On February 8th Students gathered at Methodist College to Play Chess.
Its funny how worlds cross. On Weds my Civil Service first team played a match against Strand who are leading the 1st Division. They won. Two of their regular players Ethan Cole and Alwin Michael were playing today. Also thinking about it we had previously played Bangor A team with Andrew Campbell playing. So top players attending today. I should also mention Alwin came 2nd in the recent Williamson Shield and Toby Crothers won the Intermediate.
We had 33 players registered. Geoff Hindley one of our brilliant volunteers who has been assisting in running this tournament for as long as its been running - quite a few years! Help me to carry the equipment to the Room at Methodist College. Sets were put out, clocks set and the rooms prepared. Geoff put out the arrows/signs to the rooms.
All the players were registered. Some arrived early to get a start on the puzzles.
I do love seeing puzzles being solved. Its so satisfying to find a solution. Here are some of the harder puzzles. Solutions at the bottom of the page. They are from 2 excellent and recommended books : 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations – Fred Reinfeld and 1000 Checkmate Combinations – Victor Henkin. I also use the brilliant book - Chess 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games by Laszlo Polgar.
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The results of the puzzle competition. - We give back all the puzzle sheets after marking them during rounds 5 and 6. and each puzzle solver gets a certificate. Bronze, Silver or Gold. The top two solvers of the Primary and Secondary age groups receive a trophy.
Primary Puzzle Solving Champion : Alex McKeown (P5)
| No | Name | Year | Points | Cert. |
| 1. | McKeown, Alex | P5 | 19 | Gold |
| 2. | Tahmankar, Advait | P7 | 15 | Gold |
| 3. | Loughrey, Stefan | P4 | 13 | Silver |
| 4. | Micheal, Aarin | P3 | 13 | Silver |
| 5. | Jahandizi, Kia | P6 | 12 | Silver |
| 6. | Marrivada, Shreyas Chandra | P5 | 12 | Silver |
| 7. | Ganja, Abhiram | P5 | 11.5 | Silver |
| 8. | Marsh, Darragh | P6 | 11 | Silver |
| 9. | Simpson, Daniel | P3 | 10 | Bronze |
| 10. | Loughrey, Matthew | P6 | 9 | Bronze |
| 11. | Premkumar, Soundharya | P5 | 9 | Bronze |
| 12. | Amol Thoke , Tanish | P4 | 8 | Bronze |
| 13. | Hall, Ryan | P7 | 6 | Bronze |
| 14. | Johnston, Nathan | P6 | 4 | Bronze |
| 15. | Davis, Alexander | P4 | 1 | Bronze |
Secondary Puzzle Champion: Ethan Cole (F1)
| No | Name | Year | Points | Cert. |
| 1. | Cole, Ethan | F1 | 20 | Gold |
| 2. | Banerjee, Aharshi | F3 | 19 | Gold |
| 3. | Slebioda, Jakub | L6 | 19 | Gold |
| 4. | McClenahan, Timothy | L6 | 18 | Gold |
| 5. | Murphy, Peter | F4 | 16 | Silver |
| 6. | Murray, Nathan | F2 | 12.5 | Silver |
| 7. | Corr, Jonah | F5 | 11 | Silver |
| 8. | Thoke, Shlok | F1 | 8 | Bronze |
| 9. | Irwin, Grace | F2 | 7.5 | Bronze |
| 10. | Busby, Tom | F3 | 6 | Bronze |
| 11. | Shambharkar, Ayush | F1 | 2 | Bronze |
| 12. | Dantis, Joseph | F1 | 1 | Bronze |
Round 1
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Ethan Cole F1 [0] 1:0 Tom Busby F3 [0] 2 Simon Murphy F3 [0] 0:1 Andrew Campbell U6 [0] 3 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 [0] 1:0 Grace Irwin F2 [0] 4 Joseph Dantis F1 [0] 0:1 Alwin Micheal F1 [0] 5 Toby Crothers F5 [0] 1:0 Ayush Shambharkar F1 [0] 6 Kyan Muradali F2 [0] 1:0 Timothy McClenahan L6 [0] 7 Aharshi Banerjee F3 [0] 0:1 Kia Jahandizi P6 [0] 8 Nathan Johnston P6 [0] 0:1 Jakub Slebioda L6 [0] 9 Ryan Hall P7 [0] 0:1 Matthew Loughrey P6 [0] 10 Darragh Marsh P6 [0] .5:.5 Nathan Murray F2 [0] 11 Jonah Corr F5 [0] 1:0 Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P5 [0] 12 Soundharya Premkumar P5 [0] 1:0 Alex McKeown P5 [0] 13 Advait Tahmankar P7 [0] 1:0 Tanish Amol Thoke P4 [0] 14 Alexander Davis P4 [0] 0:1 Peter Murphy F4 [0] 15 Shlok Thoke F1 [0] 1:0 Stefan Loughrey P4 [0] 16 Aarin Micheal P3 [0] 0:1 Rory Brown F4 [0] 17 Ben Russell F4 [0] 0:1 Daniel Simpson P3 [0]
by Swiss Perfect (TM) www.swissperfect.com
Perhaps lower players hardest game. I have rated the players. If their rating is not known I have given them one according to their age. What upsets do we have in round 1? Either due to my mistake of ratings or a game very well played! We have Board 6 Kyan Muraldi wins against Timothy McClenahan. Then on the next board Kia Jahandizi wins against Aharshi Banerjee and Matthew Loughrey wins against Ryan Hall.
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Round 2
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Peter Murphy F4 [1] 1:0 Ethan Cole F1 [1] 2 Andrew Campbell U6 [1] 1:0 Advait Tahmankar P7 [1] 3 Rory Brown F4 [1] 0:1 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 [1] 4 Alwin Micheal F1 [1] 1:0 Shlok Thoke F1 [1] 5 Kia Jahandizi P6 [1] 0:1 Toby Crothers F5 [1] 6 Jakub Slebioda L6 [1] 1:0 Soundharya Premkumar P5 [1] 7 Matthew Loughrey P6 [1] 0:1 Kyan Muradali F2 [1] 8 Daniel Simpson P3 [1] 0:1 Jonah Corr F5 [1] 9 Timothy McClenahan L6 [0] .5:.5 Darragh Marsh P6 [.5] 10 Nathan Murray F2 [.5] 1:0 Aharshi Banerjee F3 [0] 11 Alex McKeown P5 [0] 1:0 Ryan Hall P7 [0] 12 Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P5 [0] 0:1 Ben Russell F4 [0] 13 Tom Busby F3 [0] 1:0 Nathan Johnston P6 [0] 14 Tanish Amol Thoke P4 [0] 0:1 Simon Murphy F3 [0] 15 Grace Irwin F2 [0] 1:0 Alexander Davis P4 [0] 16 Stefan Loughrey P4 [0] 0:1 Joseph Dantis F1 [0] 17 Ayush Shambharkar F1 [0] 0:1 Abhiram Ganja P5 [0] 18 Aarin Micheal P3 [0] 1:0 Arjun Kadam F1 [0]
Round 2 and one of our favourites is beaten. Peter Murphy gets a win against Ethan Cole. Darragh Marsh gets a good draw against Timothy Mclenahan.
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Round 3
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Kyan Muradali F2 [2] 0:1 Andrew Campbell U6 [2] 2 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 [2] 1:0 Jakub Slebioda L6 [2] 3 Jonah Corr F5 [2] 0:1 Alwin Micheal F1 [2] 4 Toby Crothers F5 [2] 0:1 Peter Murphy F4 [2] 5 Ethan Cole F1 [1] 1:0 Nathan Murray F2 [1.5] 6 Joseph Dantis F1 [1] 0:1 Alex McKeown P5 [1] 7 Advait Tahmankar P7 [1] 0:1 Kia Jahandizi P6 [1] 8 Shlok Thoke F1 [1] 1:0 Matthew Loughrey P6 [1] 9 Darragh Marsh P6 [1] 0:1 Rory Brown F4 [1] 10 Ben Russell F4 [1] .5:.5 Aarin Micheal P3 [1] 11 Soundharya Premkumar P5 [1] 1:0 Tom Busby F3 [1] 12 Simon Murphy F3 [1] 1:0 Daniel Simpson P3 [1] 13 Abhiram Ganja P5 [1] 1:0 Grace Irwin F2 [1] 14 Ryan Hall P7 [0] 0:1 Timothy McClenahan L6 [.5] 15 Aharshi Banerjee F3 [0] .5:.5 Tanish Amol Thoke P4 [0] 16 Alexander Davis P4 [0] .5:.5 Ayush Shambharkar F1 [0] 17 Nathan Johnston P6 [0] .5:.5 Stefan Loughrey P4 [0] 18 Arjun Kadam F1 [0] 0:1 Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P5 [0]
The field begins to spread. Winning all games and going forward on 3 points are : Andrew Campbell, Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam, Alwin Micheal and Peter Murphy who continues his wins with a good result against Toby Crothers. The young Soundharya Premkumar gets a good win against Tom Busby. Abhiram Ganja having won in the previous round against Ayush Shambharker now wins against Grace Irwin.
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Round 4
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Andrew Campbell U6 [3] 0:1 Alwin Micheal F1 [3] 2 Peter Murphy F4 [3] 0:1 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 [3] 3 Shlok Thoke F1 [2] 0:1 Ethan Cole F1 [2] 4 Rory Brown F4 [2] 0:1 Toby Crothers F5 [2] 5 Jakub Slebioda L6 [2] 0:1 Simon Murphy F3 [2] 6 Kia Jahandizi P6 [2] .5:.5 Kyan Muradali F2 [2] 7 Soundharya Premkumar P5 [2] 1:0 Jonah Corr F5 [2] 8 Alex McKeown P5 [2] 1:0 Abhiram Ganja P5 [2] 9 Timothy McClenahan L6 [1.5] 1:0 Ben Russell F4 [1.5] 10 Nathan Murray F2 [1.5] 1:0 Aarin Micheal P3 [1.5] 11 Matthew Loughrey P6 [1] 0:1 Advait Tahmankar P7 [1] 12 Tom Busby F3 [1] 0:1 Darragh Marsh P6 [1] 13 Grace Irwin F2 [1] 1:0 Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P5 [1] 14 Daniel Simpson P3 [1] 1:0 Joseph Dantis F1 [1] 15 Stefan Loughrey P4 [.5] 0:1 Aharshi Banerjee F3 [.5] 16 Ayush Shambharkar F1 [.5] 0:1 Nathan Johnston P6 [.5] 17 Tanish Amol Thoke P4 [.5] 0:1 Alexander Davis P4 [.5] 18 Arjun Kadam F1 [0] 1:0 Ryan Hall P7 [0]
Two leaders emerge from this round and will play each other on the next. Alwin Michael beats Andrew Campbell and Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam wins against Peter Murphy.
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Round 5
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Alwin Micheal F1 [4] 1:0 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 [4] 2 Ethan Cole F1 [3] 1:0 Soundharya Premkumar P5 [3] 3 Toby Crothers F5 [3] 1:0 Andrew Campbell U6 [3] 4 Simon Murphy F3 [3] 0:1 Alex McKeown P5 [3] 5 Timothy McClenahan L6 [2.5] 1:0 Peter Murphy F4 [3] 6 Kyan Muradali F2 [2.5] .5:.5 Nathan Murray F2 [2.5] 7 Jakub Slebioda L6 [2] 0:1 Kia Jahandizi P6 [2.5] 8 Jonah Corr F5 [2] 1:0 Grace Irwin F2 [2] 9 Advait Tahmankar P7 [2] 1:0 Daniel Simpson P3 [2] 10 Darragh Marsh P6 [2] 1:0 Shlok Thoke F1 [2] 11 Abhiram Ganja P5 [2] 1:0 Rory Brown F4 [2] 12 Aharshi Banerjee F3 [1.5] 1:0 Nathan Johnston P6 [1.5] 13 Ben Russell F4 [1.5] 1:0 Alexander Davis P4 [1.5] 14 Aarin Micheal P3 [1.5] 0:1 Tom Busby F3 [1] 15 Joseph Dantis F1 [1] 1:0 Arjun Kadam F1 [1] 16 Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P5 [1] 0:1 Matthew Loughrey P6 [1] 17 Tanish Amol Thoke P4 [.5] 0:1 Ayush Shambharkar F1 [.5] 18 Ryan Hall P7 [0] 0:1 Stefan Loughrey P4 [.5]
Alwin Micheal takes the lead, winning against Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam. Its brilliant to see P5 pupil Soundharya Premkumar on board 2 with 3 out of 4. Playing the brilliant Ethan Cole. There are no photos for rounds 5 and 6 as myself with the assistance of Amol Thoke marked the puzzle sheets.
Round 6
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Alwin Micheal F1 [5] .5:.5 Ethan Cole F1 [4] 2 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 [4] .5:.5 Toby Crothers F5 [4] 3 Alex McKeown P5 [4] 0:1 Timothy McClenahan L6 [3.5] 4 Kia Jahandizi P6 [3.5] 1:0 Jonah Corr F5 [3] 5 Andrew Campbell U6 [3] 1:0 Darragh Marsh P6 [3] 6 Peter Murphy F4 [3] 1:0 Kyan Muradali F2 [3] 7 Nathan Murray F2 [3] 0:1 Simon Murphy F3 [3] 8 Soundharya Premkumar P5 [3] 0:1 Advait Tahmankar P7 [3] 9 Abhiram Ganja P5 [3] 0:1 Aharshi Banerjee F3 [2.5] 10 Rory Brown F4 [2] 1:0 Ben Russell F4 [2.5] 11 Grace Irwin F2 [2] 1:0 Jakub Slebioda L6 [2] 12 Daniel Simpson P3 [2] 1:0 Shlok Thoke F1 [2] 13 Tom Busby F3 [2] 0:1 Joseph Dantis F1 [2] 14 Matthew Loughrey P6 [2] 1:0 Ayush Shambharkar F1 [1.5] 15 Nathan Johnston P6 [1.5] 1:0 Aarin Micheal P3 [1.5] 16 Alexander Davis P4 [1.5] 1:0 Stefan Loughrey P4 [1.5] 17 Arjun Kadam F1 [1] 1:0 Tanish Amol Thoke P4 [.5] 18 Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P5 [1] 1:0 Ryan Hall P7 [0]
The top is a tough place to be with top players battling each other. Alwin guarantees top place with a draw against Ethan. While on board 2 Karthikeya draws with Toby. On boards 3,4 and 5 we have the young players Alex (P5), Kia (P6) who wins against Jonah and Darragh (P6) - its brilliant that they are playing on these high boards in the final round. Also special mention for Soundharya (P5), Abhiram (P5) and the young Daniel P3 beating Shlok. all having good scores in such a challenging section.
Standings
Place Name Feder Score M-Buch. Buch. Progr.
1 Alwin Micheal F1 5.5 14.5 21.0 20.5
2-6 Toby Crothers F5 4.5 15.5 21.5 16.5
Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 4.5 14.5 22.0 18.5
Kia Jahandizi P6 4.5 13.5 20.0 14.5
Timothy McClenahan L6 4.5 12.5 16.5 12.5
Ethan Cole F1 4.5 12.0 19.5 15.5
7-11 Peter Murphy F4 4 16.5 23.5 16.0
Andrew Campbell U6 4 15.5 24.0 16.0
Advait Tahmankar P7 4 13.0 18.0 12.0
Alex McKeown P5 4 13.0 17.5 14.0
Simon Murphy F3 4 12.0 16.5 13.0
12 Aharshi Banerjee F3 3.5 10.0 15.0 8.0
13-23 Kyan Muradali F2 3 15.5 23.0 13.5
Jonah Corr F5 3 13.5 21.0 13.0
Nathan Murray F2 3 13.5 19.5 12.0
Soundharya Premkumar P5 3 13.0 19.5 13.0
Rory Brown F4 3 13.0 19.0 11.0
Daniel Simpson P3 3 12.5 18.5 10.0
Abhiram Ganja P5 3 12.5 18.0 11.0
Darragh Marsh P6 3 12.0 18.5 10.5
Joseph Dantis F1 3 11.0 18.0 8.0
Grace Irwin F2 3 10.5 17.0 9.0
Matthew Loughrey P6 3 8.5 12.5 9.0
24-26 Ben Russell F4 2.5 10.5 16.5 9.0
Alexander Davis P4 2.5 8.5 13.0 6.0
Nathan Johnston P6 2.5 7.0 12.0 6.0
27-31 Jakub Slebioda L6 2 14.5 21.5 11.0
Shlok Thoke F1 2 13.5 20.5 10.0
Tom Busby F3 2 11.5 17.5 7.0
Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P5 2 10.5 13.5 5.0
Arjun Kadam F1 2 7.0 10.0 4.0
32-34 Ayush Shambharkar F1 1.5 11.0 16.0 4.0
Aarin Micheal P3 1.5 10.0 15.0 7.0
Stefan Loughrey P4 1.5 10.0 13.5 4.0
35 Tanish Amol Thoke P4 0.5 12.0 17.5 2.0
36 Ryan Hall P7 0 11.0 17.0 0.0
Overall positions:
1st: Alwin Micheal F1
2nd: Toby Crothers F5
3rd: Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4
I give out trophies for 1st and 2nd for each of the age group categories. I then give out certificates for 1st / 2nd / 3rd - these I give to the players in the age group on the same points. So you can have more than 1 first and then a couple of 2nds and 3rds.
Form 4 and above Champions.
| Name | Year | Place | Score |
| Crothers, Toby | F5 | 1st | 4.5 |
| Karpagavinayagam, Karthikeya | F4 | 1st | 4.5 |
| McClenahan, Timothy | L6 | 1st | 4.5 |
| Murphy, Peter | F4 | 2nd | 4 |
| Campbell, Andrew | U6 | 2nd | 4 |
| Corr, Jonah | F5 | 3rd | 3 |
| Brown, Rory | F4 | 3rd | 3 |
Form 3 Champions.
| Name | Year | Place | Score |
| Murphy, Simon | F3 | 1st | 4 |
| Banerjee, Aharshi | F3 | 2nd | 3.5 |
| Busby, Tom | F3 | 3rd | 2 |
Form 2 Champions:
| Name | Year | Place | Score |
| Muradali, Kyan | F2 | 1st | 3 |
| Murray, Nathan | F2 | 1st | 3 |
| Irwin, Grace | F2 | 1st | 3 |
Form 1 Champions
| Name | Year | Place | Score |
| Micheal, Alwin | F1 | 1st | 5.5 |
| Cole, Ethan | F1 | 2nd | 4.5 |
| Dantis, Joseph | F1 | 3rd | 3 |
P7 Champions:
| Name | Year | Place | Score |
| Tahmankar, Advait | P7 | 1st | 4 |
| Hall, Ryan | P7 | 2nd | 0 |
P6 Champions:
| Name | Year | Place | Score |
| Jahandizi, Kia | P6 | 1st | 4.5 |
| Marsh, Darragh | P6 | 2nd | 3 |
| Loughrey, Matthew | P6 | 2nd | 3 |
| Johnston, Nathan | P6 | 3rd | 2.5 |
P5 and below Champions:
| Name | Year | Place | Score |
| McKeown, Alex | P5 | 1st | 4 |
| Premkumar, Soundharya | P5 | 2nd | 3 |
| Simpson, Daniel | P3 | 2nd | 3 |
| Ganja, Abhiram | P5 | 2nd | 3 |
| Davis, Alexander | P4 | 3rd | 2.5 |
Many thanks to our volunteers, Geoff Hindley and Amol Thoke. Also thanks to the players for a brilliant competition and to their parents for all their support. Also thanks to Methodist College for the excellent venue. Our next tournament is here again on March 8th at 12:30pm :
Look out for the next article on the Grandprix standings. The June Award Ceremony will be on Friday 13th of June hosted by Naomi Long MLA.
Puzzle Solutions:
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13. White to move (1001W-827) 1. dxc6 Bxc6 2. Nxc6! Rxd1 3. fRxd1 bxc6 4. c5! Rg8 5. aRb1! Resigns as 6. Ba6# |
14. White to move. (1001W-828) 1. Qa2+ Bxa2 2. Rb2+ Kxc1 3. Rxf2 Resigns |
15. White to move (1001W-829) 1. Rxd7 Qxd7 2. Nb6 Rxc2 3. Nxd7 Both Rooks are attacked |
16. White to move (1001W-830) 1. Be3 Qxe3 2. Qg4+ Qe6 3. Qxe6+ fxe6 4. Rxc7# |
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17. White to move (1001W-831) 1. Re8+ Bf8 2. Rxf8+ Kxf8 3. Nf5+ Kg8 4. Qf8+ Kxf8 5. Rd8# |
18. White to move (1001W-832) 1. Re4+ Kf8 2. Nxd6 Qxd6 3. Rd8+ Rxd8 4. Qxg7+ Kxg7 5. fxe8N+ Bf8 6. Nxd5 Resigns |
19. White to move (1000CC-350) 1. Nf6+ Kh8 2. Qh4 gxf6 3. Bd3 f5 4. Qxe7 Nxd2 5. Qf8# |
20. Black to move (1000CC-351) 1. Rd4 Qxd4 2. Qb1# |
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21. White to move (1000CC-352) 1. Rxh7+ Nxh7 2. Bb2+ e5 3. Qxd5 Kg7 4. Qd7+ Resigned |
22. White to move (1000CC-353) 1. c3! resigns 2. Bc2 cant be averted Also 1. Bd5 1. c4 |
