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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
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
Belfast Chess Social to Host Christmas Tournament in Crumlin Road Gaol Belfast Chess Social is set to host a major tournament in Crumlin Road Gaol on Sunday, December 8th, just in time for Ch... Nov 18, 2024
Ulster Masters - report by Brendan Jamison 55 players competed in the Ulster Masters 2024. With prizes worth £1020, everyone raised the bar to deliver a very high... Nov 18, 2024
More news…
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Upcoming Events
FIDE RATED Groomsport Winter Blitz Championship 2024 [event 4 of 8 in Gold Coast Blitz Grand Prix 2024/2025] Dec 05, 2024 07:30 PM - 10:00 PM — Church of Ireland Parish Hall, 30 Main Street, Groomsport, County Down, BT19 6JR, Northern Ireland
FIDE RATED City of Bangor Winter Rapid 2024 Dec 07, 2024 10:00 AM - 04:30 PM — Church of Ireland Parish Hall, 30 Main Street, Groomsport, County Down, BT19 6JR, Northern Ireland
Ulster Schools Individual Championships 2024 Come and challenge to become the Ulster Schools Chess Champion 2024. 7th December at Methodist College. Dec 07, 2024 10:00 AM - 04:30 PM — Methodist College,1 Malone Rd, Belfast BT9 6BY
FIDE RATED City of Bangor Winter Classic 2024 Rounds 1 & 2 Dec 07, 2024 10:00 AM - 04:30 PM — Church of Ireland Parish Hall, 30 Main Street, Groomsport, County Down, BT19 6JR, Northern Ireland
Belfast Chess Social is set to host a major tournament in Crumlin Road Gaol on Sunday, December 8th, just in time for Christmas The tournament will be 10 minutes + 5 second increment games. Matches will be played in the new Distillery bar/social sp... Dec 08, 2024 02:30 PM - 06:00 PM — Distillery bar/social space; the historic Crumlin Road Gaol boardrooms
Upcoming events…