Irish U19 championships

Series began (as the “All-Ireland Secondary Schoolboys’ Championship”) in 1948.

Affiliations listed are clubs except where a suffix specifies a school.

  • 1948-1949
  • 1948       Geoffrey Hand (Blackrock College (Dublin))
  • 1949       Michael Fagan (Westland Row C.B.S. (Dublin))
  •  
  • 1950-1959
  • 1950       Eugene Courtney (Royal Belfast Academical Institution)
  • 1951       Sam Ferris (Grosvenor High School (Belfast))
  • 1952       Alex Montwill (Westland Row C.B.S. (Dublin))
  • 1953       S. H. Johnston
  • 1954       Richard Grogan (Synge Street C.B.S. (Dublin)) (on tie-break; 1st-2nd Dónal Déiseach)
  • 1955       Dónal Déiseach (Coláiste Mhuire (Dublin))
  • 1956       Michael McMahon (O’Connell’s School (Dublin))
  • 1957       John McMahon (O’Connell’s School (Dublin)) (on tie-break; 1st-3rd Art Coldrick, Pat Deasy)
  • 1958       Harry Harte (Belfast High School)
  • 1959       Art Coldrick (O’Connell’s School (Dublin))
  •  
  • 1960-1969
  • 1960       J. Brian Tomson (on tie-break)
  • 1961       Seán Corcoran (Synge Street C.B.S. (Dublin))
  • 1962       Brian Kerr
  • 1963       Brian Kerr (Methodist College (Belfast))
  • 1964       Raphael Farina (Synge Street C.B.S. (Dublin)) (on tie-break)
  • 1965       Tony Cafferky (Mungret College (Limerick))
  • 1966       John Moles (after playoff)
  • 1967       John Moles (after playoff)
  • 1968       Paul Henry (St. Malachy’s College (Belfast))
  • 1969       David Wilson (Methodist College (Belfast))
  •  
  • 1970-1979
  • 1970       Bernard Kernan (Oatlands College (Dublin) & Dublin) (on tiebreak)
  • 1971       Bernard Kernan (Oatlands College (Dublin) & Dublin)
  • 1972       Rodney Nixon (Mountjoy School (Dublin)), Colm Quigley (C.B.S. Cork)
  • 1973       Rodney Nixon (Mountjoy School (Dublin) & Dublin)
  • 1974       Paul Delaney (Kevin Barry) (on tie-break)
  • 1975       Rolande Anderson (Mountjoy School (Dublin)) and/or Pádraig O’Toole (Coláiste Eoin (Dublin)) (playoff scheduled; result unknown)
  • 1976       Colm Barry (Terenure College (Dublin))
  •        Irish Schoolgirls’ Championship 1976: Ann Delaney (St. Monica’s (Dublin))
  • 1977       David Dunne (Rathmines) (on tiebreak)
  •        Irish Schoolgirls’ Championship 1977: Ann Delaney (Edenmore)
  • 1978       Keith Allen (Fisherwick)
  •        Irish Schoolgirls’ Championship 1978: April Cronin
  • 1979       Keith Allen, Seán Coffey (Oatlands College (Dublin)) & Dundrum), John Delaney
  •        Irish Schoolgirls’ Championship 1979: Mairéad Ní Siochrú (Scoil Caitríona (Dublin)), Miriam Woods (Our Lady’s College (Drogheda) & Drogheda)
  •  
  • 1980-1989
  • 1980       Keith Allen (Fisherwick) and/or John R. Kennedy (Fisherwick)
  • 1981       Seán Coffey (Oatlands College (Dublin) & Dundrum)
  •        Irish Schoolgirls’ Championship 1981: Maeve Delaney
  • 1982       Craig McDowell (Belfast Royal Academy)
  •        Irish Schoolgirls’ Championship 1982: Helen Gore
  • 1983       Eddie Grant (Beneavin College (Dublin) & Phibsboro)
  •        Irish Schoolgirls’ Championship 1983: Maeve Delaney
  • 1984       Kilian Hynes
  • 1985       T. Brown
  • 1986       Eric McMahon
  • 1987       J. Buckley
  • 1988       J. Cairns, P. Moclair, J. Joyce, D. Simpson (?)
  • 1989       Roger Beckett (Methodist College (Belfast) & Fisherwick)
  •  
  • 1990-1999
  • 1990       Richard McMaster
  • 1991       M. Given
  • 1992       Colm Darby (Stratford College (Dublin))
  • 1993       Stephen Gillen and/or Adrian Gillen
  • 1994       Adrian Gillen
  • 1995       Adrian Gillen
  • 1996       Unknown
  • 1997       Eoin Spring
  • 1998       Adam Kelly (Gonzaga College (Dublin))*
  • 1999       Sam Collins (Gonzaga College (Dublin))
  •  
  • 2000-2009
  • 2000       John P. A. Kennedy
  • 2001       John P. A. Kennedy
  • 2002       Stephen Stokes*
  • 2003       Alex Lopez
  • 2004       Alex Lopez
  • 2005       Matthew Dignam
  • 2006       Karl McPhillips
  • 2007       Jan Mueller
  • 2008       Dara Murphy*
  • 2009       Sam Osborne
  •  
  • 2010—2019
  • 2010       Ryan-Rhys Griffiths
  • 2011       Ryan-Rhys Griffiths
  • 2012       Karina Kruk (Aquinas Grammar School (Belfast))
  • 2013       Hugh Doyle (C.B.C. Cork & Cork)
  • 2014       Ben Cullen (Gonzaga College (Dublin) & Gonzaga)
  • 2015       Tom O’Gorman (St. Andrew’s College (Dublin) & Dún Laoghaire)
  • 2016       Conor O’Donnell (Gonzaga College (Dublin) & Gonzaga)
  • 2017       Denis Ruchko (Galway)
  • 2018       Peter Carroll (Gonzaga College (Dublin) & Gonzaga)
  • 2019       Jacob Flynn (Malahide) (after playoff)
  •  
  • 2020—
  • 2020       No championship
  • 2021       Oisín O’Cuilleanain
  • 2022       Denis Ruchko (Galway)

* = combined U19/U16 championship in which U19 winner finished behind U16 winner.

  • References:
  • Irish Junior Championships page, David McAlister’s Irish Chess History website (winners and totals for all championships, 1948-2018)
  • Tournament summaries page, IRLchess (references for some years)
  • Irish Independent, April 4, 1949 p. 8 (1949 winner’s school) and April 22, 1949 p. 8 (1949 results).
  • Irish Independent, July 8, 1950 p. 8 and Irish Press, July 8, 1950 p. 9 (1950 winner’s school).
  • Sunday Independent, April 29, 1951 p. 8 (1951 winner’s school).
  • Irish Independent, January 3, 1952 p. 7 (1952 winner’s school) and Evening Herald, July 5, 1952 p. 8 (1952 winner).
  • Irish Independent, April 12, 1958 p. 15 and Irish Times, April 19, 1958 p. 9 (1958 results); Cork Examiner, July 15, 1958 p. 10 (1958 winner’s school).
  • Irish Press, April 26, 1965 p. 12 (1965 results).
  • Irish Times, April 26, 1965 p. 14 (1965 winner’s school).
  • Cork Examiner, April 6, 1967 p. 11 (1967 results, excluding playoff).
  • Belfast News Letter, 23 April 1982 p. 1 (1982 winner full name and school affiliation, plus photo)
  • Sunday Independent, April 24, 1983 p. 12 (1983 results, winner’s school).
  • Belfast Telegraph, 26 January 1989 p. 3 (1989 winner’s school and club affilitaion, plus photo)
  • CHESS IRELAND – NEWS, Mar-Jun 2000 (John Hurley) (via the Wayback Machine)
  • All Ireland U19 Chess Champion, April 11, 2013, C.B.C. Cork web pages (news item on 2013 winner, plus school affiliation)
  • Tom O’Gorman – Irish U19 Champion, St. Andrew’s College web pages, April 2015
  • Peter Carroll becomes Irish U19 Chess Champion, Gonzaga College S.J. web pages, April 9, 2018 (photo of 2014 winner, list of all previous Gonzaga College winners)
  • Irish Junior Chess Championship 2021 – Results, ‘Venkat’, ICU web pages, 6 November 2021 (re 2021 winner)
  • Ratings report, ICU ratings web pages (re 2022 winner)


Last updated November 28, 2022.

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