Author Archives: Sean Coffey

34th Capablanca Memorial, Havana 1999

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Sean Coffey

The “Other tournaments” page gives details of tournaments held outside Ireland that involved Irish players. The first on the list was an easy choice, as Hastings 1895 ranks as one of the most famous of all tournaments. But there are … Continue reading →

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An Argentine variation

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Sean Coffey

The latest issue (#8) of The New Winawer Report has been posted (along with the games). This one considers a provocative sideline, in which Black adopts an alternative to the usual setup, via 10. … dxc3 and 11. … b6, … Continue reading →

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EU Youth Championship 2013

Posted on August 10, 2013 by Sean Coffey

Though there’s a lull in activity at a senior level in the summer, it’s the time when junior chess hits high gear. So many events are scheduled that it’s hard to keep up with them all. The Glorney Cup events … Continue reading →

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Lothar Schmid 1928-2013

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Sean Coffey

“Lothar Schmid, Chess Referee” ran his recent obituary in the New York Times, referring to his distinction of serving as arbiter in Fischer-Spassky, Karpov-Korchni 1978, and Karpov-Kasparov 1986, while the Daily Telegraph led with his extraordinary collection of chess books, … Continue reading →

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Irish championship 2013

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Sean Coffey

And they’re off … this year’s much-anticipated Irish championship has started. Already there’s a major shock in round 1 with Colm Daly (with White!) being routed by Ciarán Quinn. With the demise of the LCU Blog, it’s not clear where … Continue reading →

Posted in Irish championships, Tournaments | 11 Comments

Norms and titles

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Sean Coffey

FIDE has recently issued a requirement that all old title norms and rating qualifications have to be re-registered by this July 31st or be lost forever: apparently the rules have changed so often that it imposes a strain on the … Continue reading →

Posted in News, Players | 5 Comments

Hastings 1895

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Sean Coffey

Hastings 1895 has been described as ‘the greatest chess tournament of all time’, with ‘the strongest field of players ever assembled’, whose ‘games were exceedingly difficult and hard fought, possibly the severest test of chess mastery ever conducted’, and which … Continue reading →

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From My Six Memorable Games

Posted on June 19, 2013 by Sean Coffey

The sixth issue of The New Winawer Report has been posted: see the tnwr page. This issue considers the late Robert Byrne’s idea of 12. h3 and 13. g4. This is still a dangerous idea and it seems surprisingly under-utilised, … Continue reading →

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Breaking news from 1906

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Sean Coffey

Anticipation is building for the Irish Championship, to be held at the University of Limerick from July 6-14. It’s the centenary of the Irish championship as organised by the Irish Chess Union, and is shaping up to be an excellent … Continue reading →

Posted in News | 11 Comments

Gerry McCurdy

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Sean Coffey

In putting together a post on a different topic, I found an article indicating that Gerry McCurdy, who was a strong player in Ireland in the ’60’s, before emigrating to France, has returned to the game. There’s an article on … Continue reading →

Posted in Players | 6 Comments