Jonathan, our top rated player, ran an online simul against seven of our members on Dec. 9. Using the Lichess host and also Zoom, he was able to show the board positions as he played and also offer lively comments and banter about each game which could also be viewed and heard by the players and some members who were just spectating. He won five of the seven games and lost to Robert Murtagh and Davide Cesaro. The simul was followed by some fascinating interactive analyses of the different games. All very enjoyable and worth repeating.

Because of the Covid-19 restrictions this annual club tournament was held online this year. Split into graded senior and junior sections, it started in July and finished in mid September. Each section was run on a round robin basis with clock times of 20/10 for the senior and 30/15 for the junior event.
​Robert Murtagh was the worthy winner of the senior event with a strong 100% win performance and becomes the new Club Champion. The junior section was more closely contested with Darren McLean being the eventual winner.

​Paul, a former Club President and one of our most eminent members, sadly passed away on August 25. Apart from his many valuable contributions to the organisation and affairs of Dublin Chess Club, Paul also served on the United Arts Club committee as Chairman in the early nineties. More recently he was elected President of the Leinster Chess Union where he played a prominent and important role.
Paul loved chess and was an enthusiastic league and tournament player. He was a regular at our club nights where he was always ready to meet and greet members and visitors alike with his big smile. He will be sadly missed. Our sympathies go out to his wife Rosemary and family.

Dublin CC entered two teams in the inaugural online chess league which started in May. Our first team of four, captained by Martin Schmidt and playing in the Monday Summer league, won all of their eight matches to finish top of the table. Our second team, captained by Daniel Schlachter, played in the Tuesday Summer league and did not fare so well, finishing last. While an enjoyable experience during these Covid-19 times, these leagues were relatively ungraded and threw up too many games with large rating differences between the players.

With the chess club closed and no over-the-board games possible due to the Covid-19 virus, our members have resorted to online chess. Member Nezar Ammari set up our club's first online tournament which took place on March 28. It was a blitz event (Arena style) hosted on lichess.org. and seven of our members competed. The winner was Robert Murtagh with an impressive win rate of 100 %. Further tournaments followed.
As lower rated players seem not to like the blitz/arena format, another series of weekly tournaments was set up for those players, hosted on chess.com and using the Swiss format and rapid-play clock times. A Dublin Online Chess Club was set up on that site by member Daniel Schlachter to facilitate this and 17 of our members have joined. The first of these weekly Wednesday tournaments was held on Apr. 22 with Mark Nagle the winner. This tournament has proven popular as it substitutes for the real "Wednesday Club Night" and continues weekly.

Due to the Covid 19 endemic, Dublin Chess Club is closed until further notice.

An "all play all" blitz was held in the club on Feb. 12. Ten players, including visitor Marco from Germany, competed. The outright winner with a super score of 9/9 was Club President Eddie O'Connor pictured below on the left receiving his prize from Rory Broderick. Eddie's performance was very impressive given that in many of his games he only had three mins. on his clock against ten on his opponent's due to the handicap system used.

Chess lessons are again offered for those interested in improving at this game. The course will be run by club member Daniel Martinez Otero who is a highly rated player and experienced chess instructor. These lessons are for players of 18 years or older who know the basic rules of chess. It is recommended for unrated players and those with a rating below 1500.
Venue: The venue is Dublin Chess Club (United Arts Club at 3, Upper Fitzwilliam St., Dublin 2). Our room (Room No. 9) is located on the top floor of the building.
Structure: 13 lessons of 2 hours each on the following dates:

​This timetable is not definitive as some changes may be done due to working issues of the instructor. If you are not able to attend some of the lessons, the materials will be provided through email.
Extras:

• More exercises of the topic covered in the lesson will be provided after each lesson.
• A group in www.chess.com will be created where students can play positions related to what is covered in the lesson.

 
Price: The cost of attending the course is shown in the table below. This is equivalent to a very reasonable €7.7 per hour including extras above. A 10% discount is available for Dublin Chess Club (DCC) or United Arts Club (UAC) members, even if you join the club at the start of the course.

If you are interested or you have any question please contact Daniel Martinez Otero at daniotero93@gmail.com or Tel. 083 8477712 (Whatsapp if possible). Daniel will reply directly to any queries about the lessons.

Dylan Higgins, winner of the junior section of the summer tournament, could not make the Christmas Dinner and was subsequently presented with the Barry Browne trophy.