Scoil Aoife host Chess tournament

SCOIL Aoife Chess hosted their second Invitational tournament on Friday which proved a big success.

This year the tournament included 104 children from a number of Dublin schools including Citywest & Saggart CNS, St Damian’s NS in Perrystown, St Kevin’s BNS in Kilnamanagh and Gaelscoil Inse Chór.

The younger children, third and fourth class, played in the Buds section and the older children, 5th and 6th class played in the Masters section.

Over the course of the day, the children played a total of 324 games of chess, each lasting 20 minutes.

The tournament was a testament to the children’s dedication, focus and enthusiasm for chess.

Chess has exploded in popularity amongst children in recent years and after-school chess clubs run by teachers are popping up each year all over Dublin.

Voluntary organisations like Ficheall (Irish primary teachers promoting chess) are busy promoting the game and organising regional tournaments across the country.

Their teacher training course, Chess for Social and Cognitive Skills Summer Course will be running in 31 venues throughout Ireland this July and August.

Scoil Aoife will be hosting this course for the Dublin West region.

From social benefits, such as developing mental resilience and confidence, to cognitive benefits, such as improving memory and concentration, Irish teachers are to the forefront of promoting chess as a positive tool in children’s learning and development.