The Irish Championship in 1980 was held at the ‘North Mon’ in Cork, from July 12-20. The field of 24 players included top seed and newly minted national master Paul Delaney, second seed Eugene Curtin, former champions Alan Ludgate and Michael Littleton, and the local internationals Anthony McCarthy and Philip Short.
In the event, Paul Delaney dominated from start to finish, winning his first four games for a lead of a clear 1½ points over 10 (!) players on 2½, and thereafter staying a full point clear of the field. A 5-minute draw in the last round gave him the title of Irish champion for the first (and, as it turned out, only) time.
There was no tournament book, and up to now there haven’t even been any games from the event in the ICU archive. However, Alan Ludgate has provided all of his scoresheets from the event, and Gerry MacElligott has provided a pgn file of all remaining Jack Killane games, for which many thanks, so we have 17 of the 106 games played.
A full tournament report has been added here. Alan Ludgate’s scoresheets included a full set of pairings and results, without which the report would have been much less complete (missing rounds 8 and 9, and with various gaps due to adjournments in the earlier rounds).
The McDonnell – Ludgate game in round 2 lasted more than 10 hours, spread over four days, with the advantage passing back and forth, first with Ludgate, then McDonnell, then Ludgate again, before ending in a draw. Here is one interesting moment:
56… ?
Ludgate spurned a draw by repetition with the last move before the first time control, and now faces a critical decision on the last move before the second. With three minutes to spare, he played the natural 56… Rg3?. But this should lose with best play.
Instead he had to play 56… Rg4! 57. Kf5, and only then 57… Rg3. After 58. Bf1 Nd3 59. Rxh3 Rxh3 60. Bxh3, the zwischenzug has allowed White to protect the f-pawn, which would otherwise be en prise, but after 60… Ke7, Black survives.
Instead, after the game’s 56… Rg3?, White could have won via 57. Bf1! Nd3 58. Rxh3! Rxh3 59. Bxh3, since after 59… Nxf4 60. Bf1 Nh5+ 61. Kg5 Ng7 62. Kg6 Ne8 63. Kf7, Black will have to give up his c-pawn to extract the knight (59… Ke8 60. Bf1 Nc5 61. e5 is also winning for White).
[Click to replay the full game.]
Update, October 3, 2020: Shortly after posting this report, I found the flyer for the event and ICU ratings for some of the players among a treasure trove of documents provided by John Gibson, for which many thanks. The report has been updated accordingly.