Junior Chess Corner, May 2007

Three Athenry juniors had a successful season at the Galway Junior Chess series of tournaments held during the winter at the Bridge Centre, Galway. Gary Kilkelly and Cian Kelly, Athenry Boys’ School, and Michael NcNelis, Lisheenkyle N.S. won a total of three firsts, a second and a third in various individual competitions.

Athenry Boys’ School scored 5 wins out of 6 in their section of the Primary Schools League and finished in second place, half a point behind the winners. Well done all round.

Thirty year old Hungarian born Judit Polgar is the greatest woman player in the history of the game. At the age of eight she was beating experienced adult players. The above diagram shows a neat finish from one of her games. She played “Bishop, takes Pawn on H7 check! and black cannot avoid checkmate”.

This article was first published in News and Views May 2007