Three new FMs

The European Club Cup in Rhodes, Greece, finished yesterday. Six Irish teams competed, with Blanchardstown achieving the highest placing, finishing 74th, with 6 match points. Ennis and Master C.C. finished 79th and 83rd, respectively, with 5 match points. Malahide, U.C.D., and St. Benildus also played. (See the full pairings & results.)

Blanchardstown also recorded a remarkable achievement, with three players qualifying for direct FM titles, having also met the rating requirement. A score of 65% from 7 games is enough for the title (FIDE Table for Direct Titles effective from 1 May 2025), provided the player has also reached a published or interim rating of 2100 at some time or other (FIDE Title Regulations effective from 1 January 2024, section 0.6.2).

Here WFM Hong Nhung Nguyen, Vietnam-registered but Irish-resident, scored 5/7 on board 1, CM Jason Liu scored 6/7 on board 3, and CM Shane Melaugh scored 5/7 on board 4. All three have crossed 2100, so all qualify to become FMs immediately.

Nguyen was the highest-rated female player resident in Ireland in the most recent FIDE list, at 2230, and she gains 34 points from this event. Liu gains 70 points from this event. Each reach 2264, so they would not have been far away from the FM title via reaching 2300, even if they did not record the direct title result.

Two other players in Irish teams reached the required score, though they still need to reach rating 2100. Seán J. Murphy scored 6/7 on board 5 for Master C.C., and Shriman K, India-registered, scored 6/7 on board 5 for U.C.D. Murphy was rated 2060 on the last FIDE list, and he gains 42.8 from this event, so he will qualify for the title immediately if he has not lost points this month in some other event.

Congratulations to all!

The individual results for all players on Irish teams can be seen at Chess-results.

[Update, October 27, 2025: Oliver Barnes also recorded a direct title result, scoring 5½/7 on board 5 for Malahide, but he has not yet reached 2100. Many thanks to Pat Reynolds for pointing this out.]

[Update, November 1, 2025: Seán J. Murphy is rated 2103 in the November 2025 list, and thus has met the rating requirement for a direct FM title. Congratulations!.]

[Update, December 17, 2025: FM titles have been recorded, as of December 16, by FIDE for Hong Nhung Nguyen, Jason Liu, and Shane Melaugh. Oliver Barnes, requiring only a rating of 2100, reached a live rating of 2099.4 in games rated for the December 2025 list.]