Irish Championship 1985

[ Information | Pairings & results | Crosstable | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | Openings | Annotations | Sources ]

Sources and notes

Sources
Game files
  • All of Alan Ludgate's games (via Alan Ludgate)
  • All of Jonathan O'Connor's games (via Jonathan O'Connor)
  • Hynes - Clarke, round 5, from Tom Clarke's scoresheet (via David McAlister), plus five games from the Evening Echo and Sunday Press
Entry form Page 1 and page 2 (via John Gibson)
Fiacla Fichille
  • “Irish 1985”, J. J. Walsh, vol. 2, no. 18 (July 1985), pp. 12-17 (report, 15 games)
  • vol. 2, no. 19 (September 1985) (1985 rating list) (vol. 2, no. 18 (July 1985) had ratings for players rated over 2000 and under 21)
ICU web site
  • Scores and places
  • Eugene Curtin, Eugene Curtin, March 15, 1998 (“I took 1985 off from my studies and returned home. That year I gave some effort to chess. I think I won most of the tournaments I played in Ireland, including sharing the 1985 championship with Mark Orr. I wasn't really having a great tournament and had to win my last two games to have a chance. In the eighth round against Dave Smith I ruined a great position before time control. The game dragged on in a major piece ending where I had the upper hand. Midnight arrived and there was no win in sight. I got a coffee and psyched myself up for a night of maneuvering, preparing to move a pawn once every fifty moves if needed. Right after I decided to play to the death, Dave's position collapsed. The next day I won a blunder filled game against Colm Barry to share first.”).
  • Games archive (One game (Orr - Smith, round 6), as of the date of v1.0 of this report)
TICA Irish Men's Championships, Mark Orr, TICA (The Irish Chess Archive), 2001 (via the Wayback Machine) (final scores of all players)
Newspapers
  • Belfast Telegraph (W. J. Collins)
  • September 14, 1985 p. 9 (final report, all scores, annotation of Orr - Smith, round 6)
  •  
  • Cork Examiner (Jim Olney)
  • July 2, 1985 p. 10 (announcement, schedule, entry fees)
  • July 20, 1985 p. 9 (summary results, leading scores down to 5½ (but giving Allen as finishing on 6, Pat Carton as finishing on 5½, and giving only Ludgate of the four players shown in this report as finishing on 5½))
  •  
  • Evening Echo (Jim Olney)
  • “Keen competition likely in Irish championships”, July 2, 1985 p. 13 (announcement, detailed schedule, entry fees)
  • “Curtin and Orr tie for irish title”, July 23, 1985 p. 12 (report, final scores, photos of Curtin and Orr, score of Smith - Barry, round 5)
  •  
  • Irish Times (J. J. Walsh)
  • “Chess contest opens”, July 8, 1985 p. 10 (rounds 1 and 2)
  • “Results of senior chess games”, July 9, 1985 p. 8 (round 3; adjourned games from rounds 1 and 2)
  • “Tie as chess game is adjourned”, July 10, 1985 p. 8 (round 4, including description of Smith - Greer adjourned position as level)
  • “Two tie in national chess event”, July 15, 1985 p. 8 (rounds 8 and 9; final scores and places)
  • “212 players in chess games”, July 20, 1985 p. 16 (results of supporting events; controllers)
  •  
  • Sunday Press (Tim Harding)
  • “Big upset in Irish chess7rdquo;, July 7, 1985 p. 12 (round 1); column (same page) (announcement)
  • “Chess duel near close”, July 14, 1985 p. 2 (report heading into final round); column (same page) (announcement of final round)
  • July 21, 1985 p. 10 (review; annotation of Smith - Barry, round 5)
  • July 28, 1985 p. 10 (annotations of McMahon - Barry, round 3, Clarke - Ludgate, round 8, and Allen O'Reilly, round 9)


Notes
Key In "Pairings & results",
  • "(age)" denotes the player's age on his or her birthday that year, regardless of whether that birthday fell before, during, or after the event
  • "x-ch" denotes former Irish champions
  • "ch#" denotes the number of championships the player played in, including this one
  • "ol" denotes members of the previous Olympiad (Thessaloniki 1984)
  • "—" in "club" column denotes unattached; a blank entry indicates club unknown

In playable games,
  • "RR" denotes editorial comment
First round byes Mark Orr was unable to arrive in time for the first round due to an Aer Lingus pilots' strike, and Kevin McHugh was unable to play because of exams; Tournament Director Maura Murphy offered each a travelling byes (Tim Harding, Sunday Press, Juy 21, 1985 p. 10)
Last round withdrawals Six players withdrew before the last round to travel to the Netherlands for the Glorney Cup: Niall Carton, Pat Carton (team manager), Colm Daly, Diarmuid Simpson, Kieran Greer, Eric McMahon, and Diarmuid Simpson.
Clubs Club affiliations are from the ICU rating list of 1985 (Fiacla Fichille vol. 2, no. 18, July 1985 (partial list) and vol. 2, no. 19, September 1985 (complete list)).

Tim Harding's report (Sunday Press, July 21, 1985 p. 10) gave Curtin's club affiliation as Dundrum, and Smith's as “Chester (ex-Raheny)”. Though Curtin had been a Dundrum player earlier in his career, and went on to play with the club in the European Club Cup in September 1985, there are no records of him playing for Dundrum during the 1984-85 season.
Débuts and final appearances Cafolla, Delaney, Greer, Lyons, McHugh, McMahon, Morris, O'Byrne, and Simpson made their Irish championship débuts. Cronin, Curtin, Morris, Noone, O'Byrne, Clifford O'Connor, Simpson, and Smith never played again.
Discrepancies
  • Fiacla Fichille gave the results for round 1 as including Allen 1-0 Lyons and O'Reilly 1-0 Daly, but also gives O'Reilly 1-0 Daly in round 4. The pairings and results here match the version that the Irish Times gives for round 1 and also all final scores.
  • The Cork Examiner final report gave Pat Carton as finishing on 5½, rather than 4½ as given in other sources and here.
Alternative possibilities If David Smith had won his last round game as White against Kilian Hynes, instead of drawing, he would have finished level with Curtin and Orr, but would have been sole champion on progressive /cumulative (36½ to Orr's 35 and Curtin's 34).
Ratings
  • FIDE ratings are from the July 1985 list
  • ICU ratings are from the July 1985 list
Versions
  • v1.0 (28 March 2023): first published version
  • v1.1 (3 April 2023): expanded the notes to Greer - Orr, round 5; corrected two minor typographical errors in Hynes - Clarke, round 5
Contributors Alan Ludgate, Jonathan O'Connor, David McAlister, John Gibson
Author Seán Coffey


IRLchess: Irish chess history & records.
Version 1.1, published 3 April 2023. Comments/corrections? .
Download pgn file.