Author Archives: Sean Coffey

‘A Famous Old Line’

Posted on October 19, 2013 by Sean Coffey

This month marks 60 years since the tournament at Venice 1953, and the game Paoli-Schmid, in a then-critical variation of the Winawer. Schmid uncorked a startling innovation, forcing White to sacrifice an exchange, reaching the diagrammed position. Black, to move, … Continue reading →

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Francis Burden

Posted on October 12, 2013 by Sean Coffey

From a player profile on David McAlister’s Ulster Chess History website, citing the Weekly Northern Whig, 11 June 1914: An Eminent Belfast Chess Player Among the foremost British chess players of the sixties was Francis Burden, who was born in … Continue reading →

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Who?

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Sean Coffey

No Irish player has ever beaten a reigning world champion. (In a regular game, that is, leaving aside simuls.) Even victories over future or past world champions have been very rare: half a dozen or so in all. One such … Continue reading →

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Jackson-Bourached, City of Dublin Masters 2013

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Sean Coffey

Another interesting game from this year’s City of Dublin was the round 3 clash between Carl Jackson and Anthony Bourached. [Click to replay.] Black had a simply overwhelming position throughout and it seemed only a question of choosing which way … Continue reading →

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City of Dublin championships 2013

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Sean Coffey

The City of Dublin is an event that, while formerly a major draw, has struggled a bit in recent years. But this year’s version had an excellent turnout: 160+ over four sections, well up on last year. The turnout of … Continue reading →

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Monthly update, September 2013

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Sean Coffey

A total of 52 games have been added to the archive this month: the full monthly list is available, as usual, by entering “-month2013-09” in the search box. This month sees the return to the game of another veteran, Brian … Continue reading →

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Kendall-Patterson, British U21 championship1967

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Sean Coffey

“BritBase is back!“, announces John Saunders on his blog. He clarifies that it never went away: rather he hadn’t been updating it for a couple of years, but now has restarted doing so. Among the first few new items on … Continue reading →

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Winawer Praxis

Posted on September 21, 2013 by Sean Coffey

This month’s issue of The New Winawer Report, now posted on the tnwr page, considers two games from the past few months, each featuring lines covered in previous issues. The first, Rimkus-Rekhtman, WS/M/428 ICCF corr 2013, is in a sacrificial … Continue reading →

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Williams-Collins, Cork Masters 2013

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Sean Coffey

The Quality Chess blog has a post today (“Bored to Death?”) covering Simon Williams’ win against Sam Collins at the Cork Masters this year. The starting point for the post is the diagrammed position, rather a simple-looking one, with Sam, … Continue reading →

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August

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Sean Coffey

Two posts back I said that we were in a lull at the senior level. It seems I spoke too soon, as this month several enterprising players have had a busy tournament schedule outside Ireland. 79 games are available, including: … Continue reading →

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