The Belfast Delancey Mega-Finals
The Delancey UK Chess Challenge is a tree of tournaments making the "Largest Chess Competition in the World". Schools play mini tournaments, winners of these play in the regional Mega-finals, Qualifiers then play in one of three Giga-Finals and last is the Terra-final in London. Last year’s event had 40,000 children entered from 1,280 schools and clubs took part, in the 22nd Chess Challenge.
The format of the Mega-final is 6 rounds in a day - not our usual afternoon chess focused. Its always a wonder as to how many players we would get. How many schools enter the Chess Challenge. Unfortunately not many this year - we must encourage school participation for next year.
We had 14 players - and what was interesting they were well spread across the age groups. The day was a sunny beautiful we decided to play each round immediately after the previous and end the day early.
With players completing rounds at different times - some finishing quicker - we decided to run a puzzle competition. An opportunity to talk chess and apply the mind to some elegant almost beautiful problems. A delicious feast for the mind.
Primary Puzzle competition - The Champion is Ali Shazhzad with 18 out of 22.
Name | Points | Certificate |
Shahzad, Ali | 18 | Gold |
Fitzsimons, Adam | 17 | Gold |
Kamal, Taufik | 11 | Silver |
Harris, Blake | 10 | Silver |
Grady, Jasper | 7 | Silver |
McCartney, TJ | 7 | Silver |
Harris, Dexter | 5 | Bronze |
Shah, Rahul | 4 | Bronze |
Secondary Puzzle competition - The Champion is Minaahil Shahzad ( Ali's sister - two champions from the same family) with 16 out of 22.
Name | Points | Certificate |
Shahzad, Minaahil | 16 | Gold |
Thornton, Katy | 3 | Silver |
Here are some of those challenging and elegent problems - solutions at the bottom of this page....
Round 1
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Maxim Dobrynin U12 [0] 1:0 Cormac ODonnell U12 [0] 2 Adam Rushe U17 [0] 1:0 Adam Fitzsimons U9 [0] 3 Jasper Grady U11 [0] 0:1 Rahul Shah U11 [0] 4 Ali Shahzad U10 [0] 1:0 Blake Harris U7 [0] 5 Dexter Harris U10 [0] 1:0 Minaahil Shahzad U14 [0] 6 Katy Thornton U13 [0] 0:1 Taufik Kamal U10 [0] 7 TJ McCartney U12 [0] 0:1 James Wong U16 [0]
by Swiss Perfect (TM) www.swissperfect.com
Round one goes to age group apart from Dexter Harris who beats Minaahil Shahzad and Taufik Kamal who wins against Katy Thornton. The favourite is Adam Rushe who wins against the top younger player Adam Fitzsimons.
Round 2
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Rahul Shah U11 [1] 0:1 Maxim Dobrynin U12 [1] 2 James Wong U16 [1] .5:.5 Dexter Harris U10 [1] 3 Taufik Kamal U10 [1] 0:1 Adam Rushe U17 [1] 4 Adam Fitzsimons U9 [0] 1:0 Ali Shahzad U10 [1] 5 Cormac ODonnell U12 [0] 1:0 Jasper Grady U11 [0] 6 Blake Harris U7 [0] 1:0 Katy Thornton U13 [0] 7 Minaahil Shahzad U14 [0] 1:0 TJ McCartney U12 [0]
The quality of these games can be measured by how many have tough endgames. Just walking around its brilliant to see complicated endgames being played and played well.
Round 3
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Maxim Dobrynin U12 [2] 0:1 Adam Rushe U17 [2] 2 Dexter Harris U10 [1.5] 1:0 Blake Harris U7 [1] 3 Taufik Kamal U10 [1] 0:1 James Wong U16 [1.5] 4 Rahul Shah U11 [1] 0:1 Adam Fitzsimons U9 [1] 5 Ali Shahzad U10 [1] 1:0 Cormac ODonnell U12 [1] 6 Jasper Grady U11 [0] 0:1 Minaahil Shahzad U14 [1] 7 TJ McCartney U12 [0] .5:.5 Katy Thornton U13 [0]
Round 4
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Adam Rushe U17 [3] .5:.5 Dexter Harris U10 [2.5] 2 James Wong U16 [2.5] 1:0 Maxim Dobrynin U12 [2] 3 Minaahil Shahzad U14 [2] 1:0 Ali Shahzad U10 [2] 4 Adam Fitzsimons U9 [2] 0:1 Taufik Kamal U10 [1] 5 Blake Harris U7 [1] 0:1 Rahul Shah U11 [1] 6 Cormac ODonnell U12 [1] 1:0 TJ McCartney U12 [.5] 7 Katy Thornton U13 [.5] 0:1 Jasper Grady U11 [0]
Dexter opens up the competition by taking 1/2 point off Adam. James goes into sharing the lead by winning against Maxim Dobrynin, a top player who travelled down from Derry.
Round 5
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Adam Rushe U17 [3.5] 0:1 James Wong U16 [3.5] 2 Maxim Dobrynin U12 [2] 1:0 Minaahil Shahzad U14 [3] 3 Dexter Harris U10 [3] 1:0 Rahul Shah U11 [2] 4 Taufik Kamal U10 [2] 1:0 Cormac ODonnell U12 [2] 5 Jasper Grady U11 [1] 0:1 Adam Fitzsimons U9 [2] 6 BYE 0:1 Katy Thornton U13 [.5] 7 TJ McCartney U12 [.5] 0:1 Blake Harris U7 [1]
The leaders play and James goes into the lead.
Round 6
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 James Wong U16 [4.5] 1:0 Adam Fitzsimons U9 [3] 2 Maxim Dobrynin U12 [3] .5:.5 Dexter Harris U10 [4] 3 Minaahil Shahzad U14 [3] 1:0 Adam Rushe U17 [3.5] 4 Rahul Shah U11 [2] 0:1 Taufik Kamal U10 [3] 5 Cormac ODonnell U12 [2] 1:0 Katy Thornton U13 [1.5] 6 Blake Harris U7 [2] 0:1 Jasper Grady U11 [1] 7 TJ McCartney U12 [.5] 1:0 BYE
The last round and in a tough competition James has done brilliantly to win and only having dropped 1/2 a point. With Dexter coming second on 4.5.
Standings
Place Name Feder Score M-Buch. Buch. Progr. 1 James Wong U16 5.5 14.0 19.5 18.5 2 Dexter Harris U10 4.5 13.0 20.5 16.5 3-4 Taufik Kamal U10 4 11.5 18.0 12.0 Minaahil Shahzad U14 4 11.5 17.0 13.0 5-6 Adam Rushe U17 3.5 16.0 24.5 16.5 Maxim Dobrynin U12 3.5 15.0 22.5 13.5 7-8 Adam Fitzsimons U9 3 12.0 19.5 11.0 Cormac ODonnell U12 3 9.0 14.0 9.0 9-12 Rahul Shah U11 2 12.5 19.0 9.0 Jasper Grady U11 2 10.0 15.0 4.0 Ali Shahzad U10 2 8.0 13.0 8.0 Blake Harris U7 2 7.5 13.0 7.0 13-14 TJ McCartney U12 1.5 12.0 18.5 3.0 Katy Thornton U13 1.5 10.0 15.0 4.0
The qualifiers for the next stage of the tournament are :
We wish them all good luck for the next stage of the tournament - the Giga-finals in Manchester on the 14th 15th July - watch our site and we will give you details of how they do.
https://www.delanceyukschoolschesschallenge.com/gigafinals-2018/
Under 7's | |||
Supremo | Blake | Harris | Strandtown |
Under 9's | |||
Supremo | Adam | Fitzsimons | Ulster |
Under 10's | |||
qualifier | Taufik | Kamal | Fane Street Primary School Strand Chess Club |
Supremo | Dexter | Harris | Strandtown |
qualifier | Ali | Shahzad | Fullerton House |
Under 11's | |||
Supremo | Rahul | Shah | Good Shepard Primary School |
Under 12's | |||
Supremo | Maxim | Dobrynin | Foyle College |
Under 13's | |||
Suprema | Katy | Thornton |
Clounagh Junior High, Portadown
|
Under 14's | |||
Suprema | Minaahil | Shahzad |
Rathmore Grammar School
|
Under 16's | |||
Supremo | James | Wong | Lagan College |
Under 17's | |||
Supremo | Adam | Rushe |
Bangor Grammar School
|
The puzzle solutions
13. 1. Nc7+ Ka7 2. Qxa6+ bxa6 3. Nb5+ Ka8 4. Ra7# |
14. 1. Nxe6 if ....cxe6 2. Qc3 threatening mate on g7 and Rxc8 if 1. ... Rxc4 2. Nh6+ gxh6 3. Qxh6 threatening mate. |
15. 1. Nf6+ gxf6 2. Bxh7+ Kxh7 3. Kxh7 Qh3+ 4. Kg7 Rg3# |
---|---|---|
16. 1. ... Rc2+ 2. Rd2 Qd1 3. Rxc2 Qxd6 |
17. White mustnt fall for the trap 1. Bb1 h4+ 2. Kg4 f5+ 3. Rxf5 Rg2# either 1. h4 or 1. Bxf7+ Kxf7 2. Rxg5 and then take h5 swapping the Bishop for 3 pawns. |
18. 1. Qe3+ Kh1 2. Qh3 Bxb7 3. Ng4 black cant stop mate. |
19. 1. Rxb4 cxb4 2. Bd5 winning the Queen |
20. 1. Rxe6 Rxe6 2. Bd5 winning Bishop outright |
21. 1. Re1+ Kg2 2. Nh4+ gxh4 3. R8e2+ Qxe2 4. Rxe2+ K-moves 5. Qxh2 |
Name | Points | Certificate |
Shahzad, Ali | 18 | Gold |
Fitzsimons, Adam | 17 | Gold |
Kamal, Taufik | 11 | Silver |
Harris, Blake | 10 | Silver |
Grady, Jasper | 7 | Silver |
McCartney, TJ | 7 | Silver |
Harris, Dexter | 5 | Bronze |
Shah, Rahul | 4 | Bronze |