The Belfast Megafinal took place on 11th May 2024
We had a good no of players from each age group so split into as many groups as we could. For the U18 we had 5 players so we played an all-play-all with a manual draw for round 6. Many thanks to Mandar Tahmankar (One of Ulsters Top players) for playing the u18 who had the bye. A brilliant experience to play a top player. We also had a section of Under 14s with 10 players and a section of Under 12s with 8 players. As the Under 12s can play quite fast rather than keeping to our timetable we ran each round as a round completed. This enabled the players an early finish - we agreed this with parents at the start of the day.
Full details of the larger competition is at : https://www.delanceyukschoolschesschallenge.com/
Our proposed timetable for the day. The clocks were set to 25mins each.
Registration 9:45
Rd1 10:00
Rd2 10:55
Rd3 11:50
Lunch 12:45
Rd4 13:30
Rd5 14:25
Rd6 15:20
Prizes 16:15
As the Under 12s finished early we split the puzzle competition into U12s and U18s. So that we could give out the prizes separately.
Many thanks go to our brilliant volunteers Karina Campbell and Geoff Hindley - who assist at all the monthly tournaments and without whos help we wouldnt be able to run these.
Also thanks to our sponsor : Trophy Sponsor: Charities Trust (via Ulster Bank, Karina Campbell volunteering)
The puzzles get solved between rounds and offer an opportunity to chat about chess - we offer suggestions or hints. Players solve some very difficult and elegent puzzles. Everyone handing in a puzzle sheets gets it marked and returned with a certificate. A trophy goes to the puzzle champions.
Under12 Puzzle Champion: Lorcan Rippon.
| Name | Points | Cert |
| Rippon, Lorcan | 16 | Gold |
| Selkh-Burgess, Zachary | 10 | Silver |
| Busby, Tom | 7 | Silver |
| Coakley, Jackson | 5 | Bronze |
| McCullough, Stephen | 4 | Bronze |
| Davis, Alexander | 3 | Bronze |
Under 18 Puzzle Champion: Eli Davison
| Name | Points | Cert |
| Eli Davison | 16.5 | Gold |
| Isaac Kirkland | 15.5 | Gold |
| Conor Murphy | 13.5 | Gold |
| Alexander McColgan | 12 | Silver |
| Conor Leopold | 12 | Silver |
| Saoirse Rippon | 12 | Silver |
| Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam | 10 | Silver |
| Louison Fuchs | 9 | Silver |
| Peter Murphy | 9 | Silver |
| Daniel Hill | 9 | Silver |
| Leah Worbey | 9 | Silver |
| Andrew Campbell | 8 | Silver |
| Scott Reid | 1 | Bronze |
Here are some examples of the puzzles - try these - solutions are provided at the bottom of this page.
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We had three rooms. In one Geoff and Karina looked after the U18 and U14 sections. In the other room I looked after the U12's and the 3rd room was for parents.
U12 - Round 1
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Kia Kazemi Jahandizi U9 [0] 1:0 Cadan Keenan U12 [0] 2 Hector Mclornan U12 [0] 0:1 Advait Tahmankar U10 [0] 3 Alex Mckeown U8 [0] 1:0 Niall Mcauley U12 [0] 4 Paul Leonard U12 [0] 1:0 Joseph Haslam-Black U11 [0] 5 Enoch Ke U12 [0] 1:0 Parker Robinson U11 [0]
by Swiss Perfect (TM) www.swissperfect.com
I have given players an approx rating. Paul Leonard and Joseph Haslam-Black withdrew from the tournament. So games went to rating. The rules for qualification for the next stage of the tournament the Gigafinals
Qualification Rules
The top boy and top girl in each section will receive trophies with medals for second and third placed boys and girls. These players will qualify for the Gigafinals. Please note that ties for third place will all qualify but tiebreak rules will be used to determine trophies and medals.
All players scoring a minimum of 3.5 points will qualify for the Gigafinal.
The top 3 U7s, U9s and U11s will also qualify automatically (boy and girl) – assuming they haven’t done so already using the criteria above.
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U12 - Round 2
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Alex Mckeown U8 [1] 1:0 Kia Kazemi Jahandizi U9 [1] 2 Advait Tahmankar U10 [1] .5:.5 Enoch Ke U12 [1] 3 Cadan Keenan U12 [0] 1:0 Hector Mclornan U12 [0] 4 Niall Mcauley U12 [0] .5:.5 Parker Robinson U11 [0]
Alex McKeown takes the lead after only 2 rounds with 2 out of 2 points followed closely by Advait Tahmankar and Enoch Ke on 1 1/2 points.
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U12 - Round 3
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Enoch Ke U12 [1.5] 0:1 Alex Mckeown U8 [2] 2 Kia Kazemi Jahandizi U9 [1] .5:.5 Advait Tahmankar U10 [1.5] 3 Parker Robinson U11 [.5] 1:0 Cadan Keenan U12 [1] 4 Hector Mclornan U12 [0] 0:1 Niall Mcauley U12 [.5]
Alex continues to win. and extends his lead as the board 2 player draw.
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U12 - Round 4
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Advait Tahmankar U10 [2] 0:1 Alex Mckeown U8 [3] 2 Niall Mcauley U12 [1.5] .5:.5 Kia Kazemi Jahandizi U9 [1.5] 3 Cadan Keenan U12 [1] 1:0 Enoch Ke U12 [1.5] 4 Parker Robinson U11 [1.5] 1:0 Hector Mclornan U12 [0]
Alex Qualifies and maintains the lead. Now almost unassailable.
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U12 - Round 5
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Alex Mckeown U8 [4] 1:0 Parker Robinson U11 [2.5] 2 Cadan Keenan U12 [2] 0:1 Advait Tahmankar U10 [2] 3 Enoch Ke U12 [1.5] 0:1 Niall Mcauley U12 [2] 4 Kia Kazemi Jahandizi U9 [2] 1:0 Hector Mclornan U12 [0]
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U12 - Round 6
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Alex Mckeown U8 [5] 1:0 Cadan Keenan U12 [2] 2 Advait Tahmankar U10 [3] 0:1 Niall Mcauley U12 [3] 3 Parker Robinson U11 [2.5] 0:1 Kia Kazemi Jahandizi U9 [3] 4 Hector Mclornan U12 [0] 0:1 Enoch Ke U12 [1.5]
Alex gets full points. Niall Mcauley gets over the qualifying points of 3 1/2 as does Kia Kazemi Jahanddizi.
U12 Standings
| Place | Name | Year | Qualified | Score | M-Buch. | Buch. | Progr. |
| 1 | Alex Mckeown | U8 | Q | 6 | 12 | 18 | 21 |
| 2-3 | Niall Mcauley | U12 | Q | 4 | 12 | 18 | 11 |
| Kia Kazemi Jahandizi | U9 | Q | 4 | 11.5 | 17.5 | 12.5 | |
| 4 | Advait Tahmankar | U10 | Q | 3 | 12.5 | 18.5 | 12.5 |
| 5-6 | Parker Robinson | U11 | Q | 2.5 | 12.5 | 18.5 | 9.5 |
| Enoch Ke | U12 | 2.5 | 11.5 | 17.5 | 9.5 | ||
| 7 | Cadan Keenan | U12 | 2 | 12 | 18 | 8 | |
| 8 | Paul Leonard | U12 | 1 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 1 | |
| 9-10 | Hector Mclornan | U12 | 0 | 12 | 18 | 0 |
5 qualifiers for the next tournament in the series the Gigafinals.
Alex is the Under 8 Champion and overall winner.
Kia Kazemi Jahandizi is the Under 9 Champion and 3rd overall
Niall Mcauley is the Under 12 Champion and second overall
Advait Tahmankar is the Under 10 Champion and 4th overall
Parker Robinson is the Under 11 Champion and 5th overall
All the above qualify and we look forward to seeing their progress at the Gigafinals.
U14 - Round 1
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 21 Jake Gourley U13 [0] 1:0 Tom Busby U13 [0] 22 Eoin Connolly U13 [0] 0:1 Kyan Muradali U13 [0] 23 Peter Murphy U14 [0] 1:0 Simon Murphy U13 [0] 24 Conor Murphy U14 [0] 0:1 Nathan Murray U14 [0] 25 Ben Guerrero U13 [0] 0:1 Benjamin Rainey U13 [0]
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U18 - Round 1
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Jonah Corr U15 [0] 1:0 Nathanael Robinson U15 [0] 2 Toby Crothers U15 [0] 1:0 Isaac Kirkland U15 [0] 3 Andrew Campbell U17 [0] 1:0 BYE
5 Rounds of all-play-all followed by a manual draw for round 6. The person with the bye is lucky enough to get to play Mandar Tahmankar one of Ulsters best players.
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U14 - Round 2
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 21 Nathan Murray U14 [1] 1:0 Jake Gourley U13 [1] 22 Kyan Muradali U13 [1] 1:0 Peter Murphy U14 [1] 23 Benjamin Rainey U13 [1] 1:0 Eoin Connolly U13 [0] 24 Simon Murphy U13 [0] 1:0 Ben Guerrero U13 [0] 25 Tom Busby U13 [0] 1:0 Conor Murphy U14 [0]
At the end of round 2 we have 3 players on 2 Nathan Murray, Kyan Muradali and Benjamin Rainey.
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U18 - Round 2
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Nathanael Robinson U15 [0] 0:1 Toby Crothers U15 [1] 2 Andrew Campbell U17 [1] 1:0 Jonah Corr U15 [1] 3 Isaac Kirkland U15 [0] 1:0 BYE
Toby Crothers and Andrew Campbell lead with 2 points.
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U14 - Round 3
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 21 Benjamin Rainey U13 [2] 0:1 Kyan Muradali U13 [2] 22 Peter Murphy U14 [1] 1:0 Nathan Murray U14 [2] 23 Jake Gourley U13 [1] 1:0 Simon Murphy U13 [1] 24 Ben Guerrero U13 [0] 1:0 Tom Busby U13 [1] 25 Eoin Connolly U13 [0] 0:1 Conor Murphy U14 [0]
Kyan Muradali takes the lead with 3 out of 3. As Peter Murphy beats Nathan Murray.
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U18 - Round 3
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Toby Crothers U15 [2] 0:1 Andrew Campbell U17 [2] 2 Isaac Kirkland U15 [1] 1:0 Nathanael Robinson U15 [0] 3 Jonah Corr U15 [1] 1:0 BYE
The two leaders play and Andrew Campbell beats Toby Crothers. Some excellent chess is played.
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U14 - Round 4
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 21 Kyan Muradali U13 [3] 1:0 Jake Gourley U13 [2] 22 Nathan Murray U14 [2] 0:1 Benjamin Rainey U13 [2] 23 Ben Guerrero U13 [1] 0:1 Peter Murphy U14 [2] 24 Tom Busby U13 [1] 0:1 Simon Murphy U13 [1] 25 Conor Murphy U14 [1] 1:0 BYE
Kyan continues to win and on 4 unbeaten points is chased by Benjamin Rainey and Peter Murphy on 3 points.
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U18 - Round 4
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Andrew Campbell U17 [3] 1:0 Isaac Kirkland U15 [2] 2 Jonah Corr U15 [2] 0:1 Toby Crothers U15 [2] 3 Nathanael Robinson U15 [0] 1:0 BYE
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U14 - Round 5
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 21 Conor Murphy U14 [2] 0:1 Kyan Muradali U13 [4] 22 Peter Murphy U14 [3] 1:0 Benjamin Rainey U13 [3] 23 Simon Murphy U13 [2] .5:.5 Nathan Murray U14 [2] 24 Jake Gourley U13 [2] 1:0 Ben Guerrero U13 [1] 25 Tom Busby U13 [1] 1:0 BYE
Players begin to get sufficient points to qualify. Kyan remains on max points. Peter Murphy is still chasing one behind.
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U18 - Round 5
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Isaac Kirkland U15 [2] 0:1 Jonah Corr U15 [2] 2 Nathanael Robinson U15 [1] 0:1 Andrew Campbell U17 [4] 3 Toby Crothers U15 [3] 1:0 BYE
U14 - Round 6
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 21 Kyan Muradali U13 [5] 1:0 Simon Murphy U13 [2.5] 22 Jake Gourley U13 [3] .5:.5 Peter Murphy U14 [4] 23 Conor Murphy U14 [2] 1:0 Benjamin Rainey U13 [3] 24 Nathan Murray U14 [2.5] 1:0 Tom Busby U13 [2] 25 Ben Guerrero U13 [1] 1:0 BYE
The final round and Kyan has 6 out of 6 a top score.
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U18 - Round 6
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Andrew Campbell U17 [5] 1/2:1/2 Toby Crothers U15 [4]
2 Nathanael Robinson U15 [1] 1:0 Isaac Kirkland U15 [2] 3 Jonah Corr U15 [3] 1:0 BYE
Andrew and Jonah draw on the top board. Both qualifying followed by Jonah Corr on 4 points.
U14 Standings
| Place | Name | Feder | Qualified | Score | M-Buch. | Buch. | Progr. |
| 1 | Kyan Muradali | U13 | Q | 6 | 11.5 | 17.5 | 21 |
| 2 | Peter Murphy | U14 | Q | 4.5 | 12.5 | 20 | 15.5 |
| 3-4 | Jake Gourley | U13 | Q | 3.5 | 12 | 19.5 | 12.5 |
| Nathan Murray | U14 | Q | 3.5 | 11.5 | 17.5 | 13 | |
| 5-6 | Benjamin Rainey | U13 | 3 | 12 | 19.5 | 14 | |
| Conor Murphy | U14 | 3 | 11 | 18.5 | 8 | ||
| 7 | Simon Murphy | U13 | 2.5 | 13 | 20.5 | 9 | |
| 8-9 | Ben Guerrero | U13 | 2 | 12 | 18 | 5 | |
| Tom Busby | U13 | 2 | 11.5 | 16.5 | 7 | ||
| 10 | Eoin Connolly | U13 | 0 | 3 | 11.5 | 0 |
With 4 Qualifiers for the Gigafinals
Under 13 Champion and overall winner Kyan Muradli
Under 14 Champion and 2nd Peter Murphy
U18 Standings
| Place | Name | Feder | Qualified | Score | |||
| 1 | Andrew Campbell | U17 | Q | 5.5 | |||
| 2 | Toby Crothers | U15 | Q | 4.5 | |||
| 3 | Jonah Corr | U15 | Q | 4 | |||
| 4 | Isaac Kirkland | U15 | 2 | ||||
| 5 | Nathanael Robinson | U15 | 2 |
3 Qualifiers for the Gigafinals.
Under 18 Champion Andrew Campbell.
Under 15 Champion and 2nd overall Toby Crothers
The end of a brilliant day of chess. Watchout for how the players do in the Gigafinals latter in the year.
The website for these is : https://www.delanceyukschoolschesschallenge.com/
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13. White to move (1001W-801) 1. Bh6+ Kxh6 2. Rxh4+ Kg7 3. aRh1 Rh8 No good line against mating threat 4. Rh7+ 4. Rxh8 Qxh8 5. Rxh8 Rxh8 6. Qb3 white is winning |
14. White move. (1001W-802) 1. Nd7+ Kc8 2. Nb6+ Kb8 3. Qc8+ Rxc8 4. Nd7# |
15. White to move (1001W-803) 1. Nh6+ Kh8 2. Nxf7+ Kg8 3. Qg3! Qe7 4. Nh6+ Kh8 5. Rf7 resigns |
16. White to move (1001W-804) 1. Ke3! Resigns If 1. … h5 2. Ne4+ Kf5 3. Nh4# |
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17. Black to move (1001W-805) 1. … Bd3 2. Bxd3 If 2. Re1 Qf2+ 3. Kh1 Bxf1 winning 2. … Qe3+ 3. Kh1 Qe8+ And mate follows |
18. Black to move (1001W-806) 1. … Na4 2. bxa4 Rxb6 Resigns |
19. Black to move (10001W-807) 1. … Bxg3 2. Qxe8+ Kh7 Resigns White Queen is lost |
20. Black to move (1000CC-336) 1. … Rd3! If 2. Nxd3 Be6# If 2. Ne2 Nxa3# If 2. Ra1 Rc3# |
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21. White to move (1000CC-337) 1. g8=B Kg1 2. Ne2+ Kh1 3. Bd5# |
22 White to move (1000CC-338) 1. Bc7 d3 2. Nc1 d2 3. Na2 and 4. Nb4# |
