Irish Championship 1940

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Sources and notes

Sources
Web Final standings, ICU web site
Clubs Club affiliations are from the following sources:
  • Barry, Casey, French, Kerlin, Nash, Vard: Irish Press, April 4, 1940 p. 9
  • Bourke: Irish Press, July 17, 1940 p. 8
  • O'Hanlon: Evening Herald, January 3, 1940 p. 9
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  • No scorecards showing Bourke playing for Cork or any other club in the 1939-40 season are available. He is listed as a member of the U.C.C. club in June 1939 (Evening Echo, June 6, 1939 p. 4), and he played for Limerick, versus Cork, in inter-city matches on December 8, 1939 and February 10, 1940 (Limerick Leader, December 11, 1939 p. 4 and February 12, 1940 p. 4).
  • No scorecards showing Nash playing for Athlone in the season are available.
Newspapers
  • Belfast News-Letter
  • “The Irish Championship”, May 16, 1940, p. 7 (Preview, eligibility)
  • “Irish Championship”, August 5, 1940, p. 6 (Final standings)
  • “Ruy Lopez”, November 14, 1940, p. 7 (Bourke -v- Nash game with annotations)
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  • Cork Examiner
  • “Irish Chess Championship”, July 16, 1940, p. 7 (Rounds 1 and 2, last moment withdrawal by Ulster players)
  • “Irish Chess Championship”, July 17, 1940, p. 6 (Rounds 3 and 4, standings)
  • “Irish Chess Championship”, July 19, 1940, p. 7 (Rounds 6 and 7, leading standings)
  • “J.J. O'Hanlon wins Irish Championship”, July 20, 1940, p. 11 (Adjourned games results, final standings)
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  • Evening Herald
  • “The Irish Championship”, June 22, 1940 p. 6 (Preview, venue, intended number of participants)
  • “Irish Chess Title”, July 11, 1940, p. 8 (Preview, schedule)
  • “Irish Chess Title”, July 15, 1940, p. 3 (Round 1)
  • “Irish Chess Title”, July 16, 1940, p. 3 (Rounds 3 and 4)
  • “Rivals”, July 18, 1940, p. 8 (Picture of Casey and Kerlin game in play)
  • “Irish Chess Title”, July 18, 1940, p. 3 (Round 6)
  • “J.J. O'Hanlon is Irish Chess Champion”, July 19, 1940, p. 6 (Adjourned games results, final standings pending one game being completed)
  • “Recent games”, September 7, 1940, p. 6 (Opening of O'Hanlon -v- Nash game)
  • “A Dragon Var[iatio]n”, September 21, 1940, p. 6 ((Nash -v- Barry game annotated by Creevey; award for best game by non-prize winner)
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  • Irish Independent
  • “Irish Chess Title”, July 11, 1940, p. 9 (Preview, entries, schedule, rate of play)
  • “O'Hanlon After Another Irish Title”, July 16, 1940, p. 9 ((Rounds 1 and 2, last moment withdrawal by Ulster players)
  • “In Studious Mood" July 17, 1940, p. 10 (Picture of O'Hanlon playing Bourke in Round 4)
  • “Kerlin leads in Irish Test”, July 17, 1940, p. 11 (Rounds 3 and 4, leading standings)
  • “O'Hanlon Leads: Fine Achievement by Casey”, July 18, 1940, p. 8 (Adjourned games session and Round 5, standings)
  • “Irish Chess Title In Balance”, July 19, 1940, p. 9 (Rounds 6 and 7, standings)
  • “O'Hanlon Wins Title”, July 20, 1940, p. 9 (Adjourned games results, final standings)
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  • Irish Press
  • “After Irish Chess Title”, July 16, 1940, p. 9 ((Rounds 1 and 2, Ulster players unable to travel)
  • “Irish Chess Title”, July 17, 1940, p. 8 (Rounds 3 and 4, leading standings)
  • “O'Hanlon in front: Heading for His Ninth Irish Chess Title”, July 18, 1940, p. 8 (Adjourned games session and Round 5, standings)
  • “Chess Title Not Decided Yet”, July 19, 1940, p. 9 (Rounds 6 and 7, standings)
  • “J.J. O'Hanlon's Chess Title”, July 20, 1940, p. 8 (Adjourned games results, final standings)
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  • Irish Times
  • “Irish Chess Championship: The first two sessions”, July 16, 1940, p. 6 (Rounds 1 and 2)
  • “Irish Chess Championship”, July 17, 1940, p. 7 (Rounds 3 and 4, leading standings)
  • “Irish Chess Championship”, July 18, 1940, p. 6 (Adjourned games session and Round 5, leading standings)
  • “Irish Chess Championship”, July 19, 1940, p. 7 (Rounds 6 and 7, standings)
  • “A Picture taken during the finals stages of the Irish Chess Championship at Dublin Chess Club yesterday”, July 20, 1940, p. 9 (O'Hanlon, with trophy alongside him, in play against Vard)
  • “The Irish Chess Championship: Winner's Record”, July 20, 1940, p. 9 (Adjourned games results, final standings)
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  • Limerick Leader
  • “Foynes and District”, July 24, 1940 p. 4 (Bourke result)
  • —, July 27, 1940 p. 12 (Bourke result and background)
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  • Portadown Times
  • “J.J. O'Hanlon's Chess Title”, 27 July 1940, p.3 (O'Hanlon's victory, four runners-up)
Magazines
  • CHESS
  • “The Irish Championship”, volume 5, p. 243, August 1940 (Brief report on the situation after five rounds)
  • “Ireland”, volume 5, p. 268, September 1940 (Brief report, and game between O'Hanlon and Bourke, annotated by O'Hanlon and B.H. Wood)
References


Notes
Key In "Pairings & results",
  • "qual" denotes method of qualification
  • "(age)" denotes the player's age on their birthday that year, regardless of that birthday falling before, during or after the event
  • "x-ch" denotes former Irish champions
  • "ch#" denotes the number of championships the player played in, including this one
  • "ol" denotes members of the previous Olympiad team (Buenos Aires 1939 (event officially called the “Tournament of Nations”))
  •  
  • In playable games,
  • "RR" denotes editorial comment
Withdrawals The Ulster nominees were A. L. Davies and J. D. Peebles. They withdrew, probably because of wartime travel restrictions. The withdrawal seems to have occurred very shortly before the championship began, as they are listed as competitors in an Irish Independent article on July 11, 1940, four days before the event began, and the Cork Examiner, on July 16, described the withdrawals as “last moment”.
Nominations The Belfast News-Letter, on May 16, 1940, announced that the field would consist of two nominees from each province plus the defending champion “only”, i.e., nine players, but the Evening Herald, June 22, 1940, announced that the competition would be a ten-player all-play-all. Even allocating Leinster the additional place required to bring the field to ten, plus a nominee in place of the defending champion Barney O'Sullivan, Leinster should have had four players, but in fact there were six Leinster players in the field. It is possible that Connacht and Munster each nominated one Leinster player.
Adjournments The progress of results taking adjournments into account can be followed in this text file.
Débuts and final appearances For French this was his only appearance in the Irish championship. Nash also made his début in 1940 while for Kerlin and Vard it was their final appearance.
Disambiguation John Casey, ca. 1895-1968, who played in the Irish championships of 1939, 1940 and 1947 is given as "John Casey (1)" to distinguish him from John Casey, b. 1930 or 1931, who played in the 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1952 Championships.
Versions
  • v1.0 (25 June 2025): first published version
Contributors David McAlister, Seán Coffey
Author David McAlister


IRLchess: Irish chess history & records.
Version 1.0, published 25 June 2025. Comments/corrections? .
Download pgn file.