Amost 40 young players gather at our Monthly Childrens Chess tournaments
Players arrive and register. Geoff Hindley places the Chess Arrows around the school to indicate our Chess playing Rooms. The rooms are setup with 10 sets in each of the two playing rooms. Allowing for 40 players. One of our largest tournaments this year. Players include Ethan Cole and Alwin Micheal both top players not just in the Schools world but in the Ulster Chess World - playing in the Ulster Chess League and beating most players. Ethan has FIDE classical rating of 2006, Alwin has FIDE rapidplay rating of 2015. We have age groups varying from P2 to U6.
Players are given puzzle sheets with 22 puzzles to be solved during the afternoon. One side has mate in 1/2/3 the other has find the best combinations (slightly more challenging). Players are allowed to discuss puzzles but parents are asked to refrain from giving answers - we do give hints - but it is key that the youngsters find their own solutions. Some of these puzzles are elegent works of art. and the satisfaction of solving them is brilliant.
The puzzles are marked after round 4. The sheets are handed back to players at the award ceremony with a certificate and a trophy for the top puzzle solvers.
Primary Puzzle Solver Champion: Kia Jahandizi
| Name | Year | Points | Cert. |
| Jahandizi, Kia | P7 | 16.5 | Gold |
| Caughey, Conal | P7 | 13 | Gold |
| Ganja, Abhiram | P6 | 12.5 | Silver |
| Micheal, Aarin | P4 | 12 | Silver |
| Marrivada, Shreyas Chandra | P6 | 12 | Silver |
| Jakati, Jatin | P6 | 12 | Silver |
| Kesavarpa, Sohan | P6 | 12 | Silver |
| Premkumar, Soundharya | P6 | 11.5 | Silver |
| Arshed, Rizwan | P4 | 11 | Silver |
| Marsh, Darragh | P7 | 11 | Silver |
| Castillo, Corey | P4 | 10.5 | Silver |
| McConkey, Oliver | P7 | 10.5 | Silver |
| Simpson, Daniel | P4 | 10 | Silver |
| Johnston, Nathan | P7 | 8 | Bronze |
| Shambharkar, Sanvi | P4 | 7 | Bronze |
| Davis, Alexander | P5 | 5 | Bronze |
| Yerrathi, Kethana | P4 | 3 | Bronze |
| Ozha, Vanshikha | P4 | 3 | Bronze |
Secondary Puzzle Solver Champion: Ethan Cole
I am pleased to point out Ethan got 22 out of 22 - a rare full score - and the answers were well annotated. Fantastic.
| Name | Year | Points | Cert. |
| Cole, Ethan | F2 | 22 | Gold |
| Banerjee, Aharshi | F4 | 19.5 | Gold |
| Micheal, Alwin | F2 | 19 | Gold |
| McClenahan, Timothy | U6 | 16 | Silver |
| Murphy, Peter | F5 | 13.5 | Silver |
| Saha, Shubham | F2 | 11.5 | Silver |
| Murray, Nathan | F4 | 11 | Silver |
| Thoke, Shlok | F2 | 7 | Bronze |
| Karpagavinayagam, Karthikeya | F5 | 7 | Bronze |
| Corr, Jonah | L6 | 5 | Bronze |
| Shambharkar, Ayush | F2 | 4 | Bronze |
This is the back sheet - the harder puzzles. Here they are for you to try - the solutions are at the end of this page.
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Players all arrived. Additional players added to the system. The draw was made. We have one section for everyone as the Primary youngsters often do well and gain great experience from playing the older players.
The second room was looked after by volunteers Goeff Hindley and Ashish Shambharkar, whilst room 1 was taken care of by Amol Thoke and myself.
Players were seated and shook hands and the round began in a hush silence of concentrated thought. We were off.....
Round 1
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Ethan Cole F2 [0] 1:0 Joshua Farina Bhuruth F1 [0] 2 Soundharya Premkumar P6 [0] 0:1 Alwin Micheal F2 [0] 3 Aharshi Banerjee F4 [0] 1:0 Aarin Micheal P4 [0] 4 Jensen Gass P7 [0] 0:1 Peter Murphy F5 [0] 5 Nathan Murray F4 [0] 1:0 Finn Halsall F2 [0] 6 Nathan Johnston P7 [0] 0:1 Jonah Corr L6 [0] 7 Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P6 [0] 1:0 Alexander Davis P5 [0] 8 Tanish Thoke P5 [0] 0:1 Alex McKeown P6 [0] 9 Shlok Thoke F2 [0] 0:1 Abhiram Ganja P6 [0] 10 Ayush Shambharkar F2 [0] 0:1 Jatin Jakati P6 [0] 11 Shubham Saha F2 [0] 1:0 Rizwan Arshed P4 [0] 12 Sohan Kesavarpa P6 [0] 0:1 Timothy McClenahan U6 [0] 13 Kia Jahandizi P7 [0] 1:0 Sanvi Shambharkar P4 [0] 14 Daniel Simpson P4 [0] 0:1 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F5 [0] 15 Darragh Marsh P7 [0] 1:0 Alexander Tannahill P5 [0] 16 Corey Castillo P4 [0] 0:1 Simon Murphy F4 [0] 17 Varvara Osmarska F3 [0] 1:0 Kethana Yerrathi P4 [0] 18 Vanshikha Ozha P4 [0] 0:1 Conal Caughey P7 [0] 19 Oliver McConkey P7 [0] 1:0 Killian McKeown P2 [0]
by Swiss Perfect (TM) www.swissperfect.com
The players are allocated an approx rating. Round 1 is perhaps the most challenging for the lower rated players and also an opportunity for them to play a top player. If games go to rating we would see down the scores of the White boards 1,0,1,0,1,0........ So looking for games that dont match this pattern. We spot that there was an upset on board 9 where Abhiram Ganja got a good win against Shlock Thoke. Also its brilliant we have a young P2 playing Killian McKeown.
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Round 2
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Timothy McClenahan U6 [1] 0:1 Ethan Cole F2 [1] 2 Alwin Micheal F2 [1] 1:0 Shubham Saha F2 [1] 3 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F5 [1] 0:1 Aharshi Banerjee F4 [1] 4 Peter Murphy F5 [1] 1:0 Kia Jahandizi P7 [1] 5 Simon Murphy F4 [1] .5:.5 Nathan Murray F4 [1] 6 Jonah Corr L6 [1] 0:1 Darragh Marsh P7 [1] 7 Conal Caughey P7 [1] .5:.5 Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P6 [1] 8 Alex McKeown P6 [1] 1:0 Varvara Osmarska F3 [1] 9 Jatin Jakati P6 [1] 1:0 Oliver McConkey P7 [1] 10 Abhiram Ganja P6 [1] 1:0 Soundharya Premkumar P6 [0] 11 Rizwan Arshed P4 [0] 0:1 Shlok Thoke F2 [0] 12 Joshua Farina Bhuruth F1 [0] 1:0 Sohan Kesavarpa P6 [0] 13 Aarin Micheal P4 [0] 0:1 Daniel Simpson P4 [0] 14 Sanvi Shambharkar P4 [0] 0:1 Jensen Gass P7 [0] 15 Finn Halsall F2 [0] 0:1 Corey Castillo P4 [0] 16 Alexander Tannahill P5 [0] 0:1 Nathan Johnston P7 [0] 17 Alexander Davis P5 [0] 1:0 Vanshikha Ozha P4 [0] 18 Kethana Yerrathi P4 [0] 0:1 Tanish Thoke P5 [0] 19 Killian McKeown P2 [0] 0:1 Ayush Shambharkar F2 [0]
Darragh Marsh gets a good win against Jonah Corr. Alex McKeown wins against Varvara Osmarska a new player to our tournaments, The main top players win and continue on two points to the next round.
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Round 3
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Ethan Cole F2 [2] 1:0 Alex McKeown P6 [2] 2 Jatin Jakati P6 [2] 0:1 Alwin Micheal F2 [2] 3 Aharshi Banerjee F4 [2] 1:0 Abhiram Ganja P6 [2] 4 Darragh Marsh P7 [2] 1:0 Peter Murphy F5 [2] 5 Nathan Murray F4 [1.5] .5:.5 Conal Caughey P7 [1.5] 6 Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P6 [1.5] 0:1 Simon Murphy F4 [1.5] 7 Jensen Gass P7 [1] 1:0 Jonah Corr L6 [1] 8 Shlok Thoke F2 [1] 1:0 Joshua Farina Bhuruth F1 [1] 9 Shubham Saha F2 [1] 1:0 Nathan Johnston P7 [1] 10 Tanish Thoke P5 [1] 0:1 Timothy McClenahan U6 [1] 11 Kia Jahandizi P7 [1] 1:0 Alexander Davis P5 [1] 12 Ayush Shambharkar F2 [1] 0:1 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F5 [1] 13 Varvara Osmarska F3 [1] 1:0 Daniel Simpson P4 [1] 14 Oliver McConkey P7 [1] .5:.5 Corey Castillo P4 [1] 15 Soundharya Premkumar P6 [0] 1:0 Sanvi Shambharkar P4 [0] 16 Alexander Tannahill P5 [0] 0:1 Aarin Micheal P4 [0] 17 Kethana Yerrathi P4 [0] 0:1 Finn Halsall F2 [0] 18 Vanshikha Ozha P4 [0] 0:1 Rizwan Arshed P4 [0] 19 Sohan Kesavarpa P6 [0] 1:0 Killian McKeown P2 [0]
Three players on full points and on the top tables are P4 - brilliant.
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Round 4
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Aharshi Banerjee F4 [3] 0:1 Ethan Cole F2 [3] 2 Alwin Micheal F2 [3] 0:1 Darragh Marsh P7 [3] 3 Simon Murphy F4 [2.5] .5:.5 Shlok Thoke F2 [2] 4 Peter Murphy F5 [2] 1:0 Varvara Osmarska F3 [2] 5 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F5 [2] 0:1 Nathan Murray F4 [2] 6 Alex McKeown P6 [2] .5:.5 Kia Jahandizi P7 [2] 7 Conal Caughey P7 [2] .5:.5 Jatin Jakati P6 [2] 8 Abhiram Ganja P6 [2] 0:1 Shubham Saha F2 [2] 9 Timothy McClenahan U6 [2] 1:0 Jensen Gass P7 [2] 10 Corey Castillo P4 [1.5] 0:1 Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P6 [1.5] 11 Jonah Corr L6 [1] 1:0 Oliver McConkey P7 [1.5] 12 Joshua Farina Bhuruth F1 [1] 0:1 Alexander Davis P5 [1] 13 Rizwan Arshed P4 [1] 1:0 Soundharya Premkumar P6 [1] 14 Aarin Micheal P4 [1] .5:.5 Tanish Thoke P5 [1] 15 Finn Halsall F2 [1] 0:1 Ayush Shambharkar F2 [1] 16 Nathan Johnston P7 [1] 1:0 Sohan Kesavarpa P6 [1] 17 Daniel Simpson P4 [1] 1:0 Alexander Tannahill P5 [0] 18 Sanvi Shambharkar P4 [0] 1:0 Vanshikha Ozha P4 [0] 19 Killian McKeown P2 [0] 1:0 Kethana Yerrathi P4 [0]
Darragh Marsh gets a brilliant win against Alwin Micheal one of the top cedes and upsets the top standings. The very young Killian McKeown gets his first point winning against Kethana.
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Round 5
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Ethan Cole F2 [4] 1:0 Darragh Marsh P7 [4] 2 Nathan Murray F4 [3] 0:1 Alwin Micheal F2 [3] 3 Shubham Saha F2 [3] .5:.5 Aharshi Banerjee F4 [3] 4 Simon Murphy F4 [3] 1:0 Peter Murphy F5 [3] 5 Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P6 [2.5] 0:1 Timothy McClenahan U6 [3] 6 Jatin Jakati P6 [2.5] 1:0 Alex McKeown P6 [2.5] 7 Shlok Thoke F2 [2.5] 1:0 Conal Caughey P7 [2.5] 8 Kia Jahandizi P7 [2.5] .5:.5 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F5 [2] 9 Alexander Davis P5 [2] 0:1 Jonah Corr L6 [2] 10 Varvara Osmarska F3 [2] 1:0 Abhiram Ganja P6 [2] 11 Jensen Gass P7 [2] 1:0 Daniel Simpson P4 [2] 12 Ayush Shambharkar F2 [2] 0:1 Nathan Johnston P7 [2] 13 Oliver McConkey P7 [1.5] 0:1 Rizwan Arshed P4 [2] 14 Tanish Thoke P5 [1.5] 1:0 Corey Castillo P4 [1.5] 15 Joshua Farina Bhuruth F1 [1] 0:1 Aarin Micheal P4 [1.5] 16 Soundharya Premkumar P6 [1] 1:0 Killian McKeown P2 [1] 17 Sohan Kesavarpa P6 [1] 1:0 Finn Halsall F2 [1] 18 Kethana Yerrathi P4 [0] 0:1 Sanvi Shambharkar P4 [1] 19 Vanshikha Ozha P4 [0] 0:1 Alexander Tannahill P5 [0]
Second to last round and the top board has P7 player Darragh Marsh challenge the leader Ethan Cole. Brilliant. Ethan continues to win and goes ahead with 5 out of 5 - now the sole leader of the tourmament. Players chasing are Timothy McClenahan, Simon Murphy and Alwin Micheal. The games for the whole tournament included exciting positions of play and counter-play of endgames requiring accuracy. Of pieces left undefended of mistakes missed and mistakes found. The hugh variety of the brilliant game of chess. The Brain creating, solving and posing problems, battling another brilliant mind. An afternoon of concentrated thought and fun.
No photos as myself and Amol Thoke have collected all the puzzle sheets and start marking them - this takes the full time of the final rounds and were sometimes under pressure to complete the marking of these. Many thanks to Amol for his assitance.
Round 6
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Alwin Micheal F2 [4] 1:0 Ethan Cole F2 [5] 2 Timothy McClenahan U6 [4] .5:.5 Simon Murphy F4 [4] 3 Darragh Marsh P7 [4] 0:1 Aharshi Banerjee F4 [3.5] 4 Shlok Thoke F2 [3.5] 1:0 Jatin Jakati P6 [3.5] 5 Peter Murphy F5 [3] 0:1 Shubham Saha F2 [3.5] 6 Nathan Johnston P7 [3] 0:1 Nathan Murray F4 [3] 7 Jonah Corr L6 [3] 1:0 Varvara Osmarska F3 [3] 8 Rizwan Arshed P4 [3] 0:1 Kia Jahandizi P7 [3] 9 Alex McKeown P6 [2.5] 1:0 Jensen Gass P7 [3] 10 Aarin Micheal P4 [2.5] 1:0 Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P6 [2.5] 11 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F5 [2.5] 1:0 Tanish Thoke P5 [2.5] 12 Conal Caughey P7 [2.5] 0:1 Soundharya Premkumar P6 [2] 13 Alexander Davis P5 [2] 1:0 Sohan Kesavarpa P6 [2] 14 Abhiram Ganja P6 [2] 1:0 Sanvi Shambharkar P4 [2] 15 Daniel Simpson P4 [2] 1:0 Ayush Shambharkar F2 [2] 16 Finn Halsall F2 [1] 0:1 Oliver McConkey P7 [1.5] 17 Corey Castillo P4 [1.5] 1:0 Killian McKeown P2 [1] 18 Alexander Tannahill P5 [1] 1:0 Joshua Farina Bhuruth F1 [1] 19 Vanshikha Ozha P4 [0] 1:0 Kethana Yerrathi P4 [0]
The final round and the two top players finally meet. Alwin wins against Ethan and challenges his lead. The winner will now be determined by tie-break. Very exciting final round with a gang to players capable of gaining 5 points.
Childrens Chess March 2026 - Round 6
Standings
Place Name Year Score M-Buch. Buch. Progr.
1-2 Ethan Cole F2 5 16.5 22.5 20.0
Alwin Micheal F2 5 16.0 24.0 18.0
3-7 Aharshi Banerjee F4 4.5 15.5 23.5 17.0
Simon Murphy F4 4.5 14.0 21.0 16.5
Shubham Saha F2 4.5 13.5 21.5 15.0
Timothy McClenahan U6 4.5 12.5 19.5 15.5
Shlok Thoke F2 4.5 12.0 17.5 13.5
8-11 Darragh Marsh P7 4 16.5 23.5 18.0
Nathan Murray F4 4 13.5 19.5 14.5
Kia Jahandizi P7 4 12.5 18.0 13.5
Jonah Corr L6 4 12.0 18.5 12.0
12-15 Alex McKeown P6 3.5 13.5 21.0 13.5
Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F5 3.5 13.5 20.0 12.0
Jatin Jakati P6 3.5 13.0 20.0 14.5
Aarin Micheal P4 3.5 10.0 15.5 8.5
16-24 Peter Murphy F5 3 15.5 23.0 14.0
Abhiram Ganja P6 3 15.0 21.5 12.0
Rizwan Arshed P4 3 14.0 19.5 9.0
Jensen Gass P7 3 13.5 20.0 11.0
Varvara Osmarska F3 3 12.5 16.5 12.0
Nathan Johnston P7 3 12.0 18.5 10.0
Daniel Simpson P4 3 11.5 17.0 9.0
Soundharya Premkumar P6 3 10.5 16.5 7.0
Alexander Davis P5 3 9.5 14.5 9.0
25-29 Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P6 2.5 13.5 20.5 11.5
Conal Caughey P7 2.5 13.0 18.5 12.0
Tanish Thoke P5 2.5 13.0 17.5 8.5
Oliver McConkey P7 2.5 10.0 15.0 9.0
Corey Castillo P4 2.5 8.5 14.0 8.0
30-33 Alexander Tannahill P5 2 10.5 15.5 3.0
Ayush Shambharkar F2 2 10.5 15.0 8.0
Sanvi Shambharkar P4 2 10.0 14.0 5.0
Sohan Kesavarpa P6 2 8.0 13.5 6.0
34-37 Joshua Farina Bhuruth F1 1 13.0 20.0 5.0
Vanshikha Ozha P4 1 9.5 12.5 1.0
Finn Halsall F2 1 9.0 13.0 4.0
Killian McKeown P2 1 9.0 12.0 3.0
38 Kethana Yerrathi P4 0 6.5 10.5 0.0
The final standings.
Champion: Ethan Cole leads on tie break.
Second is Alwin Michael
Third is Aharshi Banerjee
Fourth is Simon Murphy
We give out certificates to age groups. Players on the same points get the same cert. With Trophies being awarded by tie break.
Primary P5 and under
Champion Aarin Micheal (P4)
2nd: Rizwan Arshed
| Place | Name | Feder | Score |
| 1st | Micheal, Aarin | P4 | 3.5 |
| 2nd | Arshed, Rizwan | P4 | 3 |
| 2nd | Simpson, Daniel | P4 | 3 |
| 2nd | Davis, Alexander | P5 | 3 |
| 3rd | Thoke, Tanish | P5 | 2.5 |
| 3rd | Castillo, Corey | P4 | 2.5 |
Primary 6
Champion: Alex McKeown
2nd: Jatin Jakati
| Place | Name | Feder | Score |
| 1st | McKeown, Alex | P6 | 3.5 |
| 1st | Jakati, Jatin | P6 | 3.5 |
| 2nd | Ganja, Abhiram | P6 | 3 |
| 2nd | Premkumar, Soundharya | P6 | 3 |
| 3rd | Marrivada, Shreyas Chandra | P6 | 2.5 |
Primary 7
Champion: Darragh Marsh
2nd: Kia Jahandizi
| Place | Name | Feder | Score |
| 1st | Marsh, Darragh | P7 | 4 |
| 1st | Jahandizi, Kia | P7 | 4 |
| 2nd | Gass, Jensen | P7 | 3 |
| 2nd | Johnston, Nathan | P7 | 3 |
| 3rd | Caughey, Conal | P7 | 2.5 |
| 3rd | McConkey, Oliver | P7 | 2.5 |
Form 1
Champion Joshua Farina Bhuruth
| Place | Name | Feder | Score |
| 1st | Farina Bhuruth, Joshua | F1 | 1 |
Form 2
Champion: Ethan Cole
2nd: Alwin Michael
| Place | Name | Feder | Score |
| 1st | Cole, Ethan | F2 | 5 |
| 1st | Micheal, Alwin | F2 | 5 |
| 2nd | Saha, Shubham | F2 | 4.5 |
| 2nd | Thoke, Shlok | F2 | 4.5 |
| 3rd | Shambharkar, Ayush | F2 | 2 |
Form 3
Champion: Varvara Osmarska
| Place | Name | Feder | Score |
| 1st | Osmarska, Varvara | F3 | 3 |
Form 4 and above
Champion: Aharshi Banerjee
2nd: Simon Murphy
| Place | Name | Feder | Score |
| 1st | Banerjee, Aharshi | F4 | 4.5 |
| 1st | Murphy, Simon | F4 | 4.5 |
| 1st | McClenahan, Timothy | U6 | 4.5 |
| 2nd | Murray, Nathan | F4 | 4 |
| 2nd | Corr, Jonah | L6 | 4 |
| 3rd | Karpagavinayagam, Karthikeya | F5 | 3.5 |
A big thankyou to Geoff Hindley, Amol Thoke and Ashish Shambharkar for assisting with running the competition. Also to Methodist College for providing the venue. To the Ulster Chess Union for enabling these brilliant opportunities for young players. To the young players for a brilliant half-days chess.
See you at our next event on April 11st : https://www.ulsterchess.org/Members/ucu00450/2025-2026/childrens-chess-2025-26/april-11th-childrens-chess-12-30-2013-5-00
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13. White to move (1001W-881) 1. Qxe4+ Nxe4 2. Bxf7# |
14. White to move. (1001W-882) 1. Rxe6+ Kd7 2. Rxd6+ Kxd6 3. Nf5++ Ke6 4. Re3+ Kd7 5. Re7+ resigns Mate unavoidable |
15. White to move (1001W-883) 1. g4+ fxg4 2. hxg4+ Kh4 3. Qxh6+ Qxh6 4. Kh2 5. Bf2# |
16. White to move (1001W-884) 1. Bxc6+ Kxc6 2. Qb7# |
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17. White to move (1001W-885) 1. Rxe8+ Kxe8 2. Qc8+ Ke7 3. Nxf5+ Resigns must give-up Queen |
18. White to move (1001W-886) 1. Rxg6 fxg6 2. Qxe6 Rf8 3. Qxg6+ Kd7 4. Be6# |
19. Black to move (1000CC-386) 1. … Rg3! 2. Qxg3 Bh4! 3. Qxh4 Qe3+ 4. Be2 Qxe2# |
20. White to move (1000CC-387) 1. Be7+ Kh6 2. Rxh7+! Kxh7 3. Bf8+ resigned |
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21. White to move (1000CC-389) 1. Rxf6 Kxf6 2. Re6+ Kg7 3. Rxg6+ fxg6 4. Qxg6+ Kf8 5. Qh6+ Kf7 6. Bg6+ Kf6 7. Bh7+ Ke5 8. Qg7+ Kf4 9. Qg3# |
22. Black to move (REH-52) 1. … Kh1 2. Nd1 g4 3. Nf2# |
