2010-03-12

Development Plan

At the Irish Chess Union AGM last year, there was a call for a Development Plan for Irish chess. For myself (writes John Delaney) I would say that we do need a development plan. Chess is worthwhile not just to us, but also to wider society. If we had a development plan, what should we be aiming to achieve?

So, if you have any ideas on what our objectives might be – or any other thoughts - perhaps you can me? I will post a summary back to the site of all responses I get.

2010-03-07

Irish Junior Interprovincials

John McKenna reports on the Irish Junior Inter-Provinical Chess Championships, held recently in St Benildus School, Stillorgan.

2010-03-02

Cork Chess Congress

Cork Chess Congress 2010 is 26-28 March. Details and entry form via www.corkchess.com. A new feature ahead of event will be GMs Dejan Bojkov and Bogdan Lalic giving a simul and lecture on Wed/Thu for those in Cork earlier in the week. If this is of interest, please email straight away to . Places will be limited.

2010-03-01

Irish Championships 2010

Details of this year's Irish Championships, including Open, Intermediate, Junior and Weekender, and which is from 3-11 of July, have been announced.

2010-02-28

QUB Rapid 2010

The annual one day Queen's University Belfast Rapid takes place on Saturday 20th March. With registration starting at noon and the event ending at 7pm it's perfectly timed for a trip up and down in just one day. A £1,000 prize fund; the unique university chess atmosphere; a highly favourable exchange rate and the main Union bar just down the corridor mean there's plenty of incentives to make the journey.

2010-02-27

Dublin Junior chess club

It is a good time to think about establishing new junior chess clubs and these are badly needed around Dublin, writes ICU Vice Chairman John Delaney.

With this in mind, I will speak at the last round of the Leinster leagues asking all players to think seriously about getting involved with junior chess either as a leader of a junior club or as a volunteer to help teach chess at the junior club.

Send me an email at for a note on "Dublin Junior chess club" which will interest anyone involved in junior chess, or anyone thinking about becoming more involved.

2010-02-26

National Club Championships 2010

This year's National Club Championships will be held in the Greenisle Hotel Naas Road, Dublin on Saturday 8th (1:00pm start) and Sunday 9th May. The deadline for entering a team is Friday May 2nd. All team members will need to be named on the entry by the deadline. To enter, please contact . For the full list of NCC rules click here. Please note that there is a fee of €60 per team which can be paid online by PayPal or credit card.

2010-02-25

Leinster Chess Championships 2010

The Leinster Chess Championships are taking place over the weekend of 16-18 April 2010 in the Academy Hotel, Findlater Place, Dublin 1 (just off O' Connell Street at the side of the Gresham Hotel). The Masters Section will be FIDE rated. Entries to at 0879615227. More details.

2010-02-24

Bunratty 2010 results

The 2010 Bunratty Chess Festival was hosted by a new hotel, The Bunratty Castle Hotel and resulted in a win for Ireland's resident GM, Alex Baburin. Full report here.

2010-02-24

Bray Novice and East Coart U18 Champs

Two tournaments are coming up on Sunday 7th March in Bray: Bray Novices and East Coast U18 Championships.