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.
It is with great sadness we note the death of Philip Short on last Friday 31st August.
Philip was one of the strongest players to come from Munster and regularly featured in the Irish Championships which he won several times. His first win was in 1981 (shared with David Dunne). Most recently he had wins in 2015 (shared with long time rival Stephen Brady) and 2017 (shared with another Cork man Alex Lopez).
Along with his great talent Philip had a friendly and approachable manner which made him a popular and respected member of the Irish Chess Community.
Our thoughts are with his family and his brothers at this time.
May he rest in Peace.
After some dramatic upsets in Rounds 12 and 13 everything was in the balance coming into the final round on Saturday 28th April. CCYMS and Sarsfield were tied on 8 match points each but CCYMS had a half point advantage in game points. On the other hand CCYMS were playing Cork A who were in the top four while Sarsfield were playing Limerick A who were battling to avoid the relegation play off.
The Sarsfield v Limerick A match finished first with two wins for Sarsfield and three draws. At that point CCYMS had won one game but lost two in their match with Cork A. So even if CCYMS won the two remaining games Sarsfield would be equal on game points. The tie break would then look at the results of the matches between the two teams. Sarsfield had the advantage there.
In the end the remaining two games were drawn giving Cork A a 3-2 win which meant Sarsfield won by a full point. Despite the final round defeat CCYMS were runners up.
As Division 1 is being reduced to six teams next season the bottom three teams in Division 1 were to have an all play all playoff with the Division 2 winners to determine the final relegation / promotion places. Since Adare defaulted this left the bottom two teams in Division 1 in the relegation playoff.
Coming in to the final round Cork B and Limerick A were both on 3 match points with Charleville on 3.5 points. Since Cork B had played all their matches they could not avoid the relegation playoff. Limerick A had higher game points than Charleville so if they could catch Charleville the tie break would favour them.
In the end Charleville lost to Ennis A to Ennis A and Limerick A lost to Sarsfield so that Limerick A and Cork B end up in the relegation playoff.
Full match results for Division 1 are available here and full round by round game results are available here.
The winning Sarsfield team of Frank Noonan (Team Captain), Martin O'Grady, Liam O'Brien, Paul Walsh and Paul Kiely.
After a loss in Round 1 to Ennis B, Tralee recovered to win Division 2 comortably a full match point ahead of Limerick B. Tralee will now join Cork B and Limerick A in a playoff to determine who will play in Division 1 and Division 2 next season.
Full match results for Division 2 are available here and full round by round game results are available here.