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.