The Irish Junior Chess Championships 2008 were held in the Carlton Shearwater Hotel in Ballinasloe. They were really well organised by Irish Chess Union's Junior Chess Officer, John McKenna of the Ballinasloe Chess Club.

Under 8

The Under 8 Championship was great fun, these young players are always egger to play and this year a new record was set for the youngest competitor. Last July, a 6 year old Shane Melaugh from Donegal was the youngest player ever to represent Ireland in an International Chess match - this was covered by both Sky News and BBC.

Shane Melaugh - 6 from Donegal.

He was an experienced Chess player by comparison to his little brother, Gavin, who at just 4 years of age is definitely the youngest player ever to participate in an ICU Championship.

Gavin Melaugh - 4 from Donegal.

For results of this event, click here.

The competitors in the under 8 Championships 2008 with this years Champion, Shane Melaugh in the centre with the Shield.

Under 10

The under 10 Championships was won by local boy, Billy Mc Kenna who conceded just 1 draw, winning his other 5 games, for full results, click here. Billy fully justified his top seeding and is pictured below with the other Champions.

Under 12

The under 12 Championships was won by Ronan Magee who also conceded just 1 draw, winning his other 5 games, for full results, click here. Interestingly enough, Ronan could have played in the under 10 section but on advice from his coach, decided to try to win the "tougher" section. He was given a tough time with the destination of the title only being decided in a tough time scramble on board 2 between Andrew Ioakomedes and Oisin Murphy which ended in a draw. Had Oisin won, he would have tied with Ronan.

Under 14

This was a really hotly contested section with one clear "bookies" favourite before the start, Aravind Menon of Kilkenny but a few fancied "outsiders" could not be written off. One of those fancies outsiders actually tied for first place with Aravind and then won the tie-break to take the title, Mark Berney from Gory. For full details, click here. See below for a photo of Mark.

Under 16 and Under 19

Because of exams and other interest clashes, the entries in these two events was very low. As there were only 2 entrants in the under 19s and there was over 500 rating points between, we couldn't have a match so it was decided to amalgamate the two events. The new under 16 champion Ryan Rhys Griffiths from Kilkenny and the under 19 Champion is Dara Murphy from Galway. For full results, click here.

L to R: Billy McKenna, Ronan Magee, Mark Berney, Ryan Rhys Griffiths, Dara Murphy, champions all.

Next Year

It was announced after the event that the Irish Junior Chess Championships 2009 will be held in Kilkenny.