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Thursday 14 December sees our year-ending Christmas Blitz tournament. In addition to providing the opportunity of playing seven games of chess, there will be seasonal offerings for you to consume. The seasonal offerings are yet to be decided, but the chess will be played at a speed of 5 minutes per player per game plus a 5 second increment per move. Play will start at 7.30 p.m. prompt; anybody who arrives after the pairings for the first round have been announced can be included from the second round. We expect the tournament to finish at about 10.00 p.m.

Our last 5+5 blitz, held in November, was won by Diego Pereiro Rodriguez, with 6 points out of 7; second equal were Denis Ruchko and Eoin Callinan, on 5½ points. The rating prize, for the highest-placed player rated in the bottom half, was won by Luke Iwasaki, with 4½ points.

Our next event is a Puzzle Night, in which you will be shown a number of carefully chosen puzzles, ranging in difficulty from those suitable for beginners to ones requiring more skill to solve. Doing puzzles like these is one of the best ways of improving your chess, and there will be more experienced players on hand to talk you through them should you require assistance.

The club will also be open for members to play games against each other, should they prefer to create their own puzzles for themselves.

Our Autumn Rapidplay tournament concludes on Thursday 16th November. You can play in it whether or not you have played in previous rounds: just show up at our venue upstairs in the Bridge Centre, St. Mary’s Road between 7 and 7.20 p.m. to register. People who arrive later may not get to play in the first of the evening’s three rounds, but will be able to play in the remaining two.

As before, this tournament is particularly suitable for people who think of themselves as beginners, or who want to try out a chess club for the first time, as we will try to ensure that they play against others in the same position. (If they then win their first game or two, they will have the chance of a crack at some of our more experienced players.) That said, after the first six rounds there is currently a close contest at the top between some of the club’s leading players.

This Thursday’s offering for you is one of our more popular events: an evening blitz tournament. Each player will have 5 minutes to make all their moves, plus an extra 5 seconds increment for each move made. Registration for the tournament is from 7.00 p.m. to 7.20 p.m., and the games will start at exactly 7.30. Anybody who arrives after the pairings for the first round have been announced can be included from the second round. There will be seven games for all players, and we expect the tournament to finish at about 10.00 p.m.

Our last 5+5 blitz, held in September, attracted 26 players, and was won jointly by Anand Kumar S and Pete Morriss, with 6 points out of 7. The rating prize, for the highest-placed player rated in the bottom half, was won by Shane Loughlin, with an excellent 4 points.

Galway Club’s Autumn Rapid tournament continues with rounds 4 to 6 on Thursday 19 October. Each player will have three games during the evening, and will have 15 minutes per game to make all their moves, plus an extra 10 seconds for each move they make. Registration will be between 7 and 7.20 p.m., with play starting at 7.30 prompt. The evening should finish soon after 10. Anybody who arrives after round 4 has started will be able to join for round 5.

There are currently four leaders on 2½ points out of 3, but it is still very possible for someone who joins in round 4 to catch them and win the event.

Of all our events, this Rapidplay tournament is probably the most 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 someone of roughly your own level. But at the top the standard is quite high, so experienced players can also look forward to challenging games.

(Posted: 13 October)

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.