News

See Team > Leagues and Team > Junior Players and Fixtures links for team line-ups and results.

See icu.ie for Irish events and ratings.

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Thu 16 Nov 2023 - Samuel Basker

3rd Team results - Division 6N Bodley Cup

Our third team lost 1.5 - 3.5 against a strong team, Blanchardstown A at home on Tuesday. Chadwick won, and Shane Adams showed great endgame technique and tenacity to draw his game. This keeps us in the top half of the table as you will see in the links above.

Wed 8 Nov 2023 - John Loughran

2 - 4 loss to St. Benildus for the first team not without hopeful signs

Despite the result, the games were close. Rory beat a seasoned veteran, no mean feat for a relative beginner. Shane's endgame play impressed me. Though he lost he made his opponent work hard to beat him, a great sign. Full results in links above. We maintain our third place in the league table and look forward to our visit to Drumlish on 16 Dec.

Fri 27 Oct 2023 - John Loughran

1st team lose in Portmarnock

Our 1st team lost 2.5 - 3.5 in Portmarnock last night, though Alexiei is still on 100% and Adam got a draw on his debut.

Thu 26 Oct 2023 - John Loughran

Skerries Community Games Chess competition starts Tue 7 Nov

Open to all Skerries residents (including non members) or members of Skerries Chess Club who will be U11, U13 or U16 on 31/7/2024. For full details see the Play menu > Tournament. To enter please Contact us. We will explain how to Apply (under Join when you log in), Enter (under Play) and pay.

Tue 24 Oct 2023 - Mark Allidine

2nd team landslide win vs Drumlish!

Our second team picked up a crushing victory over Drumlish tonight. Wins came from Mark and Lorcán with Owen securing a victory last week alongside an important half point from Rory. Walkovers on boards 5 and 6 mean we scored a 5.5 - 0.5 win which should propel us up a few places on the leaderboard as the fight to stay in division 4 continues!

Tue 17 Oct 2023 - John Loughran

1st team win and 2nd team start well

The first team won 5-1 at home to Lucan tonight in Div 3 Ennis. In the four games played tonight Lorcán drew, Greg had a very tactical and strategic win, Joe was better from the opening and won a rook ending. The last game to finish was Mark who won a fine queen and minor piece ending finishing in style by gaining the opposition in a classic pawn ending that Jeremy Silman would have been proud of. The second team played two boards in advance against Drumlish with a fine win by Owen and a tense draw by Rory.

Tue 17 Oct 2023 - Samuel Basker

Win for 3rd Team - in Division 6N Bodley Cup

Fantastic results for 3rd team against Blanchardstown B at home 3-2. The two losses were close ones, and great kudos to all!!!

Tue 10 Oct 2023 - John Loughran

1st team get 1.5/2 so far vs. Lucan

Alexiei won and I drew against Lucan tonight leaving us a point ahead for the remainder of the games which are on next week, alongside the third team match, both at home.

Sat 7 Oct 2023 - John Loughran

Mixed results for our two teams in Kilkenny

Our first team beat Kilkenny's Div 3 Ennis team today 4 - 2 with wins by Alexiei, Joe and two subs Owen and Krishiv. John Costello and John Loughran both lost but played well. Having supplied two subs to the first team our second team could only field a team of three players, partly due to some late withdrawals. Mark, Rory and Adam played well against some high rated players (1500 - 1300) but in the end were overwhelmed although Mark said he narrowly missed a win against the 1500 player. Full results in the links above in due course. The two rookie captains Owen and Mark did a great job in fielding any team at all given the circumstances. Despite our slow start in Div 4 O'Hanlon there are other teams struggling too and our hopes of staying up are nowhere near over and will depend on how we do over the whole season, starting with a home match against Drumlish two weeks from today.

Tue 26 Sep 2023 - Mark Allidine

Div 4 O'Hanlon Round 1

Our second team got off to a tough start last week vs Finglas at home. Lorcán salvaged our only half point on board 3 with a comfortable opposite coloured bishop and pawn endgame. There were other closely fought battles that saw our players narrowly miss out on some additional points and half points. The game finished 0.5-5.5 in favour of Finglas. The battle to stay in division 4 is only getting started!

Sat 2 Sep 2023 - John Loughran

Club reopens

Chess club reopens in the Bridge Club on Tue 5 Sep at 7 pm.

Wed 16 Aug 2023 - Cian Griffin

Willie Brennan Cup Win

Our first team won the Willie Brennan Cup on Wednesday night away in Greystones (3.5-2.5). An extremely tight match going down to the last seconds on the final board where John L. was able to turn a tight position into a win. Mark and Cian also had wins while Joe had drawn his game played previously in Skerries. Great work by everyone involved throughout the Cup and a brilliant end to the season. Full results as above.

Sat 29 Jul 2023 - John Loughran

Silver in Leinster for U13s, 1st team through to Final of WBCup

Our U13s won silver medals in the Leinster finals of the Community Games today in Longford! In the semifinal they beat Enniskerry 3.5 - 1.5 but lost 5 - 0 in the final to a strong team from Westmeath. There was great excitement and thanks to captain/manager Eva and accompanying parents. In other news our first team beat Master Chess Club 4 - 2 on Tuesday to progress to the final away to Bray/Greystones on Wed 16 Aug.

Mon 24 Jul 2023 - John Loughran

William Brennan Cup, Community Games, Irish Championships coming up

Under News > Calendar you can see that the first team play the semi-final of the Cup tomorrow in the club. Spectators are welcome. Our U13s do battle on Saturday in the Leinster finals in Longford (round times not confirmed yet). There are tournaments to suit all ratings in the Irish Championships which are in Stillorgan in early August, and rapid and blitz events too. See ICU link above for all details.

Tue 18 Jul 2023 - John Loughran

1st team in Semi-final

As we hoped, our first team topped Group B on tie-break and are through to the semi-final of the W.B.Cup against Master CC, the runners up in Group A. All are welcome to watch the match at 7:30 on Tue 25 July in the club. Members can see team order in the Players link on the Team page. Apart from these matches the club is closed for the summer and reopens on Tue 5 Sep.

Tue 4 Jul 2023 - Mark Allidine

Willie Brennan Group B - R3 Win

Skerries finished off the job vs Phibsboro at home last night. Wins came from Mark on board four and Lorcán on board six. Joe played out a comfortable draw on board three to put Skerries through to the semis as 5-1 winners over Phibsboro.

Tue 27 Jun 2023 - John Loughran

Great experience for 2nd team in WB Cup Group A

We lost 1.5 - 4.5 tonight at home to Elm Mount. See results in links above. The highlight for me was Adam's draw a piece down. His K, moving between h1 and g2, held back a black P on h2 supported by a N on g4, with a black K that was powerless to intervene without giving stalemate. Fantastic experience for all the players.

Mon 26 Jun 2023 - Cian Griffin

Willie Brennan Group B - R3 begins

Three first team members traveled to Phibsboro on Monday night scoring well, 2.5 / 3. The remaining matches will take place on Tuesday July 4th in Skerries. Spectators are welcome (club nights will have finished by then!). Results in Team link above as usual. We have qualified which is great, and we still have a chance to top the group.

Fri 23 Jun 2023 - John Loughran

First team draw with Dublin CC in WB Cup Group B

Our 1st team drew 3 - 3 with Dublin Chess Club last night in Fitzwilliam Sq. All results as in links above. This means that to top the group we have to win at least 5 - 1 against Phibsboro on 4 July, though 3 of us are playing this Monday as we are not around on 4 July. A tall order. To qualify we need 2.5 points/6. Last club night this Tuesday, see you there!

Sun 18 Jun 2023 - Leonardo Latorre

Rd. 1 - William Brennan Cup 2023 - Group A - 2nd team

We came home with a loss against Master Chess Club but it was a well fought one.
Every single player from Skerries had to play seasoned higher rated players across all boards. Fair play to Nicolai who battled with a 1207 rated player. Hands up for Chadwick too, who managed to score a win. John adds: Unfortunately as an ineligible player who had not played in the leagues for us this season, his win only counts for rating, not for the team. Well done to captains Sridhar and Leo!

Wed 14 Jun 2023 - John Loughran

Summer events, WBCup

Summer events continue next week and the week after, which is our last week officially. Pairings up since last Wednesday. Please update availability for both events on the Play > Tmt page links as usual.
The WBCup continues into July. See Team > Leagues links for 1st and 2nd team to see what board you are, if you are playing. If you are selected and need to change that, contact your team captain.
Last night we had great fun playing friendly Swap Chess games.
Nikolai and Krishiv won prizes for best in the Fox and the Murray sections in the Drogheda congress.

Mon 15 May 2023 - John Loughran

Enter Summer events, AGM tomorrow with Prizes for many

We have our Annual General Meeting tomorrow with Prize Giving tomorrow (See News >. Many have won prizes so do not miss out! If passed at the AGM the late fee will be €10 from now on so do not be late entering the Summer Handicap and Classic on the Play page, deadline tomorrow. More news tomorrow at the AGM followed by friendly games. See you there! Juniors do not forget to enter the Community Games Leinster finals on the Team > Junior page, and all may enter the William Brennan Cup on the Team > Leagues page. We have to submit a team/teams soon.

Mon 8 May 2023 - John Loughran

Second team promoted, first team misses out, Martín's coaching, AGM and Prize giving.

Yesterday in Coláiste Éanna the second team won 5 - 0 and will be promoted to Div 4 O'Hanlon Cup. See all detailed results in the links above. The first team missed out on promotion by 1 point, which reminds me of a few games that got away from me during the season. Martín gave us three coaching sessions over the weekend, and will invite some members to an experimental remote video coaching series. Invitees will see details later on the Learn page.

The Blitz is on tomorrow and the AGM with Prize giving is on Tue 16 May at 7 pm.

Wed 3 May 2023 - John Loughran

Martín's talks and other news

See News > Calendar for details about Martín's talks this Friday and Saturday. See the post below about our final round chances this weekend. Ratings done, coaching recorded, pairings for Blitz will be done later today, after which a late entry fee applies. Prizewinners on Play page for Rapid Tournament. Well done to all!

Thu 27 Apr 2023 - John Loughran

First team drew 3-3

The first team drew 3 - 3 in St. Benildus last night. Full results on Team > Leagues page. This keeps us in contention for promotion if get 1½ points more than our rivals in the last round on Sunday week. While Kilkenny face a tough game agains St. Benildus, Gorey have arguably an easier match against Portmarnock than we have against Knights of Éanna/Rathmines, especially in their home venue. The match starts at 3 pm in Coláiste Éanna and spectators are welcome to support both our 1st and 2nd teams in their bids for promotion. Meanwhile in a minor side show Ding faces Nepo in their final classical game for the World Championship this Saturday live on the internet at 10 am.

Wed 26 Apr 2023 - John Loughran

Coaching Prizes, other news

Coaching prizes were won by John Loughran (coaching) and by Owen Johnston (being coached) last night. They were awarded by chance using cards. The number of cards a person got depended on the number of minutes they coached and were coached, respectively. More coaching prizes later so please record all coaching given and received on the noticeboard. Please answer the League Teams questionnaire below if you have not done so.
Ratings and Pairings for next week are done, including for new members who we welcome as always. Please enter the Blitz on the Tournament page by 2 May to avoid the late fee. The AGM will probably be on the 16 May. See News > Calendar later for the date.

Tue 4 Apr 2023 - Mark Allidine

2nd team win!

Great result for the 2nd team vs Phibsboro B at home. 4.5 - .5. Wins on all boards except for a great recovery from Owen to clinch a draw. An excellent result for promotion hopes!

Tue 21 Mar 2023 - John Loughran

First team top the table after great win

Our first team beat Phibsboro at home 5.5 - 0.5 tonight. Alexiei drew, while Greg, John, Joe, Owen and Cian on his debut, all won. In fairness we were trying to emulate the success of our second team. Now we have a real chance of promotion.

Sat 11 Mar 2023 - John Loughran

League Teams Questionnaire

All members are required to fill out the short League Teams questionnaire, to gauge interest for next season, including if you do not wish to play. This link is at the top of the Team > Leagues page too.

Fri 3 Mar 2023 - Paul Ryan

Ennis - Division 3 - Portmarnock v Skerries

Our first team had a fantastic win away to Portmarnock, winning 6-0. Enda played a particularly amazing game. We are now in contention for promotion. See full results on Leagues page.

Wed 1 Mar 2023 - John Loughran

Assess your position and find Active Play, said Alice

Irish international Alice O'Gorman gave an inspiring talk last night to members. For a summary and link to the positions and games she showed us see Learn - Master Classes.

Sat 25 Feb 2023 - John Loughran

U13s are Dublin CG champions, Alice's talk on Active Play.

Our U13s won gold while our U11s won silver medals in the Dublin Finals of the Community Games Chess competition held in Coláiste Éanna last night. See reports with pics on Team > Junior page.

Do not miss the talk from Irish International player Alice O'Gorman this Tuesday soon after 7 pm in the club, who may give some tips to our youngsters on how to progress from playing for Skerries to playing for Ireland.

Sat 18 Feb 2023 - John Loughran

1st and 3rd team win v Balbriggan and Drumlish

Today Skerries first team won 5 - 1 at home to Balbriggan as shown below while our third team won 3 - 2 at home to Drumlish, their first match victory, well deserved with wins by Lorcán, Dermot (captain) and finally Jacob in a nail biter. Full results soon on Leinster leagues - see Team > Leagues in the Fixtures, results links.

Thu 2 Feb 2023 - John Loughran

1st team win, Players in Sligo

After Martín's talk which Joe and John attended, among others, we three drove to Dublin chess club. Joined by Alexiei, Greg and Paul we beat second placed Dublin 4.5 - 1.5, perhaps inspired by Martín. This weekend John, Nikolai and Mary play in Sligo. See icu.ie for details. To find Results just search for it on the new search page. The Fixtures, results link on the League page has full details. We have climbed out of the relegation zone for now to above mid-table, looking forward to our next match versus Balbriggan. See Calendar for full schedule of matches and club tournaments and talks. Will the next talk by Alice inspire you in your next match?

Wed 25 Jan 2023 - John Loughran

Martín Krug talk, Results, Ratings, Alice Chess

Martín Krug will give a talk in the club next Tuesday at 5 - 6 pm on 'Chess Lies'. He is a strong player from Argentina living in Spain who plays for us the odd time and always entertains us with his chess talks, training us and inspiring us before our first team head off to play Dublin. In the normal club from 7 on we have friendlies and catch up games. Results and Ratings from last night are done and on our site. On Tue 28 Feb we will have a talk from a young Irish International player Alice O'Gorman at 7 pm. See News > Calendar for details of all events.

Sat 21 Jan 2023 - John Loughran

Community Games Dublin Finals U13 and U11 Team Events announced, 1st team lost today.

See details and enter your availability for selection for the U13 or U11 teams, or for both, on the Team > Junior page. In other news our first team lost to Kilkenny today. Results on Team > Leagues page in Player panels link. 2nd team play Blanchardstown on Monday. You should see results there too.

Thu 19 Jan 2023 - TestParSupS Loughran

Krishiv selected for National Junior Squad Coaching!

Krishiv Thoppe has been selected for coaching by the coaches for the international team (including GMs and IMs). For full details see ICU - National Junior Squad Coaching 2023 - Selections. This may be based on his ICU rating of 734 and his age. We all know many strong juniors of a similar age in our club who would perhaps qualify if they had an ICU rating. Many will get one once the leagues are over, which may be too late for selection. To get a rating faster juniors should play in external tournaments. See the Calendar on the ICU website to see when these occur. Myself and Leo are playing in Sligo. Alas we are too old for selection! :-)

Wed 18 Jan 2023 - John Loughran

Results, Pairings, Ratings, Matches, Talk from Martín, Coaching prizes

Results, pairings, ratings updated (Section D to follow). See Play, Rating pages. Round 2 in club ch. is this Tue 24-Jan.
Members, parents can now see contact details in Play-Members page.
Lots of matches coming up - see News-Calendar.
Coaching was well attended but poorly recorded. Please record on chart on noticeboard. There will be prizes for coaching given and received, decided by a random drawing of tickets. 1 ticket = 1 hour coaching.
Martín Krug (ESP) will give a chess demonstration lecture on 31-Jan from 5 - 6 pm in the club on "Chess Lies", aimed at juniors and seniors.

Mon 16 Jan 2023 - John Loughran

Coaching, Games, Talks, Nikolai wins Cavan minor!

Coaching starts at 7 pm this Tuesday 17-Jan. Coaches and students please find each other at the start, and record coaching done on the sheet on the notice board. Use the skills cards from the folder if you like and replace them in alphabetical order by first name after coaching. Use extra cards as a coaching diary if you like. See the new Learn page on the club web app (website), and study one topic e.g. mate with 2 Bishops. John will give a talk tomorrow on 4.Ng5 in the Giocco Piano opening.

Games this Tuesday include catchup club ch. games and friendly challenges (rated). Enter all results on the Results Sheet and Club Ch Results sheet on the noticeboard.
Also practice for Rapid tournament coming up soon by playing games using 15+10s time control.

Supervisors - please update your availability for the rota on the Join page, or you may be assigned to supervise on a night that does not suit you. Deadline this Tuesday please.

Third team players please indicate availability for changed fixtures on Team - Leagues - 3rd Team page.

We will soon have a visit from John Costello from the Isle of Man, who will play for our first team on 21-Jan. Then on 31-Jan Martín Krug will come from Spain to play and give a talk in the club. We plan to have another talk from Irish international Alice O'Gorman soon too.

Nikolai Dimitrov came first on 4.5/5 in the Cavan Minor (U1200) section this weekend. See results, event page.

Mon 9 Jan 2023 - John Loughran

Club Champs begin, ICU and LCU tournament results

This Tuesday 10 Jan the Club Championships begin with four sections A, B, C and D. These are all-play-all (round robin) events apart from Sec D which is a Swiss, the usual format. Go to Play, Tournament, Club Ch... to see Pairings.
In the last few days Nikolai got 2/7 in the Irish Over 65s Champs in Stillorgan. Jacob got 3/5 in the Leinster U12 Champs there too. Charlie got 2/6 in the U8s and enjoyed it. Result for that were not uploaded.
2nd team match on Tuesday see Calendar.

Tue 13 Dec 2022 - John Loughran

Fourth in Mick Germaine Cup

Our junior team came fourth in the Mick Germaine Cup on Sun 11 Dec 2022, our highest placing ever. Well done to the team: Krishiv (captain), Lorcán (board prize), Shane and Stan. Details on Team Junior page. Pics on WhatsApp.

Mon 5 Dec 2022 - John Loughran

Mick Germaine Cup

A junior team event in Droumcondra on 11 Dec 2022, which is open to all who are under 16 on 1/1/23. See Team > Junior for details and to enter.

Sun 23 Oct 2022 - John Loughran

Community Games after Halloween

We are again hosting the Community Games Skerries Chess Finals, starting at 7 pm in the Bridge Club 73B Strand Street on Tuesday 8th November.
The Entry Fee is €2 for non members, to cover the cost of Community Games Medals for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place in each of the U-16, U-13 and U-11 age groups. Players must be under 16 on the 31st July next year, with an address in the Skerries area. For the duration of the competition players will be free members of the Skerries Chess Club. They must Login and Join on the website. One parent of each player must be Garda vetted and should bring Photo ID and Proof of Address with them on the first night or contact our Vetting Officer in advance. For more information see our website or contact us. The tournament will be used to select players to represent Skerries on the U16, U13 and U11 teams in the Community Games Dublin Finals next spring. Encourage your friends to enter. For an account of last year's Dublin finals with photos see Team > Junior. Prizegiving for the Autumn tournaments will be on Tue 8 Nov 2022.

Sat 1 Oct 2022 - John Loughran

First and third teams play first matches

The first team won 3.5 - 2.5 at home to the Curragh this afternoon in the Bridge club with wins for Joe and Paul, while Greg drew and John (captain) and Mark both lost. Owen got a walkover on board 6 as they were unable to field a full team. Not so for our captain Dermot who organized a full team of mainly novices to play away in DCU. While they lost 5 - 0 many of the games were close, Dermot lasting the longest. Playing for DCU was our former member Finn Woodlock. They all enjoyed their games and for some their first compeditive games. Soon you will be able to see detailed scores, ratings, team line ups on the Team > Leagues page, by choosing the link for each team, as well as the latest fixtures following recent changes.

Tue 13 Sep 2022 - John Loughran

Alexiei competes in IM Norm event

Currently Alexiei Bottino, who will play for us this year in the leagues, is competing in an International Master Norm event. See results here: https://www.icu.ie/articles/984.

Sat 11 Jun 2022 - John Loughran

Skerries U13s win Silver Medals in Community Games Dublin Finals

Skerries came second to Marley Grange. See full pictorial report with pictures on Teams > Community Ganes > 2022.

Tue 29 Mar 2022 - John Loughran

John Bolger Cup Skerries results

Three Skerries players played in the John Bolger Cup in Coláiste Éanna, Ballyroan at the weekend. In the 2nd section (<1900 ICU ratings) John Loughran scored 3.5/6 and Nikolai Dimitrov got 1/6 while in the third section (<1200 icu) Andrew Conneely got 4/6 in his first tournament!

Detailed results can be seen on chess-results.com. There is more information on upcoming events on icu.ie and on our own Calendar page in the menus above.

Wed 23 Mar 2022 - John Loughran

Skerries finish second in Hibernian League Division 1!

On 22nd March 2022 the Skerries first team, playing in Division 1 (of 3 divisions) in the Hibernian Online Chess League, drew 2 - 2 with Drogheda, to secure second place. This was behind the winners, Dublin Chess Club, but ahead of 17 other teams that entered from Ireland. The team consisted of Martin Krug, Greg Pawlowski, John Loughran (captain), Marco Mancosu and Mark Allidine. The top scorers were Martin and Marco who scored 3.5/5 and 3/3 respectively but everyone contributed to the success, gained by a margin of 1/2 point over third placed Dun Laoghaire. Meanwhile one of our junior players, Tom Jackson, got his first win playing for our second team as they continue their matches in Division 3. The club is abuzz with excitement as this may be our best team performance ever in the club`s history! Currently we play online, due to Covid, but we will resume over the board play in April when we compete in the William Brennan knockout cup (see Teams menu above). The last time the cup competitions were held, Skerries won the Killane shield.

For older news posts see News page