Thomas Brezing is a well known artist and curator of Balbriggan Chess Club. Úna O Boyle is the ICU's Public Relations Officer.

Beginnings

In February 2004 a simultaneous display was organised in the Order of Malta Hall, Balbriggan, held by FM Stephen Brady. This event was publicised locally and 20 players attended to play against Stephen. Every participant was handed a questionnaire in which the question was raised if there was any interest in starting a chess club in the town and the answer was a resounding yes. The 1st meeting was held a few weeks after the simultaneous in the Order of Malta Hall, on a Sunday afternoon and 15 players came to play a few casual games of chess. Kieran Howley and Thomas Brezing took over the responsibilities of collecting a contribution towards the rental of the hall and of attracting more players, junior and senior. A few weeks later funds were raised through donations from collections outside St. Peter’s & Paul’s church in Balbriggan and with the money collected 15 sets and clocks were bought. In the autumn of 2004 Balbriggan put a team forward to play in the Bodley Cup. The players on this very first Balbriggan team were Michael Eyers, Kieran Howley, Martin O’Donohoe, Paul Bellew and Martin Parsons.

Growth

The team came 2nd behind Longford and promotion was secured. Another simultaneous was organised by Stephen Brady in October 2005 and the publicity created attracted new players to the club. Former Skerries players Peter Whearity and John Doyle joined the club and the team got promoted again for the second year in a row from the BEA to the O’Hanlon League. In the 2006/07 season Thomas Brezing joined the team from Phibsboro, who had been involved in the running of the club but had not played for the team. At around this time the club moved from the Order Of Malta Hall to the local library. The team came 5th in their first season in this league. In the 2007/08 Balbriggan Chess Club had enough players to enter a 2nd team into the Leinster divisions and they promptly reached 2nd place and got promoted into the BEA where they still are playing to date. The O’Hanlon team on the other hand had a difficult season and almost got relegated, separated by only one point between them and 11th placed Bray/Greystones. A new player joined the club at the very end of the season, who was going to make a big difference for the club in years to come, Bartek Cichonski from Poland, who had never played a competitive game before, but his raw natural talent and eagerness to improve was plain to see from the very start. With a squad of 13 players the Balbriggan team got promoted in the 2008/2009 season with Finglas winning the league. A junior club was established by Kieran Howley with meetings in the local library. The Ennis was a two team race between St. Benildus and Balbriggan from the start with St. Benildus coming 1st in a great season for them and Balbriggan once again coming 2nd in the 2009/10 season with a 14 player squad. Gerry Smith joined the first team from Malahide and survival in the Heidenfeld seemed possible with his involvement but in a very touch start to the Heidenfeld when the team got trashed in Bray/Greystones it was feared that the team could get relegated. One by one three strong players joined club and team during the season, Gabor Bolkeny, Miroslav Gallik and former Skerries player Pat Hogan and from a relegation candidate the team transformed into a contender for 1st/2nd place which was narrowly missed by 2 points, landing behind St.Benildus and Celbridge. The 2011/12 season was a 3 team race to the top between, Malahide, Dun Laoghaire and Balbriggan with Malahide losing out to the other teams meaning Balbriggan after only 8 years reached the Leinster League first division where the team is now enjoying their second season thanks also to yet another new player joining, Richard O’Donovan, the 1996 Irish Champion.

Balbriggan’s 10 year Anniversary

One of the key factors for the growth and success of the club aside from the good, friendly and relaxed atmosphere amongst its member’s, was that Balbriggan play their games on a Saturday afternoon. Most players playing for either of the two teams prefer Saturday games compared to week games and for some would have been one of the reasons for joining the club. It’s a multi-cultural club with a healthy mix of local players with players from the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Cyprus, India, Latvia etc. For the past 3 seasons club nights were being held at the Harvest Inn in Balbriggan on Monday nights, league matches are also been played there. Every autumn an all play (non-rated) Club Championships is being organised which is being played throughout the winter months. This year is the clubs 10 year anniversary. It’s been a great journey so far and hopefully the club will be able to go on for many more years.

Balbriggan's Heidenfeld team. Runners up 2011-12 season

Balbriggan's Armstrong team; January 2014