Manchester
CSC held its first inter school
competition at Hurst Knoll
Primary School,
Ashton-under-Lyne on 30th April
2013. As well as the hosts, two
other local schools The Heys and
Our Lady of Mount Carmel were
also invited. Several parents,
brothers and sisters turned up
to support.
The tournament was held on an
play all basis with Hurst Knoll scoring 9
points, Our Lady 6.5 points and Heys 2.5 points
although many of the games had to be adjudicated
so could still have gone either way. As each
team sent more than a full team, players were
subbed in and out with the extra players playing
friendly games between each other.
Our thanks go to Hurst Knoll
for hosting the event and providing the players
with drinks and biscuits - The Heys have already
said they would like to hold the next event.
Chess in Schools and
Communities in Manchester held its 2nd one day
congress on Saturday 20th April. A record number
of 56 children aged from Year 2 to Year 6
attended with 16 different schools being
represented.
The children were each
allocated to a team of 4 based on their past
performance with each team being named after a
previous World Chess Champion. The winners were
Team Lasker named after the German born,
Emmanuel Lasker who held the title from 1894 to
1921.
The winning team members and
the best scorers on each board each won
trophies, medals and gift vouchers. Two children
also won book prizes for correctly solving
several chess puzzles during the day.
Once again we were grateful
to Broadoak and Smallshaw Community Centre in
Ashton-under-Lyne for allowing the building to
be used and to Councillors Lane and Whitehead
who came to watch the proceedings.
Our next event is scheduled
for 22 June at the same venue.
To find more about CSC in the
Manchester area e-mail
david@chessinschools.co.uk
The second 1 day tournament
of 2013 for 6-11 year olds will take place at
Broadoak & Smallshaw Community Centre, Broadoak
Road, Ashton-under-Lyne OL6 8RS. Saturday 20th
April 2013 from 10.00am – 2.30pm.
Download a poster with entry details (PDF).
Chess in Schools and
Communities held its first Manchester area chess
congress of 2013 at Broadoak & Smallshaw
Community Centre, Ashton-under-Lyne on Saturday
16th February.
56 children entered the event
aged from year 2 to year 6 with 16 different
schools being represented. Trophies, medals and
book prizes were awarded to the leading players
and runners up in each age group category.
Competition for the top
places was very close meaning that for the last
round the top 12 players had to be placed on
timers where they each had 15 minutes to
complete the game.
Our next event will be held
on Saturday 20th April at the same venue.
- David Hardy
The 5th children's chess
congress of 2012 organised by Chess in Schools
was held on Saturday 15th December at Broadoak
and Smallshaw Community Centre in
Ashton-under-Lyne.
A record 64 children from 27
schools took part each playing 6 games over the
course of the morning and afternoon.
As well as trophies and
medals book prizes were won by the age group
winners and runners up on the day. Over the year
children have been competing for our Grand Prix
prizes of chess books, sets and boards which
were also awarded.
Our next event will be held
in February - for more information e-mail
david@ashtonccc.co.uk.
Dec 2012
Andy
Clowes,
Deputy Head Hey with Zion Primary School
"I want to put in print
how delighted I am with the
impact of chess in our
school, beyond the chess
board, and how it has had a
beneficial effect on the
children's performance in
other lessons- particularly,
I think, Maths.
I had
noticed that our chess players had been making
particularly good progress in Maths, in many
cases in advance of the rate we would normally
expect of them. I find they're eliminating the
kind of careless errors which exist in many
pupils' work at this age, and are approaching
their work with an increasing maturity and
ability to make and take decisions about their
work, e.g. how they will solve problem
questions.
We have
also been in "SAT season" and while many
teachers from other schools have commented to me
about how there was too much to get through in
this year's reading comprehension, this wasn't
really an issue for our chess players, as they
have learned to pace themselves in the kind of
exam situation which I suppose every chess game
presents.
We have had our best ever SAT results
this year, with an astonishing 71% scoring a top
grade in Maths, and while I know it was a good
set of children which we had, I am convinced
that your chess input has contributed to these
results. So thanks!"
This event took place in
Ashton-under-Lyne on Saturday 13th October.
The event
attracted 44 children from 23
schools from Year 2 to Year 6.
Some of our new entrants only
started playing at the beginning
of September but acquitted
themselves admirably. The last
game of the last round saw 2
players with 5/5 and as the
position was still level as the
round came to an end they had to
be put on to clocks with 5
minutes each left to complete
the game.
By the time the game was
finished over 60 children and parents were
watching the drama unfold and after White
resigned the whole audience broke into well
deserved applause.
Prize winners
Joe Hurst - Holy Trinity
Anton Sodha - Stalyhill
Jamie Rowson - Greenside
Tim Fetea - Broadoak
Deacon Everett - Stalyhill
CSC Schools taking part were
- Holy Trinity, South Failsworth, Broadoak,
Holden Clough, St Marys, Our Lady, Stalyhill,
Greenside, Hey with Zion, Denton West End, St
Johns & Hurst Knoll.
Our final event of the year
takes place on 15th December where as well as
the normal book prizes our Grand Prix mega
prizes will be awarded.
Whilst at CSC we teach chess
to help children achieve both socially and
educationally it is always a bonus to find
children who could go on to be strong players.
In Manchester all our schools
took part in the UK Land Chess Challenge with
many of the children doing very well in the
local Mega Finals.
However the unexpected bonus
was that 6 of our children made it through to
the Northern Mega final and that even better
half of them scored 50% or better.
Here is our roll of
honour!
James Wilde - Stalyhill -
Year 6 (2/6)
Elise Donohue - Stalyhill -
Year 6 (3/6)
Xingye Chen - Hurst Knoll -
Year 2 (4/6)
Steven Turner - Greenfield -
Year 3 (0/6)
Tomas Miranda - Denton West
End - Year 5 (1/6)
Aidan Lloyd-Walsh - Denton
West End - Year 5 (3/6)
- David Hardy
The 3rd CSC
Manchester Congress of the year
took place
over the weekend of May 26-27
2012
at Broadoak & Smallshaw
Community Centre,
Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancs.
Despite many of us enjoying
temperatures of over 26 deg C - 41 children
braved the weather to take part!
Once again the 8 prize
winners came from different schools in the area
- there were 15 schools represented with ages
ranging from year 2 to year 6. As well as
receiving trophies and medals the winners and
runners up also won chess books which will help
them to improve their game.
CSC's next event in the 2012
Grand Prix will be in September with the final
event in December.
- David Hardy
Over the
Easter weekend CSC's second
Manchester quickplay
tournament of 2012 was held
at our new venue of Broadoak
& Smallshaw Community
Centre, Ashton-under-Lyne,
Lancs.
45
children attended with the 8
age group winners and
runners up being represented
by 8 different schools.
Our 3rd
event will take place on May
26th at the same venue with
the final 2 events of the
Grand Prix taking place in
October and just prior to
Xmas.
The idea
is that children will choose
their best 3 scores from the
events they attend to win
mega prizes that will be
awarded at the December
event.
The 2nd CSC Manchester
Junior Congress took place
on Saturday 17 December 2011
at Ashton Bridge Club
(pictured above right) with a
record 53 entries. 12 local
schools were represented
with the year group prizes
being well spread between 8
of the schools.
The children
some of whom only learnt the moves in September
played 6 games each and in between the rounds a
quick tips Tutoring session was held. Many of
the children asked when the next event was to be
held - we expect that this will be at Easter
After the success of our Summer
chess camps in August - CSC held
a half term chess camp in
Ashton-under-Lyne on Thursday 27
October 2011.
37 children attended the camp
all of whom had only started
learning how to play chess in
September at their respective
schools.
By the end of the day they had
learned how the rest of the
pieces move, the rules on check
and checkmate and were able to
play a full game - with some
supervision!
A great day was had by all -
look out for details of our 1
day Congress that will take
place in Ashton-under-Lyne on
Saturday 17th December.
- David
Hardy
Tuesday 8th March 20111
Click to see a larger
version of this item on our
News page
At the annual Tameside
Primary School Championships
held on 25 June one of our
schools Stalyhill Junior won
the title by a clear 2
points. 10 players took part
in the team of 6 event all
playing at least 4 games in
the 7 round event.
Special mention should go to
Thomas Curtis who scored 6/7
on Board 1, Elise Donohue
who scored 6.5/7 on board 4
and James Wilde who scored
7/7 on Board 6.
Manchester Junior Congress
