Irish Chess Union

The Irish Chess Union (ICU) was formed in 1912, is the governing body for chess in Ireland and a member of FIDE since 1933 and the European Chess Union. The ICU promotes Chess in Ireland, maintains the chess rating for players in Ireland which are published three times a year and runs competitions such as the Irish Chess Championship, and selects teams to participate in International Competitions for Ireland.Before the establishment of the ICU there was chess competitions in Ireland run under organisations named The Irish Chess Association which had been formed in 1885 and the Hibernia Chess Association, or indeed run by various chess clubs. The Armstrong Cup is the oldest Irish team league competition and has been played every year since 1888 perhaps giving it the a claim on the longest running chess competition in the world.
While chess in Ireland has been concentrated around the big cities of Dublin, Belfast and Cork, there are a number of clubs throughout the country such as Derry, Drogheda, Ennis, Galway, Killkenny, Portadown, Wicklow to name a few. There are leagues held in the provinces and the winning teams (and runners up) playing off in the National Club Championships (although in recent years the Ulster leagues have not participated), with the winning team (and runners up) being entered into the European Club Championships.