Egon Varnusz-David Drakeford
MTK Budapest-Dundrum, European Club Cup (1.4),
Budapest, September 1985

26. Bh4 Rec7 27. Bxf6 gxf6 28. Ng4 Kg7 29. f5 Be7 30. e5 exf5 31. Rxf5 fxe5 32. Qxe5+ f6 33. Qf4 Qe6 34. Qxh6+ Kf7 35. Rdf2 Qe1+ 36. Rf1 Qxc3 37. Rxf6+ Bxf6 38. Qxf6+ Ke8 39. Bg6+ 1-0.

[Click to replay.]

Levente Lengyel-Kevin McHugh
MTK Budapest-Dundrum, European Club Cup (2.3),
Budapest, September 1985

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. d4 d5 5. e3 O-O 6. Qb3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 Nc6 8. Be2 Qd6 9. O-O e5 10. d5 Ne7 11. e4 c6 12. dxc6 Nxc6 13. Rd1 Qe7 14. Bg5 Nd4 15. Nxd4 exd4 16. Nd5 Qxe4 (diagram)

17. Nxf6+? Bxf6 18. Bxf6 Qxe2 19. Bxd4 b5 20. Re1 Qc4 21. Qf3 Bf5 22. Qe3 a5 23. b3 Qd5 24. Bb2 f6 25. Rad1 Qc6 26. Rc1 Qb7 27. h3 Rad8 28. Qf4 Rf7 29. Rcd1 Qb6 30. g4 Bc8 31. Rxd8+ Qxd8 32. g5 fxg5?? 33. Qe5 1-0.

[Click to replay.]

Kevin McHugh’s attempt at an early simplification had a flaw, though GM Lengyel overlooked it. In the diagrammed position, the computer finds 17. Bxf6! Qxe2 18. Qb4! winning, since White threatens 19. Ne7+ Kh8 20. Nxg6+ as well as 19. Qxd4. After the game’s 17. Nxf6+?, Black still has an uncomfortable position because of the weakness of the long diagonal, but was weathering the pressure reasonably well until the disastrous 32. … fxg5??. After 32. … Bxh3 instead, it’s still all to play for.

My earlier post expressed doubts about the accuracy of the scores given by Sakkélet, but John Griffin has written in and comments that these were indeed correct.

The earlier post mentioned that only one of the games from the match, Portisch-Curtin, was given on OlimpBase. I received a message from Wojciech Bartelski the following day, requesting the game scores. Impressive! Here is the pgn file.

And here is the original article in Sakkélet. No reports, unfortunately, in Fiacla Fichille or in any of the Irish papers, at least not that I could find.

The evidence for Baker was that he was referred to as the “present holder” in a 17 January 1928 Irish Independent preview of that year’s Championship, while the evidence for Laracy came from his 1960 obituary.

So initially for 1927 the winner was given as “P. Baker or P.J. Laracy”. However, having discussed the pros and cons of each candidate with Sean, I decided to give the matter some further anxious consideration.

The evidence for Laracy was weaker. The obituary only mentioned him winning in 1927 but he had in fact “also” won in 1929 and 1931. The likelihood therefore was that about 30 years after the event the compiler of the obituary knew that Laracy had won the Leinster Championship but was wrong about the date.

Trawling through the sources again produced strong contemporary evidence to rule out Laracy. In particular the Irish Independent for 10 March 1928 gave the entrants for the 1928 Leinster Championship (which included Laracy) and specifically stated that the only previous champion in the entry list was J.T. Gerrard.

So that seemed to leave Baker. However, a third possibility then suggested itself. That item in the Irish Independent had stated that Baker was the “present holder” rather than last year’s winner. While these two things are not mutually exclusive, it does at least leave open the possibility that Baker continued to hold the title which he had won in 1926, rather than having won it in 1926 and again in 1927.

What contemporary evidence is there from 1927? Actually very little. On 14 February 1927 both the Irish Independent and the Irish Times gave the information that the closing date for entries to the Leinster Championship was 1 March, but neither paper then carried any reports on the championship. When the Irish Times for 30 April 1927 disclosed in a short article that the competitive Dublin chess season has ended, it referred to the winners of the two Leinster team competitions but there was no mention of the individual championship.

Of course, the Leinster individual may have taken place between the beginning of March and the end of April but it was simply not reported in the press; in those days chess coverage in the Dublin papers was somewhat patchy. However we could speculate that there may not have been enough time left in the season to fit in the Leinster Championship. The final and deciding match of the Armstrong Cup between the Dublin and Sackville Clubs was played on 14 March and it is unlikely that the Leinster Championship would have commenced before this vital encounter. Of the eight games in the match four were adjourned and the last of these only finished on 4 April. In that game two former Leinster champions Norman H. Wallace (Dublin) and Charles J. Barry (Sackville) faced each other with Wallace finally winning after three sessions and ten hours play. Wallace’s win produced a four-all draw in the match and this was enough to secure the Armstrong Cup for Dublin but if Barry had managed at least half-a-point, this would have required the two teams to play a tie-match for the Cup, further encroaching on the available time until the end of the season.

So with all these developments, it is at least plausible that the Leinster Chess Union decided not to proceed with its individual championship. By now another hurdle was potentially in the way. The LCU had to organise the Irish Championship Congress (comprising the championship itself and a Major Open Tourney) in Dublin over the Easter holiday. On 28 March the LCU Council met to finalize arrangements with the dates set for 19 to 23 April. Again it is at least plausible that the LCU would want to concentrate on the major occasion in the Irish chess year and decide to set aside arrangements for the Leinster individual. One other point to make is that all the eventual entrants for the Irish Championship (the disappointingly small total of four, all from Leinster, from whom Baker emerged the winner) had all featured in the adjourned games from the Dublin-Sackville match.

So, on the evidence currently available, the balance seems to tip in favour of a verdict that there was no Leinster championship in 1927. However, further evidence may yet appear (the most likely place – and one I have not been able to consult – is in the Dublin Evening Herald which had a chess correspondent at that time).

So for now, in the Roll of Honour for the Leinster Championship, the listing for 1927 will have to read “Philip Baker or no championship held”.

After this rather lengthy speculation, P.J. Laracy has faded from view. However I mentioned his obituary and it actually makes very interesting reading: we learn his first name (reports on chess events always seemed to refer to him merely by his initials), his own eventful life is well if briefly chronicled and we find out he had a very interesting son-in-law. So here it is: (from the Irish Independent for 12 November 1960)

Mr. Patrick J. Laracy, M.B.E. Highfield Road, Rathgar, who has died, aged 78, was a former Assistant Accountant in the G.P.O. He retired in April 1947. During the first World War he served with the Third Royal Irish Regiment, with the rank of Lieutenant, in Flanders and fought on the Somme. He was wounded in March, 1917, and lost a leg.

A brilliant chess player, he was champion of Leinster in 1927 [this should read 1929 and 1931] and reached the final of the Irish championship on a number of occasions. [In fact only once would this apply - in 1929 he played in the Irish Championship qualifying tournament to decide who was to be the challenger to the title-holder Baker] He was a member of the Dublin Chess Club and also of the Rathmines club.

He is survived by his daughters – Mrs Ignazio Silone, Rome (whose husband is the well-known writer). Miss Cecily Laracy, Dr. Moira Quinlan and Mrs. Eithne Kavanagh, Dublin.”

One final point that should be added to the record: Laracy was undoubtedly at his most brilliant when he won the 1931 Leinster Championship: the Irish Independent reported that in his final game he beat Philip Baker to finish well clear of his seven opponents “with the remarkable high score of seven points.” It was an extremely strong renewal with his opponents including Baker (four times Irish champion), T.G. Cranston (who went on later than year to win the Irish title for the second time), C.J. Barry (many times Leinster champion) and two other previous Leinster champions, J.T. Gerrard and R.T. Varian.

Perhaps less well-known is that this is the centenary Leinster Championship. Sean and I have put together a Roll of Honour, featuring all the champions from 1912 to date that we are aware of. If any of our growing band of followers can add to the list, we would be glad to hear from them.

Leinster Championship Roll of Honour

Branagan Cups: There have been quite a few updates here. Anthony Fox sent in details of the 2003 final, for which many thanks. I also found a clipping on the 1979 final, which I had downloaded some time ago, because I played in it myself! (On the losing side, unfortunately.) Other results that showed up were 1974, 1978, 1983 and 1984, and the finalists in 1975. I think Kevin Barry may have won in 1985: they won the National Club Championship and I have a vague recollection they must have qualified by winning the Branagan?

Simuls: Many more simuls have been added: Wade (in Rathmines) and Soultanbéieff 1954, Gligorić (four simuls in 1971), Euwe (two simuls in 1972), and Nunn (1985 in Belfast). For simuls by Irish residents, newly added items are Mary Rudge, G.D. Soffe, and J. Porterfield Rynd in 1889, the last of these blindfold, and another by Mary Rudge in 1893. She was English but resided in Ireland for some time and played in a few Armstrong Cups, and seems to have been living in Clontarf in 1889. Others added were Barney O’Sullivan (1974 in Waterford) and Alexander Baburin (Ballina 2002).

All these are based on newspaper reports. But there’s one other very obscure simul that didn’t appear in any reports, given by Wolfgang Heidenfeld at St. Benildus College in 1978. This had nothing to do with the current St. Benildus C.C., which didn’t exist until 1990 or so, but was instead arranged by the school (Frank Scott) as part of its German Night, and all the players were pupils. Winners were to receive a signed copy of Modern Chess Miniatures by Barden and Heidenfeld.

I hope he brought enough copies! He lost five games, rather a high loss rate for an 18-board simul. The winners were Oliver Dunne, J. Hayes, Jimmy McAndrew, Owen O’Mahony, and Ciarán Walker. (Source: Owen O’Mahony score book.)

TWIC Irish games: These had not been updated for a while. TWICs 904-912 were finally processed, with 327 new Irish games, taking the total up to 1392, from 82 Irish players. There are some duplicates, though, where the same game is given in different weeks: eventually I’ll figure out some way of filtering these out.

Comments: Quite a few people have sent in comments and others have sent email messages. This is all very welcome and encouraging, let me say: it’s very gratifying to see that anyone’s reading all this! In addition to comments from Anthony Fox, Ciarán O’Hare, and Paul Cassidy, we also received comments from Nena Jover Kelty (daughter of Tommy Jover and the author of My Father Was Carmen Miranda: Memoirs of an English Show Girl) and from Rafael Jover re David McAlister’s post from November on Tommy Jover’s win against J.J. O’Hanlon. Many thanks!

In the diagrammed position Black sealed. It looks as though he should be able to draw easily enough: the sealed move must be 1. … Kxe5, and then the pawn on g5 must drop also.

But after resumption there resulted what J.J. Walsh, writing in the Irish Times shortly afterwards, described as the neatest finish he had seen in a long time. Can you see what happened?

See the solution.

Unfortunately, I cannot put anything of this on IRLchess, because the BBC understandably do not like people taking liberties with their copyright. However, if you live in the UK, for a few more days you should be able to view the programme, (unfortunately I believe it is geo-restricted elsewhere) courtesy of the BBC IPlayer at Glory Days 1970s.

However, from an old minute book of the Newtownards Chess Club, what I can tell you is that Stean’s simultaneous exhibition took place in the Londonderry Room of Newtownards Town Hall on Saturday 23rd June 1979 with the GM winning 32 games, drawing 2 and losing 6. The organiser was Mervyn Bennett, secretary of the Newtownards Chess Club, and if you are able to access the video, he’s the player, wearing glasses and in a dark striped shirt, featured in close-up. I wasn’t at the simul but I do recall attending a lecture Stean gave the previous night at CIYMS Chess Club in Belfast. He took the assembled players through a recent game from grandmaster praxis (possibly a Korchnoi game – Stean had seconded him at the 1978 World Championship). At one point, Stean stopped and asked us what we thought the next move was, and I’m afraid we completely failed to identify it!

For those not familiar with the topic, the Frenchman Louis Charles Mahé de Labourdonnais (b. La Réunion, 1797; d. London, 13^th December 1840) was considered the strongest player in the world in his era. He played a number of matches in London against the strongest players of the day, culminating with a series of six matches from June to September 1834, totalling 85 games, against Alexander McDonnell (b. Belfast, 22^nd May 1798; d. London, 14^th September 1835). Though de Labourdonnais had the better of it, winning four of the matches to McDonnell’s one, with the last unfinished, the contestants were well matched and the standard of play very high for the era.

Here is a puzzling discrepancy, though. The second game of the first match, as given by the ICU on-line games archive, reached the position below after McDonnell’s 55. … g4:

The sequel, as given by the ICU collection, was 56. Bxg4 Ke7 57. Bc8 Kd6 58. Bxb7 Kc5 ½-½.

But what is wrong with 56. … Nxg4 instead? After 57. Kxg4 Ke5 58. Kf3 Kf5 Black has the easiest of wins.

ChessBase.com’s “Big Database 2012” (5,000,000+ games) also gives the same continuation.

So did McDonnell fluff an easy chance? Actually, no: the databases are wrong, as they are so often for older games. The games from the match were widely published at the time, and since the books are long out of copyright we can access the originals on Google Books. The games were originally noted down by William Greenwood Walker, secretary of Westminster C.C., where the games were played, and he included them in an 1836 collection of McDonnell’s games:

And here is the end of game 2 (p. 136):

That could hardly be clearer (apart from the ancient notation, that is): White captured the queen’s knight’s pawn first, and then after Bc8, the king’s knight’s pawn. This is also the version given by William Lewis, A Selection of Games at Chess (London: Simpkin and Marshall, 1835), p. 15 (adding some garbled moves at the end and calling it game 3), and by George Walker, Chess Studies (London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1844), p. 1, both also available on Google Books.

So the actual finish was the much more reasonable 56. Bxb7 Ke7 57. Bc8 Kd6 58. Bxg4 Kc6 ½-½. (Click to replay the full game.)

This is also the version given in various modern books, e.g., Cary Utterberg’s De la Bourdonnais versus McDonnell, 1834: the eighty-five games of their six chess matches, with excerpts from additional games against other opponents (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2005), p. 51, citing Levy and O’Connell’s Oxford Encyclopedia of Chess Games (1981).

So an injustice to McDonnell is corrected. But where did the spurious version come from? It’s not just a matter of confusing the two knight’s pawns: in the spurious version Black can’t play 58. … Kc6 at the end, so someone “corrected” it to 58. … Kc5.

NCC Roll of Honour 1954-to date

With the finale of the Armstrong Cup on this weekend (not to mention the thorny issue of the National Club Championship and European Club Cup the topic of renewed controversy), it’s time for a post with some reminiscences of club chess from yesteryear.

In 1985 Dundrum won the Armstrong for the first and only time (1984-85 season). I was playing board 1, would you believe, and this competition featured my last competitive games, as I left for California in early September that year and haven’t played a game since. I have only the haziest recollections of that season, and certainly no games. Nice to go out on a high note, though!

As a result of the Armstrong win, our captain David Drakeford entered the team for the European Club Cup. (What about the National Club Championship, you ask? Records are scarce and I’m fairly sure I skipped the event myself, but it seems Dundrum finished second. In those days this made no difference to anything, though, so the entry was accepted.)

The team was drawn away to MTK Budapest, a dream draw against one of the strongest teams in the competition. In the event they rested a couple of their players, e.g. Susan Polgar, but the team that played was strong enough: board 1 Lajos Portisch, then rated sixth in the world, GM Forintos board 2, and GM Lengyel board 3. The format was at that time a knockout series of matches (six boards, two rounds).

The match was scheduled for September, so I wasn’t able to play myself, being already in California by that time. But Eugene Curtin was home from Rhode Island on holiday, so played board 1 in my stead. Since Eugene was then Irish champion (joint with Mark Orr), having also won the Irish championship outright the previous year, this was an excellent trade for Dundrum. I hasten to add, since the ICU web site and LCU Blog are filled with talk of ‘ringers’, that Eugene had had a long association with Dundrum, extending back at least ten years.

Dundrum lost 9½-2½, with each player except one losing one game and drawing the other. I recall hearing that the team was quite happy with this result.

OlimpBase has a brief account of the match, showing the overall match result, and Eugene Curtin’s results, along with one of his games, his loss to Portisch. No other Irish players are listed and no other games are available, and ChessBase’s “Big Database 2012″ (5,000,000+ games) also contains just this one game.

However there is some more information! I found an article on the match in Magyar Sakkélet, 1985 p. 396, giving full results, plus one more full game (Lengyel-McHugh) and an extended portion of another (Varnusz-Drakeford).

In a later post I’ll upload these as playable games, along with the full article. In the meantime here is the full table of results, at least as given by Magyar Sakkélet (I have an idea that it was Brian MacRéamoinn who lost both games, not John Griffin, and I think I recall seeing a report in Fiacla Fichille about the match; to be verified):

The Dundrum team was Eugene Curtin, John Griffin, Kevin McHugh, David Drakeford, Brian MacRéamoinn, and Ivan Gormally.

“an internationally known chess player who once played against the late chess master, Bobby Fisher[sic].”

There is no game between them in the databases, so what was the origin of this quote?

The obvious place to look was O’Hare’s autobiography “Roast Beef on Sunday” which Sean has already referred to in his articles Eugene O’Hare and The Berlin Wall, Hans-Joachim Hecht & Eugene O’Hare.

The answer would seem to be found in the part of the book where Eugene is recounting his experiences at the 1960 Leipzig Olympiad:

“I made the acquaintance of a number of players including Count O’Kelly and two Americans, Raymond Weinsten and Bill Lombardy, a grandmaster and one of Bobbie [sic] Fischer’s trainers. Lombardy was a Jesuit student and we searched together for churches close to the hotel for Mass on Sundays and ended on first name terms. Raymond Weinstein, the American number six, a year later was charged with murder and found guilty. One night after dinner, I found myself beside the boy wonder himself, Robert J Fischer. According to statistics, Fischer was the best known chess player of all time. He was analysing on a travelling set and turned to me, asking if I would like to see his position in the analysis room. My moment of glory! We sat down, purchased two cups of coffee from the machine and for an hour went through his game for that day.”