The Ulster Chess Championship is an annual chess tournament organised by the Ulster Chess Union which has been held since 1892. It is currently open to all players who qualify as having been born in any of the 9 counties of Ulster. Nearly all Championships since 1982 have been played in Belfast. Among the winners in recent years have been two players, both also Irish Champions, who now have the title of International Master (IM), Mark Orr (4 times, most recently in 2001/02) and Brian Kelly (1994/95). Recent winners are Michael Waters (4 times) Stephen Scannell (8 times) Eugene O'Hare (6 times) Adrian Gillen (3 times) Tom Clarke (3 times) Michael Holmes (twice) Stephen Gillen (twice) David Houston (4 times)
Some winners have represented Ireland at chess Olympiads and European Team Chess Championship.Winners of the Ulster Chess Championship
Champions Early Champions 1892 - E.A. Robinson 1893 - E.A. Robinson 1895 - Ernest Louis Harvey 1897 - William Steen 1899 - C.E. Smith 1902 - J. J. O'Hanlon
After 1932 The Ulster Chess Union was founded in 1932 and relaunched the Ulster Championship. 1933 - William John Allen 1934 - W. J. Allen 1935 - P. J. (Joe) McMahon 1936 - J. Watson 1937 - R. Lennox 1938 - J. D. Peebles 1939 - William Minnis 1944 - A. L. Davies 1945 - William Minnis 1946 - R.A. Heaney 1947 - J.D. Peebles 1949 - J.A. Flood 1950 - G. A. Kearney 1951 - W. D. Kerr 1952 - Robert Jones 1953 - G. J. Boyd & W. D. Kerr 1954 - Douglas Eric Arnold Riley 1955 - R. A. Heaney 1956 - A. Torney 1957 - Jack Wrigley 1958 - G. J. Boyd 1959 - E. McGlinchey 1960 - Eugene O'Hare 1961 - E. O'Hare 1962 - H. Harte & E. O'Hare 1963 - E. O'Hare & Edward Whiteside 1964 - Hugh MacGrillen & E. O'Hare 1965 - John Larkin Moles & M. O'Leary 1966 - H. Boyd 1967 - J. L. Moles 1968 - M. O'Leary 1969 - E. O'Hare 1970 - F. Coll 1971 - John Nicholson 1972 - Ray Devenney 1973 - J. Nicholson 1974 - Adrain McDaid 1975 - P. Hadden & D. Harkin 1976 - J. Nicholson & E. Whiteside 1977 - J. Nicholson 1978 - Keith Allen 1979 - K. Allen 1980 - K. Allen, John Hegarty, John Kennedy & Derek McGill 1981 - James Quigley 1982 - David Houston & Michael Smyth 1983 - M. Smyth 1984 - M. Smyth & Tom Clarke 1985 - Mark Orr 1986 - K. Allen 1987 - Tom Brown & Niall Carton 1988 - K Allen, D. Houston & M. Orr 1989 - K. Allen & M. Orr 1990 - D. Houston 1991 - Diarmuid Simpson 1992 - Kieran Greer 1993 - Adrian Gillen 1994 - Stephen Gillen & K. Greer 1995 - S. Gillen & Brian Kelly 1996 - A. Gillen 1997 - A. Gillen 1998 - Michael Holmes & James McDonnell 1999 - J. McDonnell & Stephen Scannell 2000 - Timothy Douglas, M. Holmes & S. Scannell
Champions since 2000 2001 - Stephen Scannell 2002 - Mark Orr IM 2003 - Tom Clarke 2004 - Stephen Scannell 2005 - Tom Clarke 2006 - Michael Waters & Stephen Scannell 2007 - Stephen Scannell 2008 - Stephen Scannell 2009 - Stephen Scannell 2010 - Michael Waters 2011 - Michael Waters 2012 - Michael Waters 2013 - Mike Redman 2014 - Gábor Horváth 2015 - Gábor Horváth 2016 - Stephen Rush (QUB) 2017 - Stephen Scannell 2018 - Thomas DonaldsonUlster Championship 2018 www.irlchess.com 2019 - Daniil ZelenchukNew Ulster Champion crowned - Daniil Zelenchuk Ulster Chess Union, www.ulsterchess.org 2020 - no championship due to covid 2021 - Thomas DonaldsonA brilliant tournament - face to face play at the Ulster Championships 2021 Ulster Chess Union, www.ulsterchess.org
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