The final round of the Post-Primary Cork Chess Championship was organised by and hosted at Davis College in Mallow. Davis College proved to be a fantastic host; both the venue and the organisation were superb, managing the event smoothly while accommodating more than 300 post-primary students. The tournament was probably the largest chess event ever held in Ireland.
Davis College also provided flexible solutions to support wheelchair users so they could compete comfortably despite the crowded venue. Most of the results collection and organisational work was carried out by Davis College students. However, special recognition must be given to their supervising teacher and tournament organiser, Conor Crean, for his tremendous effort and excellent work in making the event such a success.
The final event of this season’s Post-Primary Championship was the Combined Event. This event features both team and individual competition, where players compete against each other—even against students from their own school or teammates—across four sections named after chess pieces: Rook, Bishop, Knight, and Pawn.
The best results—meaning the highest score achieved by players from a single school in those four sections—determine the result of that school’s first team, while the second-best results contribute to the second team’s score. However, the sections are not weighted equally. Scores achieved in the Rook section are multiplied by 2.0 when calculating the team result, while the Bishop, Knight, and Pawn scores are multiplied by 1.4, 1.0, and 0.8, respectively.
This structure is designed to attract players of similar strength into each section, ensuring that everyone faces an appropriate level of challenge. For example, the strongest players competed in the Rook section, where the top ten players all had ratings above 1700 Elo. To put this in perspective, across the whole of Ireland there are only about 50 junior players in this age group rated above that level. The other sections were equally competitive, providing balanced opportunities for players of different strengths to compete and contribute to their school’s results.
Individual winners
The individual winners in the different sections are:
- Rook Section:
- Yaroslav Poklonskyi (McEgan College) – Winner (6/6)
- Matthew O’Neill (PBC Cork) – 1st runner-up (5/6)
- Namo Siller-Aziz (Colaiste An Spioraid Naoimh) – 2nd runner-up (5/6)
- Hazim Ibrahim (Colaiste an Spioraid Naoimh) – (5/6)
- Bart Ciernak (Colaiste an Spioraid Naoimh) – (5/6)
- Bishop Section:
- Joe Thomas (PBC Cork) – Winner (5.5/6)
- Colm Og Sheehan (SMGS Blarney) – 1st runner-up (5/6)
- Hassan Sued Muhammad (Colaiste an Spioraid Naoimh) – 2nd runner-up (5/6)
- Darragh Delage (Colaiste an Spioraid Naoimh) – (5/6)
- Cristóir Mac Cárthaigh (Gaelcholáiste Mhuire Ag) – (5/6)
- Knight Section
- Timmy Healy (Scoil Mhuire, Kanturk) – Winner (6/6)
- Ruben Power (Patrician Academy) – 1st runner-up (5.5/6)
- Charlie de Barra (Gaelcholáiste Mhuire Ag) – 2nd runner-up (5.5/6)
- Pawn Section
- Conor Cotter (Colaiste An Spioraid Naoimh) – Winner (6/6)
- Er Fan Lin (Gaelcholáiste Mhuire Ag) – 1st runner-up (5/6)
- George Joseph (Davis College) – 2nd runner-up (5/6)
- Sophia O’Riordan (Coláiste Treasa) – (5/6)
- Nikodem Jagielski (Davis College) – (5/6)
- Amel Jojan (Patrician Academy) – (5/6)
- Ethan Requejo (Davis College) – (5/6)
Team section
The team results were extremely close, with only small mistakes or half-points deciding the fate of which teams would stand on the podium this time. Congratulations to every school that participated in the competition—each has done excellent work at every level.
| 1st teams | Rook | Bishop | Knight | Pawn | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colaiste an Spioraid Naoimh | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 26.8 |
| Presentation Brothers Cork | 5 | 5.5 | 5 | 4 | 25.9 |
| Davis College | 4.5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 23.6 |
| Patrician Academy | 4 | 4 | 5.5 | 5 | 23.1 |
| McEgan College | 6 | 4.5 | 3 | 2 | 22.9 |
| Coláiste Treasa | 4 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 5 | 22.8 |
| Scoil Mhuire, Kanturk | 4.5 | 3 | 6 | 4.5 | 22.8 |
| Gaelcholáiste Mhuire Ag | 3 | 5 | 5.5 | 5 | 22.5 |
| Gaelcholáiste Luimnigh | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4.5 | 22.2 |
The results of the second teams also demonstrate the depth of each school’s chess development across different levels. For this reason, we also present the performances of the second teams, although they were not awarded prizes.
| 2nd teams | Rook | Bishop | Knight | Pawn | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste Treasa | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4.5 | 21.2 |
| Colaiste an Spioraid Naoimh | 5 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 21 |
| Presentation Brothers Cork | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 20.8 |
| Gaelcholáiste Luimnigh | 3.5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 19.8 |
| Gaelcholáiste Mhuire Ag | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4.5 | 19.2 |
| Davis College | 2 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 18.6 |
| Patrician Academy | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 17.8 |
| SMGS Blarney | 3 | 4.5 | 3 | 2 | 16.9 |
| Carrigtwohill Cc | 3 | 3 | 3.5 | 4 | 16.9 |
| Buttevant | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 16.6 |
