Author Archives: Sean Coffey

Paul Cassidy on the Irish Championship 1968

Posted on March 31, 2026 by Sean Coffey

A little while back we had a post and report on the Irish Championship 1968. Wolfgang Heidenfeld won the fifth of his six titles, holding off a strong challenge from Paul Cassidy, who was making his début, as was over … Continue reading →

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Choudhury – Sallan, DCU Majors 2026

Posted on March 25, 2026 by Sean Coffey

The last post mentioned that Cahit Furkan Sallan recorded a perfect 5/5 in last month’s DCU Majors. In the last round, he faced Darshan Choudhury, who had also reached that point with a perfect score. The game had an interesting, … Continue reading →

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DCU Congress 2026

Posted on March 23, 2026 by Sean Coffey

The DCU Congress 2026 took place at DCU St. Patrick’s campus in Drumcondra, from February 20-22. The event comprised three sections, Open, Majors, and Challengers, and also, on the Saturday, the Leinster Open Go tournament. Full tournament reports for each … Continue reading →

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Sligo Open 2026

Posted on February 24, 2026 by Sean Coffey

The recently concluded Sligo Chess and Culture Festival featured four subsidiary events in the Weekender on the opening weekend, plus a 9-round international Open, a rapid, and a blitz, in addition several other non-tournament events in an ambitious programme. Full … Continue reading →

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Tablebase revelations

Posted on February 16, 2026 by Sean Coffey

Last weekend, Lichess announced a new partial 8-piece tablebase “Op1”, containing all positions in which at least one pair of opposing pawns face each other on the same file. The tablebase can be searched on line using the Lichess analysis … Continue reading →

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Sligo Masters 2026

Posted on February 4, 2026 by Sean Coffey

The annual Sligo Spring Tournament has expanded even further this year to a Sligo Chess and Culture Festival, comprising a five-section Weekender, a 9-round Open in which norms might be possible, a rapid and a blitz, as well as various … Continue reading →

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Williamson Shield 2026

Posted on January 28, 2026 by Sean Coffey

The latest instantiation of the long-running Williamson Shield was held in Belfast last weekend. In a departure from recent practice, one combined event was run, instead of an upper and lower section. In all, 35 players played, including four former … Continue reading →

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Irish New Year Open 2026

Posted on January 26, 2026 by Sean Coffey

The Irish New Year Festival 2026 was held at the Talbot Hotel Stillorgan from December 31 to January 4. It comprised an Open, the Irish 50+ and 65+ championships, a Norm tournament, a blitz, and the Leinster Junior Championships in … Continue reading →

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Barney O’Sullivan

Posted on January 20, 2026 by Sean Coffey

Bill Egan’s email, cited in the last post, said that the sketch shown there is the only known extant image of Barney O’Sullivan. Thankfully, this is not the case, and there are several other pictures available. One picture has very … Continue reading →

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Bill Egan, Barney O’Sullivan

Posted on January 17, 2026 by Sean Coffey

Barney O’Sullivan (1899-1978) was Irish champion in 1939 and 1946. A version of the drawing above appeared on Mark Orr’s TICA (The Irish Chess Archive) website, and is in one of the ICU pages on him. As noted in the … Continue reading →

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