Ficheall Bunscoile Chorcaí was founded in September 2017 by five primary principals and teachers who witnessed first hand the impact chess in school was having on students in their schools and sought to provide an annual fun chess tournament as a focal point for chess during the school year.
In September 2018 the name of the initiative was changed to Ficheall.ie as teachers and schools outside of Cork declared an interest. A website of the same name was established with many chess teaching resources available to act as the central point of communication.
In November 2018 association structure was formally adopted with chairperson, secretary and executive committee positions appointed. In May 2020, Ficheall registered as a company limited by guarantee (non-profit organisation) with the executive committee becoming the board of directors.
With the support of local education centres, the initiative has spread nationally. In Ficheall’s first three years over twenty thousand chess games were played at 54 chess tournaments around Ireland.
2019/2020 was Ficheall’s most successful year yet with 3,736 students representing 199 schools!
Inside Education Podcast
In November 2019, Ficheall secretary Liam Murray spoke with Dr Seán Delaney of the Inside Education podcast about chess in primary schools and all things Ficheall.ie.