The Kibitzer 
by Tim Harding

Who was the strongest Irish player of all time?

This is not a simple question and I am unsure if I know the answer. Like
most such tricky questions, definitions and criteria have to be settled
first before we can identify some candidates.

The problem is not a general one; it is (almost) specific to Irishness. If
the question was, who was the strongest Indian player then until about
10 years ago everybody would have said "Mir Sultan Khan" and for the
last few years the answer to that question has been "Vishy Anand". End
of argument.

Name several other countries and the answer would be almost as simple
Estonia? Paul Keres. Latvia? Mikhail Tal. USA? Bobby Fischer.

In most countries, at least the debate would quickly be narrowed down
to two or three grandmasters, with the debate centering on the greats of
the past and present. Sweden - Stoltz or Stahlberg or Ulf Andersson;
Holland - Max Euwe or Jan Timman?

In some countries, the question might arise whether to count immigrants.
Was Najdorf the greatest Argentinian player or a candidate for the
greatest Polish player? (Or both?) If Nimzowitsch isn't a candidate (up
against Bent Larsen) for Greatest Dane, then where does he fit? (He
came from Riga but he wasn't an ethnic Latvian.)

Is Alekhine a candidate for the greatest Russian or the greatest
Frenchman?

My (possibly controversial) answer is that such questions are to be
settled in favour of the land of birth and/or parents' nationality, not
where people ended up. So in seeking the greatest Irish player of all
time, I first exclude those of non-Irish descent who later settled in and
represented Ireland. So that is grandmaster Alexander Baburin (five
years resident in Ireland now) and the late Wolfgang Heidenfeld
(German-born) out of the way.

On the other hand, I would tend to consider favourably those of Irish
descent for consideration, even if they never set foot on Erin's isle. Just
as if you were asked to name the greatest ever Jewish chessmaster, you
would not feel you had to restrict yourself to those who lived in and
represented the state of Israel. Like the Jews, the Irish have spread over
much of the globe. Unfortunately, whereas picking the greatest Jewish
player (an impossible task!) means choosing between world champions,
the search for the greatest Irish player is perhaps doomed to
disappointment.

Certainly I shall make no distinction between Ireland North and South
since in chess (unlike soccer) the whole island has always, since
becoming founder member of FIDE, had one chess team and
organisation.

There are in fact some 19th century Irish players whose claims should
not be ignored. Let's take them first. Foremost among these are the two
masters called M(a)cDonnell and James Mason (not the actor). In fact
there is one other whose claim to be Irish (if he ever made it) would
have some validity - none other than Paul Morphy! His family name is a
corruption (in Spain) of the familiar Irish surname Murphy, so this great
American player undoubtedly had some Irish blood which can be traced
back to the "wild geese"   Irish noblemen who fled to other Catholic
countries. Morphy's ancestors went to Spain and then a later generation
came to Louisiana. However, I don't think we can accept Morphy as
Irish - the argument would be over before it began!

Alexander McDonnell (1798-1835) was the son of a Belfast doctor and
the strongest player from either Britain or Ireland before the rise of
Staunton. In contemporary publications his name was sometimes printed
as M'Donnell and he is not to be confused with the Dublin-born Rev
G.A. MacDonnell (1830-1899) who had some good results in the 1860s
and 1870s and lived until 1899.

So far as one can compare such things, Alexander McDonnell was
probably the better natural player of the two, had they been of the same
generation and played head to head, but of course G.A. MacDonnell had
the benefit of being able to learn from the writings of Staunton and from
playing opponents like Steinitz.

Alexander McDonnell is best known for being the loser of the first
known Evans Gambit game (to Capt. William Evans himself) and for his
marathon series of matches against the French champion Labourdonnais
in 1834. 

From this match, I always enjoy the following finish (from their 62nd
game) although the Irishman was on the wrong side of itsee Diagram,
Black (Labourdonnais) to play.

White: Kh1, Qc3, Rd1, Rf1; pawns - a2; b2, d7, g2, h2;
Black: Kh8, Qe1, Bd8, Rg8; pawns - a5, d2, e3, f2, g7, h7

Now Black finished by 36...Qxd1! 37 Rxd1 e2 You don't often see three
connected passed pawns on the seventh rank! White resigned. 0-1.

The Frenchman won the epic series overall but the Irish player put up an
excellent fight in many games. Unfortunately McDonnell died the next
year of Bright's Disease, else he could well have lived to compete in the
first great London tournament of 1851, which might have shown how
good a player he really was. Here is one of his best efforts against
Labourdonnais, the 44th game of the series (in the third of their
matches).

McDonnell - De La Bourdonnais, London 1834

1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Nf3 g5 4 Bc4 Bg7 5 d4 d6 6 c3 h6 7 Na3 Nc6 8 Bd2
Qe7 9 0-0 Bd7 10 b4 0-0-0 11 Bd3 g4 12 Ne1 f3 13 gxf3 Nf6 Better
13...Nxb4 14 cxb4 Bxd4+ 15 Kh1 Bxa1 16 Qxa1 with an unclear
position. 14 b5 Nb8 15 Nac2 Rdg8 16 Kh1 h5 17 Ne3! gxf3 18 Qxf3
Bg4 19 Qf4 Nbd7 20 Nf5 Qe6 21 Nf3 Bxf3+ 22 Qxf3 Ng4 23 a4 Bh6 24
Bxh6 Nxh6 25 a5 (See Diagram)

25...Nxf5? In this opposite side castling position, White has adopted the
right plan getting his pawn roller (stalled for a while after move 14)
moving forward again. Instead of trying to simplify, Black had to try
25...Kb8. 26 exf5 Qb3 27 a6 d5 Here we see the consequence of the
mistake at move 25. After 27...b6 28 Qb7+ Kd8 the pawn that Black
diverted can advance to participate in a mating net29 f6+-. 28 c4! Nf6 29
axb7+ Kb8 30 c5 Ng4 31 b6! axb6 Or if 31...cxb6 32 Qg3+ Kxb7 33
Rxa7+ Kxa7 34 Qc7+ Ka8 35 Ra1+ and White wins. 32 c6 1-0.

James Mason (1849-1909) is still celebrated annually in the ancient Irish
town of Kilkenny where he was born. An excellent weekend tournament
is now held there each November, sponsored by Iona Technologies.
Mason emigrated to the USA early in his life before coming to England
in 1878. He played many important tournaments of the 1880s and 1890s
and like G.A. MacDonnell was a writer on the game. Mason was third
behind Steinitz and Winawer in Vienna 1882, 2nd equal at Hamburg
1885 and seventh in New York 1889.

Moving to the first half of the 20th century, it seems doubtful if there
were any Irish players of sufficient strength to be considered as
candidates for our accolade   certainly none living in Ireland. One often
comes across the games of O'Hanlon but only in the capacity of the
loser of instructive games, e.g. to Yates (British Championship 1921, in
an early Marshall Attack game) and to Colle.

Ireland's first appearance at a Chess Olympiad was in 1935 at Warsaw;
since Folkestone 1933 would have been much more convenient for
travel, I can only suppose that they could not raise a team. O'Hanlon
was board three and top board was conducted by Brian Reilly, many
years later to become editor of British Chess Magazine. His was a
grueling debut with 5.5/19 but he did win four games. One of them was
against a real titan of the chessboard.

Brian Reilly-Reuben Fine Warsaw olympiad, 1935 1 d4 e6 2 Nf3 f5 3
g3 Nf6 4 Bg2 Be7 5 c4 d6 6 Nc3 0-0 7 0-0 Qe8 8 Qc2 Nbd7 9 e4 Nh5 If
9...fxe4 10 Ng5!. 10 exf5 exf5 11 Re1 Ndf6 12 Ng5 c6 13 d5 c5 14 Bd2
Ng4 15 Nb5 Qd8 16 Ne6 Bxe6 17 Rxe6 a6 18 Rae1 Rf7 19 Nc3 Ne5 20
Nd1 f4 21 Be4 g6 22 Bc3 Ng7? The American grandmaster should have
played 22...Nd7 23 b3 Qf8. 23 Bxe5 dxe5 24 Nc3! Rf8 25 Rd1 fxg3 26
hxg3 Nxe6? 27 dxe6 Qe8 28 Rd7 Bf6 29 Bd5 Kh8 30 Ne4 Bg7 31 Nd6
Qb8 32 e7 Re8 33 Nf7+ Kg8 34 Nxe5+ Kh8 35 Nf7+ Kg8 36 Nd6+ Kh8
37 Qe4 Bd4 38 Kg2 Bf6 39 Qe6 Bxe7 40 Qe5+ 1-0 At this period, Fine
was a rapidly-improving master who (in three more years) was to share
first prize with Keres at the 1938 AVRO tournament that was supposed
to decide the next challenger for the world championship.

Reilly represented Ireland in several post-war olympiads but never
matched this glorious moment. Irish teams were, as always, composed
of amateurs whose only chance to compete under proper match
conditions against genuine masters came in the olympiads (once every
two years) and World Championship zonals (every three years). There
have been a few more victories against grandmasters as when the (still
very active) Eamonn Keogh scored the following win.

Keogh-Gideon Stahlberg Tel Aviv Olympiad, 1964 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3
d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 d6 6 Be2 Be7 7 0-0 a6 8 Be3 Qc7 9 a4 Nc6
10 Nb3 b6 11 f4 Bb7 12 Bf3 0-0 13 Qd2 Rab8 14 Qf2 Ba8 15 Rfd1 Nb4
16 Rd2 Nd7 17 a5 b5 18 Rad1 Rfd8 19 Bg4 Nc6 20 f5 b4 21 Na4 e5 22
Nb6 Nf6 23 Bf3 Re8 24 g4 h6 25 h4 Qd8 26 Nc4 Nd4 27 Nxd4 exd4 28
Rxd4 Nh7 29 Nxd6 Bxh4 30 Qh2 Bg5 31 Bf2 Bf6 32 Nxe8 Qxe8 33
R4d3 Rc8 34 Bd4 Bd8 35 Qe5 Qxe5 36 Bxe5 Bxa5 37 c3 Ng5 38 cxb4
Nxf3+ 39 Rxf3 Bxe4 40 Rc3 Bb6+ 41 Kf1 Re8 42 Bc7 Bxc7 43 Rxc7 h5
44 Rdd7 Rf8 45 Rd4 Re8 46 Rdd7 Rf8 47 Re7 Bd3+ 48 Kf2 hxg4 49
Rc5 Rb8 50 Kg3 Rxb4 51 Rc8+ Kh7 52 Rxf7 Kh6 53 Rc6+ Kh5 54 Rc5
Kh6 55 Rd7 Bb1 56 Rd6+ Kh5 57 f6+ g5 58 f7 Rb3+ 59 Rc3 Rb8 1-0

More impressive as a game was the following four years later in which
Michael Littleton   another regular member of Irish teams in the 1960s
and 1970s   defeated Canada's top grandmaster of the day.

Littleton-Abe Yanofsky Lugano Olympiad, 1968 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 g6 5 Nc3 Bg7 6 Be3 Nf6 7 Bc4 0-0 8 Bb3 Qa5 9 0-0 d6
10 h3 Bd7 11 f4 Rac8 12 Qf3 Nh5? 13 Nde2! Nf6 14 g4 Kh8 15 Rad1
Be6 16 g5 Nh5 17 Bxe6 fxe6 18 Qg4 e5 19 f5 Nd4 (See Diagram)

20 Nxd4 exd4 21 Rxd4! Qb6 22 f6! exf6 23 Nd5 Qc5 24 Rd2 Qc4 25 b3
Qc6 26 gxf6 Nxf6 27 Rxf6! Rxf6 28 Ne7 Qa6 29 Qxc8+ Rf8 30 Qc4
Qxa2 31 Rf2 Qa1+ 32 Kg2 Re8 33 Qe6 Rd8 34 Rf4 Qe1 35 Bf2 Qe2 36
Nxg6+! hxg6 37 Rh4+ Qh5 38 Rxh5+ gxh5 39 Qg6 Rg8 40 Qxh5+
Bh6+ 41 Kf1 Kh7 1-0 Since those days a few Irish players have
achieved the International Master title but as yet no native Irishman has
become a grandmaster. Undoubtedly part of the problem has been the
geographical situation of Ireland. Amateur or semi-professional players
in continental Europe, or even England, have relatively short journeys to
make to compete against foreign masters and have title opportunities. 

The other part of the problem is cultural and economic; the only solution
will be if FIDE can succeed in getting chess established as an olympic
sport. Without that, State funds and sponsorship are almost impossible to
get for the game as only physical sports qualify for official support.
Ireland has produced many promising players in recent decades, almost
all of whom have dropped out of the game in their twenties, usually after
leaving university when they got jobs, became married or emigrated in
search of work.

There are, nevertheless, hopes that Ireland will before too long produce a
grandmaster. For example, Brian Kelly, who won a board prize in his
early teens at the Moscow olympics, is now an IM and has the potential
to develop into a very fine player. 

However, to return to our original question...

There is no doubt which player with an Irish name has the finest record.
Count Alberic O'Kelly de Galway (another descendant of the "wild
geese") was a grandmaster of both FIDE and ICCF and won the 3rd
Correspondence World Championship. Unfortunately, despite his
surname, he came from Belgium and not Galway although occasionally
he did visit Ireland.

If we are not allowed to count him or Morphy as the greatest Irish
player, I think the winner must be another master who was undoubtedly
Irish by birth and descent, although he lived most of his life in England
and represented that country rather than his native land.

I mean, of course, Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander (1909-74), an IM of
both FIDE and ICCF, who was undoubtedly strong enough to have
become a grandmaster had he played professionally. As it was he met
most of the leading players of the 1930s to 1950s and beat quite a few of
them, including Botvinnik and Bronstein.

Alexander was born in Cork, where his father was a professor at
University College, but was transplanted to Birmingham in his youth.
Maybe if Irish chess had been better organised, he would (like Reilly)
have been willing to play for Ireland, but unfortunately the opportunity
was lost.

Here is his most famous victory, from the 1946 radio match Britain v
USSR. Alexander-Botvinnik USSR-Great Britain Radio Match, 1946

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e5 c5 5 a3 Bxc3+ 6 bxc3 Ne7 7 Qg4 cxd4?!
Of course 7...Qc7 is now the main line of the French Poisoned Pawn,
and very unclear it remains! However Black has a different post in mind
for the lady. 8 Qxg7 Rg8 9 Qxh7 Qa5 After this game, Black's last move
was more or less abandoned, maybe without a fair hearing. 

10 Rb1 Qxc3+ 11 Bd2 Qc7 11...Qxa3 would misplace the queen after 12
Nf3 Nbc6 13 Bd3 and if 13...Rxg2? 14 Ke2 when White has great piece
coordination. 12 f4 Nbc6 13 Nf3 Bd7 14 Ng5 Rxg5 15 fxg5 0-0-0 16
Qxf7 Qxe5+ 17 Kd1 Nf5 18 g6 Ne3+ 19 Kc1 Qe4 20 Bd3 Qxg2 21 Re1
Ne5? The losing move. Maybe White only has enough for a draw after
21...Nc4. 22 Qf4 Now White had a clear advantage against his eminent
opponent. 22...Nf3 23 Re2 Qh3 24 Bxe3 e5 The central pawn mass
apparently gives compensation for the exchange but Black has too many
weaknesses. 25 Qf7 dxe3 26 g7 Qg4 Black has to watch the queening
square as well as worry about d5 and b7.  (See Diagram)

27 h3! Qg1+ 28 Kb2 Qg3 29 Bg6! Nd4 30 g8Q Rxg8 30...Nxe2 allows
White to keep the second queen by 31 Qgh7. 31 Qxg8+ Kc7 32 Qh7
Kd6 33 Bd3 e4 Botvinnik is playing for swindles now. 34 Qh6+ Kc7 35
Rxe3 Qe5 36 Ka2 Nf5 37 Qg5 Be6 38 Be2 d4+ 39 Reb3 b6 40 Qd2 d3
41 Bg4 1-0