Curragh Chess Club

Lecture and Simultaneous Display

 Short Video Chess Simul :- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQEMGskFDHQ

The Curragh Chess Club welcomed Jonathan O'Connor, chairman of the Irish Chess Union to the club on Thursday night where he gave a talk on chess tactics and played in an entertaining simultaneous exhibition game.

Jonathan played nine games and scored an impressive 100% score. First to fall were Dermot Earls and Noel Lynch followed by Tim Hinchey and Niall O'Shea. Hugues Hammouma put up the biggest resistance but ultimately collapsed to Jonathan's better tactical play. The youngest player of the night Padraig Hughes was one of the last to fall putting in a good performance while Aiden O'Connor missed some opportunities to draw and even win the game when he was one of the last men standing.

Jonathan also presented Noel Lynch with the Billy O'Connor perpetual trophy for winning the Club Championship 2011.

For the record, here's the full score for the night:-

Jonathan O'Connor 1-0 Franco Rivera

Jonathan O'Connor 1-0 Tim Hinchey

Jonathan O'Connor 1-0 Hugues Hammouma

Jonathan O'Connor 1-0 Niall O'Shea

Jonathan O'Connor 1-0 Dermot Earls

Jonathan O'Connor 1-0 Noel Lynch

Jonathan O'Connor 1-0 Padraig Hughes

Jonathan O'Connor 1-0 Martin Brehhov

Jonathan O'Connor 1-0 Aidan O'Connor

Jonathan O'Connor Lecture

The Curragh Chess Club meets every Thursday in the Watertower Conference Facility (beside Fire Station) at 8 p.m. Visitors are always welcome.

Lecture and Simultaneous Display

Jonathan O'Connor, chairperson of the Irish Chess Union and member of Dublin Chess Club will give a lecture and simultaneous exhibition game on Thursday 6th May at 7.30 p.m.

All are welcome to attend.

International Ratings

Two Curragh players have obtained partial FIDE ratings following the 2010-11 season, the first ever for the Curragh. The Heidenfeld Trophy was rated for the purposes of obtaining a FIDE rating but depended on the number of games against rated opponents. Although Richard played on the top board in the National Club championships, he did not play enough games to achieve a FIDE rating performance from the competition.

It is expected that after next season, Richard and Pearse may obtain full international ratings and other players on the higher boards will manage to play against rated opponents.

Rose of Tralee

The Curragh Chess Club meets every Thursday at 8 p.m. in the Water Tower Conference Facility (former Curragh Library). New members and casual visitors are always welcome.

Club News - Rose of Tralee

The Curragh Chess Club would like to send best wishes to Chantelle Bowers who will be representing the club in the preliminary rounds of the Rose of Tralee selection heats for Kildare at Kilashee Hotel, Naas on Sunday 24 April. Chantelle is from Robertstown and works for Assets Model Agency.

Tom Bermingham Blitz Competition 2011

Above: Hugues Hammouma v Bryan Tobin (Front) and Michael Kennedy v Pearse Dunne

Om a cold a bitter evening the Curragh Chess season came back to life with a blast!
The Tom Bermingham Blitz competition was held to celebrate the impact that Tom, who recently passed away, had on the chess club.
The tournament saw eleven warriors fight it out for the prize with Pearse Dunne the early favourite, although playing with a time handicap.
However it was the dark horse of Hugues Hammouma who emerged from the pack to take the title following an exciting penultimate round defeat of Pearse.
Hugues held his nerve in the final round against Michael Kennedy to emerge victorious on a score of 9/10 as he finished level with Pearse but with a better head-to-head score.

Above: Derek Stacey v Mark McLoughlin

Above: Jim Forde v Bryan Tobin

The club is back in action every Thursday night evening at 8 p.m. in the former Curragh Branch Library (Watertower Conference Facility). New players are always welcome.

Tom Bermingham

Tom Bermingham  (died 23 Nov 2010)

The death has occurred, on 23 November 2010,  of former club member Tom Bermingham. 

Tom was a regular in the club throughout the 1980s and 1990s serving as club chairman in 1995 and 1996. He was a member of Naas Chess Club prior to joining the Curragh and introduced many young players to the game in the Suncroft area. Tom was a farmer living in Mooretown, Kilcullen. He made a brief appearance in the club in 2004 to mark the club's 25th anniversary. He will be sadly missed by his former chess playing colleagues, friends and family.

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William Brennan Trophy 2010

Victory for Curragh!

The Curragh have won the William Brennan Trophy 2010. In the final of the knock-out competition, the Curragh were losing 2.5-0.5 from 3 games played on Monday 12th July and needed all three points in the last remaining games held on Saturday 17 July. Amazingly they managed to secure all three points to secure the trophy for players rated under 1500.

Incidentally, the team created another record for the Curragh with representatives of six countries on the team: Dutch, Estonian, Latvian, French-Algerian, Philipino and Irish!

Well done to all including teram Captain Dermot Earls!

2010/11 Season

The club will reopen on Thursday 2nd September for the new season. New players always welcome.

First league game of the season will be as follows:-

Sat 25 Sept    Heidenfeld (Division 2)  St. Benildus v Curragh

All fixtures on http://www.leinsterchess.com/lcu1011/next.htm

Killane Shield 2009

The Curragh chess club meet every Thursday in the Curragh Branch Library from September to May. Necomers are always welcome. The Annual General Meeting will be held on Thursday 28 May, 2009.

Latest News

Curragh v Phibsboro - Killane Shield 2009 - Saturday, 9 May 2009

The Curragh were knocked out of the Killane Shield in the Quarter Final after suffering a 5-0 defeat to a much stronger Phibsboro side.

Hugues and Franco played good games and were both unlucky to lose.

William Brennan Trophy 2009

The Curragh Chess Club meet every Thursday night at 8 pm in the former Library opposite the church. Newcomers always welcome.

Latest News

Curragh have qualified for the semi-final of the inaugural Brennan Trophy after drawing 2.5-2.5 with Phibsboro Chess Club. Curragh go through on board count.

Curragh v Phibsboro - Saturday 18 April 2009

Wicklow defeated Bray/Greystones so the Semi-Final line-up is:-

Semi-Final 1: Finglas or Dun Laoghaire  v Balbriggan

Semi-Final 2: Curragh v Wicklow

Team Competitions

The Curragh Chess Club meet every Thursday night at 8 pm in the former Library opposite the church. Newcomers always welcome.

Latest News

The Curragh have entered three teams in the three different end of season Leinster League competitions:

Branagan Cup

Open to teams in Divisions 1 & 2 - 12 teams competing

Round 1 - 28 March 2009 - Elm Mount v Curragh

The Curragh lost out in the first round 4-1 to the Division 1 Elm Mount side.

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Killane Shield

Open to teams in Divisions 3, 4, 5 & 6 - 12 teams competing

Team Captain: Dermot Earls

Round 1: Curragh Bye into Quarter Final

The Curragh won the inaugural Killane Shield in 2005 and repeated the success in 2006.

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William Brennan Trophy

Open to players rated under 1500 - 13 teams competing

Team Captain: Niall O'Shea

Round 1: Curragh Bye into Quarter Final

This is a new competition.

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T.P. Byrne

T. P. Byrne (died 17 Nov 2008)

The death has occurred, on 17 November 2008,  of former club member T.P. Byrne. 
Tom was a regular in the club throughout the 1980s and 1990s serving as club chairman in 2000 and 2001. He was a member of Naas Chess Club prior to that and was also an active member of the Curragh Golf Club. Tom worked as a teacher in the Dominican College, Newbridge and was a character in the club throughout his many years of membership. He will be sadly missed.

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2008/09 Season

The Curragh Chess Club reopened on Thursday 11th September 2008.

The club has two teams participating in the Leinster Leagues and always welcome new members. Division 2 commences on Saturday 20th September with Division 4 commencing on the following Saturday.

Anyone interested in playing this season is very welcome to attend. Members meet every Thursday evening at 8 p.m. in the Curragh Library (opposite Church).

Further details about the Curragh Chess Club at kildaremark@hotmail.com

Branagan Cup & Killane Shield 2007

Maurice Canavan

 Both Curragh teams interest in this competition ended in the first round against stronger opposition.

Branagan Cup 2007

Peter Klompers (left)

The Curragh's Division  2 team was defeated by Division 1 side Trinity College Dublin at their first time to enter the competition. In the end the result was a very respectable one for the Curragh and Richard very nearly won it for us in the end!

Killane Shield 2007

The defending champions Curragh were defeated 1.5-3.5 by a much stronger Phibsboro side. In the end the result was a very reasonable performance.

Noel Lynch (right)

Dermot Earls and Niall O'Shea

Killane Shield Final

Curragh v Rathmines,  27 May 2006

The Curragh won the Killane Shield for the second year in a row against all the odds by beating Rathmines in the final round.  The Curragh entered the competition with an almost completely different team to that which won the trophy last year and still came away with it in the end defeating stronger opposition from Elm Mount and St. Benildus in previous rounds. The final was played in the An Oige Hostel on Mountjoy Street under the watchful eye of Phibsboro Chess Club's Mick Germaine who organised the competition.

The final round was an excellent result considering the team was outrated on four out of the five boards.

Other players who participated in previous rounds were Brendan Duffy and Derek Stacey. Congratulations to all those involved and well done!

The club's successes are now as follows:

The club will  reopen on Thursday 7th September  2006 at 8 p.m. in the Curragh Branch Library - beside the Curragh Fire Station. The club will be entering teams in the Heidenfeld Trophy ( Division 2) and the O'Hanlon Cup (Division 4) of the Leinster Leagues so new players are very welcome.

The handover of the Curragh, May 1922.

May 2006 Rating list

The Irish Chess Union May 2006 Ratings have been published.

Curragh players as follows. Peter Klompers and Noel Lynch's good seasons reflected in the ratings:

Killane Shield 2006

Semi-Final

Curragh v St. Benildus,  8 May 2006

The Curragh knocked St. Benildus out of the Killane Shield in the Semi-Finals with a 3-2 win, yet again against stronger opposition.  The Curragh will now play Rathmines in the final with a good chance of retaining the trophy which they won last year, the inaugural year of the competition.

Rathmines defeated Roy Lopez in the other semi-final.

Killane Shield 2006

Elm Mount v Curragh (Round 2)  19 April 2006

The Curragh as winner's of the inaugural event held last Summer got a bye in Round 1. This year's Curragh Team comprises mostly of players from the O'Hanlon Cup team and met Elm Mount in Round 2 whom the Curragh defeated in the final last year. The match ended in a draw with the Curragh proceeding to the next round by virtue of winning board 1 - a good result against a stronger team.

 The semi-finals are:

Killane Shield 2005

Curragh Win the Inaugural Killane Shield 2005!

Photo: Dermot Earls, Derek Stacey, Noel Lynch, Charlie Talbot and Mark McLoughlin are presented with Killane Shield by Tony Gregory T.D.

The Curragh Chess Club won the inaugural Killane Shield 2005.  The competition was open to teams in Divisions 3-6 of the Leinster Leagues and played at the end of the League Season.The Curragh defeated teams from Rathmines, Inchicore, Bray/Greystones and Elm Mount on their way to winning the Shield. The trophy was presented on 28th August 2005 at the City of Dublin Championships.

The Club will reopen for the new season on Thursday 8th September 2005 at 8pm in the Curragh branch library (Beside the Fire Station). New members always welcome!

Photo: Club Chairman Derek Stacey is presented with the Killane Shield by Tony Gregory T.D. at the City of Dublin Championships on 28th August 2005.

This is the Curragh's first trophy since 1992!!   Team members were Richard Arundell, Mark McLoughlin,  Noel Lynch (Capt), Peter Klompers, Dermot Earls & Derek Stacey.  Congratulations to all!

Results of the competition were as follows:-

Round 1: Curragh v Rathmines

Saturday, 25 June 2005 :  Curragh 3-1 Rathmines

Round 2: Inchicore v Curragh

Thursday,  7 July 2005 :   Inchicore 1.5-3.5 Curragh

Semi-Final: Curragh v Bray/Greystones

Saturday, 14 July 2005 :    Curragh 3.5 - 1.5 Bray/Greystones

Final: Curragh v  Elm Mount

Saturday, 30 July 2005 :    Curragh 4-1 Elm Mount

Christmas Swiss Competition 2004

The Christmas Swiss Competition held from October to December 2004 was won by Richard Arundell. Richard needed to win his last round game against Mark McLoughlin to take the victory after conceding a draw earlier in the competition to Peter Klompers.

1st Richard Arundell
2nd Mark McLoughlin
3rd Peter Klompers

25th Anniversary

On Thursday 27th May 2004, members past and present gathered together to celebrate 25 years of brilliances, blunders, premises moves, characters, promotions and relegations. Tony Carr and Tom Bermingham The club was founded by serving members of the Defence Forces on 22nd May 1979 in the Military College. Founding member Tony Carr recalled that the Club was initially set up to run an army chess championship but due to popular demand, it was agreed to allow civilians join the club. The club met in the School of Signals until it moved to its current location at the Curragh Library in 1990. The club entered a team in the Leinster Chess League for the 1979/80 season and has participated in every season since then. At its height in 1995, the club had four teams competing in the Leagues with members from Kildare, Newbridge, Kilcullen and Naas.