J.J, O'Hanlon

    John J. O'Hanlon was born in Portadown, a town in Northern Ireland and he passed away in Dublin on February 20, 1960. He was the Irish Chess Championship nine times, the first time in 1913 and the last in 1940. He also played in several British championships. 

    In international play O'Hanlon’s successes included sharing 1st with Max Euwe at Broadstairs in 1921 and tying for 1st–3rd with Marcel Duchamp and Vitaly Halberstadt at Hyeres in 1928. He also played for Ireland in unofficial and official Olympiads at Paris 1924, Warsaw 1935 and Buenos Aires 1939. 

    Poor health which had prevented his taking part in tournament play for a number of years, but at the time of his death he was overhauling his opening repertoire in preparation for the 1961 Irish championship. After his death a series of five tournaments in his memory were played at the Dublin Chess Club from 1960 to 1965 where he had been a member. 

    O'Hanlon was popular with Irish players and non-players alike as well as players in places like Hastings, Amsterdam, Moscow, Prague and Munich because of his gentlemanly manners. In his youth he was an oarsman who won trophies at regattas all over Ireland. In addition, he was a strong long distance swimmer. 

    The Irish Chess Union was founded in 1912 and O'Hanlon won the first two. He played in every championship, except in 1927, from 1913 to 1956 and on his last appearance he was eighty years old. 

    The First Irish Chess Union Championship was held in 1913 even though there had been a competition for the title during the period 1865 to 1893 when a number of different organizations had organized Irish Championships. 

    As a result of his play in England he had contact with the German master (who was a resident in England for many years) George Shories and towards the end of 1912 they played a series of 19 friendly games while Shories was on a visit to Ireland. O’Hanlon won 7, drew 1 and lost 11. It was those games that sharpened O'Hanlon's play and prepared him for his attempt to win the Irish championship in 1913. 

    In the following game O'Hanlon's opponent gets mauled. They were to play is a 5 game match to determine the Irish champion, but after O’Hanlon won the first three the match was concluded. 

    Ronald George Doxpn Addey (1882-1956) was a civil engineer employed by the local government in the northwest of Ireland. He was a notable player and around the time of World War One his name regularly appeared in tournaments. 

    "Mr. Dixon Addey belongs to Castlebar and is undoubtedly the best chess player in the West of Ireland. He has competed four times in the British Chess Federation tournaments. The first time was in 1909, when he entered the first class, but, not being accustomed to tourney play, he did not make as good a score as his play deserved. In 1910 he competed in the first class at Oxford, making a better score. In 1912 he played in the first class at Richmond and tied for third prize. Last year he competed at Chester in the major open tournament, and tied for fourth place." (Belfast Newsletter, May 6, 1912) 

[Event "Match, Iroah Champ"] [Site "?"] [Date "1915.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "John J. O'Hamlon"] [Black "R.G.D. Addey"] [Result "*"] [ECO "D07"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17"] [PlyCount "53"] [SourceVersionDate "2024.11.11"] {D07: Queen's Gambit: Chigorin Defense} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 {This is the unorthodox Chigotin Defense that's better than its reputation becuuse it develops with a direct effect on the center.} 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. cxd5 Bxf3 5. gxf3 Qxd5 6. e3 Nf6 {This plausible developing move is not so good for reasons that soon become apparent.} (6... e6 7. Nc3 Qd7 8. f4 Nge7 9. Bd2 Nf5 10. Qa4 Be7 11. O-O-O {White has the more active position. Smyslov,V (2575)-Castro Rojas,O (2425) Sao Paulo 1978} O-O {1-0 (21)}) (6... O-O-O 7. Nc3 Qh5 8. f4 Qxd1+ 9. Kxd1 e6 10. Bd2 Nf6 {White's position is preferable. Koustav,C (2429)-Biolek,R (2446) Olomouc 2019}) 7. Nc3 Qd8 8. d5 Ne5 9. f4 Ned7 10. Qb3 {Now it’s pretty clear what was wrong with black’s 6th move: white has complete control of the center and black has lost a lot of time with his N’s. Also, he is facing difficulty castling. There is also the problem of how to defend his b-Pawn..which does not seem to have a solution.} Nc5 11. Qb5+ Nfd7 12. b4 c6 13. Qe2 (13. dxc6 {is also quite playable, but whute has more ambitious plans.} bxc6 14. Qxc6 Rc8 15. Qg2 Ne6 16. Bb2 {White has what should amount to a winning position.}) 13... Na6 {The N is out of play and the b-Pawn is its feeble defender.} 14. dxc6 Rc8 15. cxd7+ Qxd7 16. Qb2 Nxb4 {Retreating to c7 would not have helped his position.} 17. Qxb4 a6 18. Qb3 Qc6 19. Qa4 b5 { Of course black is reluctant to trade Q’s in this situation, but even this move meets a clever refutation!} 20. Nxb5 $1 {[%mdl 512]} Kd8 (20... axb5 21. Bxb5) 21. Bd2 axb5 {Black's position is most miserable!} 22. Ba5+ Rc7 23. Bxc7+ Kxc7 24. Qa7+ Kc8 25. Bh3+ e6 26. O-O Bc5 27. Rac1 {Black resigned...several moves too late.} *