2013-06-19

A Bit of History

Two new articles about the history of Irish chess have been published on the ICU Ratings site:

• The History of ICU Ratings
• Irish National Master Title

Note also David McAlister's recent article The Early Days of ICU Ratings.

2013-06-18

Free coaching is to be given during the Irish Championships

On Friday the 5th of July; FIDE Senior Trainer and Fide Master Kevin O’Connell (whose experience includes coaching the Women's team at the 1998 Olympiad in Elista) will offer free coaching to all female chess players. The training starts at 16:45. During the Irish Championships, Jonathan O'Connor (ICU Chairman and CC-IM) has kindly offered to look over individual's games; further details will be announced during the Irish Championships.

2013-06-17

Galway Rapid

The FIDE-rated Galway Rapidplay is coming up on Saturday 29nd June.

2013-06-15

Selections for EUYCC Mureck 2013

The Selection Committee have chosen representatives for the EU Youth Chess Championships in Mureck, Austria. Please note: the ICU do not financially support this event, and all costs must be borne by the participants. Details of the tournament may be found here.

2013-06-13

Bray Rapidplay

The 19th Bray Open Rapidplay is coming up on Saturday 22nd June.

2013-06-12

Centenary of the Irish Championships

Any player rated above 2240 entered to play in the Irish Championships (in the June FIDE rating list) are being offered a €100 cash incentive to play in the centenary Irish Championships taking place in Limerick from July 6th - 14th.

Additionally to mark the centenary; all previous winners of the Irish Championships are invited to play in the event free of charge (please email to enter).

The deadline to register for the Irish Championships is the 28th of June. The late fee deadline has been extended until the 28th of June.

After this date a late fee will be applied to the AM/PM and Weekender tournaments and you will not be allowed to register to play in the Irish Championships.

2013-06-07

Players playing in the Irish Chess Championships

The names and ratings of the players entered for the Irish Chess Championships can be found under the relevant sections on the ULchess.com website or on one of the links in the list below (which also gives the number of entrants so far, the average rating and the minimum prize pool).

• Irish Chess Championship, 17, 2113, €3000
• Women's Chess Championship, 0, 0, €150
• AM tournament, 10, 1544, €400
• PM tournament, 11, 1566, €400
• Weekender Open, 54, 1458, €400
• Weekender Intermediate, 13, 1630, €400
• Weekender Juniors, 12, 996, €400

If you have entered and you aren't listed on the website, please contact immediately!

2013-06-07

Deadline for Reregistration of Old Norms and Titles

This is the final reminder (following January and March) for people to reregister old norms and certain types of titles obtained prior to July 2005. This must be done through the ICU (not direct to FIDE) and the contact person is , the ICU's FIDE delegate. The deadline is 30th June 2013 after which unregistered norms and titles will be deemed to have expired. Please read FIDE's announcement carefully if you're unsure whether this applies to you.

2013-06-06

Late fee deadline for the Irish Chess Championships

Just a reminder to everyone that a late fee of €10 will be applied to entry into every tournament from Saturday the 8th of June onwards. You can pay for the Irish Chess Championships via PayPal on the ulchess.com website. Alternatively contact if you can't pay with PayPal.

2013-06-04

Irish Women's Championship

Takes place the first weekend of the Irish Championships (5-7 July) in Limerick. More details.