IRLchess

The Irish 65+ Championship 2024 round 6 game between Tim Harding and Pat Reynolds reached the diagrammed position with White to play.

Harding – Reynolds, Irish 65+ Championship 2024
48. ?

While 48. Qe5 would leave White much better, the game continuation’s immediate simplification 48. Qe8+ Kh7 49. Qxf7 Qxc3 50. Qxe6 Qxa5 51. Qf5+ Qxf5 52. gxf5 is a definite win.

The game later reached the second diagrammed position, with White to play.

Same game
65. ?

White wins via ‘corresponding squares’. Black must be able to meet Kf5 with Kf7, and must be able to meet Ke6 with Ke8; the square f7 ‘corresponds to’ f5, and e8 corresponds to e6.

When the white king moves to e5, it can reach e6 or f5 in one move, so the black king must move to a square that can reach either e8 or f7 in one move; this can only be f8, so f8 corresponds to e5.

Continuing, the squares e8 and g8 both correspond to e4 and to f4. But e4 and f4 are one square apart, while e8 and g8 are two squares apart. White wins by moving the king to e4 and then f4, or vice versa, forcing Black to break the correspondence.

The game continued 65. Kf4 Kg8, and now 66. Ke4 would have won, after 66… Kf8 (66… Kf7 67. Kf5) 67. Ke5, when the second diagrammed position is reached, with Black to play, and White wins (67… Ke8 68. Ke6; 67… Kf7 68. Kf5).

The game ended instead 66. Ke5 Kf8 67. Ke6 Ke8 68. f7+?? (any other move preserves the win) 68… Kf8 69. Kf6 stalemate.

[Click to replay the full game.]

This ending appeared in classical endgame manuals in mirrored version, often attributed to a game Fahrni – Alapin. Edward Winter’s Chess Notes article The So-called Fahrni-Alapin Pawn Ending discusses the history of the position (questioning the attribution to Fahrni – Alapin, and tracing the analysis back at least as far as Emanuel Lasker’s Common Sense in Chess, 1st edition (1896)).

The recent update here on Irish championship players added first names for many players. One of these was Roddy Galvin, who played in the 1967 championship in Cork.

No games of his are currently in the ICU games archive. However, one appeared in the Cork Examiner, November 27, 1968, p. 11. It’s from a challenge match between Irish Universities and Scottish Universities played in Edinburgh shortly before the article. The format was a two-round, nine-board match. The Irish team was reportedly missing several top players, and slumped to a heavy 14-4 defeat.

The Irish team in board order was Michael Roberts (Q.U.B.) (0/2 v. Craig Pritchett), Tony Cafferky (U.C.D.) (0/2 v. David N. L. Levy), Peter O’Kane (Q.U.B.) (0/2 v. Watt), Colm Egan (U.C.D.) (0/2 v. Brodie), Murray (Q.U.B.) (½/2 v. Jardine), Jack Killane (U.C.D.) (1/2 (1, 0) v. Morgan), McCaughall (Q.U.B.) (½/2 v. Bourne), Roddy Galvin (U.C.C.) (1/2 (0, 1) v. Plotkin), and Tom Barry (U.C.C.) (1/2 (1, 0) v. Amos).

Galvin – Plotkin, Irish Univ. v. Scottish Univ. match 1968
19. ?

In the diagrammed position, Black had just played the (slightly dubious) 18… Ne7-g6. Galvin responded with 19. fxe5 dxe5 20. d6. Objectively this is bad, since 20… f4! would have left him in serious trouble. However, he may have been looking ahead to the game’s finish. After 20… c6? 21. Bg5, the queen was running out of squares, and the knight could not go to e7. Black could not find anything better than 21… Ne8? (21… f4 was essential), but then Galvin trapped the queen with 22. g4 fxg4 23. Ng3, and Black resigned.

[Click to replay the full game.]

[Update, January 9, 2024: The same Cork Examiner article gave another Irish win from the match, the first round win by Tom Barry (U.C.C.). Click to replay.]

James J. Doyle was a long-time stalwart of Dublin C.C., playing on Armstrong Cup-winning teams spanning at least the 1921-22 to 1949-50 seasons, and was Leinster champion in 1925. He was also a regular at tournaments at Margate and Hastings.

One of his games has recently shown up at John Saunders’ outstanding BritBase site. It was found by Brian Denham in the Borough of West Ham, East Ham and Stratford Express, January 20, 1934, and it is a sprightly win from the Hastings Major C in 1933-34.

Doyle – Ward, Hastings Major C 1933-34
17… ?

After an eventful opening, White has just played 17. Bc1-h6. Black now erred with 17… Bh5?, which is far too slow, and after 18. Bxg7 Rfe8, White would have had a decisive advantage with the straightforward 19. Rg1 Bg6 20. f3.

Instead Doyle played the inaccurate 19. Be5?!, allowing Black counterplay after 19… f6 20. Bxf6, when 20… Rxe4, though still leaving White with a substantial advantage, would have kept Black well in the game. Instead Ward played the disastrous 20… Bf3?? and found himself in a mating net after 21. Nh6+ Kf8 22. Rg1. After a couple of spite checks, Black resigned.

Same game
Final position

[Click to replay the full game.]

Up to now, the ICU games archive has had only two of Doyle’s games, both losses, so this game is a very welcome addition to the archives.

Steffen Slumstrup Nielsen is the current World Champion of Study Composition, and co-author, with Jacob Aagaard, of the freshly published book Endgame Labyrinths.

He also has an account on X (formerly Twitter) that features many interesting studies and other curiosities. This week he posted a candidate for the greatest escape of all time, Berger – Ewin, Giessen Open 1993, which is well worth playing through.

He followed with a game of Irish interest, Heidenfeld – Roele, from Utrecht Amsterdam 1954.

Heidenfeld – Roele, Training match, Utrecht Amsterdam 1954 (4)
16. ?

From the first diagram, play continued 16. Bxh7+ Kxh7 17. Ng5+ Kg6 18. Ne6 Bxe6 19. Rxe6+, and the king was inexorably drawn forward: 19… Kf5 20. Rh6 Qxc3 21. Qh5+ Ke4 22. Rd1 Rae8 (second diagram) 23. Qg6+ Ke3 24. Rh3+ f3 25. Rxf3+ Ke2 26. Rxc3 Kxd1.

Same game
23. ?

Black had lost his queen, but the worst was over. Heidenfeld’s later comment that it was Black who had winning chances is an exaggeration: White was still better at the end of this sequence. As so often, though, it was difficult for Heidenfeld to switch gears and win the game anew, and in the end he lost.

Background for this game, the event, and Heidenfeld’s little-known opponent, is given in an interesting post “Migrating South” by Tim Krabbé at Chess Curiosities, along with another game from the match.

This game, though not the other from the match, was already in the ICU games archive, though not here. It seems to have been added by Tim Harding in a draft update to the ICU archive in early 2016.

[Click to replay the full game.]

No annotations are given. Where, if anywhere, did White go wrong?

Update, October 14, 2023: the comments on this game at ChessGames.com say, plausibly, that Roele died in 2012, instead of the end suggested by Krabbé. His first names are variously given as Charles H. and Coenraad Hermanus. He played as Charles Roele in Munich 1942, the purported purported first European Individual Championship, not generally recognised as it was organised by Nazi Germany.

The questions of what the correct evaluation of the first diagram above and White’s best continuation from the second diagram are interesting exercises. The link above shows the game with no annotations, but here is another version with some notes.

Update, October 15, 2023: David McAlister points out that the game appeared in Heidenfeld’s book Chess Springbok (Cape Town, 1955) and provided the relevant pages, plus several analytical suggestions, for which many thanks. The game is also featured by Edward Winter in Chess Notes 11671 (13 January 2020), who surveys many references, and provides a link to analysis by Allan Beardsworth of the second diagram below. Among other comments, Winter corrects the site of the game; the post has been modified acordingly. The annotated version has been slightly updated for now; a fuller version may be added later.

Stephen Jessel and Conor O’Donnell competed in the strong Plancoët Open 2014, finishing with 6/9 and 5½/9 respectively. They met in round 8, in a game of changing fortunes.

The first diagram shows one interesting moment.

Jessel – O’Donnell, Plancoët Open 2014
52… ?

It’s Black to play and win. How?

Later, the second diagrammed position was reached.

Same game
58. ?

This time, it’s White who is winning, per the Nalimov tablebases, but this is harder to see. How will White escape the checks?

Click to replay the full game (with solutions).