Category Archives: Simuls

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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Glorney -v- König

Posted on August 11, 2019 by David McAlister

The Glorney Cup was held last month at Carrickdale Hotel and Spa, Co Louth, 71 years after the initial competition between schoolboy teams representing Ireland and England took place in Dublin on the 26th and 27th August 1948. We have … Continue reading →

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Spassky – Buckley, Kilkenny simul 1991

Posted on April 23, 2019 by Sean Coffey

The game in the last post was far from Boris Spassky’s last interaction with Irish chess. In March 1991 he visited Ireland and gave two simuls, in Dublin and Kilkenny. The Kilkenny event was part of the club’s celebration of … Continue reading →

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Hans-Joachim Hecht simuls, 1974

Posted on July 21, 2018 by Sean Coffey

Oisín McGuinness’s recent comment on the Simuls page here talks of a simul the West German grandmaster Hans-Joachim Hecht gave at Collegians C.C. (Kiely’s of Donnybrook) on April 17, 1974. A report of the event appeared in the Irish Times … Continue reading →

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Korchnoi photograph

Posted on January 2, 2014 by David McAlister

Ulster player Cathal Murphy stumbled upon this super old photograph in the 1970s Armagh Memories Facebook page and sent it to me. It was dated November 1976 but was actually taken in February 1981 at the event I had previously … Continue reading →

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Zukertort-Soffe, blindfold simul 1879

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Sean Coffey

Last week saw a welcome return of John Watson’s series of book reviews at The Week in Chess, after an extended break. And the very first book up for review is none other than Tim Harding’s Eminent Victorian Chess Players, … Continue reading →

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“Here’s one that wasn’t so good”: Alekhine-Barry, Dublin 1938

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Sean Coffey

The Simuls page has a list of the illustrious visitors to Ireland down the years: these include Steinitz, Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, Smyslov, and Topalov, all world champions at one time or other. But only one of these was the reigning … Continue reading →

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GM Michael Stean on the BBC

Posted on April 27, 2012 by David McAlister

On Monday 23rd April BBC Northern Ireland started a series of half-hour programmes entitled “Glory Days”. These are compilations of sporting events taken from the BBC NI archives and the first episode focused on the 1970s. Towards the end (about … Continue reading →

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Korchnoi and the car

Posted on February 11, 2012 by David McAlister

On a cold dark early-February night in 1981 sometime around midnight I was leaving the Drumsill House Hotel in Armagh after playing a game of chess. As I was walking through the hotel car park I saw in the distance … Continue reading →

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Ray Keene simul, Trinity 1977

Posted on December 26, 2011 by Sean Coffey

From a 1977 clipping supplied by Seán Terry: “Chess grand master Ray Keene (29) gave a demonstration last night at Trinity College, Dublin, where it had been arranged that he would play simultaneously against 50 competitors. The exhibition was organised … Continue reading →

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