| Irish Championship 1962 |
[ Information | Pairings & results | Crosstable | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | Openings | Annotations | Sources ]
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| Web | Final standings, ICU web site |
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| Notes | |
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| Key | In "Pairings & results",
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| Tie-break | The tie-break for this tournament was Sonneborn-Berger, which had been used to split three ties in the 1950's, and was probably the tie-break method since 1949. Initially, it was thought that Reid had won narrowly. Only after he had been awarded the trophy and was on his way back to Athlone was it discovered that Reid and Littleton had tied. Initially it was thought that they would have to play a playoff match, and reports mention both 4- and 6-game matches as possibilities. Two months after the event, it was reported that there would be no playoff match and that the players would instead share the title. This was the first shared Irish title. |
| Eligibility | 18 places were allocated, for which the four provincial unions had two nominees each and the University League one. The defending champion and the winner of the previous year's Premier event were each entitled to places, and the remaining places were to be filled by the ICU. |
| Zonal 1963 | The Irish champion was to be Ireland's nominee for the Western European Zonal in 1963. When it was decided that the title would be shared, the decision was made that Reid would be the nominee for the Zonal, and that Littleton would play in the O'Hanlon Memorial / ICU Jubilee event. In the end, Reid was replaced by Wolfgang Heidenfeld for the Enschede Zonal in October 1963. |
| Definition of Sonneborn-Berger | Sonneborn-Berger is usually defined as the sum of the scores of opponents the player has defeated, plus half the sum of the scores of opponents who drew with the player. A document The Swiss System (as used in the Irish Championship), typed by Alfred Long, undated but probably from the mid-1960's (via David McAlister, for which many thanks) gives an additional criterion (Rule 6(b)): “Should two or more players still tie, they shall be credited with the total scores of the players who defeated them added to one-half of the total scores of players with whom they drew and a player who gets a higher figure shall again be considered to be above him with a lower figure.” It is not known whether this (very unusual) version of Sonneborn-Berger was in place in 1962: though the document probably dates from the mid-1960s, there is no indication that these were new rules. No contemporary sources refer to Littleton and Reid tying under this additional criterion (as they did). On the other hand, MacGrillen is listed ahead of Kerr in the BCM report; they tied under regular Sonneborn-Berger, but MacGrillen had a higher “6(b)” score. The “6(b)” score equals the Buchholz score minus the regular Sonneborn-Berger score, so the expanded definition gives the same result as ordinary Sonneborn-Berger followed by Buchholz. |
| Alternative tie-breaks | Littleton and Reid each had the same number of games and scores within that number against opponents of each score. Thus, they would also have tied under Median Buchholz, Buchholz, Buchholz Cut-1, and any other variant in that family. On progressive / cumulative, Littleton would have edged Reid, 24½ to 24, but Montwill (26½) was ahead of both. O'Leary was in the joint lead with Littleton and Reid heading into the last round, and would have been sole champion if he had managed to win his last round game against Reilly. If he had drawn, he would have taken Reilly's place in the four-way tie for first, but would have lost on tie-break (Littleton 24½, Reid 24, Montwill 22¾, O'Leary 22½), despite having the best Median Buchholz, and joint best Buchholz with Littleton. Eugene O'Hare's report in BCM commented that O'Leary had missed a win against Reid in round 7, “a slip which may well have cost him the title”. Once again, though, changing that result to a win and keeping all other results unchanged would have resulted in a loss on tie-break (Littleton 24¼, Montwill 22¾, O'Leary 22¼, Reilly 20¼). Both Reilly and O'Leary were handicapped in all Sonneborn-Berger calculations by having been paired against Long. |
| Lower places | It is not clear if tie-break applied to lower places, or just the title. The order given in the BCM report is consistent with all lower places being decided by Sonneborn-Berger, and that is the way the places are shown here. (The Sonneborn-Berger scores for players outside the tie for first place are not shown.) Kerr and MacGrillen had the same Sonneborn-Berger scores (though MacGrillen had a higher score under the extended definition of Sonneborn-Berger; see above). |
| Clubs | Club affiliations are from the following sources:
No sources are known showing Reid as playing for Adare or Quinton playing for Sligo in the 1961-62 season, but both were long associated with the respective clubs. Quinton retired to Kinsale, Co. Cork in 1959, but remained a member of Sligo C.C. and returned to Sligo on his wife's death in February 1962. |
| Openings | J. J. Walsh (August 18, 1962) provided a summary of openings used:
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| Débuts and final appearances | Finlay, Hughes, Keogh, Kerr, Long, MacGrillen, and Quinton made their Irish championship débuts. Of these, Hughes, Kerr, Long, and Quinton never played again, and amongst the non-débutants, Montwill never played again. |
| Records | Herbert Quinton, b. London, 1876, turned 86 during the year, and seems to have been the oldest person ever to play in an Irish championship. |
| Errata | The BCM report and the ICU tournament page give “L. Fenlay” for Larry Finlay and “M. Heegles” for Maurice Hughes. |
| Versions |
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| Contributors | Seán Coffey, David McAlister |
| Author | Seán Coffey |
| IRLchess: Irish chess history & records. |
| Version 1.1, published 29 March 2023. Comments/corrections? . |
| Download pgn file. |