Page 119 - Gonzaga at 60
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GONZAGA AT SIXTY: A WORK IN PROGRESS
tournament. This strong team spirit was not the result of a short, inspiraional pep talk, but the
result of over a decade of commitment on Gerry’s part, to culivaing a friendly atmosphere in
which each of our own individual chess talents might lourish.
Some years ago, Colm Daly stated that Gerry Murphy had done more for Irish chess than
perhaps anyone else and I cannot but agree. Much of my own success as a chess player comes
from those formaive years in Gonzaga, playing blitz on big stodgy old White Russian clocks for
endless hours, then traipsing across the length and breadth of Dublin city to diferent schools to
play for junior and senior teams and inally to Marlwood.
It is worth noing however that chess was only one of Gerry’s many passions. Indeed, Gerry
Murphy is also a disinguished and acclaimed composer of classical music, whose works are
available on CD and are performed regularly at home and abroad. I suspect that Gerry’s irst
love was music and that he discovered the magic of chess later. Now looking back, I wonder
how on earth, he found ime for chess at all, considering that he and his late wife Patricia had
a large family of four sons, and that he was steadily composing a range of works encompassing
orchestral works and concertoes for Uileann pipes and piano. I remember calling into Gerry and
Patricia’s home on several occasions ater I let school, where I discovered that while Patricia
didn’t play chess (like Gerry she was a musician and music teacher), she really thought it was a
worthwhile acivity and gave her husband her full support in his involvement in chess. It was most
probably thanks to Patricia that Gerry never missed an important match, when following tough
encounters and unexpected defeats, fractured egos might need to be reassured and restored.
The later, Gerry had an uncanny ability of doing switly and with great humour, something
which made unpleasant losses much easier to bear, especially for players staring out. Gerry
also made sure that any signiicant chess successes were recognised within the school and I Below left: Gerry Murphy
with another cup, another
recall many assemblies where teams and individuals that had won compeiions or medals team. Below right: David
were brought out on stage in front of all the pupils, so that those achievements would get the Murray assesses a game
GONZAGA AT SIXTY: A WORK IN PROGRESS
tournament. This strong team spirit was not the result of a short, inspiraional pep talk, but the
result of over a decade of commitment on Gerry’s part, to culivaing a friendly atmosphere in
which each of our own individual chess talents might lourish.
Some years ago, Colm Daly stated that Gerry Murphy had done more for Irish chess than
perhaps anyone else and I cannot but agree. Much of my own success as a chess player comes
from those formaive years in Gonzaga, playing blitz on big stodgy old White Russian clocks for
endless hours, then traipsing across the length and breadth of Dublin city to diferent schools to
play for junior and senior teams and inally to Marlwood.
It is worth noing however that chess was only one of Gerry’s many passions. Indeed, Gerry
Murphy is also a disinguished and acclaimed composer of classical music, whose works are
available on CD and are performed regularly at home and abroad. I suspect that Gerry’s irst
love was music and that he discovered the magic of chess later. Now looking back, I wonder
how on earth, he found ime for chess at all, considering that he and his late wife Patricia had
a large family of four sons, and that he was steadily composing a range of works encompassing
orchestral works and concertoes for Uileann pipes and piano. I remember calling into Gerry and
Patricia’s home on several occasions ater I let school, where I discovered that while Patricia
didn’t play chess (like Gerry she was a musician and music teacher), she really thought it was a
worthwhile acivity and gave her husband her full support in his involvement in chess. It was most
probably thanks to Patricia that Gerry never missed an important match, when following tough
encounters and unexpected defeats, fractured egos might need to be reassured and restored.
The later, Gerry had an uncanny ability of doing switly and with great humour, something
which made unpleasant losses much easier to bear, especially for players staring out. Gerry
also made sure that any signiicant chess successes were recognised within the school and I Below left: Gerry Murphy
with another cup, another
recall many assemblies where teams and individuals that had won compeiions or medals team. Below right: David
were brought out on stage in front of all the pupils, so that those achievements would get the Murray assesses a game
