Galway Junior Chess

Well done to all the players who participated in this months Junior chess tournament.  There were 2 sections with a number of players trying out their first chess competition.The “Rooks” section was won , once again , by Andrejs Kozlovs on a perfect 5 out of 5 points.  Closely followed by Denis Ruscho in 2nd place and in 3rd place with yet another strong tournament was George Fearnhead.  In the “Knights” section we had a new trio of winners.  In first place was Tom Kelly on an unbeatable score of 6/6 points.  One point behind was Aoife Ryan in second place.   Matthew Hennessy and Harry O’Grealy both finished on 4.5 points. Matthew won 3rd place in a keenly contested play-off game against Harry.

The next event we’ll have at the Bridge club will be on Saturday 29th March, it will be a  fun  “Swap Chess”  event with players in teams of 2.  More details nearer the time ..

The  finals of the Galway “Chess”  Community Games  usually held in  the Shearwater Hotel in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway.It will be held well after Easter this year ..   But now would be a good to select a team /panel and get some extra practice in  :o)

This year the Irish Junior championships are being played in Connaught .. Ballinasloe , Co. Galway ..  for details click here !   This is a great competition and stepping stone for players who wish to play on Irish teams.    Organised by   Mr. John McKenna   of the Irish Chess Union.

Above are the winners of the advanced or “The Rooks”  section of our Saturday tournament .. In 1st place was again Andrejs Koslovs with a perfect score of 9 / 9 .. 2nd was Denis Ruscho .. and in 3rd place was Krystian Gabzdyl.  Well done boys !In our “Young Knights” section the winners all come from the same school, Briarhill n.s.   Well done to  .. in 1st place  Katelin McMahon ,  2nd  Sinead King  and 3rd place Lauren McMahon .

Our next One-dayer will most likely be on Saturday 1st of March.

2014  Chess Tournament :

Saturday   January 25th ,   1pm – 5pm.

The  Connaught  Schools  Cup : 

 Entries are invited for the 1st Connaught Schools Cup (emails to brendan@chessossity.com), closing date for entries is Friday 24th January 2014.   Schools will then compete to become County Champions, and ultimately Connaught Champions ! 

The Galway Education Centre is hosting a  Evening workshops to support teachers (primary and secondary schools) who wish to start their own school chess club and a school chess team  ..  register by email to brendan@chessossity.com 

Junior chess club  ..  returns on Wednesday 15th at the Tennis club ..
 Community Games   ..   selection of under 12′s and under 16′s teams will take place in January and February .. Galway finals are usually held in March ..

Primary Schools / chessZ   ..   January is the month for primary schools to enter these fantastic All Ireland Competitions ..

New    ..  this will be the 1st year of the ” Connaught Schools Cup ”  which will give teenage players opportunity to represent their schools .

On Saturday 7th December, the interprovincial u-16 chess tournament took place in Dublin .. congratulations to leinster who actually won in style .. but .. we’ll be back for more next year !

Our last club evening of the year is this week on Wednesday 11th Dec. and we’ll be back again on Wed. 15th Jan. 2014.  Happy holidays !!

In Loughrea Una O’Boyle will be giving a chess demonstration (in Irish) to help get a junior chess up and running in the community .. that’s Saturday 14th.

Finally, for anyone that want’s a tough competition why not travel up to Dublin for the Leinster Junior Championship ..

.. and a very Merry New Year to all.

Congratulations to Andrejs Koslovs our champion for November, with 100% score of 7 wins, the other prize winners were brothers George (2nd place) and John (3rd place) Fearnhead.

Thanks to Mr. Donagh Kennedy for the chocolates which went down really well.