The last in this years series of Childrens Chess tournaments was held at Methodist College on 8th April. This would decide the entrants to the Stormont Elite Award ceremony - for each of our tournaments we give out grandprix points and the top 4 of Upper Secondary, Lower Secondary, Primary, Secondary Puzzle solving and Primary Puzzle solving get invited to the ceremony with their parents and teachers. The current standings (without todays results are on the website : http://www.ulsterchess.org/Members/ucu00450/childrenschess2017/march2017/grandprix-standings-after-5-childrens-chess-tournaments

Unfortunately today clashed with the Irish Junior Championships and some of our players were playing (with our support - as its a much more prestigious event) in Sligo. So numbers were down. We also used a different - but excellent room at Methodist College.

The weather was beautiful a good day for a chess battle. As numbers were low we played an all play all in the primary section and to double the number of games each player played each other twice once Black and once White. For the secondary section we also played an all play all of 7 rounds.

Speaking to Anjali and Aaditya's Father they are practicing puzzles at home and this has shown in the results of the puzzle solving competition and also in their improving chess - they are very capable players.

Well done Adam there were some seriously difficult problems - see some below (answers at the bottom of the page).

As usual I will let the results and photos show the days event. The atmosphere was brilliant - and lots of good chess and chess puzzle solving. With an odd number in the Younger section Geoff Hindley gave the player with a bye a game and some informal coaching.

Thanks to all the volunteers and the donator of the trophies.

See you at next months Mega-Finals.

Primary - Rounds 1 / 6

Results

No Name          Feder  Result   Name           Feder

 1 Anjali Singh  P5     2.0:0.0  Enzo Gowdy     P1   
 2 Aaditya Singh P3     0.0:2.0  Maxim Dobrynin P7   
 3 Jasper Grady  P6     2.0:0.0  Katy Thornton  P7   

by Swiss Perfect (TM)  www.swissperfect.com

Enzo Gowdy one of youngest players enjoyed several games playing them well. He didnt win any games - but then loosing is one of the best ways of improving and maintaining a positive attitude in loose is a way to guarantee long term success. To start playing chess at P1 is a brilliant start and we will look out for Enzos progression in chess.

Anajali and Aaditya are also relatively new to chess and have progressed excellently - tomorrow Aaditya is playing in the Irish Championships.

Maxim Dobrynin travelled from Derry and new to the group looked like a very tough player.

Primary - Rounds 2/7

Results

No Name           Feder  Result   Name          Feder

 1 Enzo Gowdy     P1     0.0:2.0  Katy Thornton P7   
 2 Maxim Dobrynin P7     2.0:0.0  Jasper Grady  P6   
 3 Anjali Singh   P5     1.5:.5   Aaditya Singh P3   

Primary - Rounds 3/8

Results

No Name          Feder  Result   Name           Feder

 1 Aaditya Singh P3     2.0:0.0  Enzo Gowdy     P1   
 2 Jasper Grady  P6     0.0:2.0  Anjali Singh   P5   
 3 Katy Thornton P7     0.0:2.0  Maxim Dobrynin P7   

Maxim continues his winning and remains unbeaten. Aaditya and Anjali win both their games. Both rounds are represented on these scores - Black and White although the rounds were separated by several other rounds. It enabled lots of chess to be played. Between rounds youngsters discussed and solved the challenging chess puzzles.

Primary - Rounds 4/9

Results

No Name          Feder  Result   Name           Feder

 1 Enzo Gowdy    P1     0.0:2.0  Maxim Dobrynin P7   
 2 Anjali Singh  P5     2.0:0.0  Katy Thornton  P7   
 3 Aaditya Singh P3     2.0:0.0  Jasper Grady   P6   

Primary - Rounds 5/10

Results

No Name           Feder  Result   Name          Feder

 1 Jasper Grady   P6     2.0:0.0  Enzo Gowdy    P1   
 2 Katy Thornton  P7     0.0:2.0  Aaditya Singh P3   
 3 Maxim Dobrynin P7     2.0:0.0  Anjali Singh  P5 

Primary

Standings

Place Name           Feder Score Berg. Wins

  1   Maxim Dobrynin P7    10    40.00    5
  2   Anjali Singh   P5    7.5   21.75    4
  3   Aaditya Singh  P3    6.5   15.75    3
  4   Jasper Grady   P6    4      4.00    2
  5   Katy Thornton  P7    2      0.00    1
  6   Enzo Gowdy     P1    0      0.00    0

Maxim Dobrynin wins the overall tournament undefeated followed by Anjali Singh in second and Aaditaya Singh in third. Maxim may have done well in the Secondary section.

Secondary - Round 1

Results

No Name         Feder Total  Result   Name             Feder Total

 1 Samuel Todd  F5    [0]      1:0    Calvin Patterson P5    [0]  
 2 Ryan Hammond F1    [0]      0:1    Jake Patterson   U6    [0]  
 3 James Kane   F3    [0]      1:0    Phoebe Patterson F1    [0]  
 4 Nathan Byrne F3    [0]      0:1    Adam Rushe       F4    [0]  

Calvin Patterson again plays up into the Secondary section. His first match against the tough Samuel Todd.

Secondary - Round 2

Results

No Name             Feder Total  Result   Name         Feder Total

 1 Calvin Patterson P5    [0]      1:0    Adam Rushe   F4    [1]  
 2 Phoebe Patterson F1    [0]      0:1    Nathan Byrne F3    [0]  
 3 Jake Patterson   U6    [1]      1:0    James Kane   F3    [1]  
 4 Samuel Todd      F5    [1]      1:0    Ryan Hammond F1    [0] 

Samuel and Jake gain full points after round 2.

Secondary - Round 3

Results

No Name         Feder Total  Result   Name             Feder Total

 1 Ryan Hammond F1    [0]      0:1    Calvin Patterson P5    [1]  
 2 James Kane   F3    [1]      0:1    Samuel Todd      F5    [2]  
 3 Nathan Byrne F3    [1]      0:1    Jake Patterson   U6    [2]  
 4 Adam Rushe   F4    [1]      1:0    Phoebe Patterson F1    [0]  

Samuel and Jake continue being undefeated. Calvin and Adam follow closely on 2.

Secondary - Round 4

Results

No Name             Feder Total  Result   Name             Feder Total

 1 Calvin Patterson P5    [2]      0:1    Phoebe Patterson F1    [0]  
 2 Jake Patterson   U6    [3]      1:0    Adam Rushe       F4    [2]  
 3 Samuel Todd      F5    [3]      0:1    Nathan Byrne     F3    [1]  
 4 Ryan Hammond     F1    [0]      0:1    James Kane       F3    [1]  

Secondary - Round 5

Results

No Name             Feder Total  Result   Name             Feder Total

 1 James Kane       F3    [2]      1:0    Calvin Patterson P5    [2]  
 2 Nathan Byrne     F3    [2]      0:1    Ryan Hammond     F1    [0]  
 3 Adam Rushe       F4    [2]      0:1    Samuel Todd      F5    [3]  
 4 Phoebe Patterson F1    [1]      0:1    Jake Patterson   U6    [4]  

Secondary - Round 6

Results

No Name             Feder Total  Result   Name             Feder Total

 1 Calvin Patterson P5    [2]      0:1    Jake Patterson   U6    [5]  
 2 Samuel Todd      F5    [4]      1:0    Phoebe Patterson F1    [1]  
 3 Ryan Hammond     F1    [1]      0:1    Adam Rushe       F4    [2]  
 4 James Kane       F3    [3]      1:0    Nathan Byrne     F3    [2]  

Secondary - Round 7

Results

No Name             Feder Total  Result   Name             Feder Total

 1 Nathan Byrne     F3    [2]      0:1    Calvin Patterson P5    [2]  
 2 Adam Rushe       F4    [3]      1:0    James Kane       F3    [4]  
 3 Phoebe Patterson F1    [1]      1:0    Ryan Hammond     F1    [1]  
 4 Jake Patterson   U6    [6]      1:0    Samuel Todd      F5    [5]  

Secondary

Standings

Place Name             Feder Score Berg. Wins

  1   Jake Patterson   U6    7     21.00    7
  2   Samuel Todd      F5    5     14.00    5
 3-4  Adam Rushe       F4    4      9.00    4
      James Kane       F3    4      8.00    4
  5   Calvin Patterson P5    3      7.00    3
 6-7  Nathan Byrne     F3    2      7.00    2
      Phoebe Patterson F1    2      4.00    2
  8   Ryan Hammond     F1    1      2.00    1

Jakes wins without a defeat. Followed by Samuel and joint third Adam and James. Calvin again does very well considering hes P5!

One way of assessing the quality of chess is by looking at the end-games played. Here are some positions from some of todays games - showing some brilliantly played chess....

Our next tournament is the Mega-finals on Saturday May 13th - when yougsters play-off to win a place in the Giga-finals in Manchester. For more details : http://www.ulsterchess.org/Members/ucu00450/childrenschess2017/delancey-uk-chess-challenge-megafinal

you can register for this online : https://megafinal.delanceyukschoolschesschallenge.com/

Also look out for the Chess Summer school dates - to be published soon.

Solutions to Problems