Geoff Hindley , Ross Harris, Michael Wong and myself arrived at the Ballynafeigh Bowling Club early and setup the sets and projector and screen - ready for the Chess School Then arrived 12 excited youngsters ready for learning as much chess as they could. We started with Battle Chess - Four Pawns and a King - placed on the chess board by each player - with a plastic sheet hiding their half of the board from their opponent - removing the sheet and then playing white first to CheckMate - a brilliant way of practicing the endgame. The day followed a planned timetable - with worksheets on Knights. Bishops and mini-games that involved pawns and either Knights and Bishops - to get a feel for the movement and freedom of each of the pieces. The youngsters were split into teams of two - and the day ended with a round of team chess where each team of two played another team - and the players were encouraged to discuss their plans with their own team in-front of their opponents who would hear their plans - and hopefully the game would be harder to win - lots of talking about moves ensued and their was an excited buzz of voices in the room.

During the three days topics such as the tools of chess players - the pins, forks, opposition. We played an individual tournament of chess, an individual tournament of battle chess, a team tournament of chess. Gareth took sessions on King opposition and exciting variations in the Giuoco Piano ending the 3 days with a look at some complicated but beautiful chess puzzles.

Results from the tournaments: Minaahil won a medal for winning the Individual tournament and Adam won a medal for winning the Battle Chess tournament.

Team Competition - After 2 rounds

Standings

Place Name                                   Score

 1-3  Adam Fitzsimons	, Rishon George Thomas 1.5  
      Anjali Singh, Josh Kelly               1.5  
      Aaditya Singh, Finn Kelly              1.5  
  4   Harshit Kokate, Minaahil Iqbal         1    
  5   James Wong,                            0.5  
  6   Sharan Varma, Ali Iqbal                0    

by Swiss Perfect (TM)  www.swissperfect.com

Individual tournament - after 3 rounds

Standings

Place Name            Score

  1   Minaahil Iqbal  3    
 2-5  Aaditya Singh   2    
      Anjali Singh    2    
      Adam Fitzsimons 2    
      Finn Kelly      2    
 6-7  James Wong      1.5  
      Sharan Varma    1.5  
8-10  Harshit Kokate  1    
      Ali Iqbal       1    
      Rishon Thomas   1    
11-12 Enzio           0.5  
      Josh Kelly      0.5  

Battle Chess - After 3 rounds

Standings

Place Name            Score

  1   Adam Fitzsimons 5.5  
  2   Aaditya Singh   5    
  3   Anjali Singh    4    
  4   Finn Kelly      3.5  
  5   James Wong      3    
6-11  Minaahil Iqbal  2.5  
      Josh Kelly      2.5  
      Rishon Thomas   2.5  
      Sharan Varma    2.5  
      Kokate Harshit  2.5  
      Ali Iqbal       2.5  

Many thanks go to Geoff Hindley, Ross Harris, Michael Wong and Gareth Annesley for all their help running the summer school. Also to the Local Council who allowed us to use the excellent facilities of the Bowling Club and to Damien Cunningham for organising the venue.

A big thankyou to the youngsters for an excellent 3 days of fun and enthusiastic chess - thankyou.

All the best with your chess

Below - Gareth Annesley taking a session on the more exciting variations of the Giuoco Piano - the players went on to play games starting with this position - from

Below - At lunch time - having fun learning and playing various board games - including - Othello, Mastermind, Aberlone, Game of Ur, Fanorano, Manacala.

The whole team - each player received a certificate of participation with this photo on the back as a momento of the 3 days.