Monthly Archives: June 2013

Hastings 1895

Hastings 1895 has been described as ‘the greatest chess tournament of all time’, with ‘the strongest field of players ever assembled’, whose ‘games were exceedingly difficult and hard fought, possibly the severest test of chess mastery ever conducted’, and which … Continue reading

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From My Six Memorable Games

The sixth issue of The New Winawer Report has been posted: see the tnwr page. This issue considers the late Robert Byrne’s idea of 12. h3 and 13. g4. This is still a dangerous idea and it seems surprisingly under-utilised, … Continue reading

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The early days of ICU Ratings

Edited 17 June 2013 If you are playing in a tournament and someone you’ve never come across before sits down at the board opposite you, there’s a fair chance he’ll ask what you rating is (unless you get that question … Continue reading

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Heidenfeld and the 1958 Irish Championship

There’s one simple way for an Irish chess website to increase its traffic: start a debate on the eligibility to play in the Irish Championship, more specifically should it be an open or closed tournament (and if it’s a closed … Continue reading

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Breaking news from 1906

Anticipation is building for the Irish Championship, to be held at the University of Limerick from July 6-14. It’s the centenary of the Irish championship as organised by the Irish Chess Union, and is shaping up to be an excellent … Continue reading

Posted in News | 11 Comments

Gerry McCurdy

In putting together a post on a different topic, I found an article indicating that Gerry McCurdy, who was a strong player in Ireland in the ’60’s, before emigrating to France, has returned to the game. There’s an article on … Continue reading

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Wexford June Congress 1974

As mentioned previously, there appear to be very few games available from the Wexford/Drogheda June Congresses. If any reader has any they can send in, please do so! The only games I’m aware of are the five games of Bernard … Continue reading

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Wexford/Drogheda June Congress

The Drogheda June Congress is on this weekend. This competition has a unique structure of 6-player all-play-alls and a long history: this is the 24th of the series in Drogheda, in an unbroken sequence from 1990, and it had previously … Continue reading

Posted in Drogheda Congresses, Photos, Wexford Congresses | 7 Comments