Tralee Chess Club players receive trophies won in the Munster League

Tralee Chess Club presented the Munster League winners with their trophies won in Charleville in Division 2 of the Munster League

The Tralee Chess Club, which has been playing together and competing for 33 years, presented their Munster League winners with their trophies in The Castle bar on Monday.

Yunis Barudi from Odesa in Ukraine, who is “very close to an international standard” according to club chairman John Hoare, took first prize in the League.

Alexander Zackcadyni, also from Ukraine, and Mirko Kopic, from Croatia, came second and third respectively in Division 2 of the Munster League.

The Tralee Chess Club had played on and off in the Munster League for years and this year they took home the trophies.

The three winners, along with John Hoare and Paul Shanahan, both Tralee natives, Michael Wycherley from Mullingar, Ayman Osman from Syria, and Vicky Angelova from Bulgaria, are the eight that make up the Munster team, which won eight points out the ten league matches.

Players from every corner of Ireland like Galway, Cork, Ennis, Waterford and more take part in the league.

Not only players from Ireland but players from all around the world also take part, with competitors from America, England, Azerbaijan, Iran, Malaysia, Poland and Lithuania involved.

After their return last September numbers have grown for the club.

“Numbers had dropped way down due to Covid but they are back up now,” said John Hoare.

The Tralee Chess Club play upstairs in the Castle Bar on Tralee’s Rock Street at 8pm on Mondays. The team is currently on a break from playing for the summer but they will return in September.

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