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On Thursday 28 September we will host the first session of our Autumn Rapidplay tournament. Each player will have three games during the evening, and will have 15 minutes to make all their moves per game, plus an extra 10 seconds for each move they make. You can register for this by turning up between 7 and 7.20 on the evening; there is no need to register in advance. Anybody who arrives too late to be included in the first round can still play in round 2.

This tournament will continue with another three rounds in October and yet another three in November. The winner will be decided over all nine rounds, but if you might not be able to play in all rounds it doesn’t matter: you can play in as many or as few as you wish.

This Rapidplay tournament is particularly appropriate for players new to organized chess, as in the initial rounds you will be paired against other newcomers so are likely to be playing people of roughly your own level. That said, experienced players are very welcome as well, and we try to structure this so that all will find the tournament enjoyable.

Galway Chess club’s season continues with an evening particularly for adult beginners on Thursday 21 September. If you think of yourself as a beginner at chess, and would like to meet other beginners and receive some instruction from our more experienced members, then do come along to the club in Galway Bridge Centre (upstairs) any time from 7.30 p.m.

The club will also be open to other members and potential members who wish to play friendly games.

Galway Chess Club’s 2023-4 season will open with a blitz tournament in our usual venue of upstairs in the Galway Bridge Centre , St Mary’s Road. Entry is from 7.00 p.m. to 7.20, with play starting at 7.30 prompt. (Please note that this is thirty minutes earlier than in recent years. If you can’t make it by 7.20, then you can still enter, and start play in round 2 – or which ever is the next round after you arrive.) The tournament will have 7 rounds, and each player will have 5 minutes to make all their moves, plus an increment of 5 seconds per move. (Note that it is not a knockout: all players will play in all rounds.) We expect the tournament to finish at about 10 p.m. We will provide all equipment, so all you need to do is turn up! There will be no entry fee.

You will get the opportunity during the evening to join Galway Chess club for the season, but if you are new to the club you are welcome to play in the event anyway to assess whether you would like to join later. If you have any questions, please do email us at the address below.

We are very much looking forward to seeing you, and welcome to the new season!

The 2023 Galway Rapidplay was held on Saturday 17 June. There was an unprecedented interest in playing in this tournament, and we had to close entries four weeks before the tournament took place, by which time we had already reached the venue’s capacity.

Joint winners, on 6 points, were Lukian Hushpit and Pratik Mulay. There was a tie for third place between Colm Daly, Denis Ruchko, Klaus Weih, and the unrated Thomas Chamberland. Alla Bronnikova won the Best Female Prize. There were were 7 winners of Junior Prizes, which were in two categories of under-18 and under-14; an unusual outcome was that the best junior overall, Christopher Woods, was in the younger age-group. He scored an excellent 5 points out of 7. There were also 15 winners of rating prizes: see here for the full list of prizewinners. The winners of the rating and category prizes were given the choice of a fairly small money prize, or an engraved commemorative trophy; most – though not all – chose the trophy.

The tournament was played on one of the hottest days of the year so far, which might explain the relatively large number of strong players on the top boards suffering lapses of concentration when short of time: the two joint winners owed their success, in large part, to their admirable ability to stay focused in somewhat difficult conditions.

Here are links to the list of prize-winners, standings, and cross-table.

The annual Galway Rapidplay will be held this year on Saturday 17 June in the Galway Bridge Centre.  You will need to enter in advance; you can do that from the “Galway Rapidplay 2023” tab above, which also contains further information about the tournament.  Numbers will be limited to 80; we had more entries than that last year, so you run the risk of being disappointed if you don’t enter soon. The list of entries so far is here.

UPDATE (22 May). We have now reached the venue’s capacity and are no longer accepting entries. You can still submit an entry form if you would like to be put on the waiting list, and we will notify you if anybody withdraws.

The final standings and cross-table of the Galway Chess Congress are available on our Congress page.  The top section was won by FM Rory Quinn, on tie-break from FM Colm Daly, with IM Oleg Gubanov third.  Section B was won by Emma Fougerat, Section C by Vivaan Verlekar, Section D by Robert Nielsen, and Section E by Alexander Zubrzycki, on tie-break from Rurai Goodfellow.  There were also second and third prizes in each section, and many rating prizes: see here for the full list. [Update: pictures of prize-winners receiving their prizes have now been added to the list of names.]  160 people played, which is the highest number we have had for several years; of these 33 were playing in their first tournament.  So it seems that the enthusiasm for playing chess in the west of Ireland has not waned now that life is back to ‘normal’ after covid.

Our next monthly (or near-monthly) blitz tournament will be held on Thursday 16 March, in our usual venue, the Bridge Centre (upstairs), St Mary’s Road. Please be there between 7.30 p.m. and 7.45 p.m. to enter. It will be in our standard format: 7 rounds, played at 5 minutes per player for the game, plus a 5 second increment per move. We expect the event to finish about 10.30 p.m., and we will provide all equipment. As always, newcomers are very welcome, and if you have any queries do please email us at galwaychess[at]gmail[dot]com .

Our last tournament, on 23 February, saw another close finish, with the winner again only emerging in the last round. This time the winner was Alex Drimbarean, on 6 points. Alex lost only to second-placed Brian Gallagher, who however dropped points against other players to finish with 5½. The rating prize, for the best result by a player in the lower half, was won by Seth McGrady, who was playing in his first tournament and finished with the outstanding score of 4 points, despite playing both the top two finishers.

We will be running a rapidplay tournament every three or four weeks throughout the spring at our usual venue of upstairs in the Bridge Centre, St Mary’s Road. The format will be the same as the autumn one, i.e. you will play three games in an evening, and your scores over the weeks will be added up at the end to determine who is the overall winner. You will have 15 minutes to make all your moves in each game, plus a 10 second increment per move.  The first three rounds will take place on 2nd March; please be there by 7.45 p.m. to register. It doesn’t matter if you might not be able to make every round: those who turn up on the night will play, and those who don’t, won’t! Entry is free to club members (and potential members) and prizes will consist in the glory of being acclaimed by your peers and mentioned on this website. We will provide all equipment.

This tournament might be particularly suitable for beginners and players new to tournament chess, who might find the speed of our blitz tournaments too fast for them, though established players are of course very welcome as well and we expect you to enter. As usual if you have any questions or suggestions, do ask here or email us at galwaychess[at]gmail[dot]com.

Our next blitz tournament will be on Thursday 23 February, in our usual venue, the Bridge Centre (upstairs), St Mary’s Road. Please be there between 7.30 p.m. and 7.45 p.m. to enter. It will be in our standard format: 7 rounds, played at 5 minutes per player for the game, plus a 5 second increment per move. We expect the event to finish about 10.30 p.m., and we will provide all equipment. As always, newcomers are very welcome, and if you have any queries do please email us at  galwaychess[at]gmail[dot]com .

Our last tournament, on 2 February, saw a close finish, with the winner eventually decided in the very last game to finish, when Denis Ruchko failed to beat Karolina Bronnikova (and indeed he was fortunate to get a draw). So the winner was Pete Morriss, with 6 points out of 7 and Denis Ruchko was the runner-up on 5½. The rating prize, for the best result by a player in the lower half, was won by Gavin Hicks, with an excellent score of 4 points.

If you’d like to get some practice in before our Congress on the 10th-12th March in the Menlo Park Hotel (details here, https://galwaychess.ie/galway-chess-congress-2023/) please see below

Sligo Spring Tournament 3-5th Feb at the Diamond Coast Hotel, Enniscrone. More details here https://www.icu.ie/events/1591

Ennis Congress 24th-26th Feb at the West County Hotel, Ennis. More details here https://www.icu.ie/events/1635