About Mark

International Masters, FIDE Master, Chess Bud Founder & Coach.

Student Days
Mark made his debut for Ireland at the World Under 14 chess championships in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin in 1990. He went to to represent Ireland in many World and European Junior Championships. In the ten years Mark spent in Gonzaga College, Mark was part of teams that won numerous Leinster and All-Ireland titles. He scored 7/7 on Board 1 at the Marlwood Schools Chess Championship in the UK attaining the Tournament’s Best Performance Prize, as Gonzaga won the title of strongest school team in the British Isles in 1993.

Representing Ireland
Mark made his Senior debut for Ireland at the Moscow Chess Olympiad in 1994 and has competed in seven Chess Olympiads to date: Moscow (1994), Yerevan (1996), Istanbul (2000), Bled (2002), Calvia (2004), Turin (2006) and Dresden (2008). He also played board 1 for Ireland at the European Team Chess Championships in Leon, Spain in 2001. Mark was ranked number 1 in Ireland at the age of 17. He was awarded the title of International Master of Chess at the FIDE Congress during the Istanbul Olympiad in 2000. Mark gained the title of FIDE Trainer in April 2020. As of September 2022, Mark is the Number 8 ranked active Irish player on the International FIDE rating list.

Academic & Writer
Mark holds a BA, MA and PhD from the School of English, Drama and Film where he tutored and lectured from 2005-2010. He is the author of The King of Spring: The Life and Times of Peter O’Connor which was published by the Liffey Press in 2004. Mark is co-founder of Storyrory – www.storyrory.ie, which develops original content for TV and Film.

National Tour Guide
Mark also worked as a National Tour Guide specialising in English and Italian Speaking Tours as well as Dublin Literary Walking Tours from 1999-2018.