The 2012 Kilkenny Congress also played host this year to the Irish Women’s Championship. The Championship was open to non-Irish qualified players and Czech WFM Martina Mareckova won the event, with the championship title going to runner-up WCM Karina Kruk.
Gerry Graham’s excellent report on the Congress states that this was the first separate women’s championship since 1982. Short memories, since there was a championship only two years ago as part of the Dun Laoghaire Chess Festival. Perhaps the reason for this apparent forgetfulness is that the ICU’s own list of Ladies’ champions does not include the 2010 winner, April Cronin.
There are probably some further errors or omissions in the ICU list. For instance, my own researches indicate that the first championship was held in 1953 and that the championships attributed to Hilda Chater in 1951 and 1952 are phantoms. I hope to return to the history of the women’s championship in future posts.