The Ulster Chess Championship is an annual chess tournament organised by the Ulster Chess Union which has been held since 1892. It is currently open to all players who qualify as having been born in any of the 9 counties of Ulster. Nearly all Championships since 1982 have been played in Belfast. Among the winners in recent years have been two players, both also Irish Champions, who now have the title of International Master (IM), Mark Orr (4 times, most recently in 2001/02) and Brian Kelly (1994/95). Recent winners are Michael Waters (4 times)Stephen Scannell (8 times) Eugene O'Hare (6 times) Adrian Gillen (3 times) Tom Clarke (3 times), Michael Holmes (twice), Stephen Gillen (twice) and David Houston (4 times). Some winners have represented Ireland at chess Olympiads and European Team Chess Championship.
Champions
Early Champions
1892 - E.A. Robinson
1893 - E.A. Robinson
1895 - Ernest Louis Harvey
1897 - William Steen
1899 - C.E. Smith
1902 - J. J. O'Hanlon
After 1932
The Ulster Chess Union was founded in 1932 and relaunched the Ulster Championship. 1933 - William John Allen 1934 - W. J. Allen 1935 - P. J. (Joe) McMahon 1936 - J. Watson 1937 - R. Lennox 1938 - J. D. Peebles 1939 - William Minnis 1944 - A. L. Davies 1945 - William Minnis 1946 - R.A. Heaney 1947 - J.D. Peebles 1949 - J.A. Flood 1950 - G. A. Kearney 1951 - W. D. Kerr 1952 - Robert Jones 1953 - G. J. Boyd & W. D. Kerr 1954 - Douglas Eric Arnold Riley 1955 - R. A. Heaney 1956 - A. Torney 1957 - Jack Wrigley 1958 - G. J. Boyd 1959 - E. McGlinchey 1960 - Eugene O'Hare 1961 - E. O'Hare 1962 - H. Harte & E. O'Hare 1963 - E. O'Hare & Edward Whiteside 1964 - Hugh MacGrillen & E. O'Hare 1965 - John Larkin Moles & M. O'Leary 1966 - H. Boyd 1967 - J. L. Moles 1968 - M. O'Leary 1969 - E. O'Hare 1970 - F. Coll 1971 - John Nicholson 1972 - Ray Devenney 1973 - J. Nicholson 1974 - Adrain McDaid 1975 - P. Hadden & D. Harkin 1976 - J. Nicholson & E. Whiteside 1977 - J. Nicholson 1978 - Keith Allen 1979 - K. Allen 1980 - K. Allen, John Hegarty, John Kennedy & Derek McGill 1982 - David Houston & Michael Smyth 1983 - M. Smyth 1984 - M. Smyth & Tom Clarke 1985 - Mark Orr 1986 - K. Allen 1987 - Tom Brown & Niall Carton 1988 - K Allen, D. Houston & M. Orr 1989 - K. Allen & M. Orr 1990 - D. Houston 1991 - Diarmuid Simpson 1992 - Kieran Greer 1993 - Adrian Gillen 1994 - Stephen Gillen & K. Greer 1995 - S. Gillen & Brian Kelly 1996 - A. Gillen 1997 - A. Gillen 1998 - Michael Holmes & James McDonnell 1999 - J. McDonnell & Stephen Scannell 2000 - Timothy Douglas, M. Holmes & S. Scannell
Champions since 2000
2001 - Stephen Scannell
2002 - Mark Orr IM
2003 - Tom Clarke
2004 - Stephen Scannell
2005 - Tom Clarke
2006 - Michael Waters & Stephen Scannell
2007 - Stephen Scannell
2008 - Stephen Scannell
2009 - Stephen Scannell
2010 - Michael Waters
2011 - Michael Waters
2012 - Michael Waters
2013 - Mike Redman
2014 - Gábor Horváth
2015 - Gábor Horváth
2016 - Stephen Rush (QUB) 2017 - Stephen Scannell 2018 - Thomas Donaldson 2019 - Daniil Zelenchuk 2020 - no championship due to covid 2021 - Thomas Donaldson