The Curragh Junior Chess Club meets on Sunday Mornings at 11AM at Gael Scoil, Kildare. One week in March 2014 the club had a special guest visitor and hosted what may well be the youngest simul to ever take place in Ireland. Padraig Hughes (12) visited played 24 players (ages 5-12) across 14 boards. Some of the juniors doubled up and combined their efforts to have a better chance. The place was in silence at the start of the event with the challengers extremely determined to get a scalp and have bragging rights over their friends. The event was scheduled for 1 hour but Padraig met more resistance than he expected and it took over 2 hours for the last player to be checkmated.

While visiting the club Padraig shared his experiences and gave advice to the aspiring players. Afterwards, he said he was very tired and he was going to take the rest of the day off chess study for the upcoming Irish Junior Championships. Players who participated received a snazzy T-shirts to mark the occasion (see photo). The Juniors had a great day and were all very excited to come back next week for some new lessons. The result was Padraig Hughes 14 - Juniors 0, although the real winner of the day was Irish Chess. We would again like to thank Padraig and his Dad Brian for taking the time to visit the Juniors and make the event a huge success.

The longest 3 survivors

Padraig makes his decision

The simul begins

Juniors thinking hard