Duignan-Diskin, Irish championship, Galway 1949 (brilliancy prize)

Returning to J. J. Walsh’s unpublished manuscript of selected Irish games, 1896-1967, the next on the list is another win by P. A. (Paddy) Duignan, this time against P. Diskin in the 1949 Irish championship in Galway, winning the tournament brilliancy prize.

P. Diskin of Galway was Connacht champion in 1950, 1951, 1954 and 1955, and his best result in an Irish championship was =5^th in Cork 1951 (sources: the Connacht championships and Irish championship pages on David McAlister’s Irish Chess History website).

The 1949 championship in Galway was a 7-round, 16-player Swiss that resulted in a runaway 7/7 victory by 20-year-old P. B. (Paddy) Kennedy, 2½ points ahead of the field, for his only Irish championship win. It seems only the top 7 finishers are known [but see Update], the others being 2^nd-4^th. Warwick Nash, George J. Boyd and Donal J. O’Sullivan 4½; 5^th-7^th. John C. Hickey, J. J. O’Hanlon and R. Dundas 4. So no mention of either Duignan or Diskin. The game isn’t in the ICU games archive, which has all of Kennedy’s games but no others.

The game itself (click for playable version) featured a variation of the Winawer, 5. … cxd4?!, that even in 1949 was under a cloud, and 7. … Ne7? (instead of 7. … cxb2 or 7. … Kf8) further compounds Black’s problems. White misses the strongest continuation, 11. Ra3! with a clear advantage, and a complicated battle ensues.

[Update, April 26, 2026: Modified post to correct Donal J. O’Sullivan’s first name (no fada), re-add link to post on J. J. Walsh’s unpublished manuscript, update links to Connacht championship and Irish championship pages on David McAlister’s Irish Chess History website, update link to ICU article on P. B. (Paddy) Kennedy, remove link to ICU games archive (which now contains this game, via this source), and add note on the comment that only the top 7 finishers of the 1949 Irish Championship are known (see post and tournament report here).]