Irish Champions who played in England.

[MJMcCready]

Which of the Irish champions came to play chess in England in the 20th century. A local columnist claims we had a former Irish champion play for my club and in my league but he doesn't say who it was or when it was. Given that his knowledge of local chess pre 20th century is pretty dim to put it mildly, I assume it must be a 20th century phenomena but he has left no clues and I have never heard this claim made before by anyone else so I cannot tell which part of the century it may have been and who it was. Was it quite common former former Irish champions to come to England and play chess here? There can't be that many, surely?

[IM Jack Rudd]

Looking at the list of Irish champions, I see a lot of recent names that I recognise as having played in events over here. I don't know about those further back.

[MJMcCready]

It would have to be before the mid 70s.

[MJMcCready]

Patterson is a candidate as he lived in Cambridge near my home but that's all I know.

[MJMcCready]

Looking at the list of Irish champions, I see a lot of recent names that I recognise as having played in events over here. I don't know about those further back.

They may play in events yes but for a club and in a league pre 70s?

[IM Jack Rudd]

Britain's always had a pretty large Irish population, so it wouldn't surprise me if some Irish champions moved over here.

[MJMcCready]

It wouldn't surprise me at all, especially since my home town has a large Irish community also and has had generations of Scots and Irish come to the town. As you can probably tell, my name is Irish. So its not beyond the realm of possibility that we did indeed have an Irish champion play for our club but I know our history well and I have never heard this claim made before. I cannot even guess who it might be.

[Roger de Coverly]

So its not beyond the realm of possibility that we did indeed have an Irish champion play for our club but I know our history well and I have never heard this claim made before. I cannot even guess who it might be.

For that matter a player based in England could have eligibility by birth to play in the Irish Championship and periodically do so. The same can apply to Scottish and Welsh players for their respective bational events.

[MJMcCready]

Mr. Kenworthy told me that O'Hanlon played in England many times. Unfortunately the columnist who made this claim is no longer with us, so I can't ask him who it was.

[MJMcCready]

So its not beyond the realm of possibility that we did indeed have an Irish champion play for our club but I know our history well and I have never heard this claim made before. I cannot even guess who it might be.

For that matter a player based in England could have eligibility by birth to play in the Irish Championship and periodically do so. The same can apply to Scottish and Welsh players for their respective bational events.

Yes, well we had a Welsh champion in the 70s, Donald Curtis but Irish champion...news to me. But I'd like to know which Irish champions played in our leagues.

[SeanCoffey]

Hugh MacGrillen (Irish champion 1973) played for Mushrooms ("we had no permanent home but popped up everywhere") in the London league in 1972 at least (https://www.icu.ie/articles/54).

Did Brian Reilly (Irish champion 1959, 1960) play club chess? I have no record of him doing so.

John Moles (1966, 1971), Paul Henry (1970), and Alan Ludgate (1975 (j.), 1977 (j.), 1978) were based in England, and are possibilities, particularly Ludgate, in addition to Patterson.

When you say "we had a former Irish champion play for my club and in my league", was the player a past Irish champion while playing, or did he win later?

What is your club and league? (This may narrow it down quite a bit!)

The link listing Irish champions above seems broken. Here is another link: https://www.irlchess.com/tournaments/ir ... pionships/.

[MJMcCready]

Hi, club is Luton, league is Bedfordshire, this is all I have to go on

Screenshot 2024-05-02 111124.png

[Matt Mackenzie]

Who was the meteorologist, James Craddock possibly?

[Brian Valentine]

Must be Craddock, Britbase gives him BRITISH U18 Champion 29-31 and he was based in Dunstable, then home of the Met Office during WW2.

[MJMcCready]

Yes for sure.