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!

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. 

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.