Category Archives: Photos

Michael Littleton

Posted on February 8, 2021 by Sean Coffey

Attribution: Fotograaf Onbekend / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons A recent thread at the English Chess Forum pointed out that a large collection of high-quality chess photographs from the Dutch National Archive has recently been made available via Wikimedia Commons. … Continue reading →

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Sir Horace Plunkett, circa 1920

Posted on June 7, 2020 by Sean Coffey

A group including Sir Horace Plunkett (front row centre), Trinity College Dublin, circa 1920. Image © UCD National University of Ireland, Dublin licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Last year, I posted on Sir Horace Plunkett, longtime … Continue reading →

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P. B. Kennedy and the Irish Championship 1949

Posted on July 23, 2019 by Sean Coffey

The Irish Championship of 1949, held in Galway, ended 70 years ago today. The event was a 7-round Swiss—the first time the Swiss system was used for an Irish Championship–with 16 players. The field included the defending champion, Dónal J. … Continue reading →

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Déiseach – Spassky, World Junior Championship 1955

Posted on April 5, 2019 by Sean Coffey

Alan McGowan, ChessScotland’s historian, has sent the photo above, for which many thanks. The third World Junior Championship was held in Antwerp, from July 21 to August 9, 1955. Ireland’s representative was Donal Déiseach of Clontarf C.C., then Armstrong Cup … Continue reading →

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Ulster Championship 2018

Posted on September 21, 2018 by Sean Coffey

This year’s Ulster championship, which ran from August 25-27 in Belfast, was a 6-round event with 12 players, and resulted in a clear-cut win for Thomas Donaldson, a full point clear of the field, for his first title. The report … Continue reading →

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Philip Short 1960-2018

Posted on September 2, 2018 by Sean Coffey

Philip Short, August 2018 I’m reeling, as is anyone remotely linked with Irish chess, at the sudden and unexpected loss of Philip Short. He was Irish champion five times—1981 (joint), 1986 (j.), 1988, 2015 (j.), and 2017 (j.)—and finished joint … Continue reading →

Posted in Irish champions, Photos, Players | 4 Comments

Ballyfermot Open 1995

Posted on February 7, 2016 by Sean Coffey

Last year we had a photo from the Ballyfermot Open 1994, taken by Ray Woodhouse. He has now sent a set of newly discovered photos from the Ballyfermot Congress in 1995. It’s in the form of an A4 sheet with … Continue reading →

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More on John Moles

Posted on January 14, 2016 by Sean Coffey

A long, detailed, and very interesting obituary of John Moles appeared in the December issue of Histos, an online academic journal co-founded by him, written by a close and long-time academic colleague who knew him over decades. I never met … Continue reading →

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John Moles 1949-2015

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Sean Coffey

I was very sorry to hear of the sudden death of John Moles, one of the most talented players Ireland has ever produced, on October 4. He was twice Irish champion and played in two Olympiads, and wrote an outstanding … Continue reading →

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Ballyfermot Open 1994, contd.

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Sean Coffey

On Ray Woodhouse’s photo of the Ballyfermot Open 1994, we’re a little further along but matters are still not entirely clear. David McAlister convincingly demonstrated that it was the 1994 event, the position on the top board identifying it as … Continue reading →

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