The Monthly Childrens Chess Tournaments continued on Sat 11th January at Methodist College
A New Year and another exciting tournament. Geoff Hindley and Caleb McClean helped to put out the Arrows for directions to the Chess Classrooms. One slight change, the 2nd room we usually use was locked due to a setup for Open Day. The brilliant Caretakers had organised for another room upstairs. So we moved the Parents Room to upstairs and the old Parents Room was used for the competition. I was expecting 32 players so setup 8 boards in one room and 9 boards in the next. With every one registered I removed those who didnt turn-up from the draw, hoping that they might turn up latter. The draw was done and the youngsters found their tables and rooms. The wonderful silence of focused thought filled the air - we were away.
I love the puzzle solving - this gives the players something todo whilst waiting for the next round. Its also a point for conversation. But we hope that the solutions are worked out by each player - as this is the best way to learn and gives alot of satisfaction. We mark the sheets at round 5 ( sometimes this means no photos! for that round) and return them with certificates at the award ceremony.
The Primary Champion: Advait Tahmankar.
No | Name | Year | Points | Cert. |
1 | Tahmankar, Advait | P7 | 15.5 | Gold |
2 | McKeown, Alex | P5 | 14.5 | Gold |
3 | Micheal, Aarin | P3 | 14 | Gold |
4 | Coakley , Jackson | P7 | 13 | Silver |
5 | Loughrey, Matthew | P6 | 13 | Silver |
6 | Loughrey, Stefan | P4 | 12.5 | Silver |
7 | Jahandizi, Kia | P6 | 12 | Silver |
8 | Marrivada, Shreyas Chandra | P5 | 7 | Bronze |
9 | Simpson, Timothy | P5 | 7 | Bronze |
10 | Simpson, Daniel | P3 | 7 | Bronze |
11 | Johnston, Nathan | P6 | 5 | Bronze |
12 | Spence, Luke | P4 | 2 | Bronze |
The Secondary Champion : Aaditya Singh
No | Name | Year | Points | Cert. |
1 | Singh, Aaditya | F4 | 14.5 | Gold |
2 | McClenahan, Timothy | L6 | 14 | Gold |
3 | Muradali, Kyan | F2 | 12.5 | Silver |
4 | Campbell, Andrew | U6 | 10.5 | Silver |
5 | Karpagavinayagam, Karthikeya | F4 | 10 | Silver |
6 | Crothers, Toby | F5 | 9 | Silver |
7 | Banerjee, Aharshi | F3 | 9 | Silver |
8 | Murphy, Peter | F4 | 8 | Bronze |
9 | Singh, Anjali | L6 | 7 | Bronze |
10 | Murray, Nathan | F2 | 4 | Bronze |
Both secondary and primary sheets share the harder problems on the back of the sheet. These are shown below. See if you can solve them. Solutions given at the bottom of the page.
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For many years we have run a grand-prix. Resulting in players being invited to an elite competition and award ceremony usually held at Stormont.
Article from one of the first: https://www.ulsterchess.org/archives/imports/Schools/junior/chess-stormont-2009
Most recent article: https://www.ulsterchess.org/Members/ucu00450/2023-2024/childrenschess2023-24/stormont-2024/a-brilliant-morning-with-naomi-long-mla-celebrating-top-young-chess-players-at-stormont
The top 4 players for Primary, Lower Secondary, Upper Secondary and Puzzle solving will be invited.
Grandprix: points – Players positions in their section are taken. Their best 3 grand-prix scores over the 5 tournaments are added together.
Grand Prix Style Tournament
- place gets 10 points
- place gets 8 points
- place gets 6 points
- place gets 5 points
- place gets 4 points
- place gets 3 points
- place gets 2 points
- place gets 1 points
I will shortly publish the standings and points for the first 2 tournaments. We have 3 remaining tournaments so plenty of time to get included....
February 8th Childrens Chess 12:30 – 5:00 |
March 8th Childrens Chess 12:30 – 5:00 |
April 12th Childrens Chess 12:30 – 5:00 |
Round 1
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Caleb McClean L6 [0] 1:0 Anthony Pratt F4 [0] 2 Ben Russell F4 [0] 0:1 Andrew Campbell U6 [0] 3 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 [0] 1:0 Aaditya Singh F4 [0] 4 George McClelland F2 [0] 0:1 Alwin Micheal F1 [0] 5 Toby Crothers F5 [0] 1:0 Sohil Sai Bande F3 [0] 6 Kia Jahandizi P6 [0] .5:.5 Timothy McClenahan L6 [0] 7 Aharshi Banerjee F3 [0] 1:0 Nathan Johnston P6 [0] 8 Matthew Loughrey P6 [0] 0:1 Kyan Muradali F2 [0] 9 Nathan Murray F2 [0] 1:0 Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P5 [0] 10 Timothy Simpson P5 [0] 0:1 Alex McKeown P5 [0] 11 Advait Tahmankar P7 [0] 1:0 Stefan Loughrey P4 [0] 12 Luke Spence P4 [0] 0:1 Peter Murphy F4 [0] 13 Shlok Thoke F1 [0] 1:0 Jackson Coakley P7 [0] 14 Aarin Micheal P3 [0] 0:1 Anjali Singh L6 [0] 15 Daniel Simpson P3 [0] 1:0 BYE
by Swiss Perfect (TM) www.swissperfect.com
The players are given approx ratings and the first round pattern of wins by rating would be White / Black / White / Black .....So first round almost went to ratings. With the exception of Kia Jahandizi drawing against Timothy McClenahan. As the rounds go on the players are more likely to play players on the same points and the same level. However round 1 is usually where the weaker players have their hardest opponents. We play one section to allow younger players to play older players and potentially beat them and if not to learn - as one way of definately improving your game is to play better players.
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Round 2
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Alex McKeown P5 [1] 0:1 Caleb McClean L6 [1] 2 Andrew Campbell U6 [1] 1:0 Nathan Murray F2 [1] 3 Peter Murphy F4 [1] .5:.5 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 [1] 4 Alwin Micheal F1 [1] 1:0 Advait Tahmankar P7 [1] 5 Anjali Singh L6 [1] 0:1 Toby Crothers F5 [1] 6 Daniel Simpson P3 [1] 0:1 Aharshi Banerjee F3 [1] 7 Kyan Muradali F2 [1] .5:.5 Shlok Thoke F1 [1] 8 Timothy McClenahan L6 [.5] 1:0 Anthony Pratt F4 [0] 9 Aaditya Singh F4 [0] 1:0 Kia Jahandizi P6 [.5] 10 Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P5 [0] 0:1 Ben Russell F4 [0] 11 Stefan Loughrey P4 [0] 0:1 George McClelland F2 [0] 12 Sohil Sai Bande F3 [0] 1:0 Timothy Simpson P5 [0] 13 Nathan Johnston P6 [0] 1:0 Luke Spence P4 [0] 14 Jackson Coakley P7 [0] 0:1 Matthew Loughrey P6 [0] 15 Aarin Micheal P3 [0] 1:0 BYE
Shlok Thoke gets a good draw against Kyan Muradali. Peter Murphy gets a good win against Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam. Brilliant to see P5, P7 and P3 pupils on the top boards.
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Round 3
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Caleb McClean L6 [2] .5:.5 Alwin Micheal F1 [2] 2 Toby Crothers F5 [2] 0:1 Andrew Campbell U6 [2] 3 Aharshi Banerjee F3 [2] 1:0 Timothy McClenahan L6 [1.5] 4 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 [1.5] 0:1 Kyan Muradali F2 [1.5] 5 Shlok Thoke F1 [1.5] 0:1 Peter Murphy F4 [1.5] 6 Nathan Murray F2 [1] 1:0 Sohil Sai Bande F3 [1] 7 George McClelland F2 [1] 1:0 Alex McKeown P5 [1] 8 Advait Tahmankar P7 [1] 1:0 Nathan Johnston P6 [1] 9 Matthew Loughrey P6 [1] 0:1 Anjali Singh L6 [1] 10 Ben Russell F4 [1] 1:0 Aarin Micheal P3 [1] 11 Aaditya Singh F4 [1] 1:0 Daniel Simpson P3 [1] 12 Kia Jahandizi P6 [.5] 1:0 Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P5 [0] 13 Anthony Pratt F4 [0] 1:0 Stefan Loughrey P4 [0] 14 Timothy Simpson P5 [0] 0:1 Luke Spence P4 [0] 15 Jackson Coakley P7 [0] 1:0 BYE
The top players are rising to the top. With a good group on 2 and 1 1/2 points. Top players Caleb McClean and Alwin Micheal on board 1 draw which opens up the competition.
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Round 4
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Andrew Campbell U6 [3] 1:0 Aharshi Banerjee F3 [3] 2 Kyan Muradali F2 [2.5] 0:1 Caleb McClean L6 [2.5] 3 Alwin Micheal F1 [2.5] 1:0 Peter Murphy F4 [2.5] 4 Ben Russell F4 [2] 0:1 Toby Crothers F5 [2] 5 Anjali Singh L6 [2] 0:1 Nathan Murray F2 [2] 6 Advait Tahmankar P7 [2] 0:1 Aaditya Singh F4 [2] 7 Kia Jahandizi P6 [1.5] 1:0 George McClelland F2 [2] 8 Timothy McClenahan L6 [1.5] 0:1 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 [1.5] 9 Alex McKeown P5 [1] 0:1 Shlok Thoke F1 [1.5] 10 Luke Spence P4 [1] .5:.5 Anthony Pratt F4 [1] 11 Sohil Sai Bande F3 [1] 0:1 Jackson Coakley P7 [1] 12 Nathan Johnston P6 [1] 1:0 Aarin Micheal P3 [1] 13 Daniel Simpson P3 [1] 0:1 Matthew Loughrey P6 [1] 14 Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P5 [0] 0:1 Timothy Simpson P5 [0] 15 Stefan Loughrey P4 [0] 1:0 BYE
The only two players on full points meet. Andrew Campbell and Aharshi Banerjee, Andrew winning and going into the lead. With an odd no of players Geoff Hindley plays a friendly against the player with the Bye. He mentioned afterwards that some of them beat him and all gave him a good game - which goes to show we have some good player. Kia Jahandizi continues todo well with a win against George McClelland
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Round 5
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Caleb McClean L6 [3.5] 0:1 Andrew Campbell U6 [4] 2 Toby Crothers F5 [3] 0:1 Alwin Micheal F1 [3.5] 3 Aharshi Banerjee F3 [3] 0:1 Nathan Murray F2 [3] 4 Aaditya Singh F4 [3] 0:1 Kyan Muradali F2 [2.5] 5 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 [2.5] 1:0 Shlok Thoke F1 [2.5] 6 Peter Murphy F4 [2.5] 1:0 Kia Jahandizi P6 [2.5] 7 George McClelland F2 [2] 0:1 Advait Tahmankar P7 [2] 8 Jackson Coakley P7 [2] 0:1 Anjali Singh L6 [2] 9 Matthew Loughrey P6 [2] 1:0 Ben Russell F4 [2] 10 Anthony Pratt F4 [1.5] .5:.5 Nathan Johnston P6 [2] 11 Luke Spence P4 [1.5] 0:1 Timothy McClenahan L6 [1.5] 12 Stefan Loughrey P4 [1] 0:1 Alex McKeown P5 [1] 13 Aarin Micheal P3 [1] 0:1 Sohil Sai Bande F3 [1] 14 Timothy Simpson P5 [1] 0:1 Daniel Simpson P3 [1] 15 Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P5 [0] 1:0 BYE
Round 5 and we are marking the puzzles. So no photos. A tough set of problems. I am assisted with the puzzles by Ranjit Singh. Andrew Campell continues to win with 5 out of 5 beating top player Caleb McClean. Kia Jahandizi in on board 6 but looses to Peter Murphy. Nathan Johnston gets a good draw against Anthony Pratt. We have a battle of the brothers with the younger Daniel Simpson taking a point off Timothy Simpson.
Round 6
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Andrew Campbell U6 [5] 0:1 Alwin Micheal F1 [4.5] 2 Nathan Murray F2 [4] 0:1 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 [3.5] 3 Peter Murphy F4 [3.5] 1:0 Caleb McClean L6 [3.5] 4 Kyan Muradali F2 [3.5] 0:1 Aharshi Banerjee F3 [3] 5 Toby Crothers F5 [3] 1:0 Aaditya Singh F4 [3] 6 Anjali Singh L6 [3] 0:1 Advait Tahmankar P7 [3] 7 Shlok Thoke F1 [2.5] 1:0 Matthew Loughrey P6 [3] 8 Nathan Johnston P6 [2.5] 0:1 Kia Jahandizi P6 [2.5] 9 Timothy McClenahan L6 [2.5] 1:0 Ben Russell F4 [2] 10 Alex McKeown P5 [2] 1:0 Sohil Sai Bande F3 [2] 11 Anthony Pratt F4 [2] 0:1 Jackson Coakley P7 [2] 12 Daniel Simpson P3 [2] 1:0 George McClelland F2 [2] 13 Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P5 [1] 1:0 Luke Spence P4 [1.5] 14 Aarin Micheal P3 [1] 1:0 Stefan Loughrey P4 [1] 15 Timothy Simpson P5 [1] 1:0 BYE
Micheal Alwin defeats the undefeated leader Andrew Campbell. Peter Murphy wins against Caleb McClean and Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam wins against Nathan Murray. We have an incredible top talent on the top boards. Whilst the younger Advait Tahmankar is the top Primary School player. and the young P3 Daniel Simpson ends up on 3 points beating George McClelland. The day has been full of brilliant games with close endgames and plenty of challenging positions and some mistakes. But chess is all about handling that mistake and when loosing having the ability to play the next game and learn. Such a fantastic game! A big thankyou to all the players for being part of a fantastic afternoon of chess.
Standings
Place Name Feder Score M-Buch. Buch. Progr. 1 Alwin Micheal F1 5.5 16.0 23.0 19.0 2 Andrew Campbell U6 5 15.5 23.0 20.0 3-4 Peter Murphy F4 4.5 15.0 22.0 15.5 Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam F4 4.5 14.5 22.0 14.5 5-8 Aharshi Banerjee F3 4 13.5 21.0 16.0 Nathan Murray F2 4 13.5 20.0 15.0 Toby Crothers F5 4 13.0 20.5 15.0 Advait Tahmankar P7 4 10.5 16.5 13.0 9-13 Caleb McClean L6 3.5 16.0 23.5 16.0 Kyan Muradali F2 3.5 14.0 21.5 14.5 Shlok Thoke F1 3.5 14.0 21.0 12.5 Timothy McClenahan L6 3.5 11.5 17.5 11.0 Kia Jahandizi P6 3.5 11.0 17.0 11.0 14-19 Aaditya Singh F4 3 15.0 22.0 12.0 Anjali Singh L6 3 13.5 19.0 12.0 Matthew Loughrey P6 3 11.5 17.0 10.0 Daniel Simpson P3 3 11.0 16.5 9.0 Jackson Coakley P7 3 11.0 16.5 8.0 Alex McKeown P5 3 9.0 13.0 9.0 20 Nathan Johnston P6 2.5 11.0 16.5 9.0 21-27 George McClelland F2 2 13.0 19.0 9.0 Ben Russell F4 2 12.0 18.5 9.0 Sohil Sai Bande F3 2 11.0 16.5 7.0 Shreyas Chandra Marrivada P5 2 10.0 15.5 3.0 Anthony Pratt F4 2 10.0 14.0 6.5 Aarin Micheal P3 2 9.5 13.0 6.0 Timothy Simpson P5 2 9.0 13.5 4.0 28 Luke Spence P4 1.5 9.5 15.5 5.5 29 Stefan Loughrey P4 1 10.0 15.5 3.0
Overall positions:
1st: Alwin Micheal F1
2nd: Andrew Campbell U6
3rd: Peter Murphy F4
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 |
Campbell, Andrew | U6 | 1 | 5 |
Murphy, Peter | F4 | 2 | 4.5 |
Karpagavinayagam, Karthikeya | F4 | 2 | 4.5 |
Crothers, Toby | F5 | 3 | 4 |
Form 3 Champions.
Name | Year | Place | Score |
Banerjee, Aharshi | F3 | 1 | 4 |
Sai Bande, Sohil | F3 | 2 | 2 |
Form 2 Champions:
Name | Year | Place | Score |
Murray, Nathan | F2 | 1 | 4 |
Muradali, Kyan | F2 | 2 | 3.5 |
McClelland, George | F2 | 3 | 2 |
Form 1 Champions:
Name | Year | Place | Score |
Micheal, Alwin | F1 | 1 | 5.5 |
Thoke, Shlok | F1 | 2 | 3.5 |
P7 Champions:
Name | Year | P7 | Score |
Tahmankar, Advait | P7 | 1 | 4 |
Coakley , Jackson | P7 | 2 | 3 |
P6 Champions:
Name | Year | Place | Score |
Jahandizi, Kia | P6 | 1 | 3.5 |
Loughrey, Matthew | P6 | 2 | 3 |
Johnston, Nathan | P6 | 3 | 2.5 |
P5 and below Champions:
Name | Year | Place | Score |
Simpson, Daniel | P3 | 1 | 3 |
McKeown, Alex | P5 | 1 | 3 |
Marrivada, Shreyas Chandra | P5 | 2 | 2 |
Micheal, Aarin | P3 | 2 | 2 |
Simpson, Timothy | P5 | 2 | 2 |
Spence, Luke | P4 | 3 | 1.5 |
A big thankyou to Volunteers - Geoff Hindley, Mandar Tahmankar, Ranjit Singh. Also to the Methodist College for excellent venue. The Parents for supporting their youngsters and most of all to the players for playing such great chess and accepting defeat in a positive way. Loosing is the best way to learn and get better.
The next tournament in the series is next month : Saturday Afternoon February 8th again at Methodist College.
As some of the problems involved alot of moves we decided to mark ones with the first correct move as right. For those problems with less moves we gave 1/2 mark if not the full answer.
13. Black to move (1001W-821) 1. … Qxa1 2. Qxf4 Qa8+ 3. Qe4 Qxe4# |
14. Black to move. (1001W-822) 1. … g5! 2. fxg5 fxg5 3. Qxg5 Rxf1 4. resigns |
15. White to move (1001W-823) 1. Qb3+! Rf7 2. Nxf7 Qxf7 3. Re8+ Bf8 4. Bf4 Resigns |
16. White to move (1001W-824) 1. Ke3! Qxd1 2. c3! Black must give the Queen back. If 2. … Qh4 3. Nf6+ |
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17. White to move (1001W-825) 1. fxg6! Rxc4 2. gxh7+ Nxh7 3. Qxh7+ Kf8 4. Qh8+ Ke7 5. Qxe5+ Kd7 6. Rd1+ Kc8 7. Qe8+ Kb7 8. Qxf7+ resigns |
18. White to move (1001W-826) 1. Nf3 Qxh1 2. Ne5 threatening the Q and mate. |
19. White to move (1000CC-346) 1. Bf8! Black resigned |
20. Black to move (1000CC-347) 1. … Rd1! |
21. White to move (1000CC-348) 1. Ne6! Black resigned |
22. Black to move (1000CC-349) 1. … Qd2 |