Galway Chess Club

Our 2024-5 season will start on Thursday 19 September, with our Opening Blitz tournament. We will then be meeting weekly on Thursday evenings, with a varied programme, detailed below. These events are intended for club members, and you can pay your membership fee for the season (€65, or €35 concessionary rate) at any of our events. However, if you have not been a member before, we are happy to allow you to attend one or two events, to find out whether Galway Chess Club is for you, before you decide whether to take the plunge and join.

The Opening Blitz tournament will be seven rounds of games, in which each player will have 5 minutes for the game, plus an increment of 5 seconds per move. Please arrive by 7.20 p.m. to register. If that is too early for you, you can arrive later and join the tournament in round 2. We expect the tournament to finish by 10.30 p.m. We will provide all equipment.

If you have any questions about this (or any other) event, please drop us an email at the address at the very bottom of this page.

Programme for 2024-5

Doors open at 7pm. All events start at 7:30.

19 Sept.Opening Blitz (5 minutes + 5 seconds)
26 Sept.Beginners’ Night
3 Oct.Autumn Rapid (15 minutes + 10 seconds) Rounds 1-3
10 Oct.Puzzle Night
17 Oct.Galway Winter League [our Club Championship] Round 1
24 Oct.Autumn Rapid Rounds 4-6
31 Oct.Blitz Tournament (5+5)
7 Nov.Winter League Round 2
14 Nov.Autumn Rapid Rounds 7-9
21Nov.Blitz (5+5)
28 Nov.Winter League Round 3
5 Dec.Autumn Rapid Rounds 10-12
12 Dec.Christmas Blitz (5+5)
19/26 Dec.Club Closed

Advance Notice

4-6 April 2025: Galway Chess Congress, Loughrea Hotel; details to follow

  • Venue: Galway Bridge Centre, St. Mary’s Road, Galway H91 C2C3. Our room is at the top of the main flight of stairs.
  • Time: 7pm-10:30pm. Events start at 7:30pm sharp.
  • Season: September to May.


FAQ

My child loves chess – can they come to the club?

Teenagers are welcome if accompanied by a parent/guardian. Be advised, this is primarily a club for adults, so children remain the responsibility of their parent/guardian at all times.

For younger children, we advise that you contact Brendan Buckley (at brendan[at]chessossity[dot]com), who runs Galway Juniors Chess.

I am a beginner/rusty – would the club be suitable for me?

All are welcome, but some events are more suitable than others. The Beginners’ evening, obviously, would be a good place to start. The Rapidplay evenings are also very good, because the time control is about 15 minutes in length, which is a happy medium between the Winter League games which go on for a couple of hours, or the blitzes which are quite fast. If you play a game or two with someone in the club, they should be able to advise you what events you might enjoy.

Where can I park when visiting the club?

There is a limited number of places in Galway Bridge Centre, but you have to get there early. Alternatively, the Bridge Centre has informed us that they have an agreement with St Mary’s School that allows us to park in the School car park, which is directly opposite on the other side of St Mary’s Road, and has ample spaces. (You can see the car park on the google maps link, if you zoom in and choose satellite view.)

Do you need to be a member to attend?

No – you are very welcome to drop down and attend an evening or two to see if you like it before we ask you to commit to anything.

I wish to join. How can I do so?

The most popular way to join is to come to one of the club evenings and chat to our Treasurer, Scott. He will take your membership fee of 60e (30e concession), name, and contact details. If you cannot make it down to the club to join, email us and we will send you a PayPal link.

I wish to be added to your weekly mailing list – how can we make this happen?

Email galwaychess[at]gmail[dot]com and let us know.

Contact Email for all queries: galwaychess[at]gmail[dot]com . If you want to be added to our mailing list to receive weekly updates on our goings-on, please send an email to that address.

Posted by Admin on March 5th, 2012