Cork 1966

At my sister website Irish Chess History I have just posted an account of the Easter Rising Golden Jubilee Tournament, played 15-17 April 1966. In the Cork Examiner for 4 May 1966, its chess correspondent "The Knight" reported that the UCC Chess Club were working on a bulletin of the tournament. The original score sheets had been returned to the participants requesting they annotate the games. I have been unable to find any further reference in the Examiner about the progress of the project and it may well have withered on the vine. If anybody is aware that the bulletin did in fact see the light of day, I would be interested in any details about it.

In the absence of a possible 30 annotated games from the bulletin, I have found a number of game or part-game scores in two contemporary sources - J.J. Walsh's chess columns in the Irish Times and the ICU Newsletter. Four of those are included in my Irish Chess History piece and I give the links to playable versions of those four plus one more below:

• Canton-Lacy
• Mulcahy-Deiseach
• Canton-Littleton
• Keogh-Deiseach
• Mulcahy-Kennefick

County Tipperary Open 1992

Two final round games from the County Tipperary Championships held in Thurles. Colm Daly and Gerard O'Connell finished tied first on 4.5/5

[Event "Tipperary Open"] [Site "Thurles"] [Date "1992.02.09"] [Round "5"] [White "Clarke, Thomas"] [Black "O'Connell, Gerard"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D35"] [PlyCount "110"] [EventDate "1992.02.08"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "IRL"] [Source "David McAlister"] [SourceDate "2009.01.05"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 c6 7. Bd3 h6 8. Bf4 Nbd7 9. h3 Nf8 10. g4 Ne6 11. Be5 Bd6 12. f4 Bxe5 13. dxe5 Nd7 14. Nf3 Qb6 15. Qd2 Ndc5 16. Bc2 Bd7 17. f5 Ng5 18. Nxg5 hxg5 19. O-O-O O-O-O ({O'Connell takes the sting out of Clarke's kingside pawn roller by also castling queenside. Of course after} 19... O-O {Black would be in a lot of trouble after } 20. h4) 20. e4 d4 {Diagram [#]} 21. e6 $2 ({This just loses a pawn for nothing. If White was looking for complications then} 21. Qxd4 {was a better bet as} Bxf5 {can be met by} 22. Nd5 $1 cxd5 23. exf5) 21... Bxe6 22. fxe6 dxc3 23. Qxc3 Nxe6 24. Kb1 Qc5 25. Qg3 Nd4 26. Bd3 f6 27. Rhe1 Qe5 28. Qe3 Kb8 29. Bc4 Rd6 30. b4 Rhd8 31. Rd3 a6 32. a4 Ne6 33. Rc3 Nf4 34. Rec1 Qd4 35. Qe1 Re8 36. h4 Rxe4 37. Qh1 gxh4 38. Qxh4 g5 39. Qh7 Rd7 40. Qg8+ Rd8 41. Qf7 Re1 42. Rxe1 Qxc3 43. Qe7 Qd4 44. b5 axb5 45. axb5 cxb5 46. Bxb5 Nd3 47. Re2 Qd6 48. Qe4 Qb4+ 49. Qxb4 Nxb4 50. Re6 Rd4 51. Re8+ Kc7 52. Re7+ Kb6 53. Be2 Rf4 54. Re6+ Nc6 55. Re8 Nd4 0-1

[Event "Tipperary Open"] [Site "Thurles"] [Date "1992.02.09"] [Round "5"] [White "Daly, Colm"] [Black "Brady, Stephen"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A28"] [PlyCount "101"] [EventDate "1992.02.08"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "IRL"] [Source "David McAlister"] [SourceDate "2009.01.05"] 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d3 Bb4 5. Bd2 O-O 6. a3 Bxc3 7. Bxc3 Re8 8. e4 d6 9. Be2 Ne7 10. O-O Ng6 11. Re1 Nf4 12. Bf1 c5 13. b4 b6 14. h3 h6 15. Nh2 Nh7 16. Ra2 {The future course of the game shows how significant this move turns out to be.} Re6 17. Re3 Rg6 18. Kh1 Ng5 19. h4 Nh7 20. g3 Ne6 21. Bg2 Nd4 22. Re1 Nf6 23. Rg1 Ng4 24. Bxd4 cxd4 25. Nxg4 Bxg4 26. Bf3 h5 27. Bxg4 hxg4 28. f4 ({This is a bit risky. White would probably be slightly better after} 28. f3 gxf3 29. Qxf3 ({but not} 29. Rf2 {as suggested in the Irish Chess Journal because that loses to} Rxg3 30. Rxg3 Qxh4+ 31. Kg1 Qxg3+)) 28... exf4 29. gxf4 g3 30. h5 Qh4+ {Diagram [#]} 31. Kg2 Qh2+ 32. Kf1 g2+ ({If} 32... Qxa2 33. Rg2 Qxa3 34. hxg6 fxg6 35. Rxg3 Rf8 $1 36. Qg4 Qc1+ 37. Kg2 Rxf4 {and White must take the perpetual with} 38. Qe6+ {(ICJ)}) 33. Raxg2 Qxf4+ 34. Rf2 Rxg1+ 35. Kxg1 Qg3+ 36. Rg2 Qe3+ 37. Kh2 Qf4+ 38. Kh3 Re8 39. Qg4 Qxg4+ 40. Kxg4 Re5 41. Rf2 {White is threatening Rf5 and is a clear favourite in this endgame. Perhaps because a draw is no good to him, Brady now lashes out in a bid for counterplay, but it probably only makes things easier for Daly.} b5 42. cxb5 Rxb5 43. Rf5 Rb6 44. Ra5 Rc6 45. Rxa7 Rc3 46. b5 Rxd3 47. b6 Rb3 48. b7 Kh7 49. a4 Rb1 50. Kf3 Kh6 51. Ke2 1-0

Mason -v- Rynd Match 1888

These pages will present historical games featuring Irish chess players, often with contemporary annotations. The first set of games is from the July 1888 Match between James Mason and J.A. Porterfield Rynd, played at Morphy's Divan in Grafton Street, Dublin. An article covering the match in detail has also just been posted at my Irish Chess History website.