Mnay thanks to Ray Woodhouse for this photo of the Ballyfermot Open, played in the Mansion House, which from memory he says is from around 1994.
(Click here for the full size version.)
Alexander Baburin is at right, and Jonathan O’Connor is facing on board 4. It’s not completely clear but that seems to be Colm Daly playing white on board 2. Can anyone identify his opponent, or provide further information or confirmation on the tournament?
The ICU web sites report that Stephen Jessel has recorded his second IM norm. Congratulations!
This reminds me of something that puzzled me some time back. Two years ago it was widely reported that Ryan-Rhys Griffths had recorded his second IM norm at the Czech Open 2013 in Pardubice. I recall seeing mentions of this by (in alphabetical order) Colm Daly, Mel Ó Cinnéide, and Rory Quinn.
But if you go to the relevant page on the FIDE website, only his first norm is recorded:
Does anyone know why?
From his actual results, it seems clear enough that this should be a norm.
[Update, May 27, 2015: FIDE has now acknowledged the second norm.]
The Irish Junior Championships are on this weekend in Blanchardstown. Best of luck to all participants!
Just in time for this event, David McAlister has put together a full list of all these events back to 1948, with just one exception (1996: can anyone please supply the missing information?).
Many familiar names are listed, including this year’s organiser John Delaney (joint champion in 1979), as well as yours truly (1979, 1981).
Some time back we had a great photo, supplied by Oliver Dunne, of the 1948 event, with the 1948 and 1949 winners Geoffrey Hand and Michael Fagan.
[Update, April 12, 2015: the photo may have been from the 1948 Leinster Schoolboys’ Championship.]
The 1901-02 Armstrong Cup was contested by five teams: Booterstown and Blackrock, Dublin University, Rathmines, Dawson Street, and Calaroga. The competition was set up as a double-round league over eight boards, with match points counting.
We have the crosstable above plus the full list of fixtures, and scorecards for 11 of the 20 matches. The season has been added to the Armstrong Cup page and full season results have been tabulated on a separate page.
The Booterstown and Blackrock club was in the middle of the most successful run in its existence: this win formed the middle of a three-in-a-row, and they also won in 1898-99. Board 1 was A. A. [Albert Augustus] MacDonogh M.A. (ca. 1866-1934), founder and long-time headmaster of the Avoca School in Blackrock, now merged into Newpark Comprehensive. He was followed by T. G. [Thomas George] Cranston (1877/78-1954), later twice Irish champion (1922 and 1931) and R. T. [Ralph Theodore] Varian (ca. 1865-1951), later Leinster champion (1928). At board 5 was “F. S. B.”, or Mrs. F. Sterling Berry, one of the strongest women players of the era.
The Calaroga club played its home matches at 25 Rutland Square North. I wasn’t familiar with that, and on looking it up found that it is now Parnell Square. It’s therefore interesting to note that board 2 of the Dawson Street team during this season was John Howard Parnell (1843-1923), brother of Charles Stuart, and an M.P. in his own right (from 1895 to 1900).
I’m not sure if the Calaroga club ever competed before or since: they’re not listed in David McAlister’s Armstrong Cup page. But is the Nicholas McCluskey who played at boards 2 and 3 in this season—with a plus score in the records available— the same as the N. McCluskey who played in the winning Sackville team in 1925-26?
[Update, April 16, 2015: Many thanks to David McAlister for providing two further scorecards, of matches 11 and 17 (Dawson Street v. Booterstown and Calaroga v. Dublin University respectively); with these we can also infer the final score in match 20 (Dublin University v. Dawson Street). Both pages have now been updated with the new information.]
The Bunratty Congresses have been around for many years now but they still post-date my own playing career by several years, so I have never played in any of them. Looking at the various reports this is a matter of some regret for me, as it looks to be a fantastic tournament.
Strangely the Tournaments pages here have not included any of the entire series up to now, but now this omission is corrected with a report on this year’s Bunratty Classic, which produced two norms, one of which was the first ever GM norm at an event held in Ireland. Though there were some complaints in various quarters about the number of short draws, there were many interesting games as well.
The latest issue of The New Winawer Report has (finally) been posted. This issue considers the Tait variation, which starts with the position at right, with Black to move.
The correspondence player (and now CC Senior International Master) Jonathan Tait discovered this around 1986 or 1987, and racked up a overwhelmingly positive score before publishing an article in Correspondence Chess in 1995. It’s rare that analysis from twenty years ago holds up so well: most of the essential points are present.
Later a major improvement was found for Black in Harding-Arounopoulos, World corr Ch 22, ½-final-05, 1997-99, and this classic game formed the foundation of the entire theory until as recently as 2010: see the discussion in Moskalenko’s The Wonderful Winawer (New in Chess 2010).
But theory turned again with a counter-improvement for White, after which the main line reaches the diagrammed position, with Black to play. The initial analysis given by Watson (ChessPublishing.com, May 2011) indicated that Black was lost. Strangely, though, several correspondence players have contested this verdict, and there are now nine practical examples in all. So far, though, Black has yet to record even a single draw.
Black needs new ideas. (For which see issue 24 …).
Some interesting games from this year’s league campaign featured recently on the St. Benildus C.C. web pages. Among these was a rare bishop + knight versus king ending, from the game Healy—Scallan, St. Benildus v. Rathmines, Armstrong Cup.
The critical position is shown in the diagram, with Black to play his 66th. Fiachra Scallan played 66. … Kc5?, apparently under the impression that bishop and knight v. king was a draw. Though John Healy’s notes don’t mention it, with 66. … Kc7! Black draws. White can only extract the bishop by giving up the a-pawn, e.g., 67. Nd4 Rxa7 68. Bc6, but the resulting B + N + P v. R ending (once the h-pawn drops) is easily drawn. (Coincidentally, we recently had another example of a B + N + P v. R ending here). Otherwise Black follows up with 67. … Kb6 and 68. … Kxb5 69. Bb7 Rxa7 70. Nxa7+ Kb6.
In the present game Black made it easy for White by heading quickly for the ‘right’ corner (from the B + N point of view). Tim Harding gives the useful practical advice to defenders of this ending that they should head for the ‘wrong’-coloured corner on the opponent’s side of the board, on the basis that many players have practiced the winning manoeuvre with the defending king on the ‘top’ side of the board, and sometimes find it difficult to translate into the reversed setup.
In the comments to “The trials of Aibhistín de Búrca” Paul Brown raises the issue of which player played A. Dake at Warsaw (de Burca or Cranston). At IRLchess we have plumped for de Búrca.
De Búrca, in his 1960 article “International Team Tournament Warsaw 1935”, tantalisingly refers to both Dake and the Ireland -v- U.S.A. match; however the two separate passages do not provide an answer.
The victorious U.S.A. team were very even in strength, and consisted of Fine, the brilliant veteran Marshall, Kupchik, Dake and Horowitz. Arthur Dake, playing on fourth board, mowed down the cannon-fodder opposed to him mercilessly and had the best personal score of the tournament (86%).
….
The Irish team was regarded as a push-over by the Americans, who made no secret of their opinion by arriving twenty minutes after the clocks had been started. On three boards, this opinion was speedily justified. This was one of the matches in which I was given my “opportunity”, and played like a terrified rabbit fascinated into immobility by a dangerous snake.
When contemporary sources differ, it can be very difficult to find a definitive solution. However, I believe I’ve found something that goes to the heart of the matter.
White’s queen is attacked, yet he forces a quick mate. How?
In the very first issue of B.H. Wood’s “Chess” magazine, dated 14th September 1935, on page 12 the diagrammed position is given as Exercise No.2. On page 40 of the same issue the following solution is given:
“By Q x Pch, K x Q; P x P double check and mate. Dake v. Cranston at Warsaw.
So far this is just one more contemporary source but in the 14th November issue (at page 83) there was this correction:
“Exercise No.2 in our September number accused Mr Cranston of courting sudden death at the hands of Dake at Warsaw. Actually it was de Burca, reserve for Ireland, who suffered this fate. Our apologies, Mr. Cranston!
All the same, we feel justified in being a little aggrieved ourselves when no less an authority than the Warsaw daily bulletin errs.”
Unfortunately no source is given for the information, but we might guess it was Cranston himself. However it does provide both a 1935 solution as to which Irish player Dake played and an explanation as to how the confusion arose; probably as definitive as it gets. It might be more difficult to determine with certainty whether the game ended with the queen sacrifice or the checkmate.
The latest issue of The New Winawer Report has (finally!) been posted. It continues from the last issue’s discussion of the 13. Qxc3 line, where 16. … f6, long one of Black’s main defences, is in serious difficulties. The situation is no better for 16. … Be8, another main defence, so what’s left?
This issue considers the remaining possibility 16. … Na5 via the recently-completed correspondence game Churkina—Kirsanov, ICCF World Cup 20 prelim 1 2013. After 17 g4 (17 Rb4 is the alternative; it’s not covered in any detail in this issue but Black appears to be fine) 17. … Ba4! we reach the diagrammed position, which is critical for the soundness of the entire Poisoned Pawn, and which has received widely divergent evaluations.
The 1940 Irish Championship was affected by the late withdrawal of the two Ulster representatives, A.L.Davies and J.D. Peebles, because they were unable to travel to Dublin. As the Second World War continued into 1941, the Irish Chess Union Council decided, as the Ulster Chess Union was unable to be represented, to suspend the Irish championship for that year and replace it with a new competition, described as “the Dunsany Premier Tourney.”
The tournament was arranged to take place at the Dublin Chess Club from Monday 21st to Saturday 26th July and to be played on very similar lines to the Irish Championship with two four-hour sessions each day. Lord Dunsany, the President of the ICU, provided three valuable prizes.
There was a strong entry with the 1940 Champion, J.J. O’Hanlon, plus the four players who only finished a half-point behind him – C.J. Barry, Austin Bourke, Gerard Kerlin and Warwick Nash – all taking part. Two-time Irish champion, T.G. Cranston, who had not competed in 1940, was a strong addition.
The surprise of the first two days was O’Hanlon losing both his games on the Tuesday to Nash and Barry and it was Kerlin who was making the running, having won 4 games. On the Wednesday evening the second session was reserved for adjourned games to be played off and Kerlin was then held to a draw by O’Hanlon but still enjoyed a comfortable lead.
Standings after Round 5 and adjourned games played off:
G. Kerlin 4.5
T.G. Cranston 3.0 + 1 adj
W. Nash 3.0
J.J. O’Hanlon, L.J. Close 2.5
A. Bourke, R.T. Varian, C.J. Barry 2.0
T.A. Vard 1.5 + 1 adj
S.A. French 1.0
Day 4 on the Thursday and the tournament was thrown wide open again after Kerlin lost to both Cranston and Bourke respectively in Rounds 6 and 7. Despite this he was still a half-point ahead of Nash, Barry and Cranston, though the last-named had two adjourned games in hand.
Cranston fell out of contention for first by losing both his games on the Friday. Barry, his Round 9 conqueror, finished with 4 straight wins and posted a total of 6 points. Front-runner Kerlin had drawn in the Friday morning session; his Round 9 game against Close was adjourned and now he needed to win it to catch his Sackville CC club-mate Barry. With a number of adjournments scheduled for Saturday, the third prize (and second as well if Kerlin lost) was also still to be decided with four (of five) players in with a chance of winning it (them).
Standings after Round 9 with adjourned games still to be played off
C.J. Barry 6.0
G. Kerlin 5.0 + 1 adj
W. Nash 5.0
J.J. O’Hanlon, T.G. Cranston, A. Bourke 4.5 + 1 adj
L.J. Close 3.5 +1 adj
R.T. Varian 3.0 +1 adj
S.A. French 3.0
T.A. Vard 2.0 + 2 adj
In the Saturday morning adjournment session Kerlin beat Close to catch up with Barry. O’Hanlon, Cranston and Bourke all won their adjourned games to finish a half-point behind. As Bourke could not remain for a play-off for third prize, they drew lots which Bourke won. A play-off game played on the Saturday between Kerlin and Barry to resolve the tie for first place ended in a draw. A three-game match starting on the following Monday, again to be played in the Dublin CC clubrooms, was then arranged.
[The report in the British Chess Magazine (Volume LXI, page 238) does not mention the Saturday play-off game and this omission is repeated in Di Felice, Chess Results 1941-1946 (McFarland, 2008) at page 17. This is unsurprising since Di Felice gives the BCM as his source. The resolution of third place is not clarified by Di Felice, while the BCM specifically indicates there was a tie for third. The correct state of affairs on these issues can be found in the contemporary reports of the Irish Independent, Irish Press and Irish Times. Di Felice also fell into a common error, which we pointed out in our June 2011 article T.G. Cranston: correcting and improving the record in referring to Timothy G. Cranston.]
Two games in the play-off match were played on the Monday. Kerlin won the first of these in 32 moves. Game 2 had a bizarre finale – Barry was in a winning position when he made an illegal move (he took his own Knight with a pawn). He then rectified this and forced Kerlin to resign. The third and final game in the play-off match was an interesting and hard-fought encounter.
Gerard Kerlin – Charles J. Barry
Dunsany Premier (play-off match) (Round 3)
Dublin, Tuesday 29th July 1941
Play through the game
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 0-0 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.Rc1 c6 8.Bd3 h6 9.Bh4 dxc4 10.Bxc4 Nd5 11.Bg3 N7f6 12.0-0 Bd6 13.Bd3 Bxg3 14.hxg3 Qa5 15.e4 Nxc3 16.bxc3 Qxa2 17.c4 Qa5 18.e5 Ne8 19.Bb1 Qd8 20.Qd3 f5 21.Nd2 Qg5 22.f4 Qe7 23.c5 g6 24.Nc4 Rf7 25.Nd6 Nxd6 26.exd6
White already had good compensation for the pawn and this exchange seems to make the sitiuation more difficult for Black.
26…Qf6 27.Rfe1 b6 28.Re5 b5 29.Rce1 a5 30.Ba2 a4 31.Bxe6
According to the engines 31.Rxe6 was even stronger.
31…Bxe6 32.Rxe6 Qg7 33.d5! a3
Position after 33…a3
34.Qd1
Seeing the a-pawn advance, White seems to get cold feet. Plunging on with the logical 34.dxc6 should win, e.g. 34…a2 35.d7 a1Q 36.Rxa1 Qxa1+ 37.Kh2 Qa5 38.Re8+ Kh7 39.Rxa8 Qxa8 40.c7
34…a2 35.Qa1 b4 36.R6e5 cxd5 37.c6 Qf6 38.Re8+ Rxe8 39.Rxe8+ Kg7
Wrong square for the King – instead 39…Kh7 should lead to a draw after 40.Qxa2 (best) Qxd6
40.Re5 b3 41.c7 Rf8 42.c8Q Rxc8 43.Re7+ Kg8 44.Qxf6 1-0
Although the Irish Championship did not resume until 1946, the Dunsany Premier Tourney was never held again.
No Name Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Prize 1 G.J. Kerlin 6 * 1 0 0 = 1 1 1 1 = First 2 C.J. Barry 6 0 * = 1 1 0 1 1 1 = Second 3 A. Bourke 5.5 1 = * = = 1 = 0 = 1 Third 4 T.G. Cranston 5.5 1 0 = * = 0 = 1 1 1 5 J.J. O'Hanlon 5.5 = 0 = = * 0 1 1 1 1 6 W. Nash 5 0 1 0 1 1 * = 0 1 = 7 L.J. Close 3.5 0 0 = = 0 = * 1 0 1 8 R.T. Varian 3 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 * 0 1 9 S.A. French 3 0 0 = 0 0 0 1 1 * = 10 T.A. Vard 2 = = 0 0 0 = 0 0 = * Play-offs for first: G.J. Kerlin 2.5-1.5 C.J. Barry
