Naomi Long MLA invites top players for an award ceremony and tournament at Stormont.

With the end of the chess season. Naomi Long MLA invited the top young players who were placed in the 4 top places for the Belfast Scholastic Grandprix - open to all school pupils, run every month at Methodist College. Players Parents, Principal, Teachers, Volunteers and Sponsors were invited for a brilliant morning on Friday 7th June.

The timetable for the day was :

Time Description

10:00 Arrival

10:15 Welcome.

10:30 Tour of Stormont

11:00 Chess Tournament, coffee and tea served.

12:00 Principals alternative arrival time.

12:40 Award Ceremony: Ms Naomi Long MLA

13:15 Farewells

Myself, Geoff Hindley and Karina Campbell arrived early to setup. I always like the room setup. Half for the chess boards and tables and half for the coffee, parents, principals, teachers and volunteers. With the table and trophies in the middle.

After the introduction there followed a brilliant tour of the beautiful building - admiring the design and elegence of the place and sitting in the gallery of the chamber discussing a pretend motion on which is our favourite chocolate biscuit - with shouts of Yes and No. The Nos had it.

We then returned to the Long Room for coffee and tea and the youngsters played 3 rounds of all play all with 15mins each on the clock. We had 4 sections. The usual Primary controlled by Geoff Hindley, Lower Secondary controlled by Andrew Campbell and Upper Secondary controlled by Graham Murphy. With an additional section made of play players who werent in the other sections - who had won Exceptional Young Player and Puzzle Solving competitions - controlled by Neil Gardner ( The Founder of the brilliant Lisburn Chess Club ).

Below we have photos from the competition and results - a pictorial story of a brilliant days chess.

Whilst the youngsters played the adults mingled and had tea and coffee. Also we had feedback/suggestion sheets that could be filled in with ideas to improve our chess.

The results

Stormont Elite Chess Tournament – Primary 2024

Round 1.

White			Black
Alex McKeown	1	0	Matthew Loughrey
Jackson Coakley	0	1	Lorcan Rippon

Round 2

White			Black
Alex McKeown	1	0	Jackson Coakley
Lorcan Rippon	1	0	Matthew Loughrey

Round 3

White			Black
Lorcan Rippon	0	1	Alex McKeown
Matthew Loughrey	0	1	Jackson Coakley

Place	Name	Year	School	Points
1^st	Alex McKeown	P4	Home Schooled	3
2^nd	Lorcan Rippon	P7	St. Bride’s Primary	2
3^rd	Jackson Coakley	P6	Strandtown Primary School	1
4^th	Matthew Loughrey	P5	St. Bride’s Primary	0

Stormont Elite Chess Tournament – Secondary Lower

Round 1.

White			Black
Peter Murphy	0	1	Jake Gourley
Kyan Muradali	1	0	Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam

Round 2

White			Black
Peter Murphy	0	1	Kyan Muradali
Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam	0	1	Jake Gourley

Round 3

White			Black
Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam	1	0	Peter Murphy
Jake Gourley	1	0	Kyan Muradali

Stormont Elite Chess Tournament – Secondary Lower

Place	Name	Year	School	Points
1^st	Jake Gourley	F2	Carrickfergus Grammar	3
2^nd	Kyan Muradali	F1	Slemish College	2
3^rd	Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam	F3	Methodist College	1
4^th	Peter Murphy	F3	Ballyclare High School	0

Stormont Elite Chess Tournament – Secondary Upper

Round 1.

White			Black
Andrew Campbell	1	0	Jonah Corr
Caleb McClean	1	0	Toby Crothers

Round 2

White			Black
Andrew Campbell	1	0	Caleb McClean
Jonah Corr	½	½	Toby Crothers

Round 3

White			Black
Toby Crothers	½	½	Andrew Campbell
Caleb McClean	1	0	Jonah Corr

Toby Crothers had to leave for an exam. We did an impromptu awarding of his prizes prior to his departure and everyone wished him well in his exam. We agreed to set his final game as a draw. and Andrew Campbell got to play top Ulster Player Mandar Tahmankar.

Stormont Elite Chess Tournament – Secondary Upper

Place	Name	Year	School	Points
1^st	Andrew Campbell	L6	Ballyclare High School	2 ½
2^nd	Caleb McClean	F5	Bangor Academy	2
3^rd	Toby Crothers	F4	Shimna Integrated College	1
4^th	Jonah Corr	F4	Friends School	½

Stormont Elite Chess Tournament – Exceptional Young Player

With 3 players winning the Exception Young Player and 2 players winning the Puzzle competition. These players dont usually get to play in an Elite competition. We had 2 extra tables and setup a competition called the Stormont Elite Chess Tournament - Exception Young Players. With the older players playing for the position in the Assistant Exceptional. So even more chess was played than previous years!

Round 1.

White			Black
Torin Rippon	0	1	Luke Spence
Rithvik Deekonda	1	0	Advait Tahmankar

Round 2

White			Black
Rithvik Deekonda	1	0	Torin Rippon
Advait Tahmankar	0	1	Luke Spence

Round 3

White			Black
Luke Spence	0	1	Rithvik Deekonda
Advait Tahmankar	1	0	Torin Rippon

Stormont Elite Chess Tournament – Exceptional Young Player

Place	Name	Year	School	Points
1^st	Luke Spence	P3	St. Kevin's Primary School	2
2^nd	Torin Rippon	P3	St. Bride’s Primary	0

Stormont Elite Chess Tournament – Exceptional Young Player: Assistants.

Place	Name	Year	School	Points
1^st	Rithvik Deekonda	F2	Our Lady St Patrick	2
2^nd	Advait Tahmankar	P7	Antrim Primary School	1

With all the games completing we had run a few minutes over time. More Principals and teachers arrived around 12:00pm for the award ceremony and our brilliant host Naomi Long MLA arrived. Naomi immediately chatted to the young players asking them about chess and their personal liking for the game, asking them to take her to one of the chess boards to further explain the game of chess.

The youngsters were so involved in the game and explaining it that they didnt want to finish to allow Naomi to start their award ceremony! We had to drag Naomi away.

The Principals, Teachers and as was explained Dr Graham Murphy the founder of the tournament formed a line of honor, for the winners to walk down after they recieved their awards from Naomi and shake the hands down the line. Naomi gave in her speech a warm welcome to Schools and Teachers as a brilliant group of important people in our society.

The Belfast Scholastic Top Young Player (League/Other Competitions/Overseas Representation)

Name	Year	School
Ethan Cole	P7	Park Lodge PS

Unfortunately Ethan Cole wasnt able to attend the event as he was playing at the European School Chess Championship 2024 hosted by the Irish Chess Union at University of Limerick. Website for info and results : https://escc2024.ie/ Ethan came 11th place gaining 4.5 points out of 9 in a very tough section. Results: https://chess-results.com/tnr950030.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=9&flag=30

This is a new award for this years ceremony and one that has been introduced really because of Ethan. Who has done brilliantly representing Ireland and playing internationally. This ceremony is to recognise brilliant young players and an award for top young player is perfect, well deservedly won by Ethan Cole for his brilliant chess. He was presented it at the Ulster Chess Unions Summer Tournament which meets every wednesday at the Civil Service Pavilion.

best-young-player

The Belfast Scholastic Henderson and Dawson Shield.Exceptional Young Chess Player

Name	Year	School
Torin Rippon	P3	St. Bride’s Primary
Luke Spence	P3	St. Kevin's Primary School
Alexander Davis	P3	Hazlebank Primary School.

excep-player

The Belfast Scholastic James Fairley Shield. Primary Chess Champion

	Name	Year	School	Score
1^st	Alex McKeown	P4	Home Schooled	28
1^st	Lorcan Rippon	P7	St. Bride’s Primary	28
3rd	Matthew Loughrey	P5	St. Bride’s Primary	14.83
4^th	Jackson Coakley	P6	Strandtown Primary School	14

The Belfast Scholastic William McGrattin Shield. Lower Secondary Chess Champion

	Name	Year	School	Score
1^st	Peter Murphy	F3	Ballyclare High School	23.75
2^nd	Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam	F3	Methodist College	23
3rd	Jake Gourley	F2	Carrickfergus Grammar School	22
4th	Kyan Muradali	F1	Slemish College	18

The Belfast Scholastic Shield. Senior Secondary Chess Champion

	Name	Year	School	Score
1^st	Andrew Campbell	L6	Ballyclare High School	29
2^nd	Toby Crothers	F4	Shimna Integrated College	21
3^rd	Caleb McClean	F5	Bangor Academy	19
4th	Jonah Corr	F4	Friends	18.5

The Belfast Scholastic Edward Whiteside Shield. Primary Puzzle Solving Chess Champion

	Name	Year	School	Score
1^st	Lorcan Rippon	P7	St. Bride’s Primary	30
2^nd	Alex McKeown	P4	Home Schooled	26
3rd	Matthew Loughrey	P5	St. Bride’s Primary	18
4th	Advait Tahmankar	P7	Antrim Primary School	14

The Belfast Scholastic Fergus O’Neill Shield. Secondary Puzzle Solving Chess Champion

	Name	Year	School	Score
1^st	Toby Crothers	F4	Shimna Integrated College	26
2^nd	Peter Murphy	F3	Ballyclare High School	20.5
3rd	Rithvik Deekonda	F2	Our Lady St Patrick, Knock	18.5
4^th	Kyan Muradali	F1	Slemish College	18
4^th	Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam	F3	Methodist College	18
4^th	Andrew Campbell	L6	Ballyclare High School	18

With all the Awards given out. Our brilliant host Naomi Long MLA gave a warm farewell speech celebrating the skills of the Youngsters and the support of Parents and Educators. A worthy speech for such a brilliant event. The feedback afterwards was that here was a memory that all the youngsters and adults would value for a very long time. Thanks to all those who made it possible - the Stormont Event organisers, Tour guide, Security, our volunteers, Parents, Teachers, Principals and Naomi Long MLA for inviting us to such a fantastic venue.

Most of all a big round of applause to the students for their enthusiasm for such a fantastic game of mental concentration and logic.