The Annual Belfast Scholastic Awards and Elite Tournament took place at Stormont on 9th June 2023

At the kind invitation of MLA Naomi Long the top student chess players gathered at Stormont to recieve awards for the year and play in an elite tournament. After a year of monthly tournaments organised by the UCU and held at Methodist College. The year ends with this brilliant celebration of our young chess players.

The sunny morning and I drove up to Stormont - through the entrance up to the statue and across to the main building. A journey with stunning views.

The events organises assisted with me to get the equipment to the Long Room where we setup the room with the boards.

With the room setup the guests began arriving. It was brilliant to see Dr Graham Murphy (one of the founders of these events). He and Ranjit Singh agreed to look after one of the sections of the Tournament together with Richard Proctor. Greeting parents and students and it was brilliant to see a few Principles and teachers here to celebrate their pupils. MLA Kate Nicholl introduced herself and expained that MLA Naomi Long was unable to attend as was out of the Country and that Kate would take her place to welcome our guests.

Kate Nicholl gave the welcome speach thanking the Parents, teachers and students for attending and celebrating the Chess skills of the students and wishing them luck in the tournament. Then Kate mixed with the youngsters. Parents took an opportunity to take some photos.

The timetable for the day:

Time Description

10:00 Arrival

10:15 Welcome speech Kate Nicholl MLA.

10:30 Tour of Stormont

11:00 Chess Tournament, coffee and tea served.

12:40 Award Ceremony

13:15 Farewells

We were collected for our tour and everyone followed our guide to the main entrance hall. We were gven a briliant explaination of the buildings history and architecture. We also took part in a vote on whether Chess should be included on the school Curriculum - I shouted loudly Yes!

Following the tour we returned to the Long Room for 3 rounds of chess an all play all for the 3 sections. Whilst the Parents and teachers enjoyed chat and tea and coffee. A questionaire was handed around to get ideas for future events and improving our current ones.

Unfortunately we dont record the chess games but some excellent chess was played in this beautiful and historic building.

The results follow with some photos.

Stormont Elite Chess Tournament – Primary 2023

Primary Section Round 1.

White			Black
Ethan Cole	1	0	Eli Brown
Zachary Selkh-Burgess	1	0	Lorcan Rippon

Lower Secondary (<= Form3) Section Round 1.

White			Black
Saoirse Rippon	0	1	Louison Fuchs
Thomas Loughrey	½	½	Peter Murphy

Upper Secondary (>= Form4) Section Round 1.

White			Black
James Huang	1	0	Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam
Anjali Singh	0	1	Caleb McClean

Primary Section: Round 2

White			Black
Ethan Cole	1	0	Zachary Selkh-Burgess
Lorcan Rippon	1	0	Eli Brown

Lower Secondary (<= Form3) Section Round 2.

White			Black
Saoirse Rippon	0	1	Thomas Loughrey
Peter Murphy	0	1	Louison Fuchs

Upper Secondary (>= Form4) Section Round 2.

White			Black
James Huang	1	0	Anjali Singh
Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam	0	1	Caleb McClean

Primary Section: Round 3

White			Black
Lorcan Rippon	0	1	Ethan Cole
Eli Brown	1	0	Zachary Selkh-Burgess

Lower Secondary (<= Form3) Section Round 3.

White			Black
Peter Murphy	1	0	Saoirse Rippon
Louison Fuchs	1	0	Thomas Loughrey

Upper Secondary (>= Form4) Section Round 3.

White			Black
Caleb McClean	1	0	James Huang
Anjali Singh	0	1	Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam

Primary Stormont Championship - Standings

1st	Ethan Cole	P6	Park Lodge PS	3
2^nd	Lorcan Rippon	P6	St. Bride’s Primary	1
2^nd	Eli Brown	P6	Greenisland Primary school	1
2^nd	Zachary Selkh-Burgess	P7	Newcastle primary School	1

Lower Secondary (<= Form3) Section - Standings

1^st	Louison Fuchs	F2	Saint Columba’s College	3
2^nd	Peter Murphy	F2	Ballyclare High school	1 ½
2^nd	Thomas Loughrey	F2	Methodist College	1 ½
4^th	Saoirse Rippon	F2	Victoria College	0

Upper Secondary (>= Form4) Section - Standings

1^st	Caleb McClean	F4	Bangor Academy	3
2^nd	James Huang	F4	Methodist College	2
3^rd	Karthikeya Karpagavinayagam	F2	Methodist College	1
4^th	Anjali Singh	F4	Strathearn School	0

The tournament over it was time for the award ceremony. I had certifcates printed for the tournament with students names on them and placed stickers on them for the position of the player in the tournament.

We were fortunate enough to have Dr Graham Murphy available to give out the prizes. Starting with the tournament certificates - giving our positions 1 - 4 for each of the sections.

Then we had the awards that had been won during the year. With trophies for all players and perpetual shields for the Champions.

The teachers and principals formed a line of honour so pupils recieved their awards and then walked down the line being congratulated by represenatives from their schools.

The awards for the Grandprix over the year.

The Belfast Scholastic Henderson and Dawson Shield.Exceptional Young Chess Player

Name	Year	School
Matthew Loughrey	P4	St. Bride’s Primary
Alex McKeown	P3	Home Schooled
Ethan Cole	P6	Park Lodge PS

prize-best-young-player

The Belfast Scholastic James Fairley Shield. Primary Chess Champion

	Name	Year	School	Score
1^st	Ethan Cole	P6	Park Lodge PS	30
2^nd	Lorcan Rippon	P6	St. Bride’s Primary	26
3^rd	Eli Brown	P6	Greenisland Primary school	13.5
4^th	Zachary Selkh-Burgess	P7	Newcastle primary School	12.17

The Belfast Scholastic Shield. Lower Secondary Chess Champion

	Name	Year	School	Score
1^st	Saoirse Rippon	F2	Victoria College	24.25
2^nd	Peter Murphy	F2	Ballyclare High school	18.3
3^rd	Louison Fuchs	F2	Saint Columba’s College	18.25
4^th	Thomas Loughrey	F2	Methodist College	17.75

The Belfast Scholastic Shield. Senior Secondary Chess Champion

	Name	Year	School	Score
1^st	Ashwanth Subramanian	U6	Methodist College	29
2^nd	James Huang	F4	Methodist College	27
3^rd	Caleb McClean	F4	Bangor Academy	24
4^th	Andrew Campbell	F5	Ballyclare High School	12.5

The Belfast Scholastic Edward Whiteside Shield. Primary Puzzle Solving Chess Champion

	Name	Year	School	Score
1^st	Lorcan Rippon	P6	St. Bride’s Primary	30
2^nd	Ethan Cole	P6	Park Lodge PS	27
3^rd	Matthew Loughrey	P4	St. Bride’s Primary	17.5
4^th	Zachary Selkh-Burgess	P7	Newcastle primary School	16

The Belfast Scholastic Fergus O’Neill Shield. Secondary Puzzle Solving Chess Champion

	Name	Year	School	Score
1^st	James Huang	F4	Methodist College	29
2^nd	Anjali Singh	F4	Strathearn School	17.5
3^rd	Karpagavinayagam, Karthikeya	F2	Methodist College	17
4^th	Aaditya Singh	F2	RBAI	16

The end of a brilliant event. With a group photo. Many thanks to our hosts MLA Naomi Long and MLA Kate Nicholl, thanks to Stormont Event organisers to the Schools Representatives and Parents and most importantly to the brilliant young chess players.. Also thanks to the volunteers who throughout the year make our events possible - Karina Campbell, James Fairley, Geoff Hindley and Andrew Todd. See you all next year.

winners