A report on the Irish Championship 2017, held July 29-August 6, 2017 in Ennis, has (belatedly) been added to the archives here.
It was the strongest Irish championship for many years—the average rating jumped 150+ points over the previous edition—and drew in many stronger players who have not been regulars in the event. There were very many interesting games, more than usual it seems to me: unbalanced and hard-fought, with crushing wins and amazing escapes.
Philip Short had a slow start, and was lost in his first game, but went on to win five games in a row, against the top five remaining finishers, before ending with two draws to finish equal first, becoming Irish champion for the fifth time. In doing so he incidentally achieved his first IM norm, and the first ever achieved in an Irish championship.
He was joined in first place by Alex Lopez, who lost to Short in round 4, but finished with five straight wins, starting with a dramatic escape in round 5 against Rory Quinn, when he was against the ropes.
The UCU web site has a recent news item announcing the death of the veteran Belfast South / Fisherwick player Sam Ferris.
Sam Ferris
Fisherwick C.C., 2006
(Photo from David McAlister, for which many thanks.)
He made headlines when he won the Ulster Schools (basically under 19) championship at age 12 in 1950. He followed up with another win in the same event the following year, when he also won the Irish Schools championship.
He represented Ireland in the Glorney Cup in 1951. The event was held in Dublin (at Dublin C.C.’s clubrooms at 20 Lincoln Place), July 26-27, 1951. Scotland participated for the first time, joining Ireland, England, and Wales. Ireland finished second to England, and the critical factor was the outstanding performance by Sam Ferris, who scored 2½/3 on board 2, easily winning the prize for best score by an Irish player. He won his games against Peter H. Clarke (England) (who made England’s Olympiad team three years later, and went on to become an FM and CC GM) and D. G. Weir (Scotland), and drew against P. K. Marshall (Wales). (Sources: Irish Independent, July 26, 1951 p. 10; Irish Press, July 27, 1951 p. 7; July 28, 1951 p. 9.) An impressive result for a 13-year-old!
And then … nothing. He seems to have dropped out of competitive junior chess after that, and returned some years later as a casual club player.
In addition to the game fragment given in the UCU news item above, we have one other game of his, against David McAlister in the UCU league in 2002-03.
It’s unfortunate that both these games are losses. Does anyone have any of his early games, particularly from the 1951 Glorney Cup?
A report on the Ulster Masters 2018, held in Belfast on November 10-11, has been added to the archive here.
Ten players competed in the top section, for which we have all games. The top seed Gábor Horváth suffered two defeats, leaving the way open for Danny Roberts (NICS) to take the title with an undefeated 4/5.
There were several interesting games, but what caught my eye was the strange finish in the fourth-round game on the top board. Daniil Zelenchuk, as White, had earlier had an overwhelmingly won game against Modestas Razbadauskas, but let the advantage slip, and eventually even lost. The final position is as shown:
Zelenchuk – Razbadauskas, Ulster Masters 2018
White to play
White had plenty of time on the clock: around 50 minutes. His last move was 45. Kf3-e3, to which Black responded 45… Ra4-a3, and White resigned.
The natural reaction is to assume that 45. Ke3 was the blunder. But it isn’t!
A report has been added to the archive here on the Irish Women’s Championship 2018, held in Busswells Hotel, November 9-11. Perhaps due to the proximity to the Women’s Olympiad, the event turned out to be one-sided, with defending champion Ioana Miller outrating the field by 500+ points, and duly retaining her title with 5/5. (Though one game could well have been drawn.)
Note: this post has nothing to do with Irish chess, and is thus off-topic for this blog. But I keep seeing references to the ending below, and there doesn’t seem to be any other convenient forum for my comments on it, so here it is.
Polugaevsky, in Grandmaster Performance (Cadogan, 1994), describes his adjournment analysis of his game against Geller from Skopje 1968 (pp. 120-27) as ‘possibly the most meticulous analysis I have ever made in my life’ (p. 127). As a basis for the analysis, he first constructed two ‘fortress’ positions that, he asserted, lead to no win. The diagrammed position here is the first.
Polugaevsky, first fortress position
Based on Polugaevsky – Geller, Skopje 1968
‘The e4 bishop simply strolls up and down the long white-squared diagonal, and even the united efforts of king and queen are insufficient to trap it or drive it off’ (p. 123).
This is a famous piece of analysis, and it constantly comes up in various contexts: the most recent I noticed was this week in Grischuk and Svidler’s commentary on the first Carlsen – Caruana game on Chess24.com. It is also discussed by Kasparov in My Famous Predecessors 3 (Everyman, 2004), pp. 82-85.
What I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere is that Polugaevsky was wrong. There is no fortress in the diagrammed position, and White can win, no matter whose turn it is to move.
The harder case is with White to move. White wins via 1. Ke3 Bg2 (1… Bh1? loses the bishop immediately: White checks successively on e7, e8, g6 and h6; 1… Bb1? 2. Qd5 wins quickly) 2. Qa7+ Kf8 (2… Kg8?? 3. Qa2+; 2… Kh8 3. Qf7 Bc6 (only move*) 4. Qf8+ Kh7 5. Qc5 Bg2 6. Kf2 Be4 7. Qc4 and the light-squared bishop drops) 3. Kf2 Be4 (3… Bh1 comes to the same thing: 4. Kg1 Be4 (4… Bf3?? 5. Qa3+) 5. Qe3) 4. Qe3 Bh1 5. Kg1 Bb7 6. Qc5+ Kg8 7. Qb5, and wins, since the bishop will be forked next move.
[Added February 20, 2019: * Only move along the long diagonal that does not immediately lose the bishop. For completeness, there’s also 3… Bf1, when White wins via 4. Kf2 Ba6 (4… Bb5 transposes) 5. Qe6 Bb5 6. Qd5.]
The underlying logic is that White must at all costs prevent the light-squared bishop from reaching f7, when there is indeed an unbreakable fortress. From the diagrammed position, the main line sees White quickly forcing the Black king to f8: this is important as it means the bishop can’t move to d5, and for good measure c6 is off limits as well. Since h1 is also usually unavailable due to a fork on the h-file, Black is shorter of available squares than is apparent at a first look, and there is no fortress.
With Black to play from the diagram, it’s all somewhat simpler, since Black is nearly in zugzwang. After 1… Kh8 (only move) 2. Qf7 Bc6 3. Qf8+ Kh7 4. Qc8 Be4 5. Qc4, the bishop is lost and White wins.
Black’s main problem in the diagram is the awkward and unstable position of the light-squared bishop on the long diagonal. But that’s not the full story: Black’s king is also in the wrong place, ruling out h1 as a haven for the bishop in many cases. Put the Black king on d7 instead, and Black has a genuine fortress.
The event was the ultimate two-horse race: Stephen Brady and Joe Ryan drew their second-round game, but otherwise mowed down the field, and they were still neck-and-neck with 7½/8 heading into the last round. Stephen Brady had a pawn advantage in a queen plus opposite bishop ending against Anthony Fox, but was unable to turn it into a win, leaving Joe Ryan clear first on 8½/9, for his first Irish championship, with Brady second on 8 and Colm Daly clear third on 7.
We’re fortunate to have all games available. There were many interesting games. Perhaps the most spectacular position was reached in Clarke – O’Connell, round 3:
Clarke – O’Connell, Irish Championship 1997
White to play
White’s 26. f7 some moves earlier created irresistible threats. After Black’s checks ran out, the diagrammed position was reached, with White to play. Gerry O’Connell resigned rather than see the mate in three played out.
For the second year in succession, the championship was held in Greystones. In all, 19 players competed. The defending champion and top rated player Stephen Brady lost three games, while Philip Short was also off the pace. After round 5, six of the seven players with a plus score had never won the championship, with John Joyce leading on 4½. In the end, though, it was Sam Collins who finished strongest, ending with an undefeated 7/9 for his first Irish championship.
He didn’t have it all his own way, though, and had to rescue a thoroughly lost position in his round 5 game against Mel Ó Cinnéide.
In the diagrammed position Collins (White) played 38. Rxe6!?, when instead of the game’s 38… Qxe6?, 38… Rxg3! ends White’s attack and gives Black a crushing advantage.
Question: what should the verdict be with best play after 38… Qxe6? Black is better in all variations, but is it enough for a win?
Eight teams competed: Colmcille ‘A’ & ‘B’, Dublin, Dublin University, Eoghan Ruadh, Sackville (holders), U.C.D., and Wellington Quay Workmen’s Club. Of these, Colmcille ‘B’ and Wellington Quay Workmen’s Club were new: Colmcille ‘B’ won the Ennis Shield in 1948-49, after a playoff with Dublin ‘B’; perhaps Dublin ‘B’ declined promotion. (Dublin University ‘B’ and Setanta seem to have been relegated after the previous season.)
Matches were over six boards, each team played each other once, and only match results counted.
Sackville, the holders, suffered an early setback by losing their first match to Eoghan Ruadh. (I believe this match also saw the Armstrong début of J. J. Walsh, for Eoghan Ruadh; as a substitute.) In the following round, Dublin beat Eoghan Ruadh, seemingly narrowly. These three teams dominated, winning all matches against the remaining five, except for Eoghan Ruadh’s 3-3 draw against Colmcille ‘A’ in round 4.
Thus it all came down, as so many times over the years, to the Dublin – Sackville match, played on February 10, 1950 at Sackville C.C., 51 Parnell Square, where Sackville needed to win to force a playoff match. No match scorecard seems to survive, but Dublin won the match, and went on to defeat Wellington Quay Workmen’s Club in the final match to record a clean sweep of the season.
The Dublin team was Michael Schuster (1919-1989; later Irish champion, in 1952), John J. O’Hanlon (1874 or 1876-1960; nine times Irish champion, between 1913 and 1940), T. Fitzgerald, P. W. (Patrick) Whelan (ca. 1892-1975; Leinster champion 1947 and 1949), Norman H. Wallace (1882-1971, Leinster champion 1920), T. G. (Thomas) Cranston (1877-1954, Irish champion 1922 and 1931), J. T. (John) Gerrard (1876-1954, Leinster champion 1924 and 1930), J. J. (James) Doyle (Leinster champion 1925), and H. A. Hartford (who played one match). In addition Mrs. Dwyer appeared in one match, but received a walkover, so played no game.
An excellent photo of the winning team, except for H. A. Hartford and Mrs. Dwyer, appeared in the Sunday Independent, April 2, 1950, p. 8. (Not shown here as I don’t have permission.)
The Glorney Cup for 1972 was held in Sidcup, England. Six teams competed, including the Netherlands and France.
The Irish team was Bernard Kernan, Stephen Meyler, Tony Spillane, Colm Quigley, Robert Pye, John Nicholson, and Rod Nixon.
Ireland finished fifth, losing 4½-1½ to the Netherlands, France, and England, and 3½-2½ to Scotland, and winning 4-2 versus Wales.
England, with John Nunn, Jonathan Speelman, and Jonathan Mestel on the top three boards, easily finished first, though Nunn only managed 50% (+1 =3 -1), losing to Bernard Kernan.
Up to now Kernan’s win has been the only game from this event given in the ICU games archive, but Kevin O’Connell sent the full set of games, typed in by him form the tournament booklet, three years ago. (The delay in posting them was due to an idea of mine to develop tournament reports for team events, but that project is still pending.) The 30 Irish games have been added to the games collection here. The pgn file for the full event, including non-Irish games and three reserve player games, can be found here.
Quigley – Osborne, Glorney Cup 1972
16… ?
Here’s a crushing win from Ireland’s match against Wales. Black now played 16… Re8? (16… Be6 was essential). White continued 17. c4 (even better was 17. Rxf7! immediately) 17… Nc7 18. Rxf7! Kxf7 19. Qxh7+ Ke6 20. Rd1 Rf8 21. Qxg6+ Kxe5 22. Re1+ (22. Qe4+ Kd6 23. Qe7 mate was quicker) 22… Kd4 23. Bf6+ 1-0
Michael Fagan’s opponent in the Ireland-Wales 1949 Glorney Cup match was Walter Marshall, later Baron Marshall of Goring and described in the The Independent as “one of the more colourful technocrats of our age” in his 1996 obituary.
In 1984 Marshall penned some notes about his chess career and continuing interest in the game. Here is his memory of that 1949 game:
My most vivid recollection is arriving in Birmingham in 1949 captaining the Welsh junior team to play for the first time in the Glorney Cup Competition.
We six Welsh schoolboys were very naive, entirely self-taught chess players. We had never seen a chess clock before and had no idea what they were for but were too ashamed to display our ignorance by asking questions and therefore followed the example of everybody else by banging our clock lever after we had made our move, just like everybody else did. I remember my first match was against an Irishman. Since I was determined not to lose I played very slowly, when to my horror the controller of the competition, Ritson Morry, whispered in my ear that I had exactly 20 moves to make in 3 minutes else I would lose on time. In that hasty and whispered conversation I realised for the very first time that chess clocks had a real purpose, namely to stop me stone-walling in slow play. I promptly launched a sacrificial attack against my opponent’s king and to my total astonishment the sacrifice turned out to be sound and I won. On that occasion Sir George Thomas gave the best game prize to me and I recall that the score of that game was published with some generous praise of my coolness under great time pressure. Fortunately I had the good sense to keep my mouth shut so nobody actually realised it was really a fluke. If you can find the score of that game in your records I would actually enjoy playing it through again.
[Source: British Chess Magazine, Volume 104 (1984), pages 499-500]
