Maurice Kennefick: the early years

Posted on February 17, 2019 by David McAlister

Maurice Kennefick  came to the fore in the late 1960s when he was an undergraduate student at University College Cork. In the course of the 1965-66 season, his first year at university, he rapidly moved from the junior ranks to the senior ones.

He soon became a prolific tournament winner locally, with three consecutive victories, two of them shared, in the Plunkett Trophy (the Championship of Cork) from 1967-69. He won the 1968 South Munster championship, eventually prevailing over Bill Ireton after the third two-game play-off. Also in 1968 he shared first place with Littleton, Coldrick and Haughey at an eighteen-player tournament in Limerick.

In January 1969 Kennefick had one of his biggest career wins at the inaugural Mulcahy Memorial.  The Irish Universities Team Championship in Cork, in which Kennefick had played for UCC, had immediately preceded the Mulcahy and the Varsity Individual Championship was incorporated into the Mulcahy, so Kennefick had the unusual distinction of winning two titles from the one event.

From that period I have located three individual Kennefick victories, all sourced from the Cork Examiner, which do not seem to have previously worked their way into the databases.

Position after 14…Kf8

Maurice Kennefick – Brian Desmond
Cork, 1967
Play through the game

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.exd5 exd5 5.Bd3 Qe7+ 6.Nge2 c5 7.0-0 Bxc3 8.Nxc3 Be6 9.Re1 Nf6 10.Bg5 Qd6 11.Nb5 Qb6 12.dxc5 Qxc5 13.Bf4 Na6 14.Nd6+ Kf8 [Diagram] 15.Rxe6 fxe6 16.Qe2 Nc7 17.Re1 Qb6 18.Qf3 Rd8 19.Qg3 Rd7 20.Be5 Nce8 21.Nb5 a6 22.Nd4 Nc7 23.Qf4 Rf7 24.Bxc7 Rxc7 25.Nxe6+ Kf7 26.Qxc7+ Qxc7 27.Nxc7 “and wins” 1-0

Position after 18…Nf6

Maurice Kennefick – John Donoghue
Plunkett Trophy, Cork, 1968
Play through the game

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.g3 Bg7 8.Bg2 0-0 9.Nge2 Na6 10.0-0 Nc7 11.a4 Bd7 12.h3 b5 13.axb5 Bxb5 14.Re1 a6 15.Be3 Re8 16.f4 Nh5 17.g4 Bxe2 18.Qxe2 Nf6 [Diagram] 19.e5 dxe5 20.fxe5 Rxe5 21.d6 Ncd5 22.Qf2 Qxd6 23.Bxc5 Rxe1+ 24.Rxe1 Qc6 25.g5 Nd7 26.Bxd5 Qxc5 27.Qxc5 1-0

Position after 26…b5

Maurice Kennefick – Charlie Barnwell
Mulcahy Memorial, Cork, 4 January 1969
Play through the game

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 0-0 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Bd3 c6 8.Qc2 h6 9.Bh4 Nh5 10.Bxe7 Qxe7 11.Nge2 f5 12.0-0-0 Be6 13.g3 Nd7 14.Nf4 Nxf4 15.gxf4 Nf6 16.Kb1 Qd7 17.Ne2 b6 18.Ng1 c5 19.Nf3 c4 20.Bf1 Ne4 21.Ne5 Qb7 22.f3 Nd6 23.Rg1 Rfc8 24.Qg2 Kh8 25.Qg6 Re8 26.Bh3 b5  [Diagram] 27.e4 dxe4 28.d5 exf3 29.dxe6 f2 30.Nf7+ Qxf7 31.exf7 1-0

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Maurice Kennefick 1946-2018

Posted on February 13, 2019 by Sean Coffey

Maurice Kennefick, who was one of Munster’s strongest players in the 1960’s and 1970’s before switching to a long and successful playing career in bridge, died on December 31, 2018.

Maurice Kennefick, circa 2011

Maurice Kennefick, circa 2011

He played in 7 Irish championships from 1966, when he was a student at U.C.C., to 1977, and in the 1970 championship in Belfast finished joint second on 6½/9, a point behind Paul Henry. He played in the Olympiads of Siegen 1970 and Haifa 1976, as second reserve and first reserve, scoring +0 =9 -2 and +2 =1 -3, respectively.

The photo above is taken from Youghal Bridge Club‘s site. We also have a photo, shown here before, of him in his chessplaying days.

Wexford Congress 1972

Wexford Congress 1972
Maurice Kennefick: middle of front row

Deepest sympathies to his family.

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Williamson Shield 2019

Posted on January 26, 2019 by Sean Coffey

The Williamson Shield took place last weekend in Belfast (Maynard Sinclair Pavilion) (9 players, 6 rounds, 1st Gábor Horváth). A report has been added to the Tournaments pages here.

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Karsten Müller on Adair – Fitzsimons

Posted on January 23, 2019 by Sean Coffey

Karsten Müller has a puzzle this week at ChessBase.com that features an Irish game.

As with the last post, this features David Fitzsimons and a missed draw, but this time he was on the wrong side of it. See if you can do better!

Adair Fitzsimons, British Championship 2018

Adair – Fitzsimons, British Championship 2018
Black to play and draw

This is not so easy, I think. (My attempt matched David’s move.)

See the ChessBase article for Müller’s solution.


[Click to replay the full game.]

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An instructive ending

Posted on January 17, 2019 by Sean Coffey

In the diagrammed position, taken from the game between David Fitzsimons and Peter Cafolla in the 2010 Irish championship, it is Black to play.

Fitzsimons - Cafolla, Irish championship 2010

Fitzsimons – Cafolla, Irish Championship 2010
47… ?

At the end of the event Peter commented “in the Fitzsimons ending I missed a very instructive draw, see if you can find it”. The ICU games archive gave the solution.

It is indeed constructive, though Peter’s intended solution is not correct. In fact the move he suggested loses, while the move he actually played draws.

How would you continue as Black here?

See the playable game for the (revised) solution.

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A New Year’s game: Armstrong-Dix, 1897

Posted on January 1, 2019 by Sean Coffey

Previous posts here have discussed William Armstrong B. L. (1848-1899), the donor of the Armstrong Cup.

He donated the Cup in 1888, but left the running of it to others, and doesn’t seem to have played in it himself. For the most part his name subsequently appears in chess reports either as the donor of the Cup or in some peripheral role in the chess scene (one of the prominent people present on major occasions, for example).

He is recorded as playing two consultation games against the visiting F. J. Lee in November 1892 (Armstrong with “Porterfield” Rynd (Irish champion 1865-1886 and 1892-1913) and George Soffe (Irish champion 1889-1892), Lee with John Howard Parnell (brother of Charles Stuart Parnell) and Alfred S. Peake) but the games weren’t recorded. No game of his appears in the ICU games archive.

But at least one of his games was recorded for posterity. Porterfield Rynd’s column in the Saturday Herald on January 2, 1897 gives the following report:

“NEW YEAR’S DAY

At the Lucan Spa Hotel, amid all the gaiety of the Christmas and New Year’s festivities, the sparkler given below came off between Mr. Willie Armstrong, the donor of the Dublin Inter-Club Challenge Cup, and Mr. Dix, one of the most prominent of the Dawsonians:—”
1. e4 e5 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd4 4. Qxd4 Qe7+ 5. Be3 Qb4+ 6. Qxb4 Bxb4+ 7. Nc3 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 Bf5 9. Bd3 Bg6 10. Nf3 Nd7 11. O-O-O O-O-O 12. Bxa7 b6 13. Ba6 mate

Armstrong - Dix, New Year's Day 1897

William Armstrong – E. R. McC. Dix, New Year’s Day 1897
Position after 11… O-O-O

[Click to replay the full game.]

Happy New Year!

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Irish Championship 1996

Posted on December 20, 2018 by Sean Coffey

A report on the 1996 Irish championship has been added to the Irish championships page here.

This was the year when the championship ended in a three-way tie, with Richard O’Donovan winning his first, and so far only, title over Tom Clarke (with his best-ever Irish championship result) and Colm Daly (equal first for the first time).

O’Donovan won his first five games and led the field by a clear 1½ points, but then suffered consecutive losses against Mark Quinn and against Tom Clarke, blundering in a drawn endgame, before finishing with a draw and a win.

Mark Quinn, playing in his first Irish championship, led going into the final round, but lost a long game against Colm Daly, in the last game to finish, to finish joint fourth.

Tom Clarke started slowly; the amazing dropped half-point against Richard O’Brien in round 2, after being three pawns up, proved costly. But he finished with four straight wins (three with Black).

[Update, December 20, 2018: fixed links in post above and in playable games.]

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Irish Championship 2017

Posted on December 7, 2018 by Sean Coffey

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.

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Sam Ferris, ca. 1937-2018

Posted on December 4, 2018 by Sean Coffey

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

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.

Sam Ferris, 2006

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?

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Ulster Masters 2018

Posted on November 30, 2018 by Sean Coffey

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

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!

See the full game for the reason.

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