Category Archives: Armstrong Cup

An Armstrong Cup record?

In the last post I mentioned that the 1984-85 season has been up to now one of the most mysterious of all Armstrong seasons. David McAlister’s full roll of honour at irishchesshistory.com contains only the name of Dundrum as the … Continue reading

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Armstrong Cup, 1977 and today

This Sunday sees the final round of the Armstrong Cup. Dublin University has been ahead all season, but stumbled slightly recently with a loss to Gonzaga. With a 2-point lead, and with the only other possible winners Elm Mount and … Continue reading

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Armstrong Cup 1976-77

The Armstrong Cup page has been updated with details of the 1976-77 season. In a close finish U.C.D. retained the cup, fighting off the challenge of Portmarnock, Dublin A, and Collegians. The winning team consisted of Bernard Kernan, Oisín McGuinness, … Continue reading

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A MacGuffin, a play-off and a foreshadowing

On the 28th November Edward Winter’s Chess Notes ran a story about a chessplayer called Aaron Sayers who had fallen on hard times and run into a bit of trouble with the law. Mr Winter quoted from the April 1928 edition … Continue reading

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125 years of the Armstrong Cup

Today (20th October) marks the 125th anniversary of the first ever Armstrong Cup match. The cup was donated by William Armstrong B.L. as a challenge cup “for annual competition by the chess clubs of Dublin”. Its first season was 1888-89, … Continue reading

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An Armstrong puzzle

Black to play: how do you evaluate the consequences of 19. … f4!? This is from the game Oliver Dunne-Eoghan Casey, Elm Mount v. Gonzaga, Armstrong Cup 1999-2000. (Thanks to Oliver for supplying it.)

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P.J. Laracy, Philip Baker and the 1927 Leinster Championship

When compiling the Roll of Honour for the Leinster Championship, there was a particularly tricky decision to make about the 1927 renewal. There was evidence pointing towards two possible candidates. They were Philip Baker, champion the previous year (and also … Continue reading

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A neat finish: Lewis-Duffy, Armstrong Cup 1958

From the Armstrong Cup 1958-59, W. Lewis – N. Duffy, Dublin-Phibsboro, board 6, played in late 1958 (and, by the way, not in the ICU games archive or other databases): In the diagrammed position Black sealed. It looks as though … Continue reading

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