[Event "Irish Championship 1968"]
[Site "Dublin IRL"]
[Date "1968.07.11"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Cassidy, Paul"]
[Black "Byrne, Ray"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteClub "Kevin Barry"]
[BlackClub "U.C.D."]
[WhiteNationality "IRL"]
[BlackNationality "IRL"]
[WhiteFideId "2500191"]
[BlackFideId "2500922"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[ECO "E38"]
[Opening "Nimzo-Indian"]
[Variation "classical, 4...c5"]
[Venue "Dixon Hall, Trinity College Dublin"]
[EventDate "1968.07.06"]
[URL "https://www.irlchess.com/irlch1968_allfiles/games_irlch1968/g56.htm"]
[LastModified "Mon Mar 30 12:32:20 2026"]

{ Event information: <a
href="https://www.irlchess.com/irlch1968_allfiles/pairings_irlch1968.html">Tournament
report</a>. } { Annotator: Paul Cassidy. }

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. d4 Bb4 4. Qc2 c5 5. e3 Nc6 6. Nf3 O-O 7. Bd3 b6 8.
a3 Bxc3+ 9. Qxc3 Bb7 10. dxc5 bxc5 11. O-O d5 12. cxd5 Qxd5 13. b3 e5 14.
Bb2 Rae8 15. Bc4 Qe4 16. Nd2 Qg6 17. f3 e4 18. f4 Rd8 19. Be2 Rd5 20. Rad1
Rfd8 21. Nc4 Nd4 22. exd4 cxd4 23. Rxd4 (23. Qb4) 23... Rxd4 24. Qb4 Rd2
25. Nxd2 Rxd2 26. Qxd2 { To my recollection, the last few moves were played
in serious time pressure for both sides. Black's 21... Nd4 looked good and
was very hard to meet in time pressure and under the tensions of a hard
fought game. 23. Qb4 won easily but the move played ( 21. Rd4 ) also gave
White a superior game. Black's double sacrifice on d2 was bases on the
hallucination that after 26. Qd2 26... e3 won the Queen by threatening mate
on g2, forgetting that Qd2 also threatened mate with Qd8. Even if White had
not the mate with Qd8 he would still have won after 26... e3 27. Bd3. } 1-0