An Tostal (part V)

Time to have another look at An Tostal 1955 which was held in Cork. In this article I again reproduce the reports as found in the contemporary "Evening Echo".

Round four was held Monday 16th May 1955. There was no play on Sunday!

E.N. Mulcahy Beats Dr. Bernstein In Adjourned Game.
In the fourth round of the International Master’s Tournament Count O’Kelly gave a brilliant display of combinative chess. Defending with the Sicilian against J. Reid, he won a pawn on move 12. In return Reid got strong K-side pressure. At a crucial moment, however, O’Kelly broke open the centre - and on the 26th move gave up his queen for 2 minor pieces and a fierce attack. He pushed home the attack strongly forcing Reid’s resignation on move 38.
Van Scheltinga had his first win – defeating B.H. Wood in a Nimzo-Indian defence. Wood appeared to have the better of the opening, but overreached himself on the queen’s wing and lost the exchange – resigning shortly afterwards.
In the game Mulcahy – Walsh, a king’s Indian Defence, black played a little too sharply and weakened his K-side. Mulcahy launched a strong attack, won a pawn, and then simplified into a winning ending. O’Sullivan played his favourite Reti against Bernstein, who took the initiative early on the Q-side. After the exchange of pieces O’Sullivan won a pawn, which Bernstein almost immediately recovered. The game is adjourned in an almost level position.
In his adjourned game with Dr. Bernstein, Mulcahy advanced his passed Q.R. pawn and then entered with his king on the K-side to win a piece, whereupon Bernstein resigned on the 69th move.
Present Positions – Count O’Kelly de Galway 4 points: T. Van Scheltinga 2.5 points: B.H. Wood, J. Reid and E.N. Mulcahy 2 points; Dr. Bernstein 1.5 and 1 adjourned; O’Sullivan ½ (plus 1 adj.); Walsh ½.





COUNT O’KELLY DEFEATS E.N. MULCAHY
The first game to finish in the fifth round last night was the encounter O’Kelly – Mulcahy. O’Kelly had slightly the better of the opening a King’s Indian. Mulcahy forced the exchange of queens on move 21, but O’Kelly’s pressure still continued, forcing a passed pawn on the sixth rank. In a lost position Mulcahy exceeded the time limit and resigned.
Van Scheltinga – Reid was another King’s Indian. White’s careful positional play won him a pawn on move 25. He simplified in a won ending. Reid shortened matters by blundering away a rook in time pressure.
Walsh again opened very sharply against O’Sullivan’s Sicilian. In a tense middle-game O’Sullivan got good counter chances against Walsh’s king but blundered and lost a piece and shortly resigned.
Dr. Bernstein met Wood’s Sicilian in a unusual manner. After careful manoeuvring he won a pawn on the 33rd move: queens were exchanged a few moves later. The game is now adjourned in a rook and pawn ending.
Adjourned games – D.J. O’Sullivan draw with Dr. O. Bernstein in a bishop and knight ending.
Present positions: O’Kelly de Galway 5 points, T. Van Scheltinga 3.5; Wood, Reid, Mulcahy and Bernstein 2; Walsh 1.5; O’Sullivan 1.

Thanks for looking, till next time! If anyone has any information on any of the players mentioned or of the event itself please leave a comment.

Ireland's greatest composer?

Robert Pye must have the distinction of being Ireland’s most prolific study composer. Though sadly I have little information on the man, my research has shown that he has composed at least 19 studies. Some may be familiar with his series on “STUDIES” in the ICJ in 1991. In one article Robert stated that “A composed study is thus an attempt to express a particular idea in the most economical way”. For your enjoyment I present below seven of his studies.





After playing through the above selection you have to agree that based on his own criteria Robert has certainly achieved his aim. The mind boggles at the effort required to compose these studies.

If anyone has more information on Robert Pye please contact me.

From the dean of Irish Chess

For all those who are unaware of J.J. Walsh's other talents here is a cartoon from "Fiacla Fichille" Vol.2 Issue No.16 December 1984.

An Tostal (part IV)

My thanks to David McAlister who sent me the following witty story:

Your mention of van Scheltinga and Euwe in Ficheall reminded me that I was sent a story told by Euwe about an incident van Scheltinga became involved in at Cork 1955.

It is from Caissas Weltreich (Euwe, Spaak, 1956), p.100:

"Irland hat inzwischen auch begonnen, Turniere zu organisieren, und zu den Teilnehmern von Cork 1955 gehörte der niederländische (internationale) Meister Theo van Scheltinga, der eines Abends am Eingang seines Hotels erschien und diesen Eingang verschlossen fand. Van Scheltinga schellte und schellte, hatte aber keinen Erfolg, obwohl die Schelle einen Heidenlärm machte. In dem Hotel schien niemand mehr am Leben zu sein, um so mehr aber ausserhalb, denn halb Cork strömte alarmiert herbei um zu sehen, was da los war, und selbstverständlich rückte auch die Polizei an. Dreiviertel Stunden lang hatte van Scheltinga seinen breiten Daumen auf die Klingel gedrückt. Dann erinnerte er sich der Handwerkschule, in der er zum Zimmermann ausgebildet worden war. Mit ein paar sanften Griffen löste er das Fenster aus den Fugen und arbeitete sich unter den Bravorufen der Polizisten ins Haus. Man darf dies ohne weiteres einen "forcierten Gewinnweg" nennen."

Here's my schoolboy German translation:

Ireland has now also begun to organize tournaments, and the participants of Cork 1955 included the Dutch (international) master Theo van Scheltinga, who appeared one evening at the entrance of his hotel, and this entrance was locked. Van Scheltinga rang and rang, but without success, although the bell made a racket. In the hotel, no one seemed to be alive, not so outside where half of Cork rushed alarmed to see what was going on, and naturally the police appeared. For three-quarters of an hour van Scheltinga had his broad thumb pressed to the bell. Then he remembered the trade school where he had been trained as a carpenter. With a few soft taps he loosened the window out of its joint and worked his way into the house among the cheers of the police. One may readily call this a "forced winning manoeuvre”.

An Tostal (part III)

Round three
On Saturday night in the Little Theatre Hall, C.Y.M.S. the third round of the Tostal International Masters Tournament was played. O’Kelly was the first to finish with a very incisive win against B.H. Wood, leaving himself in the lead with full points. Wood handled the Dutch defence a little too sharply, and O’Kelly, by a carefully calculated combination gained a decisive material advantage early on.
J. Reid continued to show excellent form in defeating E.N. Mulcahy in a vigorous Ruy Lopez attack. Mulcahy played the opening inaccurately, allowing Reid to build up some king-side pressure. A blunder lost him a vital pawn, and a second allowed a mate in two bringing the game to a sudden finish on move 26.
J.J. Walsh defended carefully against Dr. Bernstein’s Ruy Lopez. He got a probably decisive advantage in the end-game, but after overlooking a winning line his game went rapidly downhill. The game was adjourned, but Walsh resigned without resuming.
The game van Scheltinga – O’Sullivan also brought surprises. Van Scheltinga obtained a clear advantage against O’Sullivan’s King’s Indian Defence. Careless play allowed O’Sullivan to recover and get strong counterplay. The game is now adjourned in a Q and pawn endgame with level material.
Adjourned games-J.J. Walsh defended carefully in his adjourned game against van Scheltinga, and eventually forced the draw. Mulcahy in his adjourned game against Dr. Bernstein forced off the heavy pieces and won a pawn. The game is again adjourned (resumption 12.30 to-day).
Present leading positions – Count O’Kelly de Galway 3 points; J. Reid and B.H. Wood 2 points.



I present below J.J. Walsh's memories of An Tostal 1955 taken from his booklet "From My Games 1949-83."



Well that's another installment done. Bear with me, I'm getting there.

An Tostal (part II)

Here is the second installment on my look back at Cork's first international chess tournament. It's a difficult decision whether to edit contemporary reports of events or not. There's not much point unless you can add something to the original, in this installment I cannot. In future to distinguish my input (which will be little) I will place it in italics.

Just a piece of little known, maybe useless, information - Theo Van Scheltinga was Max Euwe's second during the 1948 World Championship tournament.

Round one Thursday 12th May
One of the finest games in the masters section was that between J. Reid (Munster and former Irish champion) and D.J. O’Sullivan. Reid handled the Sicilian with great skill, sacrificed a pawn on the 11th move and developed an attack on Black’s uncastled king. Threatened with unavoidable mate, Black resigned on the 32nd move.
Another ex Irish champion E.N. Mulcahy played a King’s Indian, lost two pawns to a neat combination by the English player, B.H. Wood and promptly resigned.
Count O’Kelly de Galway defeated J.J. Walsh (Leinster) in a King’s Indian defence.
Adjourned – T. Van Scheltinga (Holland) v. Dr. Bernstein (France) – in a rook and pawn ending where van Scheltinga has a slight initiative.

Round two Friday 13 May
Last year’s winner Count O’Kelly gave an impressive display of positional chess in defeating D.J. O’Sullivan (Leinster) in 31 moves of a Reti opening when the Tostal chess tournament was continued at Cork last night.
After an early exchange of queens O’Kelly launched a Q-side attack and gained a pawn on move 27. O’Sullivan blundered in a lost position and resigned on move 32.
B.H. Wood (England) had his second win defeating J. Reid (Munster) in a Bird’s opening. In a strong Q-side attack he won a pawn on move 25, forcing his opponents resignation on move 33.
Dr. Bernstein defended with the Slav Defence against E.N. Mulcahy, Queens were exchanged on move 16 and Bernstein by advancing in the centre obtained a passed pawn. Mulcahy counter-attacked on move 34 to liquidate the centre. The game is adjourned in an apparently even position.
Also adjourned is the game J.J. Walsh-van Scheltinga – van Scheltinga have the slight advantage of the two bishops in a minor piece ending.
Present scores – O’Kelly and Wood 2 points, Reid 1 point, van Scheltinga and Bernstein ½, O’Sullivan, Mulcahy, Walsh 0.





That's all for today folks!

A look back at Irish chess history!

This is the first installment of a series of articles on Cork's first international chess tournament. This is a work in progress as I am still researching so I begin with a brief introduction.


An Tostal 1955 Chess Congress was the first International tournament held in Cork. It was run as part of An Tostal celebrations which were inaugurated in 1953. The original purpose of An Tostal festival was a celebration of Irish culture, with the dual purpose of drawing tourists into the country during the Easter off-season. It was marked by a series of regional parades, arts and sporting events. Many towns began a clean-up plan thus began the National Tidy Town Awards.
Chess Competitions were held as part of An Tostal by the Irish Chess Union from 1954 to 1957. The 1957 event was one of the greatest Chess events ever held in Ireland and more will be written on that subject at a later date.

The 1955 event was organized by Enda Rohan and controlled by J.B. Olden. It was run from Thursday 12th May through to Thursday 19th May. Play was held in the C.Y.M.S. Little Theatre, Castle Street, Cork. Play began at 6.30 p.m each day with any adjournment played the following day at 2.30 p.m.

The international players included Dr. Osip Bernstein of France (The "Grand Old Man" of Chess). Mr T. D. van Scheltinga (Holland), Count O'Kelly de Galway (Belgium), and Mr. B.H. Wood (England). The Irish contingent comprised of Noel Mulcahy, John Reid, J.J. Walsh and D. O'Sullivan.

The international players were received by the Lord Mayor (Ald. P. McGrath TD) at the City Hall on Thursday 12th May. Also present were Miss H. Chater (Belfast) the Irish Ladies Champion, Noel Mulcahy Cork former Irish Champion, John Reid, Munster, J.N. Olden Tournament Controller. T. Cullen, C.Y.M.S. and W.J. O'Connell.
Three other events were run in conjunction with the International tournament. These were the Tostal Open, the Reserves, and the Munster Schoolboys Championship.

There ends the first installment, plenty of more ahead! I hope it has inspired interest.