Aprils Monthly Childrens Chess Tournament at Methodist College
On a beautiful April morning I picked up Geoff Hindley on the way to Methodist College. We arrived and setup. Geoff placed the arrows to let people know the location of the rooms and toilets. I had some earlier arrivers who also helped setup the sets and the clocks,.
With everyone registered we started almost on time at 1:05pm. We had 35 brilliant players, ranging from as young as P3 to Upper Sixth. Also had some new faces. We were in for a brilliant afternoons chess.
As players register they can collect puzzles sheets, a set for Primary and a set for Secondary pupils. These consist of 22 puzzles. The back of the sheet is the same for both ages. The front is different by a line - the Secondary have a line of Checkmates in 3 whilst the Primary have a line of Checkmates in 1 ( a good way to start puzzle solving for the younger players),
Primary School Puzzle Solver Champion : Micheal Aarin P3.
| No | Name | Year | Points | Cert. |
| 1 | Micheal, Aarin | P3 | 15.5 | Gold |
| 2 | Ganja, Abhiram | P5 | 14.5 | Gold |
| 3 | Loughrey, Stefan | P4 | 14 | Gold |
| 4 | Tahmankar, Advait | P7 | 12.5 | Silver |
| 5 | Jahandizi, Kia | P6 | 11.5 | Silver |
| 6 | Loughrey, Matthew | P6 | 10 | Silver |
| 7 | Coakley, Jackson | P7 | 7 | Bronze |
| 8 | Premkumar, Soundharya | P5 | 6.5 | Bronze |
| 9 | Marsh, Darragh | P6 | 5 | Bronze |
| 10 | McConkey, Ollie | P6 | 5 | Bronze |
| 11 | O’Hagan, Austin | P4 | 5 | Bronze |
| 12 | Johnston, Nathan | P6 | 3 | Bronze |
| 13 | Amol Thoke , Tanish | P4 | 2.5 | Bronze |
Secondary School Puzzle Solver Champion : Jakub Slekbioda L6
| No | Name | Year | Points | Cert. |
| 1 | Slebioda, Jakub | L6 | 18.5 | Gold |
| 2 | Campbell, Andrew | U6 | 18.5 | Gold |
| 3 | Crothers, Toby | F5 | 15 | Silver |
| 4 | Micheal, Alwin | F1 | 15 | Silver |
| 5 | McClenahan, Timothy | L6 | 14 | Silver |
| 6 | Karpagavinayagam, Karthikeya | F4 | 13 | Silver |
| 7 | Murphy, Peter | F4 | 13 | Silver |
| 8 | Banerjee, Aharshi | F3 | 13 | Silver |
| 9 | Prokopenko, Bohdan | F3 | 13 | Silver |
| 10 | Robinson, Nathanael | F5 | 12.5 | Silver |
| 11 | Murray, Nathan | F3 | 12 | Silver |
| 12 | Thoke, Shlok | F1 | 7.5 | Bronze |
Some of the brilliant puzzles to solve. From the books (recommended)
From The books: 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations – Fred Reinfeld
1000 Checkmate Combinations – Victor Henkin
 |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Solutions for these can be found at the bottom of the page.
With everyone registered we introduced players to our rules and the system of pairing players - displayed on the large screen at the front of the main classroom. Each table was numbered and tables 10 and higher were in the second room controlled by Geoff Hindley and Amol Thoke. The round was drawn and players asked to find their tables and their opponents. Concentration and silence fell across the two rooms.
Round 1
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Andrew Campbell U6 [0] 1:0 Matthew Loughrey P6 [0] 2 Abhiram Ganja P5 [0] 0:1 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 [0] 3 Alwin Micheal F1 [0] 1:0 Darragh Marsh P6 [0] 4 Bohdan Prokopenko F3 [0] 1:0 Timothy McClenahan L6 [0] 5 Nathan Murray F3 [0] 1:0 George McClelland F2 [0] 6 Dean AlMasri F1 [0] 0:1 Aharshi Banerjee F3 [0] 7 Kia Jahandizi P6 [0] 1:0 Max Lukhodievskiiy P7 [0] 8 Jackson Coakley P7 [0] 0:1 Nathanael Robinson F5 [0] 9 Advait Tahmankar P7 [0] 1:0 Ryan Hall P7 [0] 10 Nathan Johnston P6 [0] 1:0 Parker Robinson F1 [0] 11 Peter Murphy F4 [0] 1:0 Ollie McConkey P6 [0] 12 Soundharya Premkumar P5 [0] 1:0 Shlok Thoke F1 [0] 13 Jack Ellis U6 [0] 1:0 Tanish Amol Thoke P4 [0] 14 Stefan Loughrey P4 [0] 0:1 Shayan Pourjalali U6 [0] 15 Jakub Slebioda L6 [0] 1:0 Austin O’Hagan P4 [0] 16 Corey Castillo P3 [0] 0:1 Anthony Pratt F4 [0] 17 Toby Crothers F5 [0] 1:0 Aarin Micheal P3 [0] 18 Simon Murphy F3 [0] .5:0 BYE
by Swiss Perfect (TM) www.swissperfect.com
With new players its always difficult to give an estimate of their ratings. I under-estimated Bohdan Prokopenko who turned out to be one of the top players. He won against Timothy McClenahan. Also breaking the trend of the estimated ratings were tables 10 and 12, Nathan Johnston won against Parker Robinson and Soundharya won against Shlok Thoke. We had a couple of players arriving after the start of round 1. So paired off Toby Crothers against Aarin Micheal and gave Simon Murphy a 1/2 point travelling bye.
 |  |
|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Round 2
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Advait Tahmankar P7 [1] 0:1 Andrew Campbell U6 [1] 2 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 [1] 0:1 Peter Murphy F4 [1] 3 Jack Ellis U6 [1] 0:1 Alwin Micheal F1 [1] 4 Shayan Pourjalali U6 [1] 0:1 Toby Crothers F5 [1] 5 Jakub Slebioda L6 [1] 0:1 Nathan Murray F3 [1] 6 Aharshi Banerjee F3 [1] 0:1 Bohdan Prokopenko F3 [1] 7 Anthony Pratt F4 [1] 0:1 Kia Jahandizi P6 [1] 8 Nathanael Robinson F5 [1] 0:1 Nathan Johnston P6 [1] 9 Simon Murphy F3 [.5] 1:0 Soundharya Premkumar P5 [1] 10 Timothy McClenahan L6 [0] 1:0 Max Lukhodievskiiy P7 [0] 11 Parker Robinson F1 [0] 0:1 Jackson Coakley P7 [0] 12 Shlok Thoke F1 [0] 1:0 Ryan Hall P7 [0] 13 Matthew Loughrey P6 [0] 1:0 Ollie McConkey P6 [0] 14 Tanish Amol Thoke P4 [0] 1:0 Abhiram Ganja P5 [0] 15 Darragh Marsh P6 [0] 1:0 Stefan Loughrey P4 [0] 16 George McClelland F2 [0] 1:0 Corey Castillo P3 [0] 17 Austin O’Hagan P4 [0] 0:1 Dean AlMasri F1 [0] 18 Aarin Micheal P3 [0] 1:0 BYE
Kia Jahandizi P6 wins against Anthony Pratt F4 whilst new player Bohdan continues to win.
 |  |
|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Round 3
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Andrew Campbell U6 [2] 1:0 Kia Jahandizi P6 [2] 2 Alwin Micheal F1 [2] 1:0 Peter Murphy F4 [2] 3 Toby Crothers F5 [2] 0:1 Bohdan Prokopenko F3 [2] 4 Nathan Murray F3 [2] 1:0 Nathan Johnston P6 [2] 5 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 [1] .5:.5 Simon Murphy F3 [1.5] 6 Anthony Pratt F4 [1] 0:1 Timothy McClenahan L6 [1] 7 Matthew Loughrey P6 [1] .5:.5 Aharshi Banerjee F3 [1] 8 Darragh Marsh P6 [1] 0:1 Nathanael Robinson F5 [1] 9 George McClelland F2 [1] .5:.5 Advait Tahmankar P7 [1] 10 Dean AlMasri F1 [1] 0:1 Shlok Thoke F1 [1] 11 Jackson Coakley P7 [1] 1:0 Jack Ellis U6 [1] 12 Soundharya Premkumar P5 [1] 0:1 Shayan Pourjalali U6 [1] 13 Aarin Micheal P3 [1] 0:1 Jakub Slebioda L6 [1] 14 Max Lukhodievskiiy P7 [0] 1:0 Tanish Amol Thoke P4 [1] 15 Ollie McConkey P6 [0] 0:1 Parker Robinson F1 [0] 16 Abhiram Ganja P5 [0] 1:0 Stefan Loughrey P4 [0] 17 Ryan Hall P7 [0] 1:0 Austin O’Hagan P4 [0] 18 Corey Castillo P3 [0] 1:0 BYE
The top cedes are rising to the top - Andrew Campbell, Alwin Michael. Bohdan beats the 4th cede Toby Crothers. Whilst Simon Murphy gets a good draw against Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam the 2nd cede. Its good to see Primary players on the top half of the draw.
 |  |
|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Round 4
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Nathan Murray F3 [3] 0:1 Andrew Campbell U6 [3] 2 Bohdan Prokopenko F3 [3] 0:1 Alwin Micheal F1 [3] 3 Peter Murphy F4 [2] 0:1 Toby Crothers F5 [2] 4 Timothy McClenahan L6 [2] 1:0 Shlok Thoke F1 [2] 5 Kia Jahandizi P6 [2] 1:0 Shayan Pourjalali U6 [2] 6 Nathanael Robinson F5 [2] 0:1 Jakub Slebioda L6 [2] 7 Simon Murphy F3 [2] 1:0 Jackson Coakley P7 [2] 8 Nathan Johnston P6 [2] 1:0 Matthew Loughrey P6 [1.5] 9 Advait Tahmankar P7 [1.5] 1:0 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 [1.5] 10 Aharshi Banerjee F3 [1.5] 1:0 George McClelland F2 [1.5] 11 Parker Robinson F1 [1] 0:1 Soundharya Premkumar P5 [1] 12 Ryan Hall P7 [1] 0:1 Jack Ellis U6 [1] 13 Tanish Amol Thoke P4 [1] 0:1 Anthony Pratt F4 [1] 14 Corey Castillo P3 [1] 0:1 Darragh Marsh P6 [1] 15 Max Lukhodievskiiy P7 [1] 1:0 Aarin Micheal P3 [1] 16 Ollie McConkey P6 [0] 0:1 Dean AlMasri F1 [1] 17 Stefan Loughrey P4 [0] 1:0 Austin O’Hagan P4 [0]
At the start of Round 4 we collect the puzzles so we have time to mark them. Luckily I had the assistance of top Chess player Mandar Tahmankar, I marked the easier puzzles on the front sheets, with fellow volunteer Amol Thoke.Whilst Mandar marked the harder puzzles on the back sheet. No photos for this round as busy marking the sheets. The new player Bohdan is finally beaten by Micheal Alwin.
Round 5
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Andrew Campbell U6 [4] 1:0 Alwin Micheal F1 [4] 2 Toby Crothers F5 [3] 1:0 Simon Murphy F3 [3] 3 Jakub Slebioda L6 [3] 0:1 Timothy McClenahan L6 [3] 4 Bohdan Prokopenko F3 [3] 1:0 Nathan Murray F3 [3] 5 Nathan Johnston P6 [3] 0:1 Kia Jahandizi P6 [3] 6 Aharshi Banerjee F3 [2.5] 0:1 Advait Tahmankar P7 [2.5] 7 Anthony Pratt F4 [2] 0:1 Nathanael Robinson F5 [2] 8 Darragh Marsh P6 [2] 1:0 Peter Murphy F4 [2] 9 Shlok Thoke F1 [2] 1:0 Max Lukhodievskiiy P7 [2] 10 Jack Ellis U6 [2] 0:1 Dean AlMasri F1 [2] 11 Shayan Pourjalali U6 [2] 1:0 Jackson Coakley P7 [2] 12 Soundharya Premkumar P5 [2] 0:1 George McClelland F2 [1.5] 13 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 [1.5] 1:0 Matthew Loughrey P6 [1.5] 14 Stefan Loughrey P4 [1] 0:1 Parker Robinson F1 [1] 15 Corey Castillo P3 [1] 0:1 Ryan Hall P7 [1] 16 Aarin Micheal P3 [1] 1:0 Tanish Amol Thoke P4 [1] 17 Austin O’Hagan P4 [0] 0:1 Ollie McConkey P6 [0]
The two players on the top marks, unbeaten meet on board 1. Andrew Campebell beats Alwin Michael in a very exciting game where both players took the initiative and lost it. All the games are brilliant to watch. Also the players enthusiasm for chess is a great part of the atmosphere of the afternoon.
 |  |
|---|
Round 6
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Timothy McClenahan L6 [4] .5:.5 Andrew Campbell U6 [5] 2 Alwin Micheal F1 [4] 1:0 Toby Crothers F5 [4] 3 Kia Jahandizi P6 [4] 0:1 Bohdan Prokopenko F3 [4] 4 Nathanael Robinson F5 [3] 0:1 Advait Tahmankar P7 [3.5] 5 Dean AlMasri F1 [3] 0:1 Nathan Murray F3 [3] 6 Simon Murphy F3 [3] 1:0 Jakub Slebioda L6 [3] 7 Shlok Thoke F1 [3] 0:1 Darragh Marsh P6 [3] 8 Shayan Pourjalali U6 [3] 1:0 Nathan Johnston P6 [3] 9 George McClelland F2 [2.5] 0:1 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 [2.5] 10 Parker Robinson F1 [2] 0:1 Aharshi Banerjee F3 [2.5] 11 Peter Murphy F4 [2] 1:0 Soundharya Premkumar P5 [2] 12 Max Lukhodievskiiy P7 [2] 1:0 Jack Ellis U6 [2] 13 Ryan Hall P7 [2] 0:1 Anthony Pratt F4 [2] 14 Jackson Coakley P7 [2] 1:0 Aarin Micheal P3 [2] 15 Matthew Loughrey P6 [1.5] 1:0 Stefan Loughrey P4 [1] 16 Ollie McConkey P6 [1] 1:0 Corey Castillo P3 [1] 17 Tanish Amol Thoke P4 [1] 1:0 Austin O’Hagan P4 [0]
The final round and the top board has almost a grandmaster draw - with no player having the advantage Andrew offers a draw as this is all he needs to win the tournament. We have Andrew on 5 points and 5 players on 4 points chasing. An exciting end to a good days chess.
 |  |
|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Standings
Place Name Feder Score M-Buch. Buch. Progr.
1 Andrew Campbell U6 5.5 17.0 24.5 20.5
2-3 Bohdan Prokopenko F3 5 16.5 25.0 18.0
Alwin Micheal F1 5 16.0 23.5 19.0
4-5 Timothy McClenahan L6 4.5 14.0 22.5 14.5
Advait Tahmankar P7 4.5 12.5 20.0 14.0
6-11 Toby Crothers F5 4 16.0 22.5 16.0
Kia Jahandizi P6 4 15.0 23.5 16.0
Nathan Murray F3 4 14.0 22.0 16.0
Simon Murphy F3 4 12.5 18.5 14.0
Shayan Pourjalali U6 4 12.0 17.0 13.0
Darragh Marsh P6 4 10.0 15.5 11.0
12-13 Aharshi Banerjee F3 3.5 12.5 19.5 12.0
Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 3.5 12.0 19.0 11.0
14-22 Peter Murphy F4 3 13.5 20.5 12.0
Nathan Johnston P6 3 13.5 19.5 14.0
Nathanael Robinson F5 3 13.0 20.5 12.0
Jakub Slebioda L6 3 12.5 17.0 13.0
Shlok Thoke F1 3 12.0 18.5 11.0
Max Lukhodievskiiy P7 3 11.0 17.0 8.0
Jackson Coakley P7 3 11.0 16.5 10.0
Anthony Pratt F4 3 11.0 16.0 10.0
Dean AlMasri F1 3 10.5 14.5 10.0
23-24 George McClelland F2 2.5 13.0 18.0 9.0
Matthew Loughrey P6 2.5 12.0 18.5 8.0
25-31 Soundharya Premkumar P5 2 12.5 18.5 9.0
Aarin Micheal P3 2 12.0 18.0 7.0
Jack Ellis U6 2 11.0 18.0 9.0
Parker Robinson F1 2 10.0 14.5 6.0
Tanish Amol Thoke P4 2 9.0 12.0 6.0
Ryan Hall P7 2 8.5 13.0 6.0
Ollie McConkey P6 2 8.0 11.0 3.0
32-34 Stefan Loughrey P4 1 11.0 15.0 3.0
Corey Castillo P3 1 10.5 16.5 4.0
Abhiram Ganja P5 1 2.0 6.5 1.0
35-36 Austin O’Hagan P4 0 9.0 13.0 0.0
Sebastian Olphert F1 0 0.0 0.0 0.0
With the games over I put the puzzle results into a spreadsheet and give out to all puzzle solvers a certificate and their puzzle sheet gets returned. Giving out a trophy to the top scores of Primary and Secondary. I also calculate the standing for each of the years - combining the top years into a section Form 4 and above and the bottom years into a section Primary 5 and below. I give a certificate to the players in the same section on the same points. and after the award ceremony we have a group photo of all the players.
Thanks to all the brilliant players for such a great day.
Overall Positions
1st Andrew Campbell U6
2nd Bohdan Prokopenko F3
3rd Alwin Micheal F1
4th Timothy McClenahan L6
5th Advait Tahmankar P7
6th Toby Crothers F5
7th Kia Jahandizi P6
Certificates are given to players on the same points. Trophies are given to 1st Position and 2nd Position players ( on tie-breaks ).
F4 and above.
1st Trophy : Andrew Campbell
2nd Trophy : Timothy McClenahan
| Name | Year | Score | M-Buch. | Buch. | Progr. | |
| Campbell, Andrew | U6 | 1st | 5.5 | 17 | 24.5 | 20.5 |
| McClenahan, Timothy | L6 | 2nd | 4.5 | 14 | 22.5 | 14.5 |
| Crothers, Toby | F5 | 3rd | 4 | 16 | 22.5 | 16 |
| Pourjalali, Shayan | U6 | 3rd | 4 | 12 | 17 | 13 |
F3.
1st Trophy : Bohdan Prokopenko
2nd Trophy : Nathan Murray
| Name | Year | Score | M-Buch. | Buch. | Progr. | |
| Prokopenko, Bohdan | F3 | 1st | 5 | 16.5 | 25 | 18 |
| Murray, Nathan | F3 | 2nd | 4 | 14 | 22 | 16 |
| Murphy, Simon | F3 | 2nd | 4 | 12.5 | 18.5 | 14 |
| Banerjee, Aharshi | F3 | 3rd | 3.5 | 12.5 | 19.5 | 12 |
F2.
1st Trophy : George McClelland
| Name | Year | Score | M-Buch. | Buch. | Progr. | |
| McClelland, George | F2 | 1st | 2.5 | 13 | 18 | 9 |
F1.
1st Trophy : Alwin Micheal
2nd Trophy : Shlok Thoke
| Name | Year | Score | M-Buch. | Buch. | Progr. | |
| Micheal, Alwin | F1 | 1st | 5 | 16 | 23.5 | 19 |
| Thoke, Shlok | F1 | 2nd | 3 | 12 | 18.5 | 11 |
| AlMasri, Dean | F1 | 2nd | 3 | 10.5 | 14.5 | 10 |
| Robinson, Parker | F1 | 3rd | 2 | 10 | 14.5 | 6 |
P7.
1st Trophy : Advait Tahmankar
2nd Trophy : Max Lukhodievskiiy
| Name | Year | Score | M-Buch. | Buch. | Progr. | |
| Tahmankar, Advait | P7 | 1st | 4.5 | 12.5 | 20 | 14 |
| Lukhodievskiiy, Max | P7 | 2nd | 3 | 11 | 17 | 8 |
| Coakley, Jackson | P7 | 2nd | 3 | 11 | 16.5 | 10 |
| Hall, Ryan | P7 | 3rd | 2 | 8.5 | 13 | 6 |
P6.
1st Trophy : Kia Jahandizi
2nd Trophy : Darragh Marsh
| Name | Year | Score | M-Buch. | Buch. | Progr. | |
| Jahandizi, Kia | P6 | 1st | 4 | 15 | 23.5 | 16 |
| Marsh, Darragh | P6 | 1st | 4 | 10 | 15.5 | 11 |
| Johnston, Nathan | P6 | 2nd | 3 | 13.5 | 19.5 | 14 |
| Loughrey, Matthew | P6 | 3rd | 2.5 | 12 | 18.5 | 8 |
P5 and below.
1st Trophy : Soundharya Premkumar
2nd Trophy : Aarin Micheal
| Name | Feder | Score | M-Buch. | Buch. | Progr. | |
| Premkumar, Soundharya | P5 | 1st | 2 | 12.5 | 18.5 | 9 |
| Micheal, Aarin | P3 | 1st | 2 | 12 | 18 | 7 |
| Amol Thoke , Tanish | P4 | 1st | 2 | 9 | 12 | 6 |
| Loughrey, Stefan | P4 | 2nd | 1 | 11 | 15 | 3 |
| Castillo, Corey | P3 | 2nd | 1 | 10.5 | 16.5 | 4 |
| Ganja, Abhiram | P5 | 2nd | 1 | 2 | 6.5 | 1 |
Many thanks to our volunteers - I noticed on the way home that they are all from Civil Service Chess Club (including me), Geoff Hindley, Amol Thoke, Mandar Tahmankar. Methodist College for an excellent venue. All the youngsters parents for supporting the event and the brilliant young chess players who create this brilliant chess event by just playing.
Our next tournament is on May 10th Sat :9:45am at Methodist College - details are at : https://www.ulsterchess.org/Members/ucu00450/2024-2025/childrens-chess-2024-25/delancey-schools-uk-chess-challenge-belfast-megafinal-may-10th
If you have got down to this part of the article - well done! - here are the solutions to the puzzles given above.
|
13. White to move (1001W-839) 1. Qg8+ Kxg8 2. Qe8+ Kh2 3. Qg8+ Kh3 4. Qh7+ Kg5 5. Qh6+ draw |
14. White to move. (1001W-840) 1. Rb5! Re8! 2. Rb1! Rg8! 3. Rb5! Re8! repetition and draw. |
15. Black to move (1001W-841) 1. … Qe1+ 2. Kxf4 Qh4+ 3. Kf5 Qh5+ 4. Ke6 Qe8+ Perpetual check |
16. Black to move (1001W-842) 1. … Qxd1+ 2. Qxd1 Bg4! White must either play 3. Qxd8+ or else give up the Queen after .. Rd1+ |
|---|---|---|---|
|
17. Black to move (1001W-843) 1. … e2! 2. Rxe2 Rxe2 3. Qxe2 Nxd4 wins White moves Queen and NxN+ pawn up and better position |
18. Black to move (1001W-844) 1. … Rxa2! 2. Kxa2 leads to mate 2. hxg6 Rxb2+ 3. Kc1 Rxc2+ 4. Kxc2 Qf2+ 5. Kd3 Nb2# |
19. Black to move (1000CC-358) 1. … Ng3+ 2. hxg3 Bg2+ 3. Kxg2 Qg3+ resigns |
20. White to move (1000CC-359) 1. Rxh6 gxh6 2. Rg5+ hxg5 3. Qg6+ Rg7 4. Qxg7# |
|
21. White to move (1000CC-360) 1. Bg7+ Kxg7 2. Rxh7+ Kxh7 3. Qf7+ resigns |
22. Black to move (1000CC-361) 1. … Rf2+ 2. Kxf2 Qxh2+ 3. Kf1 Qh3+ resigns |
