Galway Junior Chess

Andrew Finnerty is representing Ireland at the u-12 championships in Mureck Austria .. his games can be seen live from 2pm Irish time  here

Good luck kid !!

Eight qualifiers competed for the All Iraland title of schools champions .. the winners for a 2nd year in a row are St. Mary’s, haddington Rd. in Dublin ..

This was the first year that there was a Girls only section .. the Winners were Galway champions Craughwell N.S. , with hosts St. Catherine’s in 2nd place and Clairnbridge N.S. in 3rd place. 

we’d 2 events Sat. 28th April .. with 7 games in each competition, total of 14 games in one day (that’s a record for our Saturday competitions).

From 2.00pm to 6.00pm  ..   there will be lots of fast games , players will get 5 mins each on their timers.

The entry fee is €10 per player.  For Swap-chess players can choose their partner before the event or just come along and get matched up with a playing partner on the day.

As always, players should bring a light lunch and drink.

Calendar for our last term of the chess season is up here  .. two highlights to look out for .. (1) Swap Chess competition in April and (2) the Connaught Junior Championships at the end of the term in the Aurdilaun Hotel, Taylors Hill.

Good luck also to the 6 secondary schools & 3 primary schools who will travel to Dublin to compete in the Schools All-Ireland finals !!

The Ardilaun Hotel hosted our finals this year  .. winners in the Champions section and Girls section will go forward to the All-Ireland Finals in Dublin, in May this year  ..

  Winners for the 2nd year in a row and CG’s Champions Ballinlass N.S. Dunmore, St. Pats Galway were 2nd on a blitz tie-break against Claregalway who were 3rd.

  Craughwell N.S. retained their title as Girls champions, 2nd was Briarhill and 3rd Clairnbridge after a blitz play-off.

  Bushy Park won this section and Briarhill were 2nd .. there was another blitz playoff for 3rd place, Craughwell beat Claregalway.

Thanks to the staff of the Ardilaun Hotel, there were so kid friendly !!  I think .. we’ll be back ..

Round 4  .. and on the top boards .. Conor Bidwell and Susan Aji set up a blitz play-off, which Susan won to become our 1st winner form Manorhamilton Co. Leitrim !!

There was a 7 way blitz play-off for 3rd place which was eventually won by a cool headed Ruadhan O’Dwyer in a close match with Noah Kirby, also pictured above.

The Novice section was won by Mumtahain Fatema, in second was Tymofii Koshovyi and 3rd was Liam O’Connell.

Congratulations to St. Geralds, Castlebar on their 5th straight win in the Connaught Chess Cup.  Results  .. 6 teams played (36 players) in the top section and all are qualified for the All-Ireland Finals on Sunday 15th April, in Gonzaga college, Dublin.

1. St. Geralds  “A team”   –  26.5  points
2. Dunmore  “Rookies”    –  15.0  points
3. Castlebar, St. Geralds  –  14.5 points
4. The Bish,   Galway      –    13.5 points
5. The Pres, Athenry       –    11.5 points
6. Dunmore, here’s rooking @ you   –  9 points

The players Teachers earned their tournament Controller badges today  .. Paul, Maire & Mairead taking results .. and helping with everything really, there was a massive turnout with over 100 students & it couldn’t have been done without their efficient & friendly assistance.  Special thanks also to Galway Community College for hosting the competition and to Carol for her continued support & promotion of chess at the school !    Thank you all.

18 teams competed in the Shield section, and below is the league table: