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Philip Short RIP

ComDubh

We wake this morning to the terrible news that Philip Short has passed away suddenly. Our thoughts are firstly for his family and friends. For chess players, especially Munster players, a legend has passed. RIP.

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mikhail

Sad news indeed. I didn't know him well - I only played him once or twice - but he seemed a decent sort.

Tim Harding

ComDubh wrote: »

We wake this morning to the terrible news that Philip Short has passed away suddenly. Our thoughts are firstly for his family and friends. For chess players, especially Munster players, a legend has passed. RIP.

Is this confirmed? If so, very sad news, though not entirely surprising as Philip was still smoking away at the Irish Championships when I saw him last month.

We played many times between 1977 and 2016.

Pete Morriss

This is truly appalling news. I would like to endorse ComDubh's comments, and add that Philip was also a Connaught legend, as Connaught Champion from 2013 to 2017. As recently as May he was runner-up in the Galway Rapidplay. He will be much missed in Galway, for both his chess and his personality.

anchor4208

This is such sad news. Philip was a giant in Irish chess for four decades, hugely respected by his peers, for the strength of his chess, and his combative style of play. He was a true fighter, and a gentleman at the board and off it. I never heard anyone say anything remotely negative about Philip, he was universally liked. A real tragedy for his family, friends and chess colleagues.

tedjennings

Bunratty will never be the same without his presence. Played Philip once in the Munster League, I will always remember his help in the analysis. May he rest in peace.

sodacat11

I am truly shocked by the tragic news. Philip and I always had a laugh and a pint together and he was one of my favourite people in Irish chess. I played him only a few weeks ago in the Irish Championship. Philip and his brothers Jack, Don and Stephen were a very close family, I am sure that they must be devastated. I feel very sorry for them, his wife and his children, a terrible loss.
As a chess player Philip was undoubtedly one of our greatest ever natural talents if not THE greatest. Between tournaments he didn't ever study chess or play online blitz. He didn't use chess engines and I'm not even sure that he owned a chess set or any recent chess books.He was just a natural. There will never be another like him.

Joedryan

I only learnt of this recently from my family actually who read it in the paper. Was truly shocked also, Philip was a great person kind of ever present in my chess upbringing. I remember playing him the first time in a weekender as a youngster thinking I was doing well and watching his clock tick down and down until little did I know he starting blitzing out moves with his flag hanging and destroyed me completely. I watched him do the same to countless others. He was a terrific talent.
He always had a word of advice for me too, in good times and in bad, not an essay but Philip in a couple of words could sum the state of things up. We also had the odd pint together at events to catch up. The chess was always the top thing for Philip, what was going on at the board, he loved the game and it showed in the way he played it.
RIP Philip, yes you are a legend, no doubt of that.

sodacat11

As I get older death becomes more commonplace. I have become used to the loss of grandparents,parents, uncles, aunts, friends, celebrities and sporting icons but still I find it hard to come to terms with Philip passing. When I played in Cork a couple of weeks ago I fully expected him to walk in at any moment. It just seems unimaginable that he is gone.

Joedryan

I have a million great Philip stories, but maybe best wait for a while. The point of most of them is that he didnt much care what everybody else was going on about, he was looking at the chess games.
Well one example going way back was the Cork congress in the way back old days. Some foreign player was running away with it, cant remember the details tbh, look up the old Irish chess journal. But he had not played me yet and everybody assumed then he had to play me in the last rd. But guess what no -the computer said different - he had to play some other easier game instead. Universally I have to say in the tournament we all said - what??? Bear in mind this was in the early days of computers and we didnt trust them, rightly so I think. Anyway the draw got changed so he had to play me.
Said leading player in the lead decided to go walkabout in Cork city in a huff and not turn up for more than a half hour or 3/4 hour into the game as far as I remember.
He eventually turned up, and it was an advance French, me as White, and having played the French all my life as Black I knew what I was up to. Philip was on the board next to me and keeping an eye.
Sum it all up I won the game - queue Irish chess controversy, was the draw right? whats gone on? whats happened? etc. etc.
Philip just came up to me because he had appreciated the game and said to me - "that was a hell of a game that".
To this day I think its the highest compliment I have ever received.

sodacat11

I was drawn to play him on a Saturday morning once in Kilkenny but after about 45 minutes there was no sign of him at the board so I went up to his room and knocked on the door. He eventually opened it and seemed blissfully unaware that there was a chess tournament going on but mumbled something which I took to be an agreement to come down and play. With about three minutes left on his clock he arrived bleary eyed at the board and proceeded to mash me very quickly before heading off in search of a cure.
I used to get the same kind of drubbing every time we played, whether at blitz or in classical games until about six years ago when I marched into the bar of the Metropole in Cork where he was playing blitz and announced that this was it, today was the day I was going to finally win a game against him. He took up the challenge with gusto and in front of a crowd of onlookers I finally won a blitz game against him for the first time in over thirty years. Funnily,after that my results against him in classical chess improved and I managed to draw a couple of games but I could never beat him despite having winning positions as I did in our last game a few short weeks ago.

Joedryan

Bit early I know but IMO we have to think about setting something up in his memory. A tournament or something.
I can't think of anybody more worthy, he represented all that was good about Irish chess.

sodacat11

Joedryan wrote: »

Bit early I know but IMO we have to think about setting something up in his memory. A tournament or something.
I can't think of anybody more worthy, he represented all that was good about Irish chess.

Maybe something like a perpetual trophy for the best game prize in the Irish Championship would be a fitting tribute?

Joedryan

sodacat11 wrote: »

Maybe something like a perpetual trophy for the best game prize in the Irish Championship would be a fitting tribute?

Not a bad idea for a start, given his participation in the Irish was an incredible record.