Category Archives: Irish champions

Heidenfeld and the 1958 Irish Championship

Posted on June 14, 2013 by David McAlister

There’s one simple way for an Irish chess website to increase its traffic: start a debate on the eligibility to play in the Irish Championship, more specifically should it be an open or closed tournament (and if it’s a closed … Continue reading →

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Cox centenary: Challenge match with O’Hanlon

Posted on December 28, 2012 by David McAlister

In our earlier Thomas Cox centenary article Play-off for the Dublin CC Championship 1936, I chronicled how J.J. O’Hanlon had suffered a surprise defeat to Cox. O’Hanlon was the reigning Irish champion and he perhaps felt the need to restore … Continue reading →

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Alexander Baburin

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Sean Coffey

The recent discussion around Alex Lopez’s near-miss of a GM norm at the Istanbul Olympiad reminded me that the biography pages here were missing a page for Ireland’s first (and still only) GM, Alexander Baburin. He earned the title a … Continue reading →

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Thomas Cox centenary

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Sean Coffey

Thomas Cox, Irish champion in 1937 and 1938, and Leinster champion in 1936, ’37 and ’38, had what must be the most meteoric rise ever in Irish chess: he took up the game in 1933, at the age of 21, … Continue reading →

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Colm Daly

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Sean Coffey

We’ve had no new player profiles here for a while, so an update is overdue. Since the Oscars were this weekend, the next profile up is Irish chess’s premier film-maker (among many other achievements, not least 4 Irish championships) Colm … Continue reading →

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Did Diskin resign in a winning position?

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Sean Coffey

The last post gave P. A. Duignan’s brilliancy prize win against P. Diskin in the 1949 Irish championship in Galway. But there’s a flaw! David McAlister spotted that Diskin may have been winning in the final position. White’s last move … Continue reading →

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Duignan-Diskin, Irish championship, Galway 1949 (brilliancy prize)

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Sean Coffey

Returning to J. J. Walsh’s unpublished manuscript of selected Irish games, 1896-1967, the next on the list is another win by P. A. (Paddy) Duignan, this time against P. Diskin in the 1949 Irish championship in Galway, winning the tournament … Continue reading →

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Irish correspondence champions

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Sean Coffey

Following up on the last two posts (blogging being a stream-of-consciousness matter), two of the unlucky almost-winners of the Irish championship had the consolation of winning the Irish correspondence championship. W. J. Allen was chess editor of the Belfast News-Letter … Continue reading →

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J.J. Walsh unpublished manuscript: selected Irish games 1896-1967

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Sean Coffey

At IRLchess we’re interested in all aspects of Irish chess history and records, but above all in games. The ICU games archive has good coverage, of course, but there are many other published games that are not included there. And … Continue reading →

Posted in Games, Irish champions, Leinster championships, Players | 2 Comments