October 2024 NI FIDE Rating Report

The 1st October FIDE rating list covers Northern Ireland tournaments that were held over the past 4 weeks and were rated on 30 September 2024. Please note, yesterday’s UK Open Blitz Belfast Qualifier will be rated on 31 October. Report By Brendan Jamison

There’s been a strong drive to boost ICU membership this season to ensure FIDE rated events can continue to be run through the Irish Chess Union [ICU]. This is our only route to FIDE so we are very grateful for the continued support of the ICU Rating Officer and the ICU Executive Board.

So far, we have 98 players (of about 160 active players) in Northern Ireland who are paid-up with ICU membership for the 2024/2025 season and Bangor Chess Club is making ICU membership compulsory for anyone attending Groomsport to play in each month’s FIDE events across all 3 time controls of classic, rapid and blitz. With the ‘no pay, no play’ policy, unsurprisingly 71 of the Bangor members are now paid-up with the ICU for the current season. Downpatrick Chess Club have also been proactive in ensuring all their members are paid-up too, with CitiBank and NICS following closely behind. This enables clubs to continue to host FIDE rated tournaments which is the number 1 request from players across the province.

UCU League Controller Michael Devine has also called on all Team Captains to ask their squads to pay their ICU fees, and if enough sign-up, this season’s UCU leagues will be dual-rated by the ICU too.

On Thursday 3rd October, the N.I. Gold Coast Team Classic kicks off with 8 teams competing. This is the first ever FIDE-rated league in Northern Ireland. The first season will be a trail run, with Rounds 1-3 during October to November 2024, followed by Rounds 4-6 during the first quarter of 2025.

12 year old Ethan Cole has broken a new record with his FIDE rapid rating gaining 91 points in September, rising to 1921. He continues to inspire so many of our young players! In terms of league squads, the two highest rated players in N.I. are CM Adam Collins 2184 (Queen’s University, Belfast) and Scott Crockart 2130 (Strand Chess Club).

Congratulations to 12 more players making a FIDE rating debut today:

Neil Gardner (Lisburn Chess Club) makes his FIDE rapid debut at 1746

https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2515024

Mike McKimm (Bangor Chess Club) makes his FIDE rapid debut at 1739

https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2531305

11 year old Jacob Boyd (Downpatrick Chess Club) makes his FIDE rapid debut at 1729

https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2533812

John Dawson (Bangor Chess Club) makes his FIDE rapid debut at 1728

https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2534207

Oisin Cinnsealach (CitiBank) makes his FIDE rapid debut at 1673

https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2526638

Charlie Powell (no club) makes his FIDE rapid debut at 1620