 |
 |
Editor: Dr Tim Harding |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Editor: Dr Tim Harding |
|
|
|
|
|
|
© Dr Tim Harding
Last modified:
11 August 2026
The 2026 Irish Championships (which started on August 1st) ended yesterday, Sunday 9th August, at the Talbot Hotel in Stillorgan, Dublin. The main event was finally won by 21-year-old FM Adam Collins in dramatic fashion after five playoff games against 40-year-old Brazil-based FM Stephen Jessel.
This was the second year in succession that a rapid and blitz tiebreak match has been required to decide the title after the main tournament ended in a tie. We believe that this was the first time ever that an Armageddon game was required to decide the Irish Championship. Previously the players had traded wins in two rapid and then two regular blitz games.
Collins thus earns an automatic place on the Irish team for the 2028 FIDE Olympiad (since the 2026 team is already selected). It is another disappointment for Jessel who already has his IM norms but still needs to raise his rating to 2400. In 2014 Jessel was runner-up to Sam Collins (no relation of the new champion) with a very high score that in normal years would have won the title.
The tournament proper ended in a tie on 7/9 between Jessel and Collins after they drew their last round game. On the second board, 15-year-old FM Anuar Tureshbayev (who had been the leader through the early rounds) and 17-year-old Oliver Barnes also drew their last round game and finished in an impressive tie for third/fourth on 6.5.
The stage had been set by a dramatic round 8 on Saturday in which several games lasted five and a half to six hours. Eventually, from an apparently equal position, Jessel defeated Tureshbayev (who had been half a point ahead of the field), in a tricky rook endgame. Meanwhile Collins won another very tense game against FM Jacob Flynn.
Both Collins and Jessel had made a slow start to the tournament because the former had several draws in early rounds while Jessel's time trouble led him to blunder and lose from a pawn up against teenager Lukian Hushpit in round 2. However both Collins and Jessel played stronger as the event progressed.
Probably because the FIDE Olympiad is in September, there were few entries from our highest rated players and IMs. Teenage FM Kavin Venkatesan (who will be on our team in Samarkand) tried hard to defend the title he won last year in Ennis. His challenge was ended by losing to Collins in round 7. Eventually Kavin finished outside the prize list on 5.5 points.
There were very many competitors of school age in the field of 55 and some did extremely well. Five players finished on 6 points, notably Andrey Ivanov, who won the prize for the best performance by a player rated below 2100. There were, however, some glaring failures of endgame technique by several players during the tournament (no names, no pack drill). The last game to finish in round 8 saw an unfortunate player fail to checkmate with bishop and knight although at one point he came quite lose to achieving it.
Pairings and results of the various events in the championship congress were shown on the chess-results site.
Our Irish Seniors news page is also updated again today.
The Churchtown Chess Club in south Dublin staged its fun event for teams over five rounds on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th July. The team called, curiously, Pocket Salmon won all its matches. Their players were Jacob Flynn, Peter Carroll, Will Sidney along with Patrick Lessmeister (on Saurday) and Alice O'Gorman (on Sunday).
Unfortunately there were only 11 teams, necessitating a bye. For 2027 they hope to move the event back to late June, as last year, when fewer players and clubs may be on holiday.
St. Benildus were runners-up, with four matches won. The senior team Silver Foxes and the "Leicester 15/16" team (soccer supporters evidently) each won three matches. The results are available online.
The final round of the Leinster Leagues was played in May. Gonzaga are Armstrong Cup champions again. Dun Laoghaire and Bray/Greystones were relegated. Ballinasloe and Master Chess Club will be promoted from the Heidenfeld (the second division) although Ballinasloe is not in Leinster. Go figure...
It is worth noting that the Armstrong Cup is one of the very oldest inter-club competitions in the world, having been first played for in the 1888-89 season, which was even earlier than the start of the London League. Only the Woodhouse Cup in Yorkshire began earlier.
Unfortunately since the closure of the Rathmines Chess Club (which started in the second season), none of the early competing clubs exists any more - unless you count the Dublin University club. They played from the first year but the club collapsed and had to be reconstituted at least twice in subsequent years.
The ICU has announced the teams and captains who will represent Ireland at the FIDE Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in September. You can only read the full reports if you are logged in as an ICU member.
The Open team consists of GM Alex Baburin, IMs Tarun Kanyamarala, David Fitzsimons and Tom O'Gorman, and FM Kavin Venkatesan. The reserves are Adam Collins and Conor O'Donnell.
The women's team is WGM Trisha Kanyamarala, WFM Diana Mirza, Alice O'Gorman, WFM Lara Putar and WCM Antonina Góra. (We thought Alice earned a WFM title in the past but it doesn't seem to have been claimed?)
Conor O'Donnell will captain the Open team and Jacob Flynn captains the women's team. Board order for the teams will be decided just before the start, probably by consensus but with the captains having the final say.
Meanwhile please see our Irish seniors page for details of recent and upcoming events for players over the age of 50.
The Irish National Club Championship was played over five rounds from April 24-26 at Colaiste Eanna, Rathfarnham, Dublin. It ended in a 3-way tie on 8 match points with Gonzaga taking the title again, on tiebreak from Knights of Eanna (to whom they had lost in round 3) and Master Chess Club (whom they defeated in the last round).
A 17th entry had been accepted at the last minute, creating a bye. It is questionable whether late entries should be allowed unless they even up numbers as this decision led to five of the teams only playing four matches.
There was also a good entry of 18 teams for the Queen Maeve Cup, a 4-board event, which was won by the Ireland Chess Technology team led by the Kanyamaralas. They won all their five matches. Their team, not being a regular club, was ineligible to play in the NCC.
If you are involved in organisation, please also read our page for chess arbiters. We are aware the page is somewhat out of date and intend to update it eventually.
For further information on Irish chess, including ratings, how to join, a tournament calendar and a list of officials, please see the Irish Chess Union website.
IRLchess: Sean Coffey's Irish chess history and news site
Chess discussions on boards.ie (not very active)