When: The final is on Thursday the 13^th of May @ 6.30pm.  In advance of the grand final there will be 3 practice events on April 22^nd, 29^th and on May 6^th.  Students will be put into sections depending on their chess level. All students should play in the practice events to ensure that they get matched against players of similar ability.

Here are the rating bands for each section:

1. Section One – Expert players with a lichess.org rating of 1600 or higher.
2. Section Two – Intermediate players with a rating over 1200 up to a rating of 1599.
3. Section Three – Novice and beginner players rated 1199 or lower.

Prizes fund of €1,500.

1. First place – 10 chess sets AND 5 chess timers for their school, All-Ireland Gold medal.
2. Second place – 10 chess sets OR 5 chess timers for their school, All-Ireland Silver medal.
3. Third place – 5 chess sets OR 3 chess timers for their school All-Ireland Bronze medal.

Participation Prizes:

For the schools with the highest number of participating students there will be a prize of 10 chess sets or 5 chess timers for your school chess club.

Grading Prizes:  There will be multiple prize winners in each section.  These will be Medal prizes. Here’s an example of the prizes for the Novice section:

• Rating band 1:  players rated under 900.
• Rating band 2:  players rated between 900 and 1000.
• Rating band 3:  players rated between 1001 and 1100.

If you’d like to learn chess and improve your chess skills then join our new chess club, which is free for Teachers!

We meet at 8pm on Monday evenings. Our first meeting was on January 25th and we will continue until mid May 2021. You can join any Monday. Each evening we’ll play some chess games and have a chat (on zoom) about the games we’ve just played.

There are 2 groups, one for absolute beginners and another for players who want to learn more about the game.

Email us mfl@movesforlife.ie for details of how to join.

The coaches will once again be April Cronin and Brendan Buckley, who many of you will know from the chess for fun courses.

We are starting a new chess course to help parents who are home schooling and looking for a new activity to engage kids.

The course will run over 3 evenings, the start date is on Tuesday, February the 23rd at 8.15 pm (45mins on zoom). With the follow up sessions on the 2nd and 9th of March.

The fee for the course is €30. Click here to register & pay.

For more information please email us at mfl@movesforlife.ie