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Chess Notes by Rookie

Between 1983 and 1990, a weekly column was published in the Irish News with the byline of Rookie
Chess Notes by Rookie

Rookie in 1984

Rookie, in real life the irrepressible Martin Kelly, published over 300 of his chess columns in the Irish Press. Fortunately for us, we have been able to gather cuttings of his column and add them to our archive including the regular game posted along with each issue. Usually these games were from local competitions giving us a unique insight into Ulster chess of the 80's.

During these years, Martin honed his Extreme Punning skills to grandmaster level; these days his weekly reports of Belfast South's League Results - some of which have crept on to this site - often have a pun-count in double-figures.

Additional material appeared sporadically in various local papers over the same period and some of these - usually with photos - have also been recovered and will be appearing here soon. These include Ireland's Saturday Night (the Pink), Belfast Newsletter, Belfast Telegraph, The Down Recorder, Andersonstown News and the County Down Spectator.

Indexes

Reports are listed in each seasons archive but you can access Rookie specific items from the following lists:

News
Top Young players compete to be Ulster Champion at Methodist College On the stormy morning of 7th December 2024 top young players gathered. Six rounds of chess to get age group Ulster Champ... Dec 08, 2024
This weekend top young players will gather at Methodist College to compete to be an Ulster Champion We have over 40 players. Playing on Saturday 7th December in the annual Ulster Schools Individual Championships 2024. Dec 02, 2024
December 2024 FIDE NI Rating Report By Brendan Jamison November was a massive month for FIDE rated events in Northern Ireland with a total of 7 tournaments... Dec 01, 2024
Qualifiers from the Belfast Mega-finals play in the Giga-finals The Delancey UK Chess Challenge is one of the top tournaments for young chess players. We held our Belfast Mega-finals o... Nov 24, 2024
UK Open Blitz Championships 2024 finals took place on Saturday 16th November at Leamington Spa Our Belfast qualifiers took part in this top UK Blitz championships. Kamil Marchiewicz and Benedict A Keohane played in ... Nov 23, 2024
More news…
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Upcoming Events
FIDE RATED City of Bangor Winter Classic 2024 Round 4 Dec 19, 2024 07:30 PM - 10:00 PM — Church of Ireland Parish Hall, 30 Main Street, Groomsport, County Down, BT19 6JR, Northern Ireland
FIDE RATED Ulster Blitz Championship 2024 Dec 28, 2024 10:00 AM - 04:30 PM — Church of Ireland Parish Hall, 30 Main Street, Groomsport, County Down, BT19 6JR, Northern Ireland
FIDE RATED City of Bangor New Year Blitz 2025 [event 5 of 8 in Gold Coast Blitz Grand Prix 2024/2025] January 09, 2025 from 07:30 PM to 10:00 PM Jan 09, 2025 07:30 PM - 10:00 PM — Bangor Chess Club, Church of Ireland Parish Hall, 30 Main Street Groomsport
January 11th 2025 Childrens Chess 12:30 – 5:00 Monthly Chess Tournaments Continues at Methodist College. Jan 11, 2025 12:30 PM - 05:00 PM — Methodist College,1 Malone Rd, Belfast BT9 6BY
The Williamson Shield The Williamson Shield at the Maynard Sinclair Pavilion, Stormont Estate Jan 17, 2025 - Jan 19, 2025 — The Maynard Sinclair Pavilion
Upcoming events…