October sees the beginning of our series of monthly Childrens Tournaments. A little nervous of the numbers - would there be only a few or would we have to take more time registering. We setup the room - placed the boards, plugged in the computer whilst Geoff Hindley put up the Signs with directions to the Chess Room.

Youngsters arrived - some new faces. But a little disappointed we had 7 players Under12 and 4 players Under19 so we split the groups into a Swiss for the Under12s and an all-play-all with both colours for the under19.

Although  numbers were low the quality of players was very high - we had Dexter Harris - Under10 Ulster Champ 2016 and Adam Fitzsimons - Belfast Elite Champion 2017. This qualifier allows players to gain entrance into the prestigious London Junior Chess Championship - one of the top UK championships - for more details see the website : http://www.ljcc.co.uk/

The players as well as enjoying playing chess had some elegent puzzles to solve - here are a few - answers at the bottom of the page : The theme for these is a weak back row.

The results of the puzzle solving competition:

Secondary Schools - Adam Rushe has become an excellent problem solver - gaining 18 points out of a possible 22. and some of the problems are very challenging

Primary Schools

We also talked through some interesting end game problems on the large screen in the hall.

Under12 merged LJCC Belfast - Round 1

No Name            Feder Total  Result   Name           Feder Total

 1 Conor Boyle     U12   [0]     .5:.5   Jasper Grady   U12   [0]  
 2 Dexter Harris   U10   [0]      1:0    Eoin Boyle     U12   [0]  
 3 Adam Fitzsimons U10   [0]      1:0    Skyla McConkey U8    [0]  
 4 Aaditya Singh   U8    [0]      1:0    BYE                       

by Swiss Perfect (TM)  www.swissperfect.com

Under12 merged LJCC Belfast - Round 2

No Name           Feder Total  Result   Name            Feder Total

 1 Aaditya Singh  U8    [1]      0:1    Adam Fitzsimons U10   [1]  
 2 Jasper Grady   U12   [.5]     0:1    Dexter Harris   U10   [1]  
 3 Eoin Boyle     U12   [0]      0:1    Conor Boyle     U12   [.5] 
 4 Skyla McConkey U8    [0]      1:0    BYE           

Under12 merged LJCC Belfast - Round 3

No Name            Feder Total  Result   Name          Feder Total

 1 Adam Fitzsimons U10   [2]      1:0    Dexter Harris U10   [2]  
 2 Conor Boyle     U12   [1.5]    0:1    Aaditya Singh U8    [1]  
 3 Skyla McConkey  U8    [1]      0:1    Jasper Grady  U12   [.5] 
 4 Eoin Boyle      U12   [0]      1:0    BYE             

Under12 merged LJCC Belfast - Round 4

No Name           Feder Total  Result   Name            Feder Total

 1 Conor Boyle    U12   [1.5]    0:1    Adam Fitzsimons U10   [3]  
 2 Dexter Harris  U10   [2]      1:0    Aaditya Singh   U8    [2]  
 3 Skyla McConkey U8    [1]      0:1    Eoin Boyle      U12   [1]  
 4 Jasper Grady   U12   [1.5]    1:0    BYE       

Under12 merged LJCC Belfast - Round 5

No Name          Feder Total  Result   Name            Feder Total

 1 Jasper Grady  U12   [2.5]    0:1    Adam Fitzsimons U10   [4]  
 2 Dexter Harris U10   [3]      1:0    Skyla McConkey  U8    [1]  
 3 Aaditya Singh U8    [2]      1:0    Eoin Boyle      U12   [2]  
 4 Conor Boyle   U12   [1.5]    1:0    BYE      

Under12 merged LJCC Belfast - Round 6

No Name            Feder Total  Result   Name          Feder Total

 1 Adam Fitzsimons U10   [5]      1:0    Eoin Boyle    U12   [2]  
 2 Dexter Harris   U10   [4]      1:0    Conor Boyle   U12   [2.5]
 3 Jasper Grady    U12   [2.5]    0:1    Aaditya Singh U8    [3]  
 4 Skyla McConkey  U8    [1]      1:0    BYE       

Under12 merged LJCC Belfast - Standings

Place Name            Feder Score M-Buch. Buch. Progr.

  1   Adam Fitzsimons U10   6         9.0  15.0   21.0
  2   Dexter Harris   U10   5         9.0  16.0   17.0
  3   Aaditya Singh   U8    4        12.0  19.5   13.0
 4-5  Conor Boyle     U12   2.5      13.5  21.0   10.0
      Jasper Grady    U12   2.5      13.5  20.5   10.0
 6-7  Eoin Boyle      U12   2        13.5  20.5    7.0
      Skyla McConkey  U8    2        13.0  20.5    6.0

Under12 Champion: Conor Boyle, Jasper Grady

Under10 Champion: Adam Fitzsimons

Under8 Champion: Aaditya singh

Qualifiers for the LJCC

Under10 Majors :

Adam Fitzsimons with unbeaten 6 points

Dexter Harris with 5 points

Under8

Aaditya Singh

Under 19 - Round 1 and 4 (with opposite colours)

No Name          Feder Total  Result   Name           Feder Total

 1 Katy Thornton U14   [0.0]  0.0:2.0  Louie McConkey U14   [0.0]
 2 James Wong    U16   [0.0]  1.0:1.0  Adam Rushe     U19   [0.0]

Under 19 - Round 2 and 5 (with opposite colours)

No Name           Feder Total  Result   Name       Feder Total

 1 Louie McConkey U14   [2.0]   .5:1.5  Adam Rushe U19   [1.0]
 2 Katy Thornton  U14   [0.0]  0.0:2.0  James Wong U16   [1.0]

Under 19 - Round 3 and 6 (with opposite colours)

No Name       Feder Total  Result   Name           Feder Total

 1 James Wong U16   [3.0]  0.0:2.0  Louie McConkey U14   [2.5]
 2 Adam Rushe U19   [2.5]  2.0:0.0  Katy Thornton  U14   [0.0]

Under 19 - Standings

Place Name           Feder Score Berg. Wins

 1-2  Adam Rushe     U19   4.5    9.75    2
      Louie McConkey U14   4.5    8.25    2
  3   James Wong     U16   3      4.50    1
  4   Katy Thornton  U14   0      0.00    0

Under19 Champion Adam Rushe

Under16 Champion James Wong

Under14 Champion Louie McConkey

The Winners:

Thanks to Methodist College for the excellent venue. Thanks to the Children for some brilliant chess and an excellent atmosphere. Thanks to the parents for their help and support. Thanks to the Volunteers who without we wouldnt be able to run this tournament.

Our next tournament is the Childrens Chess on the Saturday November 4th 12:30 to 5:00pm at Methodist College - please see the events section of this site.

Answers to the problems

The Endgame problems: