Eighty players battle it out as Carlow Rapid chess tournament returns for second year
Tisya Singh makes her move.
EIGHTY chess players from across Ireland and beyond descended on the Seven Oaks Hotel on Saturday 27 June for the second Carlow Rapid Chess Tournament, with candidate master Jacob Flynn taking home the €1,000 top prize.
Mr Flynn, who is in his early twenties, won the tournament with a score of six and a half points out of a possible seven.
The event marks only the second year of the tournament’s revival after a 50-year gap; Carlow last hosted a tournament of this kind in the 1970s. The national event attracts players of all ages from all over the country, as well as international competitors.
John Kelly, a member of Carlow Chess Club who finished fourth on the day, said the turnout of 80 players this year, following 100 at last year’s inaugural event, was “fantastic figures for both years for a tournament of that nature”.
Mr Kelly, who has been playing chess since primary school and played in a club in Askea, said the Seven Oaks was a great location for those travelling to Carlow by train. He thanked the hotel for hosting, Carlow Credit Union for its sponsorship, and Kilkenny Chess Club for lending equipment on the day.
He explained that chess players are ranked on ability rather than age. “Chess is based on your rating, not your age, and you get a rating based on playing 20 games,” he said. “This was a rapid tournament, so that’s 15 minutes, ten seconds per move. Normal classical games would be an hour and 45 minutes with no increment, depending. So you get a rating for that, you get a rating for rapid and then you get a rating for blitz, which is normally three minutes, two seconds.”
Looking at the bigger picture, Mr Kelly said a submission is currently going before the Oireachtas to have chess formally recognised as a sport in Ireland.
“It’s a sport in many countries around the world, and in Ireland it isn’t. And this really hinders the development of the sport and it hinders funding. More and more parents are pushing for their kids to play because there’s massive benefits to playing chess – it’s great for the mind, it’s great for focus, for planning,” he said.
“You’re not focused just on what you’re doing; you’re also trying to evaluate what your opponent does, which helps in life when you’re trying to solve a problem or an issue. You don’t just look at it from your own point of view; you look at it from different angles, giving a better perspective on the issue.”
Carlow Chess Club’s membership reflects that broad appeal, with players ranging from eight and nine years’ old to members in their sixties.
Ireland has never produced a homegrown male chess grandmaster, but Portlaoise prodigy Tarun Kanyamarala, a top international master, is actively pursuing that milestone. His sister Trisha became Ireland’s first woman international master in January 2020, aged just 14, and in 2025 became the country’s first female grandmaster after earning her third norm in London. Both siblings took part in last year’s Carlow Rapid, which Trisha won.
While the pair are based in Portlaoise, Mr Kelly noted that “they’ve been a great help to Carlow”.
