The first of the afternoons of Schools chess that will lead to the Elite Competition and Award ceremony (previously held at Stormont - and hopefully this year we will continue this tradition.)

It was a wet morning and myself, Geoff Hindley, Divya Singh and Aaditya Singh helped setup the rooms. Players started to arrive and we registered the players. I possibly set myself the challenge of running the single session over the two rooms. So players had to move between rounds. We were also fortunate to have 3 players travelling up from Dublin.

The setup was 3 classrooms with 2 for the tournament and the third for the parents.

It was brilliant to see so many new faces. A mixture of ages from as young as P2 to Upper Sixth added to the wealth of chess experience. Ethan Cole having just played brilliantly at the Irish Junior Championships coming a brilliant 4th in the Under 10 section.

In my introduction to the tournament I stressed the key of coaching (perhaps more important than being good at Chess!), the ability to share knowledge. So after the games it was good to see the players playing friendlys and coaching each other.

For me one of the best things of the afternoon is the chess puzzle solving. It gives players an opportunity to see new positions, analyse them and come up with a move or series of moves, only one of which is a solution and wins the game. We allow and encourage some sharing of ideas between players and will give hints. The whole thing is that big smile when someone sees the beauty and elegence in the solution that they have just spotted.

Everyone doing a puzzle sheet gets it marked and handed back with a certificate - Bronze, Silver or Gold.

Lorcan Rippon won the Primary School Puzzle Competition.

Arthur McKeever won the Secondary schools Puzzle Solving Competition.

Here are some of the puzzles that challenged the students. The answers are at the bottom of this page. Good Luck.

From The books: 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations – Fred Reinfeld

1000 Checkmate Combinations – Victor Henkin

Youngsters focused on problem solving.

The players registered. The draw done and Geoff, Divya and myself split the players between the rooms and get them settled facing their opponent. Silence and the games are off. We repeat the recommendation to take your time and check for mistakes before touching a piece. Also that the games are clock friendly - so if a player doesnt press the clock their opponent should remind them.

November 2021 - Round 1

Results

No Name             Feder Total  Result   Name                 Feder Total

 1 Karthikeya       F1    [0]      1:0    Hugo Mallon          P5    [0]  
 2 Katie McAleenan  P3    [0]      0:1    Umaiorubagam         F4    [0]  
 3 Eoin Boyle       F3    [0]      1:0    Cillian Mccann       F4    [0]  
 4 Arthur Mckeever  U6    [0]      0:1    Ethan Cole           P5    [0]  
 5 Alannah Cole     P4    [0]      0:1    Peter Murphy         F1    [0]  
 6 Joseph Quinn     P6    [0]      1:0    Franek Dudek         P2    [0]  
 7 Marco Giaccardi  F2    [0]      1:0    Saoirse Rippon       F1    [0]  
 8 Lorcan Rippon    P5    [0]      1:0    Sean Giustini        P5    [0]  
 9 Daniel Haffey    F5    [0]      0:1    Aaditya Singh        F1    [0]  
10 Aadhi Sooraj     P5    [0]      1:0    James Huang          F3    [0]  
11 Jonathan Laffey  F1    [0]      0:1    Ashwanth Subramanian L6    [0]  
12 Ben Toogood      F5    [0]      1:0    Thomas Loughrey      F1    [0]  
13 Matthew Loughrey P3    [0]      1:0    Zuzanna Zacharek     P2    [0]  

by Swiss Perfect (TM)  www.swissperfect.com

Before the start we did warn players to watch out for the younger players. That one reason for having one section was that some of them could give all players a challenging game. The first round we see Ethan Cole winning against Arthur McKeever. Aaditya Singh winning against Daniel Haffey.

November 2021 - Round 2

Results

No Name                 Feder Total  Result   Name             Feder Total

 1 Peter Murphy         F1    [1]      1:0    Karthikeya       F1    [1]  
 2 Umaiorubagam         F4    [1]     .5:.5   Joseph Quinn     P6    [1]  
 3 Lorcan Rippon        P5    [1]      0:1    Eoin Boyle       F3    [1]  
 4 Ethan Cole           P5    [1]      0:1    Aadhi Sooraj     P5    [1]  
 5 Aaditya Singh        F1    [1]      1:0    Marco Giaccardi  F2    [1]  
 6 Ashwanth Subramanian L6    [1]      1:0    Matthew Loughrey P3    [1]  
 7 Franek Dudek         P2    [0]      0:1    Ben Toogood      F5    [1]  
 8 Hugo Mallon          P5    [0]     .5:.5   Alannah Cole     P4    [0]  
 9 Sean Giustini        P5    [0]     .5:.5   Katie McAleenan  P3    [0]  
10 Cillian Mccann       F4    [0]      1:0    Daniel Haffey    F5    [0]  
11 James Huang          F3    [0]      1:0    Arthur Mckeever  U6    [0]  
12 Zuzanna Zacharek     P2    [0]      0:1    Jonathan Laffey  F1    [0]  
13 Thomas Loughrey      F1    [0]      1:0    Saoirse Rippon   F1    [0]  

A few draws in round 2. Sometimes a player kicks themselves when they have won the game and place their opponent in stalement where they cant move their King and the result is a draw. I remember playing a game in the league, I had two Queens and managed to stalemate my opponents King in the middle of the board! These draws werent necessarily like this. Joseph Quinn gets a good draw against Umaiorubagam. Ethan Cole one of our top players is beaten by Aadjhi Sooraj. Again thanks to Geoff and Divya for looking after one room while I was looking after the other and the parents watched from the corridor or read/worked and chatted or played chess in the Parents Room.

November 2021 - Round 3

Results

No Name             Feder Total  Result   Name                 Feder Total

 1 Eoin Boyle       F3    [2]     .5:.5   Ashwanth Subramanian L6    [2]  
 2 Aadhi Sooraj     P5    [2]      1:0    Peter Murphy         F1    [2]  
 3 Ben Toogood      F5    [2]      1:0    Aaditya Singh        F1    [2]  
 4 Karthikeya       F1    [1]      0:1    Umaiorubagam         F4    [1.5]
 5 Joseph Quinn     P6    [1.5]    0:1    Ethan Cole           P5    [1]  
 6 Marco Giaccardi  F2    [1]      1:0    Thomas Loughrey      F1    [1]  
 7 Matthew Loughrey P3    [1]      0:1    James Huang          F3    [1]  
 8 Jonathan Laffey  F1    [1]      0:1    Cillian Mccann       F4    [1]  
 9 Alannah Cole     P4    [.5]     0:1    Lorcan Rippon        P5    [1]  
10 Katie McAleenan  P3    [.5]     0:1    Hugo Mallon          P5    [.5] 
11 Daniel Haffey    F5    [0]      1:0    Sean Giustini        P5    [.5] 
12 Saoirse Rippon   F1    [0]      0:1    Franek Dudek         P2    [0]  
13 Arthur Mckeever  U6    [0]      1:0    Zuzanna Zacharek     P2    [0]  

With round 3 the field is starting to spread. We have a draw on the top board. Eoin Boyle drawing against Ashwanth Subramanian. Whilst Aadhi Sooraj continues his wins and goes into the joint lead with Ben Toogood. Franek gets his first point. Its so good to see P2 players focusing on the game. If they dont mind loosing against older players these are amoungst the players to watch in the future.

November 2021 - Round 4

Results

No Name                 Feder Total  Result   Name             Feder Total

 1 Ben Toogood          F5    [3]      1:0    Aadhi Sooraj     P5    [3]  
 2 Umaiorubagam         F4    [2.5]    0:1    Eoin Boyle       F3    [2.5]
 3 Ashwanth Subramanian L6    [2.5]    1:0    Marco Giaccardi  F2    [2]  
 4 Ethan Cole           P5    [2]      1:0    Peter Murphy     F1    [2]  
 5 James Huang          F3    [2]      1:0    Lorcan Rippon    P5    [2]  
 6 Cillian Mccann       F4    [2]      0:1    Aaditya Singh    F1    [2]  
 7 Hugo Mallon          P5    [1.5]    0:1    Joseph Quinn     P6    [1.5]
 8 Jonathan Laffey      F1    [1]      0:1    Karthikeya       F1    [1]  
 9 Franek Dudek         P2    [1]      1:0    Matthew Loughrey P3    [1]  
10 Thomas Loughrey      F1    [1]      1:0    Daniel Haffey    F5    [1]  
11 Sean Giustini        P5    [.5]     0:1    Arthur Mckeever  U6    [1]  
12 Katie McAleenan      P3    [.5]     0:1    Alannah Cole     P4    [.5] 
13 Saoirse Rippon       F1    [0]      1:0    Zuzanna Zacharek P2    [0]  

Ben Toogood battles Aadhi Sooraj for the lead and wins. Closely followed by 1/2 point difference by Eoin Boyle and Ashwanth Subramanian. A bunch of players chasing on 3 points. Frank Dudek gets his second win.

November 2021 - Round 5

Results

No Name             Feder Total  Result   Name                 Feder Total

 1 Eoin Boyle       F3    [3.5]    0:1    Ben Toogood          F5    [4]  
 2 Aadhi Sooraj     P5    [3]      0:1    Ashwanth Subramanian L6    [3.5]
 3 Aaditya Singh    F1    [3]     .5:.5   Ethan Cole           P5    [3]  
 4 Joseph Quinn     P6    [2.5]    0:1    James Huang          F3    [3]  
 5 Arthur Mckeever  U6    [2]      1:0    Umaiorubagam         F4    [2.5]
 6 Karthikeya       F1    [2]      1:0    Thomas Loughrey      F1    [2]  
 7 Lorcan Rippon    P5    [2]      1:0    Franek Dudek         P2    [2]  
 8 Marco Giaccardi  F2    [2]      0:1    Cillian Mccann       F4    [2]  
 9 Peter Murphy     F1    [2]      1:0    Hugo Mallon          P5    [1.5]
10 Alannah Cole     P4    [1.5]    0:1    Jonathan Laffey      F1    [1]  
11 Daniel Haffey    F5    [1]      0:1    Saoirse Rippon       F1    [1]  
12 Matthew Loughrey P3    [1]      1:0    Katie McAleenan      P3    [.5] 
13 Zuzanna Zacharek P2    [0]      0:1    Sean Giustini        P5    [.5] 

The final round. Ben Toogood gets full points with 5 out of 5 beating Eoin Boyle. Ethan and Aaditya battle each other and get a draw.

I collected the puzzles at the beginning of this round and marked them during this round so unfortunately dont have any photos.

Standings

Place Name                   Feder Score

  1   Ben Toogood            F5    5    
  2   Ashwanth Subramanian   L6    4.5  
  3   James Huang            F3    4    
 4-6  Eoin Boyle             F3    3.5  
      Ethan Cole             P5    3.5  
      Aaditya Singh          F1    3.5  
7-12  Aadhi Sooraj           P5    3    
      Peter Murphy           F1    3    
      Cillian Mccann         F4    3    
      Arthur Mckeever        U6    3    
      Lorcan Rippon          P5    3    
      Karthikeya             F1    3    
13-14 Umaiorubagam           F4    2.5  
      Joseph Quinn           P6    2.5  
15-20 Marco Giaccardi        F2    2    
      Franek Dudek           P2    2    
      Jonathan Laffey        F1    2    
      Thomas Loughrey        F1    2    
      Matthew Loughrey       P3    2    
      Saoirse Rippon         F1    2    
21-23 Hugo Mallon            P5    1.5  
      Alannah Cole           P4    1.5  
      Sean Giustini          P5    1.5  
 24   Daniel Haffey          F5    1    
 25   Katie McAleenan        P3    0.5  
 26   Zuzanna Zacharek       P2    0   

While we worked out the positions and wrote out the certificates the students played friendlys and battle chess.

Thanks to Eimear and Divya for their great help doing the certificates and calculating the positions.

Form 4 and above

Champion:  Ben Toogood

Second: Ashwanth Subramanian

Third: Cillian McCann, Arthur McKeever

Form 3

Champion: James Huang

Second: Eoin Boyle

Form 2

Champion: Marco Giaccardi

Form 1

Champion: Aaditya Singh

Second: Peter Murphy, Karthikeya

Third: Jonathan Laffey, Thomas Loughrey, Saoirse Rippon

P6

Champion: Joseph Quinn

P5

Champion: Ethan Cole

Second: Aadhi Sooraj, Lorcan Rippon

Third: Hugo Mallon, Sean Giustini

P4 and below

Champion: Franek Dudek, Matthew Loughrey

Second: Alannah Cole

Third: Katie McAleenan

Thanks to all the chess players for a brilliant afternoon of chess.

See you at our next tournament - The Ulster Schools Individual Championships on 11th December at Methodist College.

The solutions to the puzzles:

From The books: 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations – Fred Reinfeld

1000 Checkmate Combinations – Victor Henkin