Strategy and sociability on the Ficheall boards

A Schools Chess Festival hosted in Scoil Bhride in Kilcullen last week brought together 160 primary school children from eight local schools, writes Brian Byrne, for a day of moving and counter-moving on the boards that not just helped them develop problem-solving skills, but was also clearly a lot of fun.

Organised under the auspices of Ficheall, a network of primary school teachers who promote the playing of chess in schools, the event was one of a series held in Kildare — others take place during the school year in Crookstown, Maynooth and Naas.

"Teams from the schools compete with each other over six rounds in the day," says Denis Reilly of Scoil Bhride, who began teaching chess in the school when he arrived there seven years ago. He runs an after-school Chess Club which involves pupils from First right through to Sixth classes. The club has been very successful over several years, and Scoil Bhride bought extra chess sets this year to cope with the interest throughout the school.

Lessons in the game are provided online at Ficheall.ie — Ficheall is the Irish name for Chess. They start with basic introductions to the game and the children can build from there. "It has step by step guides, and is really easy to follow by anyone," says Denis Reilly. "During Covid we launched a really big online campaign, getting the children to play against each other across the internet. They also got to play with other children all over the country."

But you can't beat the atmosphere of a real faces to faces competitive situation, and watching the moves being made on 80 chessboards in the Scoil Bhride hall last week was a fascinating occasion. Teams with their chaperones had come by bus from Scoil Naomh Iósaf in Baltinglass, Two Mile House NS, St Patrick's NS Newbridge, Scoil Eimhín Naofa Monasterevin, Blessington Educate Together, St Brigid's Primary School Kildare, and Gaelscoil Mhic Aodha Kildare.

Though competitive, the events are primarily for fun. Each school gets a certificate to mark their participation in the series, framed if it is their first time. The certificates at the Scoil Bhride event were presented to the team chaperones by Siobhan Kavanagh of the Kildare Education Support Centre, which among other activities provides summer events for teachers to learn activities such as chess so they can get involved in teaching them at school. She told the children that they should always try to find activities that they like, whatever they are. "Keep trying until you find your passion," she said.

With the certificates presented at the event, Denis Reilly, Scoil Bhride Kilcullen; Miriam Lewis, Kildare Education Support Centre; Siobhan Kavanagh, Director of Kildare Education Support Centre; Seaus McEnhill, Scoil Bhride Kilcullen; Meabh Doorley, Scoil Eimhín Naofa Monasterevin; Stephanie Nic An Bhaird, Gaelscoil Mhic Aodha Kildare; Adrian O'Connor, Two Mile House NS; Joe O'Connor, St Patrick's NS Newbridge; Cliodhna Denny, St Brigid's NS Kildare; and Jonathan and James from Blessington Educate Together.

Scoil Bhride principal Ann Flanagan says that playing chess is particularly good for developing mental skills that are very useful in school subjects. These include decoding, analysis, thinking and comprehension, all necessary for reading, as well as thinking skills needed for maths. "It's also very social," she added, "as the children are interacting with each other all the time." Denis Reilly noted that chess offers both competitive and social outlets for children who may not necessarily be interested in other group pursuits such as sports. 

So parents whose children come home excited about the King's Indian Attack, the Queen's Gambit, Scholar's Mate or the Sicilian Defence can rest easy in the knowledge that the youngsters have been having just as much fun with each other as they'd have had kicking a ball around a field. And learning just as much as their sports-loving classmates about strategy and tactics and getting along with each other.

(This article was first published in The Kildare Nationalist.)

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Chess workshops for children next week

A set of three chess workshops for children beginners will be held in Newbridge Library next week.

The Pawn to King sessions are in the mornings of the 16th, 18th and 19th, beginning at 10am.

Under the direction of Ruari McManus they are aimed at 8-12 year-olds and the course is limited to 20 young people.

Booking is via Ticket Tailor here. 

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Chess training for CG this week

Chess training for Kilcullen Community Games will start on Thursday next, subject to there being sufficient interest.

Players must be under 13 years on 31/17/18.

If interested, send a PM from the Kilcullen Community Games Facebook page.

Meanwhile, the planning date for the Kilcullen Art & Handwriting competitions is Friday 23 February. Watch the Facebook page for updates and timings.

Chess in Kilcullen and the Curragh

There has been a welcome renaissance in Chess in Kilcullen recently thanks to the efforts of Liam and Peter in the Kilcullen Junior Chess Club, writes Brendan Duffy of the Curragh Junior Chess Club.

A generation back might remember that in the late 80s and early 90s there was a strong Community Games chess team coached by Charlie Talbot. The team included Barry Jordan (RIP), Leo Talbot, Colin Coyne, John Lambe, Patrick Dowling, Ronan Dunphy and myself. Most of the players then joined the Curragh Chess Club which had four teams playing in the Leinster Leagues at the time.

At present two of the junior group (Leo and myself) still play for the Curragh. Previous Kilcullen members in the club included Tom Bermingham and Hugh Peacocke amongst others.

I was also involved with the Curragh Junior Club for about five years when it ran in the Curragh Library and the Newbridge Gael Scoil (2011-2016).

The club has just moved premises to Suncroft Community Centre (just over 10 minutes from Kilcullen) and will be starting the Junior Club again on Thursday evenings from 6:30–7:30 with registration/introduction on 1 February.

The expected age group would be 10-16 years with good playing knowledge who may also be interested in competition. At present the Curragh have Teams in Divisions 1, 3 and 6 of the Leinster Leagues.

All coaches have been Garda vetted for the club and some games can be broadcast (with aliases and parent’s permission) on chessspectator.com which is run by James Forde, the club’s Junior Officer. The club’s Facebook page is CurraghChessClub if anyone has any questions.

(Pic courtesy of George Becker.)

Junior Chess Club for Kilcullen

Chess is on the rise in Kildare primary schools, writes Liam Murray. In January 2016, Scoil Bhríde in Kilcullen was one of ten primary schools in Kildare county to participate in a new primary schools chess league.

Other participating schools included Two Mile House, Scoil Niocláis (Dunlavin), Crookstown, Moone, Straffan, Scoil Mhicil (Athy), St Corban's (Naas), Scoil Eimhin (Monasterevin) and St Patrick's of Newbridge. Such was the interest and enthusiasm from students in representing their school in chess that league organisers are confident the number of chess league schools will double in the coming school year.

A junior chess club in Kilcullen is getting under way this month, starting Monday 19 September at 5.30pm at Kilcullen Community Centre. Places are limited to 14. I hope the junior chess club will offer students another outlet to play chess and make new friends through chess. I would love to see students from Kilcullen, Two Mile House, Athgarvan, Dunlavin, Halverstown, Suncroft and other local schools come to play chess together.

The many benefits of regular chess practice include increased logic and problem solving skills as well as boosting creativity. Chess promotes critical thinking as well as challenging students to plan ahead and take responsibility for their actions. But kids don't care about all that; they enjoy it because its fun and they try to out-smart their opponents.

Chess tournaments are traditionally organised between October and April when evenings are dark and the weather deteriorates. I plan to prepare students to play tournament chess for anyone who is interested in competing but the emphasis will simply be on enjoying the game and improving their strategy skills.

Kilcullen Junior Chess Club will begin lessons on Monday 19th September in Kilcullen Community Centre. A chess club group is limited to between 10 and 14 players. Early booking is advised as places are expected to fill up quickly. For more information contact Liam on 085 1651137.