'Evening Echo', Tuesday, 13th July, 1982

Two Corkmen In The Irish Team

TWO Cork players are included in the Irish men's squad selected last week to compete in the 25th biennial Chess Olympiad which will take place in Lucerne from October 30 to November 16, 1982. Anthony McCarthy, who made his Olympiad debut in Malta in 1980, retains his place, while Irish co-champion Philip Short, currently defending his title at the IBM Irish Championship in the City Hall, Cork, comes in for his first taste of World Team Championship competition.
The other members of the six-man squad are Dubliners David Dunne, Tony Doyle, Eugene Curtin and John Delaney. Like McCarthy - Dunne, Doyle and Curtin also played in Malta where Ireland attained its best-ever Olympiad result when finishing in joint 38th place out of 84 competing nations. Gone from that side - are former Irish champion Paul Delaney, who is taking a break from the game, and the Liverpool-based national master Alan Ludgate.

McCarthy achieved the best percentage score on the Irish team in Malta. His 5/8 total comprised four wins, two draws and two losses, and included his first-ever victory over an international master, the Portuguese player Durao. The other Irish individual scores were: Paul Delaney 5/11, David Dunne 5/10, Tony Doyle 3.5/8, Alan Ludgate 5/10 and Eugene Curtin 5/9.
Ireland's Olympiad record over the past decade or so reads: 42nd from 60 entries at Siegan in 1970; 40th from 63 entries at Skopje in 1972; 37th from 74 entries at Nice in 1974; 34th from 48 entries at Haifa in 1976; did not compete at Buenos Aires in 1978; 38th from 84 entries at Malta in 1980.
The current side contains a nice blend of youth and experience and will be hoping to continue the gradual improvement shown by their predecessors when they gather in Lucerne in October.
The 10th running of the women's Olympiad will be staged alongside the men's event in Lucerne. The Dublin-based Irish side is April Cronin, Ann Delaney, Suzanne Connolly and Gay Martin. The reserves are mother and daughter Dorren and Maura Ni Siochru.
Twenty-two-year-old David Dunne, national co-champion with Short, is also defending his title at the City Hall in a field that also includes internationals John Delaney, Colm Barry, Keith Allen and thrice national title-holder Alan Ludgate.
The overall entry is below one hundred and is slightly down on the 1980 numbers when the championship was last held in Cork. The support from local competitors has been excellent, but entries from outside the Cork area have been most disappointing.
However, the lucrative four-figure prize fund on offer for the weekend South of Ireland Open Championship should attract a large field and help swell the overall numbers to more satisfactory proportions.
The six-round 'South' Open will commence on Friday next, July 16 at 7.15 p.m. Three rounds will be played on Saturday at 9 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., with the final two rounds on Sunday beginning at 9.30 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Entries (£8) should reach the controller John Quigley, "Cluain Mhuire", Trabeg Lawn, South Douglas Road, Cork. Tel. 291903, by Thursday next. However, in the event of vacancies, late entries will be accepted up to the commencement of play on Friday night.

-JIM OLNEY

 

Just because I can - I'll give the above-mentioned game:

 

Interesting to see Joaquim Durao pop up again he has had a long and varied association with Irish chess.

 

 

Weekly puzzle:

This week's puzzle:



I like this position. As you may have noticed White threatens mate on a8 and it seems that Black can't avoid it. However, it is Black to play and win!



Solution to last puzzle:
Dolgisch - Gilesetdinov
USSR, 1978
1.Rg7! Bxg7 2.f7+ Kh8 3.Re8#

Evening Echo, Tuesday, 25 June, 1991

ULSTER won the 1991 Interprovincial Championships held recently in Kill, Co. Kildare.
The Northerners scored a narrow 5.5-4.5 win over Munster in the semi-finals and, although held to a 5-5 draw by Leinster in the decider, they were awarded the title on board count.
In their second match, Munster scored an emphatic 8.5-1.5 victory over a combined Irish Junior Chess Association/Leinster B team.
The Munster team comprised Philip Short, Mel Kennedy, Kieran Moynihan, Colm Quigley, Kevin James, Kevin O'Shea, Ken Salmon, Frank Noonan, Paul Kiely and John Mee.
Much of the credit for Ulster's victory goes to 13-year-old Derry schoolboy Adrian Gillen who held Philip Short to a draw and defeated Leinster's international Colm Barry from a level position.
Here are two Munster wins:

As always by Jim Olney.

As a footnote: 

It was great to hear from Kevin O'Shea today who gave me the following info on the above event. "Two quick asides: I arranged a mini-bus for the mostly Cork based players that day. It broke down a number of times on the way home, always outside pubs, and to this day all the players believe it was coincidence!!? Also being quite pedantic Noel Mulholland's 23rd move was 23...Be8.

Chess Puzzle

Today's puzzle:



Another position which shouldn't be too taxing!? White to play and win.

Solution to last puzzle:
Quinteros - Sunye
San Pedro 1981
1.Rxf8! (if 1...Rxf8 2.Nd6+ wins) if 1...Kxf8 2.Rd8+ Ke7 3.Qxg5+! wins) 1-0