IRLchess

The Irish championship ran from August 4-12 in Dublin. Congratulations are due to the organisers for an outstanding event, which must rank as the strongest ever. The turnout of 36 players has only rarely been exceeded (fifth on the all-time list, I think), including 8 former champions and 12 titled players.

The in-form Alex Lopez won in a canter, finishing with 8/9, 1½ points ahead of the field. He was never in any trouble throughout the event, and for good measure he followed up with 9/9 in the blitz. He has now played in three Irish championships (2010, 2017, and 2018) and has been champion or joint champion in all of them.

In addition David Murray recorded his first IM norm. That’s the second consecutive year in which the Irish championship has produced a norm, and another testament to the work of the organisers. (And to David Murray, of course.)

It will take some time to compile a full report. In the meantime, here is one fragment. In round 8, the only Ulster player Stephen Rush (White) grabbed a pawn against Eamon Keogh, and was faced with the following position at move 23:

Rush – Keogh, Irish championship 2018
White to play

Play continued 23. Re1? Rd6 24. Kg2 Qe4+ 25. f3 Rxf3! 26. exf3 Qxf3+ 27. Kg1 Qxg3+ 28. Qg2 Nf3+ 29. Kf1 Nh2+ and the players agreed a draw, due to the perpetual.

Actually, 24… Qe4+? threw away a win. After 24… Rh6! White is defenceless, since the presumably-intended 25. Rh1 loses to the same theme after 25… Qe4+.

So from the diagram White needs to cover the square e4, as well as e2. He thus had to play 23. Nc3!, when he is still in the game: engines then give White a small edge.

A report on the Irish championship 1975 has been added to the tournament archive pages here. In a field of 30 players, Eamon Keogh and Alan Ludgate tied for first and shared the title; this was the first time either of them was Irish champion.

This was until recently one of the most mysterious Irish championships: final totals were available, but very few round results were known. Possibly due to the large field, press reports gave only a sample of the leading results. Fortunately Alan Ludgate kept excellent records, which he has very kindly provided, with all of his games and almost all round results.

Opening choices reflected the era: Keene & Botterill’s The Modern Defence from the Batsford series was enormously influential: of the 11 games we have available, 1… g6 appeared in six.

The Indian player Sai Prakash, a student at T.C.D., started well, with 2/2 and later 3/4, but lost his last four games. After round 6 (out of 8), the teenagers Paul Delaney and Paul Wallace were tied for first. Both lost in round 7, to Keogh and Ludgate respectively. These shared the lead heading into the final round, where both had Black.

In the final round Keogh drew quickly with the defending champion Tony Doyle. Alan Ludgate was therefore assured of clear first if he won against Paul Delaney. The Irish Times reported that “Ludgate gained a winning position against Delaney and appeared certain to win the title outright, but he mishandled the attack in time pressure and allowed the alert Delaney to escape with a draw”. This is where it is very helpful to have the game score—previously not available—as this description is inaccurate in several respects.

The diagram shows what was perhaps the most critical moment. Ludgate, as Black, is to play. How would you continue? There are several continuations that seem promising, but all except one lead to no advantage.

[Click to reply the full game.]