Skerries Chess Club were honoured to host a 20 board simultaneous display by Irish Chess Champion IM David Fitzsimons on Tue 3 June 2025.

Pictured above from left to right are Paul Ryan, Anthony Carey who was last to finish (he said he was rated around 1400 but was clearly lying :-) ), Mark Allidine, Rory Clarke, Leo Latorre who recently rejoined Skerries, David Fitzsimons standing, John Loughran who blundered a pawn on move 10, Tom Fitzpatrick who was the last U18 to finish, Pat Fitzsimons (David's dad) who was second last to finish, David Craig, a new member this year, and, with his back to us Naman Kasture, I think.

Players

1942 Gabriel Landmark
1843 John Loughran
1775 Pat Fitzsimons
1740 Paul Ryan
1697 Mark Allidine
1601 Rory Clarke
1543 Cameron Curran
1523 David Craig
1503 Edward Donlon
1489 Anthony Carey
1481 Daniel Afanasiev Elioutin
1424 Leo Latorre
1403 Michael Afanasiev Elioutin
869 James Sweetman
Lorenzo Petrone
Tom Jackson
Matthew Houlihan
Thomas Murray
Alessia Ventre
Naman Kasture

12 of those who played were from Skerries Chess Club and 8 were visitors from other clubs, with play starting at 7.20pm and finishing at 9.40pm. At 9.10pm there were 3 players remaining and David was unbeaten on a score of 17/20.

Gabriel Landmark from Curragh Chess Club then won his game, with a pawn about to queen tying down David's knight. Shortly after, David won his game against Pat Fitzsimons from Elm Mount Chess Club in a R + P vs B + P ending. This left Anthony Carey from Raharney Chess Club the last player remaining. Anthony played a very impressive game with two rooks against David's queen but David won after a long struggle, finishing on a fantastic score of 19/20.

Congratulations to Gabriel and many thanks to David for an excellent display.

The event was a great success and thoroughly enjoyed by all involved.