 Chess was played and groups met with different degrees of formality in Dublin in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, such as an early incarnation of a Dublin Chess Club from 1813 to 1819 and "The Dublin Philidorian Chess Society", which was formed at the Harp Coffee House in Dublin in 1819.Before the establishment of the ICU in 1912, chess competitions in Ireland were run under organisations named "The Irish Chess Association" (formed in 1885), the "Hibernia Chess Association", or various chess clubs.Thomas Long who organised the "1865 Dublin Masters" was the first president/chairman of The Irish Chess Association, he also helped found the Dublin Chess Club in 1867, the oldest chess club in Ireland.