous year. Only Ireland – Scotland had a result more than ½ point different to the corresponding match from the previous year (3½ – 2 ½ instead of 5 – 1), and only Wales – Ireland produced a more lopsided result (3½ – 2½ compared to 3 – 3). The event was slightly more competitive: this time England lost two games rather than one, and Scotland greatly closed the gap with the other two.

eng wls irl sco mp gp
England . 5 4½ 5 6 14½
Wales 1 . 3½ 3 3 7½
Ireland 1½ 2½ . 3½ 2 7½
Scotland 1 3 2½ . 1 6½

Prizes for highest scores on each team went to Bernard Cafferty of England) (3/3), Brendan Neville of Ireland (2½/3), Brian F. Burrows of Wales (2/3), and G. W. Kerr of Scotland (2/3).

The Irish team was Alex Montwill (Westland Row C.B.S., Dublin), 1935-2013, Irish and Leinster Schoolboys’ champion 1952, and later Irish correspondence champion (1963), Fintan Doyle (Terenure College, Dublin) (see previous posts), Oisín Ó Siochrú (Coláiste Mhuire, Dublin), David Conlon (O’Connell’s School, Dublin), Brendan Neville (O’Connell’s School, Dublin), Brian Hussey (St. Mary’s, Rathmines, Dublin), and Denis McArdle (St. Mary’s, Rathmines, Dublin). Of these, Montwill, O’Siochru, Neville, and McArdle made their débuts.

The English team was Bernard Cafferty (Birmingham University), b. Blackburn, 1934, later British U-21 champion (1954), British correspondence champion (1960), and FM (1984), Malcolm Neil Barker (King Edward’s School, Edgbaston), b. Birmingham, 1934 (see previous posts), Peter Campbell Gibbs (Bradford Grammar School, Birmingham), b. 1934, Peter Darrell Sanderson (Ashby-de-la-Zouch Grammar School), Robert Edmond Borland 1934-2017 (Plympton Grammar School, Devon; Plymouth), British Boys’ Southern champion 1952, Michael Davis, 1935-1998 (Bexhill Grammar School) (biography), and Derek F. Griffiths (King’s Norton School, Birmingham), British Boys’ Midlands champion 1952 and later joint British U21 Champion (1953). Cafferty, Gibbs, and Sanderson were joint British Boys’ Champions in 1952. Cafferty, Sanderson, and Griffiths made their débuts.

The Welsh team was P. K. Marshall, Brian F. Burrows (County Grammar School, Bridgend), M. J. Williams (Newport), B. E. Foan, Brian Foster (Newport), P. V. Williams, and Michael G. Parsons (Newport). Marshall, Burrows, and P. V. Williams had played before.

The Scottish team was G. W. Kerr, Roy W. Smeeton, D. G. Weir, George Sachs (Edinburgh), 1935-2019 (obituary), Michael Fallone, b. Bellshill, Lanarkshire, 1938, later Scottish champion (1963), Olympiad team member in 1956, 1964, and 1966 (biographical sketch and reminiscences), and D. S. Brotherton. Of these, only Kerr and Weir had played before.

A photo (of excellent resolution) of many (all?) of the competitors appears in the Scottish Teams in the Glorney Cup page in the Chess Scotland history archives; Malcolm Barker, Bernard Cafferty, and Michael Fallone are identified; can any of the other players be identified?. Photos (of decent resolution) of Alex Montwill and of Brendan Neville appeared in the Irish Independent, January 5, 1952 p. 8. A photo (of excellent newspaper quality) of Brendan Neville, Alex Montwill, Denis McArdle, Brian Hussey, and Oisín Ó Siochrú is given by the Irish Press, July 5, 1952 p. 7. A photo (of moderate quality) of Alex Montwill being presented with the Leinster Schoolboy’s Championship trophy is given in the Sunday Independent, April 27, 1952 p. 7. A photo of Fintan Doyle is given in the Sunday Independent, April 1, 1951 p. 8. A photo from 1957 that includes Bernard Cafferty and Peter C. Gibbs is available on the British Championship 1957 page at BritBase.

  • Sources:
  • BCM 1952 pp. 242-43, “The Glorney Cup Junior International” by W. Ritson Morry (report, match scorecards)
  • Cork Examiner, July 24, 1952 p. 7 (first names and school affiliations of all Irish players)
  • Irish Independent, January 5, 1952 p. 8 (photos of Montwill, Neville)
  • Irish Press, July 5, 1952 p. 7 (photo of Neville, Montwill, McArdle, Hussey, and Ó Siochrú)
  • Sunday Independent, April 1, 1951 p. 8 (photo of Doyle), April 27, 1952 p. 7 (photo of Montwill; Montwill Leinster Schoolboys’ champion), July 6, 1952 p. 8 (Montwill Irish Schoolboys’ champion)
  • Neil Blackburn, The Short but Extraordinary Chess Career Of Malcolm Barker. Part Three., Chess.com, June 15, 2020 (clipping from Birmingham Daily Gazette, July 14, 1952, with school affiliations of Malcolm Barker and Derek Griffiths)
  • Scottish Teams in the Glorney Cup (ed. Alan McGowan), Chess Scotland history archive web pages
  • Bridgend Chess Club History, 1889-1972, Welsh Chess Union web pages (re Burrows)
  • Newport and County Chess Club History, Welsh Chess Union web pages (re M. J. Williams, Brian Foster, and Michael G. Parsons, including first names for the last two)
  • 39th British Chess Championship, BritBase (ed. John Saunders) (leading scores in 1952 British Boys’ [Under 18] championship (Cafferty, Gibbs, Sanderson 1st-3rd and joint champions; Davis 4th; Griffiths joint 5th-6th; Borland equal 7th))
  • 44th British Chess Championship, BritBase (ed. John Saunders) (photo including Bernard Cafferty and Peter C. Gibbs)
  • Games Collection of FM Bernard Cafferty (born 1934), BritBase (ed. John Saunders) (Cafferty’s three games, from scoresheets)
  • Marshall – Gibbs, Gibbs – Weir, and Conlon – Gibbs, Glorney Gilbert International web site (from Peter Gibbs’ scoresheets, input by David Clayton)

[Update, August 4, 2022: added schools for Borland, Burrow, Davis, Gibbs, and Sanderson and full middle name for Sanderson based on references below.]

[Update, May 7, 2023: changed rendition of Oisín Ó Siochrú’s name to Irish version. Previously, I wasn’t certain if he used this version himself, but John Gibson’s archives have examples of his signature.]

Posted in Games, Glorney Cups, Players, Tournaments | Leave a comment

Irish Championship 1994, Re-revisited

Posted on May 12, 2021 by Sean Coffey

Herbert Scarry has contributed yet more information on the 1994 Irish championship, for which many thanks. The new material includes the tournament brochure, the flyer, and a supplemental report in the October 1994 issue of the Irish Chess Journal.

As chief arbiter, Herbert clarifies that Ray Devenney and John Nicholson definitely both withdrew before the final round.

The supplemental ICJ report had annotations of three games, all involving Colm Daly. Richard O’Donovan’s annotation of his very interesting game against Colm was previously available in the ICU games archive and was included in the previous version of the tournament report, but Colm’s annotations of his games against Conor O’Shaughnessy and Tom Clarke were new to me, and have been included in the revised report.

Colm remarks that “not winning this game was a big blow; it felt more like a loss than a draw”.

Daly - O'Shaughnessy, Irish Championship 1994 (7)

Daly – O’Shaughnessy, Irish Championship 1994 (7)
101. ?

Colm’s notes give his next move 101. Kf3 a “??”, with the remark “Move 101 turns out to be the decisive blunder! The way to win was 101. Nxh5 Kg4 102. Ng7 Kxh4 103. f5 Kg5 104. Kd4 Kf4 (104… f6 105. e6) 105. f6 Bb3 (only move) 106. e6 fxe6 107. Kc3! (107. f7 e5+) 107… Ba2 108. f7. After the move played it is just a draw.”

Actually, though, it’s a draw anyway. I’ll leave this as an exercise: where can Black improve on this analysis and save the game?

[Click to replay the full game.]

The full report has been updated. Many thanks again to Herbert for all the additional information.

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Barnett – Whitmarsh, Imperial v Lensbury Match 1925

Posted on May 6, 2021 by Sean Coffey
Sir Richard Whieldon Barnett, 1929

by Lafayette (Lafayette Ltd), whole-plate film negative, 18 October 1929
By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40802266

Richard Whieldon Barnett, 1863-1930, the 1886 Irish champion, was described by Gerald Abrahams in Not Only Chess (London, 1974) as follows:

“[T]he late Sir Richard Barnett, who had an external appearance that could have been used by any caricaturist as a specimen of the huntin’, shootin’ and fishin’ species—he was indeed a great Bisley marksman—played a polished and clever game of chess, when at his best.”

(via A Chessplaying Statesman, Edward Winter, Chess Notes, 2002, with additions).

He does not seem to have played much in Ireland after his win in the 1886 championship; he appears to have moved to London sometime in the 1880’s, and played only in the first Ulster championship in 1892, where he did badly. However, he remained active in London in the House of Commons and elsewhere. One of his later games, played almost forty years after his victory on the Irish championship, appeared in the December 1925 issue of BCM:

Barnett - Whitmarsh, Imperial C.C. v Lensbury match 1925

Barnett – Whitmarsh
Imperial C.C. v Lensbury match 1925 (1)
32. ?

White has an overwhelming advantage. Barnett pointed out after the game that he could have won here via 32. Ng6+ hxg6 33. fxg6 Rff8 34. Nf5 Bxf5 35. gxf5. Indeed, he went on to miss several more chances, and the game was eventually adjudicated as a draw by Amos Burn.

[Click to replay the full game (which is not available in the ICU games archive as of the date of this post).]

Posted in Games, Irish champions, Photos, Players | Leave a comment

Irish Championship 1994, Revisited

Posted on May 2, 2021 by Sean Coffey

For the Irish Championship 1994, David McAlister has provided an avalanche of new information, for which many thanks. All tournament reports here are updated from time to time, to correct errors, incorporate new information, and add analysis, but I cannot recall any previous occasion in which so many changes were made in each of these categories so soon after the initial post.

The initial version of the report showed one game as missing: a Devenney – Nicholson game from round 9. David points out that they had already played in round 7, and almost certainly did not play in the last round. The Pairings & results and Crosstable pages have been adjusted accordingly, including changing their scores.

ICJ 1994 Aug-Sep cover

David has also supplied the extensive tournament report that appeared in the Irish Chess Journal shortly after the event, the ICU rating list from that issue, club affiliations for four more players, names of the arbiters, and a new suggestion for the finish of Orr – A. Gillen, round 9, that improves on the analysis given (see previous post and the playable game).

Some notes have been added to games based on the ICJ report, and in some cases new analysis has been added, not necessarily agreeing with the ICJ (see here for one example).

Many thanks again to David for all this information.

[See the revised report.]

Posted in Irish championships, Tournaments | Leave a comment

Irish Championship 1994

Posted on April 29, 2021 by Sean Coffey

A report has been added here on the Irish Championship 1994.

The championship was held for the first and only time in the town of Armagh. The field of 20 players included the defending champion Niall Carton, along with a group of players who at that time had never won, but who shared the next five championships between them (Brian Kelly, Richard O’Donovan, Joe Ryan, and Colm Daly), as well as IM Mark Orr, Conor O’Shaughnessy, and Mel Ó Cinnéide.

Carton started with three straight wins, but then hit a disastrous streak of four straight losses. (Has this ever happened a defending champion before or since?)

Daly’s loss to O’Donovan in round 5 was the most spectacular game of the tournament.

Heading into the last round, Kelly and Orr led by half a point over Clarke and Ó Cinnéide. Clarke lost to Daly, and Kelly agreed an early draw against Ó Cinnéide.

The championship thus came down to Orr’s game on board 1 against Adrian Gillen, which had a dramatic conclusion.

Orr - A. Gillen, Irish Championship 1994, 36B

Orr – A. Gillen
Irish Championship 1994 (9)
37. ?

The finish was 37. Kb6 bxa3+ 38. Kxc6 axb2 39. Ne8 Qf3 40. Qxf3 b1=Q 41. Nd6 1-0.

So Mark Orr became champion for the second time, after sharing the title with Eugene Curtin in 1985. Brian Kelly, still several months short of his sixteenth birthday, was second, and Mel Ó Cinnéide was third.

The short passage of play above includes some significant twists of fortune and missed opportunities, and the outcome of the championship could have been different. Where could play have been improved, and what should be the outcome with best play from the diagrammed position?

[Click to play through the full game.]

Posted in Irish championships, Tournaments | Leave a comment

Richard Whieldon Barnett and the Irish Championship 1886

Posted on April 25, 2021 by Sean Coffey

The build-up for the 100th Irish championship is underway, and the ICU has had the nice idea of extending the now-usual profiles of the contestants to include all previous champions, over 100 days. As I write, the build-up includes the first three champions, Porterfield Rynd (1846-1917, who won in 1865 and 1892), Richard Whieldon Barnett (1863-1930, who won in 1886), and George Daniel Soffe (c. 1859-1898, who won in 1889).

Barnett won his championship by finishing as the top Irish competitor in the 2nd Irish Chess Association Congress in Belfast in 1886:

2nd ICA Masters 1886 crosstable

Barnett thus defeated all of the other Irish competitors, and drew against John D. Chambers (Scotland), but lost, as did all of his rivals for the title, against the top three finishers. This leads to the question of how competitive these games were. Barnett’s games against Pollock, Blackburne, and future Ulster champion Ernest L. Harvey survive. He was clearly outclassed by Blackburne, and won nicely against Harvey. The game against Pollock is a much more complicated story.

Barnett and Pollock played in the last round, when Barnett had already secured the title of Irish champion, and indeed clear fourth place overall, while Pollock was assured of finishing at least equal first.

The game was more competitive than might have been expected from the crosstable. Part of this was due to some very poor play in the opening and early middlegame by both players: chess understanding has come a long way since 1886! Pollock managed to get a losing position out of the opening, but Barnett returned the favour, and could have lost a miniature. Pollock missed an easy win on move 17, and was no better than equal by move 21.

Thereafter the play improved markedly. Pollock declined a draw, and the players reached the following position:

Barnett - Pollock, 2nd ICA Masters 1886

Barnett – Pollock
2nd ICA Masters / Irish Championship 1886 (9)
39… ?

Pollock now erred with 39… c5? (instead, after 39… Rg4, neither player has anything better than 39. Kf5 Rg3 40. Kf6, with a draw by repetition), when Barnett could have won via 40. g6! fxg6 41. e6 Re3 42. e7 Kc6 43. Kf7 Kd7 44. Nd5 Re1 45. Nf6+ Kd6 46. e8=Q Rxe8 47. Nxe8+! or 45… Kc6 46. e8=Q+ Rxe8 47. Kxe8!. It is far from obvious that this wins, admittedly, but it was a more promising line than the game’s 40. Kxf7? Rxg5, when Black was winning.

After another slip from Pollock, the game was heading for a draw. The following position is left as an exercise for the reader: how can White split the point? Barnett failed to find the right way and lost.

Barnett - Pollock, 2nd ICA Masters 1886, finish

Same game
53. ?

[Click to play through the full game.]

Posted in Irish champions, Irish championships, Players, Tournaments | Leave a comment