Over 100 chess players representing 22 countries are in Cork to participate in the inaugural EU chess championship.
Europe's leading professional players and talented amateurs have been battling it out since Monday at the Gresham Metropole Hotel.
The Cork 2005 European Union Chess Championship is a 10-round championship which runs until March 31st. The results are being rated by Fide, the world governing body of chess. The Cork Chess Congress follows on from the championship, starting on April 1st.
Approximately 1,250 games will be played during the two tournaments, amounting to over 4,815 hours of chess.
Irish participants have already pulled off a number of upsets in the European championship, with Cork player DJ O'Donoghue beating German master Ingrid Lauterbach on Wednesday.
Last Tuesday 11-year-old Oisin Benson from Dublin, who is ranked 109th in the competition, stunned chess enthusiasts when he beat Lauterbach who is ranked 57 places above him.
However, the talented youngster lost his following match to Dubliner Stephen Moran.
A Cork city player, Alex Lopez, realised one of the best results of his career when he drew with Hungarian grand master Zoltan Medvegy this week.
The reigning Irish champion, Fide master Joe Ryan, is among the participants in the European championship.
Meanwhile, chess fans from all over the world are logging on to the internet to watch the top four matches of each day. The technology in use senses exactly which piece has been moved, and beams the information on to the internet.
Cork Chess Club chairman Michael Burniston says he is thrilled at the enthusiastic response to the tournament.
"For Ireland to stage an inaugural European championship of this calibre is a major coup, and I am especially pleased that we have been able to do so in Cork during 2005."
John Kennedy, director of Cork 2005, said the large number of competitors was indicative of the huge interest in chess in Europe.
Admission is free to both chess tournaments and spectators are welcome.