The first Ulster Individual Championship was in 1892. It was held as part of the North of Ireland Chess Congress, and was one of the supporting events to the Quadrangular Masters' Tournament, won jointly by Blackburne and Mason, ahead of Bird and Lee. The 1892 Congress was the catalyst for establishing an administrative structure for Ulster chess, although the Ulster Chess Union was not formally established until 1932. After 1892 there were five further championships before the series petered out. The 1899 event is unique in being the only Ulster Championship held in a knockout format. O'Hanlon continued to hold the title until 1913, when he decided to resign as Ulster champion, upon winning the Irish Championship.
1892 E. A. ROBINSON 1893 E. A. ROBINSON 1894 NO COMPETITION 1895 E. L. HARVEY 1896 NO COMPETITION 1897 W. STEEN 1898 NO COMPETITION 1899 C. E. SMITH 1900 NO COMPETITION 1901 NO COMPETITION 1902 J. J. O'HANLON
1933-1939:
Since the 1892 North of Ireland Congress, Ulster chess had been administered by a committee consisting of the secretaries of the established chess clubs. In 1932 it was decided to establish a more formal structure and the Ulster Chess Union was formed. The new body revived the Ulster Championship and the first UCU Championship was held in 1933.
1933 W. J. ALLEN 1934 W. J. ALLEN 1935 P. J. McMAHON 1936 J. WATSON 1937 R. LENNOX 1938 J. D. PEEBLES 1939 W. MINNIS
1944-1956:
Competitive chess in Ulster was severely curtailed for most of the duration of the Second World War. However the Ulster championship resumed only 3 months after the Normandy landings in 1944. There was no competition in 1948, because the first three championships after the war were held in the first part of the chess season, i.e. before Christmas, but the subsequent championships were held in the second half of the season, i.e. after the New Year.
1944 A. L. DAVIES 1945 W. MINNIS 1946 R. A. HEANEY 1947 J. D. PEEBLES 1948 NO COMPETITION 1949 J. A. FLOOD 1950 G. A. KEARNEY 1951 W. D. KERR 1952 R. JONES 1953 G. J. BOYD & W. D. KERR 1954 D. E. A. RILEY 1955 R. A. HEANEY 1956 A. TORNEY
1957-1981:
The Ulster Chess Union had, since its inception in 1932, been a Belfast-based organisation. The growing realisation that there were many strong players outside Belfast and its immediate surrounds led to a new system for the Ulster Championship. With the 1957 championship a system of regional qualifying was introduced. A Belfast qualifier, organised directly by the UCU, produced 2 qualifiers, while a North Ulster qualifier (organised by the City of Derry Chess Club) and a South Ulster qualifier (organised by the Oriel League - a body that organised a team league in the border area for clubs in South Down, South Armagh and Louth) each produced 1 qualifier for the 4-player final. After the Derry player McGlinchey won in 1959, the North Ulster qualifying section was allocated a second place in the final. With the Oriel League no longer operating, there was no South Ulster qualifier between 1962 and 1970. There was a brief revival with a qualifying tournaments in Armagh city in 1971 but from then until 1981 it was back to the qualifying sections in Belfast and Derry each producing 2 players for the final.
1957 J. WRIGLEY 1958 G. J. BOYD 1959 E. McGLINCHEY 1960 E. O'HARE 1961 E. O'HARE 1962 H. HARTE & E. O'HARE 1963 E. O'HARE & E. WHITESIDE 1964 H. McGRILLEN & E. O'HARE 1965 J. L. MOLES & M. O'LEARY 1966 H. BOYD 1967 J. L. MOLES 1968 M. O'LEARY 1969 E. O'HARE 1970 F. COLL 1971 J. NICHOLSON 1972 R. DEVENNEY 1973 J. NICHOLSON 1974 A. McDAID 1975 P. HADDEN & D. HARKIN 1976 J. NICHOLSON & E. WHITESIDE 1977 J. NICHOLSON 1978 K. ALLEN 1979 K. ALLEN 1980 K. ALLEN, J. HEGARTY, J. KENNEDY & D. McGILL 1981 NOT COMPLETED
1982-2004:
Eventually disadvantages of the system of qualifying sections became apparent - after a tough qualifier, a three-round final was something of a lottery and the organisation of the final fell too much on the players involved, leaving the final poorly publicised and taking too long to complete. At an EGM of the UCU in December 1980, it was decided that from 1982 a single competition would be held within a short time frame. It was intended that the championship would be moved to different venues around Ulster, but in fact it has been held in Belfast every year, except 1984/85 (Armagh) and 1985/86 (Lisburn). The first four championships under the new system were held in the first few days of January, but the one held in Lisburn was competed for between Christmas and the New Year and succeeding championships up to 2003/04 followed that pattern. This led to the discrepancy that during those years the championship trophy carried the year in which the winner held the trophy, rather than the year in which it was won. The table below, therefore, refers to the season in which the championship was played.
1981/82 D. HOUSTON & M. SMYTH 1982/83 M. SMYTH 1983/84 M. SMYTH & T. CLARKE 1984/85 M. ORR 1985/86 K. ALLEN 1986/87 T. BROWN & N. CARTON 1987/88 K ALLEN, D. HOUSTON & M. ORR 1988/89 K. ALLEN & M. ORR 1989/90 D. HOUSTON 1990/91 D. SIMPSON 1991/92 K. GREER 1992/93 A. GILLEN 1993/94 S. GILLEN & K. GREER 1994/95 S. GILLEN & B. KELLY 1995/96 A. GILLEN 1996/97 A. GILLEN 1997/98 M. HOLMES & J. McDONNELL 1998/99 J. McDONNELL & S. SCANNELL 1999/2000 T. DOUGLAS, M. HOLMES & S. SCANNELL 2000/01 S. SCANNELL 2001/02 M. ORR 2002/03 T. CLARKE 2003/04 S. SCANNELL
2005-2014:
In 2005 and 2006 the Championship was held later in the season over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend, thus returning the championship to its calendar year. In 2007 the date for the Championship was moved once again, this time to the August Bank Holiday weekend. Between 2007 and 2009, the Intermediate and Junior Championships were incorporated into the Senior Championship in a single tournament. Since 2010 the Championship has returned to being an elite-only event with the Championship Congress holding separate Senior, Intermediate and Junior events.
2005 T. CLARKE 2006 M. WATERS & S. SCANNELL 2007 S. SCANNELL 2008 S. SCANNELL 2009 S. SCANNELL 2010 M. WATERS 2011 M. WATERS 2012 M. WATERS 2013 M. REDMAN 2014 G. HORVATH
2015-:
The Championship had always been a closed event (albeit, under the Rules first established in 1932, one year's residence sufficed) but there was a major change in 2015 when the Championship was opened up to all comers. However, the title of Ulster champion still goes to the highest placed eligible player - as happened in the first year under the new dispensation when Rory Quinn of Ennis and Munster finished a half[point ahead of defending champion Gabor Horvath.
2015 G. HORVATH 2016 S. RUSH 2017 S. SCANNELL 2018 T. DONALDSON 2019 D. ZELENCHUK
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