John O'Hanlon (23 April 1876 – 20 February 1960) was an Irish chess player.Walsh, J. (1960-02-25)
"John O'Hanlon 1876-1960"
''The Irish Chess Union''. He won the

Irish Chess Championship The Irish Chess Championship is the national Championship of Ireland, currently run by the Irish Chess Union (Irish Chess Union, ICU), the FIDE-recognised governing body for the game. Below is the list of champions. The first champion was J.A. Por ...

nine times, the first title in 1913 and the last in 1940. He competed in the

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...

three times, Paris in 1924, Warsaw in 1935 and Buenos Aires in 1939.

Early and family life

John O'Hanlon was born on 23 April 1876,

Portadown, County Armagh Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...

.National Archives: Census of Ireland 1911. Residents of a house 51 in William Street (Portadown Urban, Armagh)
The National Archives of Ireland. O'Hanlon played many sports in his youth, competing in swimming and rowing events. He won trophies as an oarsman at regattas across Ireland. O'Hanlon was also a strong long-distance swimmer. He swam the distance between Greenore and Warrenpoint many times. He owned two public houses and the Queen's Hotel in Portadown before moving to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

in 1929. His father, Felix, was born in 1829, and his mother Rosa, was born in 1851. He had a younger brother, William Joseph O’Hanlon, who was born in 1884. Felix was a spirit merchant. The O’Hanlon's were a wealthy family, they were wealthy enough to have at least one servant in their house when O'Hanlon was growing up, one of them was named Teresa. The entire family was able to read and write. O'Hanlon lived in

Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...

for all of his childhood. His wife Catherine Veronica O’Hanlon, was born in 1885, and they both lived in Portadown for some time until they moved to

. O'Hanlon worked as a wine and spirit merchant as well as a chess player.National Archives: Census of Ireland 1911. Residents of a house 63 in Church Street (Portadown Urban, Armagh)"
The National Archives of Ireland. In many news articles about O'Hanlon, his wife is only mentioned once. On 10 June 1922, O'Hanlon was one of several hundred people arrested by the government of

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, for suspicion of being a member of an unlawful association or party. His wife Catherine had to write an affidavit stating that he was arrested on the 10 June and had since been detained without any charge being brought against him. Catherine and John were married for 53 years before his death on the 20 February 1960 in Dublin. They had no children.

Chess career

O'Hanlon won the

Irish chess championship The Irish Chess Championship is the national Championship of Ireland, currently run by the Irish Chess Union (Irish Chess Union, ICU), the FIDE-recognised governing body for the game. Below is the list of champions. The first champion was J.A. Por ...

nine times, first title in 1913 at the age of 37 and the last in 1940 at the age of 64. He competed in chess all around the world, but mainly in Europe. He also played in British championships; among others, he tied for 8th-9th places at Oxford in 1910 and 7th–9th at

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon (district), Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of Engl ...

in 1925, both won by

Henry Ernest Atkins Henry Ernest Atkins (20 August 1872 – 31 January 1955) was a British chess master who is best known for his unparalleled record of winning the British Chess Championship nine times in eleven attempts. He won every year from 1905 to 1911, and a ...

. In other tournaments, he shared first place with

Max Euwe Machgielis "Max" Euwe (; May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981) was a Dutch chess player, mathematician, author, and chess administrator. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, a title he held from 1935 ...

at Broadstairs in 1921, took 8th at the

Hastings International Chess Congress The Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual chess tournament which takes place in Hastings, England, around the turn of the year. The main event is the Hastings Premier tournament, which was traditionally a 10 to 16 player round-robin t ...

in 1921/22 (

Boris Kostić Borislav Kostić (24 February 1887 – 3 November 1963) was a Serbs, Serbian chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster and a popularizer of the game. He was one of the best players in the world during the early part of the 20th century and in 1950 w ...

won), tied for 1st–3rd with

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, ; ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, Futurism and conceptual art. He is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Pica ...

and Vitaly Halberstadt at Hyères in 1928, and took 12th at a tournament in Nice 1930 (

Savielly Tartakower Savielly Tartakower (also known as ''Xavier'' or ''Ksawery'' ''Tartakower'', less often ''Tartacover'' or ''Tartakover''; 21 February 1887 – 4 February 1956) was a Polish chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster (chess), Internatio ...

won). O'Hanlon won the Tailteann Games on second and third occasions, in 1928 and 1932. He played for Ireland in unofficial and official

s in France at

Paris 1924 The 1924 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad () and officially branded as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The opening ceremony was held on 5 July, but some competitions had al ...

, Warsaw 1935 and Buenos Aires 1939. Just after the war, he won a prize at the Zaandam tournament in Holland in 1946. At the time of his passing, John O'Hanlon was preparing and practising his techniques with plans to make a comeback the following July.

Legacy

A collection of four medals won by O'Hanlon were sold at auction for one thousand euro by Fonsie Mealy auctioneers. The same lot was sold at Whytes auction for eight hundred and fifty euro. O'Hanlon was reputedly so well known in the chess world that from Moscow to Munich a disclosure of Irish Nationality would prompt the question "How is Mr. O’Hanlon?"

The O'Hanlon Cup

The O'Hanlon Cup, awarded for competitions in the fourth division of the

Leinster Chess Leagues The Leinster Leagues are amateur chess team competitions run by the Leinster Chess Union (LCU) in the province of Leinster in Ireland. The competitions include the Armstrong Cup, which is reputed to be the oldest Irish team league competition. Pl ...

, is named in his honour. In the 1960s a group of visually impaired chess players formed the ''O'Hanlon Chess Club'' in Dublin, they competed in the Leinster Leagues, winning the O'Hanlon Cup, and progressing through the leagues, until 1967 when they disbanded. The O’Hanlon cup was originally the third division but as a result of the introduction of the Heidenfield Trophy, which is now the second division, the O’Hanlon Cup became the fourth division. The trophy was used prior to the beginning of the league as a prize for a chess championship in Connacht, by the

Irish Chess Union The Irish Chess Union (ICU; ) is the governing body for chess in Ireland (the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland) since its formation in 1912. ICU is a member of FIDE since 1933 and the European Chess Union. The ICU promotes chess in Irel ...

O'Hanlon Memorial tournament

For a number of years Dublin Chess Club, for which O'Hanlon has been a member, hosted the O'Hanlon Memorial tournament."O'Hanlon Memorial"
'' Irish Chess History''. WordPress. In 1962 the O'Hanlon Memorial was held as part

Golden Jubilee celebrations. This series of five tournaments in his memory were played at the Dublin Chess Club, where he had been a member. Five tournaments were played in J.J O’Hanlon's honour. They took place at the Dublin Chess Club. The first tournament took place in 1961 and the last concluded in 1964.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohanlon, John 1876 births 1960 deaths Sportspeople from Portadown Irish chess players