Ulster School's Championships

The Ulster School's Chess Championships were held this weekend at Methodist College Belfast. All sections were hotly contested with some very exciting finishes to games. Congratulations to all the winners on the day.

U19 Champion       -         Vincent Crean
U16 Champion       -         Hannah Patterson
U14 Champion       -         Daniil Zelenchuk
U12 Champion       -         Calum Glendinning
U10 Champion       -         Dexter Harris
U8 Champion         -         Ahmed Hassan

Many thanks to Mark Newman for all his hard work in organizing and controlling this excellent event

Omagh Rapidplay 2016

It was great to see some of our Juniors competing with the adults in this years Omagh Rapidplay. All of them performed exceptionally well for their age, but special mention must go to Daniil Zelenchuk who won the Junior Section ahead of some very strong, experienced adult players.

Strandtown Chess Academy

Today saw the return of the Strandtown Chess Academy after the Halloween break. By the end of the day Patrick McEvoy remained at the top of the ladder despite a tough challenge from Leon Hamilton. This was Patrick's second week at the top! Other movers on the ladder were Euan Hanna (from 17th to 14th) and Dexter Harris (from 6th to 3rd).

The star of the week award went to Justin Macartney!

November 2016 UCU Chess Event

Today saw another fantastic day of junior chess run by Mark Newman of the Ulster Chess Union. As usual it was held in Methodist College Belfast and was attended by kids ranging in ages from 7 - 18. The tournament saw some fantastic attacking chess, some great problem solving, and an enjoyable fun filled atmosphere. A full report will appear soon on the Ulster Chess Union Website. All the winners are shown below!

Children's Chess Events

Just a reminder to everyone that this weekend is the first UCU Children's Chess event of the year. It is being held in Methodist College Belfast and is a qualifier for the London Junior Chess Championships. Full details can be found on the UCU Website. We look forward to seeing you all there!

This week also saw the return of the Strandtown Chess Academy. The club went from strength to strength during its first year and has started off this week with an amazing 27 members! It's great to see so many kids having fun and playing chess!!

Munster U8 Championships

Dexter Harris traveled down to Ennis to compete in the Munster Junior Chess Championships, in the U8 section. Coming up against stiff opposition he did fantastically well to win the tournament with a score of 6 / 6!

Munster Junior Chess Championships

The Munster Junior Chess Championships are being held on the weekend of the 17-18th of September in the West County Hotel, Ennis. Titles can only be won by Munster residents, but all other players are welcome to enter.

U8 and U10 sections are run over one day only whilst U12, U14, U16 and U18 sections are run on both days. We already have one player from Ulster registered to play and it would be great to see more local players travel down in what promises to be a great competition! Further details can be found on either the Irish Chess Union website or the Munster Chess Union website.

Juniors at the Ulster Chess Championships

It was great to see some of our local junior talent competing in the Ulster Chess Championships this weekend and three of them even managed to come away with prizes!

16 year old Jonathon Peoples won the Intermediate Section with Dayna Ferguson picking up the grading prize.

Jonathon Peoples - Intermediate Champion

Dayna Ferguson - Grading Prize Intermediate Section

Here is an excellent game from Dayna played in round 2 of the tournament.


The Junior section included the ever present members of the Todd family - Andrew, Samuel and Peter. Also competing in this section for the first time was Aisling Ni Laighleis. Year 9 student Peter came incredibly close to winning the Junior Section, only missing out when he drew his final game. Samuel had his best tournament to date scoring 3 points and winning a grading prize.

The Todd brothers - Peter, Samuel and Andrew

Aisling Ni Laighleis

NEW Ulster Chess Union Children's Chess Events

The 2016 / 2017 timetable for the Ulster Chess Union Children's Chess Events has now been released and details can be found in our tournaments section.

Last year proved to be hugely competitive in all sections, with large numbers attending the Saturday events. All junior players are welcome to these events regardless of their experience or playing strength.

Summer Chess School

The Ulster Chess Union will be running its annual summer chess school from the 3rd - 5th August in Ballynafeigh Bowing Club. This is a great opportunity for young players to improve and develop their game, guided by the excellent children's chess coach Mark Newman. Each fun filled day is comprised of tutorials, games, puzzles and mini competitions. Further details can be found on the UCU website.

Delancey UK Schools Chess Challenge

Over the weekend 3 of Ulster Chess's finest kids were competing in the Delancey UK Schools Giga Finals. Each of these children had qualified by winning their section in the local Mega Finals.

Avrora Zelenchuk won the U7 Girls section with an outstanding score of 5/6. This qualifies her to compete in the Tera Finals, to be held later this year. Dexter Harris scored an excellent 4/6 in the U8 boys section winning a rosette for his efforts.

Daniil Zelenchuk was competing in the U13 boys section and scored a fantastic 3.5/6. This was enough to win him a rosette in a very difficult section.

Congratulations to all 3 of these players who performed amazingly well in such a competitive tournament. 

Chess at Stormont

Today was the annual end of year Children's Chess event held at the Parliament Buildings in Stormont Estate. The day consisted of a tour round Stormont, an elite chess competition, and the end of year prize giving ceremony.

Big thank you to Mark Newman for running the day and for organising all the Children's Chess events throughout the year. Also to Chris Lyttle for hosting the event at Stormont.

Mega-final: The Delancey UK Schools' Chess Challenge 2016

Today the Mega-finals were held at Methodist College Belfast, with the winners qualifying for the Giga-finals in Manchester in July. Each section was fiercely contested with some scintillating chess played throughout the day. A full report of the competition will appear soon on the Ulster Chess Union Website, however, the all the winners are pictured below. Congratulations to everyone who qualified for the next round!

Mega Final Winners 2016

Strandtown Chess Academy

The final of the knockout cup was played this week with Anna Clatworthy facing off against Patrick McEvoy.

 In a closely fought game Anna eventually triumphed making her the winner of this inaugural event.

One of the features we have each week at Strandtown is the player of the week award and this was recently won by Bradley Gillespie.

Strandtown Knockout Cup

Today was another excellent and fun day at the Strandtown Chess Academy, with lots of exciting games and enthusiastic children.

The main mover on the chess ladder today was Emma White, who reached her highest ever position of 3rd place - congratulations Emma!!

The draw for the semi-finals of the Strandtown Knockout Cup was made today and has produced some very interesting match ups -

Anna Clatworthy     vs       Milo Carter

Patrick McEvoy       vs       Eloise McClelland

2016 Irish Junior Chess Championships

Just a reminder to all our local junior players that the 2016 Irish Junior Chess Championships are being held over the weekend of the 1st - 3rd April in the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel, County Dublin.

Image taken from Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel Website - www.fitzpatrickcastle.com

It would be great to see lots of junior players travelling down from Ulster! Further details can be found on the Irish Chess Union website and the Irish Junior Chess Championships website.

The Irish Chess union have also announced a fantastic deal which sees first time tournament players receiving free chess equipment for their schools. Further details can be found on the Irish Junior Chess Championships website.

Hope to see many of you there!

UCU Children's Chess March 2016

Yesterday saw another fantastic day out at Methodist College Belfast for the March children's chess event. These events are run by the Ulster Chess Union and expertly controlled by Mark Newman.

The secondary event was won by John Dawson with a fantastic score of 5.5/7 in a very competitive section. Special mention must be made of two of our youngest competitors, Peter Todd (Form 2) and Daniil Zelenchuk (Form 1) who both scored 5/7. Potentially two very strong players for years to come in Ulster Chess.

Secondary Schools Final Standings

Place	Name	Year	Rtg	Score	M-Buch	Buch	Prog
1	John Dawson	U6	1122	5.5	20	27	21
2	Peter Todd	F2	1184	5	21	29.5	21.5
3	Daniil Zelenchuk	F1	1007	5	20	27.5	19
4	Andrew Todd	U6	1174	4.5	21	29.5	18
5	Jake Patterson	L6	1179	4.5	20	27.5	17.5
6	Hannah Patterson	F4	1084	4	20	25.5	16
7	Samuel Trimble	U6	1010	4	15	19.5	11
8	Samuel Todd	F4	982	3.5	17	22	12.5
9	Matthew Gray	L6	968	3	20.5	27.5	15
10	Nathan Gray	F2	873	3	17	22	12
11	Ciaran Rowan	F3	1012	3	15	20	12
12	Scott Murray	L6	963	2	18	23.5	11
13	James Kane	F2	919	2	15	20.5	6
14	Che Clarke	F2	940	0	15.5	21.5	0

John Dawson (bottom left) Winner of Secondary Section

All year the Primary School section has been closely contested between three players - David Gonzalez, Pablo Gonzalez and Calum Patterson. Yesterday proved to be no exception and after some scintillating and high quality chess from players so young, Calvin Patterson emerged as the eventual winner on an outstanding score of 5/5. This was particularly impressive as Calvin is only in P4!

Primary Schools Final Standings

Place	Name	Year	Rtg	Score	M-Buch	Buch	Prog
1	Calvin Patterson	P4	800	5	8	14	15
2	David Gonzalez	P6	804	4	8	14.5	13
3	Pablo Gonzalez	P6	833	3	10	15.5	11
4	Phoebe Patterson	P7	765	3	7	13.5	8
5	Dexter Harris	P3	742	3	7	13	9
6	Jasper Grady	P5	488	2	8	15	6
7	Avrora Zelenchuk	P3	458	2	7	12.5	7
8	Adam Fitzsimmons	P3	484	2	7	10.5	5.5
9	Daniel H	P6	600	2	6	11.5	6
10	Katy Thornton	P6	404	2	5.5	8	4
11	Benji Black	P4	540	1.5	7	11.5	3.5
12	Calum Delaney	P3	565	0.5	6	10.5	2

Calvin Patterson (green top) winner of Primary Section

David and Pablo Gonzalez

A full report of the event will appear soon on the Ulster Chess Union Website. Many thanks to Mark Newman for running another fun and exciting day of junior chess!

Thanks to Brendan Jamison for the creation of our fantastic new logo for Children's Chess!!

Welcome to our new blog that is aimed at developing and promoting children's chess throughout Northern Ireland!

The next children's chess event is on this Saturday 12th March in Methodist College Belfast. It starts at 12.30pm and should run until approximately 5.00pm. These events are great fun for the kids and include a tournament, puzzle solving competition and informal coaching. All young chess players are welcome! Further details on the event and how to enter can be found at the Ulster Chess Union website.