The Limerick Chess Club, established in 1926, is one of Munster's most active chess clubs with a current membership (2018-19) of approximately 31 players. It currently fields one team each year in the Munster Chess Union Leagues. The Limerick A team won the M.C.U. Division 1 title in 1999 and went on to represent the province in the Irish Chess Union's National Club Championship in Belfast. In this extremely strong competition, they finished third! The Limerick A team captured the M.C.U. Division 1 title again in 2009 after a long wait of ten years. The Limerick B team won the M.C.U. Division 2 title in 2000 and consequently was promoted to the top division. The Limerick B and C teams were temporarily withdrawn from the Munster Chess Union Leagues in 2005 due to lack of players. However, the Limerick B team was restored to Division 3 in 2006 and won promotion to Division 2 in 2007. In season 2011 Limerick club had one team entered in the Div 1 MCU League. In 2018-19 the Limerick B team won the Div 2 title and were promoted to Div 1 which meant that Limerick have 2 teams in Div 1 for the 2019-20 season.
Apart from club chess, the Limerick region also has two National week-end Swiss tournaments, The Limerick Open and the Bunratty Chess Festival. The Limerick Open is run each year at the South Court Hotel over the October bank holiday weekend by John Cassidy (contact no. 087-249 5913). This by no means is a small event, numbers can be anything up to 100 players, but it pales by comparison to the jewel in the calendar of not only Limerick Chess, but the Irish Chess Union too, the Bunratty Chess Festival (see www.bunrattychess.com). This is run in mid-March each year at the Bunratty Castle Hotel and entries average over 200 players. This is Ireland's biggest chess event of the year and attracts many top players from all over Europe.
The Limerick Chess Club has been hosting one particular tournament since it's inception in 1926, The North Munster Chess Championship. The Limerick Leader donated a cup for the first North Munster in that year and it has been run ever since almost without fail. As from 2003 Ennis Chess Club took over organizing this tournament. For more information contact John Cassidy at 087 249 5913.
In 2009, Frank Noonan of Sarsfield Chess Club, Limerick City's other club, initiated the North Munster Chess League Individual championship, a nine round Swiss competition, with a game every 3 weeks, in which players from Limerick and Ennis were eligible
Records of competitions from the early years were unfortunately lost in the mists of time but there is a record
of past year's winners of all competitions in the Club Wall Panel section of this website.
For more information on the Limerick Chess Club, please contact any of the officers listed
in the Contacts section, they would be delighted to
hear from you.
Last Update 4-10-10