Irish Junior Team Summer Training 2026

Irish Junior Team
Summer Training 2026

Hi there,

First things first, I’d like to congratulate you on being selected to play in the Glorney & Gilbert and the European Youth Chess Championships this summer. The ICU have asked me to organise a training program that will enable you to work on your game in a targeted way in the run up to the event.

To help me select training material that will be relevant to you and your teammates, I’m hoping that you will fill out the following form regarding your current repertoire carefully. You can rest assured that I will not share or show this information to any third party and that these forms are completely confidential and will be immediately deleted following the event.

The form is designed to give me a bird’s eye view of your repertoire, so I can help you build on what you already have mastered and also introduce you to new ideas that may suit your playing style and cause problems for your opponents in UL and Czechia. The more information you give me, the easier it will be for me to help you find lines that will cause difficulties for your prospective opponents, whose games I will also be studying in great detail.

Over the next four weeks, I will be running a series of online seminars whose content will be based on what you tell me in this form, both in terms of what lines you intend to play and also what specific areas of your game, you yourself feel need work or improvement. The content, themes, opening variations and middlegames we study in these seminars will take their lead from what you tell me in this form as well as what I can glean from the games of your prospective opponents once the teams board orders are announced. So if you have no line against the Pirc or are struggling with white against the Caro-Kann, please give me as much detail as possible where things seem to go wrong in your games. Are there some middlegame positions/ structures you haven’t been able to master yet? Where you frequently fail to find the right plan etc. If you tell me, I can try to help you.

In addition to the form, I would also strongly recommend all of you to create a lichess study with as many of your recent over-the-board games as you have played in the last six months, especially those where you were in trouble in the opening or chose the wrong plan in the middlegame. If you invite ChessBudIreland to view your study, I will go through your games carefully and seek to address any issues you have with particular openings or specific middlegame positions in the seminars. Looking forward to working with you.

Kindest Regards,
IM Mark Quinn PhD

Irish Junior Team Summer Training 2026 Form

Which team are you playing on this summer?
Your Name
If you are a King's Pawn Player as white (i.e. 1 e4 e5) select one or more of the following variations that you intend to play.
If you are a King's Pawn player as white, select one or more of the lines which you intend to play as white.
If you are a King's Pawn player which system/s do you intend to play against the French Defence?
If you are a King's Pawn Player which system/s do you play against the Caro-Kann Defence?
If you are a King's Pawn player, what system/s do you play against the Pirc Defence
If you are a Queen's Pawn Player, which systems do you intend to play in UL or Czechia?
Which defence(s) do you currently play as black against white's King's Pawn (1. e4)
Which defence(s) will you playing as black against white's Queen's Pawn (1. d4)?
When facing the English Opening 1. c4 how do you respond? If you don't have a line against the English yet that's ok!
If you intend to play the English Opening 1. c4 which of the following systems/ move-orders will you be playing?
Questions? Call Mark