Tournament Report: Bangor Rapid Championship sees 40 players out in force!

40 players competed in the Bangor Rapid Championship. Congratulations to champion Danny Roberts who stormed ahead with 9 wins in a row, making him totally impossible to catch! 2nd place was won by Mandar Tahmankar, a super strong Indian player who moved to Northern Ireland in August 2020. We are delighted he has joined our chess community, as have other friendly newcomers Declan McKee (7th) and Benjamin Halliday (20th). It is wonderful to see the chess scene expanding with lots of fresh faces.

This event saw lots of young talent, with primary school children Aaditya Singh (8th) and Ethan Cole (9th) both delivering outstanding performances. Teen talents included James Wong (6th) and Calum Glendinning(10th). Meanwhile university students Cathan Gormley (4th) and Eddie Hanzharov (5th) played beautiful chess to take down many of the higher rated players.

There were also lots of children competing who regularly play at the monthly Childrens' Chess events at Methodist College, Belfast. Notably, Calvin Patterson, Adam Fitzsimons and Reuben Magill.

We were also delighted to welcome one of the top female players in Ireland, Diana Bueckert, who scored several great wins and we hope she inspires more females to compete in our local chess events. We wish Diana every success on her journey towards the WFM title.