Category Archives: Analysis

Two small miracles

Posted on September 17, 2025 by David McAlister

Philidor Cup, Hyères 1928 A total of 45 games were played in the tournament but unfortunately we have so far succeeded in finding only one brilliant game from the 2nd round, when M. Duchamp crushed the last player E.H. Smith. … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Games, Players, Tournaments | Leave a comment

De Búrca or Cranston again, and other Warsaw reverberations

Posted on August 30, 2025 by David McAlister

“At the time I was 22 years old and easily the youngest member of the Irish team. Cranston, Creevey and O’Hanlon were already veterans of the chess-board; so that Ireland’s team had the doubtful distinction of being the oldest, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Games, Players, Tournaments | Leave a comment

Koltanowski Simuls and Match -v- O’Hanlon 1937

Posted on August 14, 2025 by David McAlister

On the 21st January 1937, after playing in the famous Hastings Christmas Congress and then an international tournament in Birmingham, George Koltanowski embarked on a lengthy exhibition tour of Britain and Ireland, but when he arrived in Dublin, it seemed … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Players | 1 Comment

O’Hanlon at Cambridge 1932

Posted on August 5, 2025 by David McAlister

Throughout his career, J.J. O’Hanlon would send a selection of his game scores to the editors of Irish chess columns, frequently with his own annotations appended. Here we present the result of one such offering, as described by T.P. Donnegan … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Games, Players, Tournaments | Leave a comment

Burning the Midnight Oil

Posted on September 24, 2021 by Sean Coffey

David’s post on the Irish Pawn Centre brought to mind the game Kavalek – Fischer, Sousse Interzonal 1967, which at one time defined the main line of the Sicilian Najdorf Poisoned Pawn. Kavalek – Fischer, Sousse Interzonal 1967 Position after … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Games | Leave a comment

The Irish Pawn Centre

Posted on September 11, 2021 by David McAlister

English Grandmaster Tony Miles identified “a revolutionary new concept” – the Irish pawn centre (or IPC) – in his report on the 1978 FIDE West European Zonal in Amsterdam. That report appeared in the Number One issue of the short-lived … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Games | Leave a comment

Littleton – Donner, The Hague 1966

Posted on February 10, 2021 by Sean Coffey

I remarked in the last post that Michael Littleton was lost out of the opening in his game against Donner in the Zonal tournament at the Hague in 1966. A closer look shows that while this is true, it is … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Games | Leave a comment

Canton-Steen, Dublin 1955

Posted on July 27, 2019 by David McAlister

“Congratulations to young Clontarf Club player B. Canton for the … brilliant and imaginative win against J.B. Steen (Ulster) in the recent Inter-Provincial match in Dublin. It is seldom one gets, much less expects, such a high standard of play … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Games, Interprovincials | Leave a comment

Storming the Fortress

Posted on November 14, 2018 by Sean Coffey

Note: this post has nothing to do with Irish chess, and is thus off-topic for this blog. But I keep seeing references to the ending below, and there doesn’t seem to be any other convenient forum for my comments on … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis | 1 Comment