Chess in Boher NS   ’24-‘25

We had a great year of chess with our Friday after-school chess club for 4^th-6^th class and our weekly online tournaments for 3^rd-6^th class on Thursday evenings, both running from the end of Sept through to March.  

Our first interschool competition of the year - the Lá Fichille online competition took place on Wed 30^th October. We had a good 10 mins of frenzied chaos getting a few of students properly logged in followed by an atmosphere of intense concentration for the following 45 mins! 

This year, two teams of 8, The Boher Bishops and The Rural Rooks proudly represented the school in the Féile Fichille Tournament in Ballinamere NS on Tues 4^th March. We had a very enjoyable day out, meeting students from other schools and learning new strategies. Both teams did very well on the day with The Rural Rooks coming in second place which earned them a place in the Comórtas Fichille Tournament. This competition took place in Ballinamere NS on Tues 8^th April and students worked well together as a team, resulting in a good score for our first more competitive tournament.  

We wish our 6^th class chess players all the best in secondary school and hope that they continue developing their game. We look forward to the current third class players joining Friday Chess Club in Sept. ‘25. Anyone from 4^th-6^th class who would like to learn the game is most welcome.

The following paragraph outlines the benefits of chess for our students.

Chess is a fantastic game for cognitive development, problem-solving, strategic thinking and visualisation. For hundreds of years it has been associated with higher order thinking - constantly asking ourselves why did they make that move. However, chess has enormous benefits beyond the board game itself, particularly for well-being, which is why we are so passionate about promoting it in the school setting.

We believe chess:

• builds resilience (learning to lose);
• develops impulse control (the opposite of most gaming devices) by requiring careful examination of one’s opponents move before considering one’s own;
• suits children with SEN (language / mobility / social barriers are practically eliminated);
• contains a host of cross-curricular benefits, particularly with numeracy;
• is social and free (outside of the initial cost of a board);
• bridges age-barriers very effectively, allowing children/parents/grandparents etc. to compete at a genuine level after a quite short learning period (also giving another platform to connect);
• is fun – lots of student interaction and sharing of ideas, chess gives students the opportunity to represent their school;
• is infused with showing and receiving respect - shaking hands throughout the wins and losses, verbally acknowledging each other’s strengths.