In the recent post on Tony Miles and the Dundrum International Congress 1975, I wrote that Miles had greatly raised the profile of the event via a series of mammoth simuls in Dublin, Cork, and Galway in the lead-up.
On reviewing the details, that doesn’t turn out to be quite right. The Dublin simul preceded the International Congress, while the Cork and Galway exhibitions came after.
In fact, it was a whirlwind tour, with all the activity compressed into seven days:
Thursday, March 13: Simul, Dublin (Gorman Brothers Garage, Rathmines): played 42; +36 =3 -3.
Friday, March 14–Monday, March 17: Dundrum International Congress Open, Dublin (Wesley College); =1st-5th / 58.
Tuesday, March 18: Simul, Cork (Lee Maltings, U. C. C.): played 36; +28 = 6 -2.
Wednesday, March 19: Simul, Galway (U. C. G. / Jesuit College): played 44; +44 =0 -0.
The Dublin simul made RTÉ news, with a 22 second report, broadcast on March 14, 1975:
(video at link)
RTÉ say only that the exhibition was “in the showrooms of a Dublin garage”. It was actually Gorman Bothers Ltd. garage (or showrooms) in Rathmines, an establishment that had assembled competitive racing cars, as documented here.
After the Dundrum International Congress, Miles headed to Cork, where he gave a 36-board simul at the Lee Maltings, U.C.C. Amongst the six opponents who drew were a 14-year-old Philip Short and Orison Carlile. He lost two games, and one of these was published in the Evening Echo. It has not appeared anywhere else up to now.
20… ?
Miles played Black in many games, as is shown in the RTÉ video. In the diagrammed position, against Pat McCarthy, 20… f5 would have left White with only a slight advantage, but there followed 20… Ne5??. After 21. Qf6+ Kg8 22. Rf4, Miles gave up a piece via 22… Ng4 23. Rxg4 to stave off mate, and resigned a few moves later.
[Click to replay the full game.]
One day later, Miles had moved on to Galway, where he gave a 44 board simul, at either U. C. G. or Jesuit College, winning all 44. As reported by J. J. Walsh in the Irish Times, afterwards “he sportingly accepted challenges from local schoolboys who were unable to obtain a board in the main exhibition”. Given his schedule, this was very sporting indeed.
Up to now, these simuls have not appeared here. They have now been added to the Simuls page.