Category Archives: Players

Paddy Kennedy correspondence game

Posted on January 26, 2021 by David McAlister

We have previously posted about Patrick Brendan Kennedy’s victory in the 1949 Irish Championship. As that article pointed out, all seven of his games from that event are in the ICU database, but beyond those very few others appear to … Continue reading →

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Irish championship players, updated

Posted on July 27, 2020 by Sean Coffey

The lists of Irish championship players have been updated to include the 2019 championship: see the full list in descending order of number of championships played, and the same in alphabetical order. All players from the first Irish championship in … Continue reading →

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Horace Curzon Plunkett and the Oxford-Cambridge matches

Posted on June 15, 2020 by Sean Coffey

Horace Curzon Plunkett played for Oxford University in four Oxford v. Cambridge ‘Varsity’ matches, in the years 1874 to 1877. The very first such match had been held in 1873, at the invitation and venue of the City of London … Continue reading →

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Horace Plunkett and the Parliamentary Cable Match, 1897

Posted on June 11, 2020 by Sean Coffey

In 1897, the British House of Commons played a challenge match by cable against the U.S. House of Representatives. The top two boards on the House of Commons side were filled by players from Irish constituencies: the then Hon. Horace … 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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Maeve Binchy and the intricacies of chess

Posted on December 30, 2019 by David McAlister

In the Comments in the Simuls page Oisin McGuinness referred to an article on chess by the celebrated writer Maeve Binchy which had appeared in the Irish Times. He thought it might have been in connection with a Hecht simul … Continue reading →

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Title norms

Posted on September 11, 2019 by Sean Coffey

A new page has been added here on FIDE title norms achieved by Irish players (and by non-Irish players in events played in Ireland). The page also lists progress of Irish players towards titles. Many thanks to John McMorrow, who … Continue reading →

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Sir Horace Plunkett on Capablanca

Posted on September 5, 2019 by Sean Coffey

Sir Horace Plunkett kept detailed diaries over decades; they have been transcribed and are available online at the National Library of Ireland website. His diary for 1919 provides some background on Capablanca’s visit, and his stay at Plunkett’s house. The … Continue reading →

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Capablanca on Irish chess

Posted on September 3, 2019 by Sean Coffey

Capablanca scored +27 =12 -1 and +37 =2 -1 in his two Dublin simuls, on December 4 and December 5, 1919, respectively. Shortly afterwards, he recorded his impressions of Irish chess, in a letter to the Irish Statesman: ‘Señor Capablanca … Continue reading →

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Sir Horace Plunkett, P.C.

Posted on September 1, 2019 by Sean Coffey

The “Privy Council” is in the headlines all of a sudden; though the link from this to Irish chess is a very slight one, it leads to a very interesting character in Irish chess, and indeed in Irish history. Sir … Continue reading →

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