Munster Chess Union
Welcome to the Munster Chess Union website which promotes chess in Munster. These pages will provide access to information about the Munster Chess Leagues, Chess Clubs in Munster and any other information relevant to chess players and clubs in the region.
As well as MCU information we are also happy to publish announcements and reports on behalf of chess clubs in the region.
The final rounds of the Munster Leagues 2019/2020 will be played in the Charleville Park Hotel on Sunday 23rd October 2022. Round 9 will start at 12:00 pm as usual with Round 10 starting at 5:00 pm for Division 1 and 4:00 pm for Division 2. The league schedule and results pages are up to date if you want to review current standings etc.
The 2022/2023 Leagues proper will start on Sunday 4th December (Rounds 1 & 2) with subsequent rounds scheduled for 15th Jan (Rounds 3 & 4), 26th Feb (Rounds 5 & 6), 26th March (Rounds 7 & 8) and 25th April (Rounds 9 & 10). Unfortunately it won't be possible to make the actual draw/schedule until the final promotion and relegation places are determined.
With the new chess season starting up I have some recent announcements about tournament dates and venues which will interest many of you. I believe many of the changes are due to issues with hotel availability. Also my apologies for not doing this update sooner but I was travelling and didn't have reliable internet access.
The 30th Cork Congress will be run in the Blarney Woolen Mills Hotel on the dates above. Further details are on the ICU Website with a flyer avalable here which provides all the details and contact information.
The Limerick Open will be run in the West County Hotel, Ennis on the dates above. Further details are on the Limerick Club Website and there is a pdf flyer here which provides all the details and contact information.
The Munster Junior Championships will be run in the West County Hotel, Ennis on the dates above. Further details are on the ICU Website and there is a pdf flyer here which provides all the details and contact information. N.B. Please note that the dates for this event are currently incorrect on the main ICU web page. Also the Muster League will be rescheduled to avoid a clash with this event.
The Kilkenny Congress will take place from Friday Nov 25th to Sunday Nov 27th completing a very busy period for chess. Further details are on the ICU Website.
Unfortunately it has recently been announced that the Bunratty Chess Festival 2023 is cancelled due to unavailability of the hotel. Further details are on the Bunratty Website.
Ennis Chess Club are taking part in the European Club Championship which will be played in Austria from 2nd to 10th October. This clashes with the original schedule published below for the Munster Leagues.
As a result the AGM and the remaining rounds of the 2019 - 2020 MCU Leagues are being re-scheduled to 23rd October 2022 instead of 9th October as proposed in the earlier schedule. As the 23rd date is available this is simpler than trying to change just the Ennis matches.
Following a recent committee meeting plans are being put in place to get the Munster Leagues back running in the Autumn. Once the details are worked out all team captains will be notified by email.
The first step will be to complete the final two rounds of matches from the 2019/2020 Season. This is needed to decide winners of each division and promotion / relegation.
The first news is that Lukasz Daros (Ennis) has joined the Committee to fill the vacant secretary position. A big Thank You to Lukasz for taking on this role.
Unfortunately during the pandemic Kevin O'Flaherty has moved to Dublin and therefore stepped down as League Controller. Our Thanks to Kevin for his hard work as League Controller and League Arbiter for several years.
Following the committee meeting mentioned above Lukasz has emailed all Division 1 and Division 2 contacts with an outline of the proposals for restarting the Munster Leagues for 2022 - 2023. A pdf version of that email can be seen here for any other club members who are interested.
I will be adding a page for the 2022-2023 leagues and updating the schedule pages shortly. This will be a bit unusual as the closing stages of the 2019-2020 league and the following 2022-2023 league will be active at the same time.