A cache of fascinating photos from the 1950s turned up in 2012. John Shearan, a member of the Malahide club, had recently found out that his brother-in-law's uncle was Joe Keenan, an active member of the Leinster Chess Union in the 1950s (and still going strong in his mid-eighties). Joe had taken some pictures during the 1957 Dublin Zonal and John managed to get copies of them, plus a few other photos. Remembering the pioneering days of Irish chess on the internet, John sent them to Mark Orr (ICU webmaster in 2012) who had previously founded the Irish Chess Archive (TICA), the precursor of this website. So here they are.

One of the driving forces behind the Dublin Zonal and the series of An Tostal tournaments in the 1950's was Enda Rohan (his biography is worth reading if you haven't seen it already). In 1996 Joe Keenan had given TICA a brief but interesting story concerning Rohan and the ousting of J. J. O'Hanlon as ICU president in 1956.

Comment from J. J. Walsh: The last photo (Breen v. Keenan) may be the 1953 Irish Championship in Galway. Ken O'Riordan and Muriel Murphy, who both appear in the Portmarnock pictures, were married; both are now dead.

• Dublin Zonal 1957
• Giustolisi, Llado, Stenborg
• Fairhurst, Benko, Dunkelblum
• Catozzi, Pachman, Van Scheltinga
• Llado, Walther
• Stenborg, Schmid
• Dreyer, Alexander
• Rest day
• Benko, O'Riordan
• Benko, Murphy, Gligoric, Forde, Stenborg
• Dublin An Tostal 1956
• Group photograph
• Other
• Breen, Keenan

Dublin Zonal 1957

IM Alberto Giustolisi, ITA, left, IM Jaimie Llado, ESP, right and beyond Llado, IM Ake Stenborg, SWE

IM William Fairhurst, SCO, left, GM Pal Benko, HUN (later USA), right, and with hand on chair, IM Arthur Dunkelblum, BEL

Henry Catozzi, FRA, left, GM Ludek Pachman, CZE, right and beyond Pachman, IM T.D. Van Scheltinga, NED

IM Jaimie Llado, ESP, left, IM Edgar Walther, SUI, right

IM Ake Stenborg, SWE, left and IM Lothar Schmid, FRG

IM Kurt Dreyer, RSA, left and IM Hugh Alexander, ENG

Rest day: seated L-R: Pal Benko, Maureen Forde, Svetozar Gligoric, Ake Stenborg, Muriel Murphy; standing L-R: Mme Denise Catozzi, Alberto Giustolisi, Arthur Dunkelblum, Jaimie Llado, Henry Catozzi

Rest day at Portmarnock beach: left, Pal Benko, right, Ken O'Riordan

Rest day: L-R: Pal Benko, Muriel Murphy, Svetozar Gligoric, Maureen Forde, Ake Stenborg

An Tostal, Dublin 1956

Seated L-R: Jan Hein Donner (NED), GM Alberic O'Kelly de Galway (BEL), standing L-R: IM Harry Golombek (ENG), IM Barry Wood (ENG), IM Wolfgang Heidenfeld (RSA), Bill Dunphy (AUS), Joeseph Keenan (IRL), W. Stanton (FRG), Ken O'Riordan (IRL), J. P. Reid (IRL), Donal O'Sullivan (IRL)

Other

Liam Breen, left v. Joe Keenan from an unknown 1950's tournament