Jonathan O’Connor

I learned the game at the old age of 14. There were no coaches or internet in those days, but I was close to 3 libraries, and over the next 2 years, I read about 50 chess books from cover to cover. To maximise my learning time, I taught myself to read while walking home the 3 km from school each day. This was a risky business given the number of telegraph poles on the pavements. By the time I left school I was Leinster U-19 champion, and I was playing in the top league in Irish chess.

I was in the top 20 in Irish chess for about 2 decades. I started playing correspondence chess in 2000, and after achieving the Correspondence Chess International Master title, I stopped playing, as it was taking up too much time.

In 2010, I became chairperson of the Irish Chess Union, which gave me the opportunity to meet many of my chess heroes, including Garry Kasparov, Veselin Topalov and Nigel Short.

I was captain of the Irish Open team at the Tromso and Baku olympiads and in 2022 I was appointed as FIDE delegate for Ireland, when I attended the Chennai olympiad.

I am currently the Over-50 Irish champion, this being the third time I have won the title, and the only person to have won it more than once.

I believe in a student focussed approach to coaching. One size fits all does not work for chess improvement.

Outside of chess, I have been a software developer for more than 30 years, working with German clients for the last 20. I now live in rural Ireland, where along with a fibre internet connection, I live happily with my wife, dog, two cats and five alpacas!