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Editor: Dr Tim Harding |
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Editor: Dr Tim Harding |
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© Dr Tim Harding
Last modified:
15 September 2026
The FIDE chess olympiads (Open and Women's) start play tomorrow in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Except in the last of the 11 rounds, play starts at 3pm local time which equates to 11am Irish time if you are planning to watch online.
It appears from the team listings on the chess-results website that our Open team is (in board order) as follows: 1. IM Tarun Kanyamarala; 2. IM Tom O'Gorman; 3. GM Alex Baburin; 4. FM Adam Collins; reserve: FM Kavin Venkatesan.
This is, I think, the first time that Alex Baburin has not played top board since he became eligible for Ireland, but it probably makes sense as he doe snolt play so often these days, and the young IMs have a better chance of earning GM norms on the higher boards.
IM David Fitzsimons was originally selected and ICU announced him on the team back in May. We are unsure why he has withdrawn but it has created a vacancy for the new Irish champion FM Adam Collins to take up his right to a place immediately.
The women's team as listed is: 1. WGM Trisha Kanyamarala; 2. Alice O'Gorman; 3. WFM Lara Putar; 4. WFM Diana Mirza, and reserve WCM Antonina Góra. We are unsure why Alice doesn't already have the WFM title as we thought she had earned it at the last olympiad, but maybe she can earn the WIM now.
Conor O'Donnell captains the Open team and Jacob Flynn captains the Women's team.
We expect there will be plenty of coverage on Lichess and chess.com as well as on the official website for the event. Live game transmission will probably have at least a 15-minute delay, as usual because of anti-cheating measures.
Because Ireland are in the top half of the seedings, both teams should score comfortable wins in round one and start to get harder matches from Thursday onwards. Tuesday 22nd September is the rest day and the 11th (and final) round starts on Sunday 27th at 7am Irish time.
The City of Dublin Championships were played on the weekend 4-6 September at Colaiste Eanna, Rathfarnham, Dublin. Congratulations to Oisin O Cuilleanain who won the Master section by a clear point with 4.5/5. Kevin Burke and James Joseph O'Brien won the second (so-called Championship) section with 4.5 points also, Kevin having the superior tiebreak. There were two other sections for lower-rated players.
The ICU website now has details of the upcoming annual general meeting (to be held on 27 September) but you have to be logged in as a member to read the details.
There is only one probable change to ICU officers. Andrew Kelly is proposed to become Secretary and has already taken up the position temporarily because Jacob Flynn, who is going to the Olympiad as women's team captain, now wishes to concentrate on chess and the exdecutive have accepted his resignation.
In recent years the Irish Rapid and Blitz championships have been played on the same day as the agm but that has changed. Those tournaments will instead be played on the 11th of October this year in Stillorgan.
The ICU website has opened a payment page for 2026-27 membership. Anyone intending to play in the leagues and other upcoming events and has not yet joined needs to pay up now.
Our Irish Seniors news page has news of our squad at the recently concluded European Senior Team Championships in Crete (and a photograph). We wish to note here the outstanding performances by FM John Delaney, unbeaten on top board in the 50+, and Donal O'Boyle who only lost one game on board four for the 65s. They were the mainstay of their teams and both earned a heap of rating points while the other players lost points.
The 2026 Irish Championships ended on Sunday 9th August, at the Talbot Hotel in Stillorgan, Dublin, in victory for 21-year-old FM Adam Collins after five dramatic 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, as mentioned above, might have had to wait for the 2028 olympiad to take up his automatic olympiad place but it turns out that he has been able to go this year, which is good for him and will ease selection for next time.
The result was 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 main 2026 Irish Championship tournament (and some subsidiary events) were not submitted to FIDE in time for inclusion in the September rating list (though it has now been rated for the ICU list). We are assured that the missing events will be rated for FIDE in October.
The Irish Championship 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 later this month, 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.
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)