1st MBIS Kobe Scholastic Chess Tournament: Great Chess and Fun!

On 31 May 2026, some 80 students from 20 different schools, one from as far as Okayama, gathered in Kobe, in the beach town Suma-ku, where the Marist Brothers International School (MBIS) Kobe is located. Although the weather was good enough for beach activities, players and their parents, teachers and other accompanying persons came to play chess! After all, many prizes to win...

Trophies and medals for individual players and schools and the Running Cup: MBIS Cup for best overall school.

At the registration desk the players were welcomed by Caissa staff and MBIS Kobe volunteers. After showing their QR code players received their lanyard with nametag. There were four age group categories: Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary, Middle School and High School.

Registration area with great help from MBIS Kobe student volunteers

A warm welcome by Brother Allen on behalf of the school was followed by technical instructions from the Caissa team. Caissa coach CM Kan Nakahara, the recently crowned Japan Champion 2026, was also at this event present as Caissa arbiter and he spoke some encouraging words to all young players before the start of round 1.

Welcome from Br. Allen MBIS and welcome from Caissa Team, Kan speaking encouraging words.

The event was played over 7 rounds, 15 minutes per person without increment. The level across the board was not bad at all. Everyone, also in Lower Elementary, knew the chess rules perfectly well. And there was only one Scholars Mate ...

Firework on the boards each round!

The outdoors was a good place for the accompanying persons to relax, wait and peptalk the players before and after each rounds. The players themselves appreciated the outdoors for their own reasons.

Waiting in between the rounds

After the chess dust was settled it was time for the prize ceremony. We started with the individual prizes in each age category.

After a long day all are ready for the finale: Prize Giving!

Individual Prizes

The individual prizes consisted of medals and trophies, the amount of which depended on the size of the age category. The Lower Elementary Division had 26 players and the Top 3 players got a trophy, numbers 4 to 6 a medal.

The top 3 was very close: Kikyo had beaten Sota, Sota beat Mathis, Mathis beat Kikyo ... but as both Mathis and Kikyo drew against Doral it was Sota who took 1st Prize. Below the Top 10 cross-table ranking (all results are here: https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1424146.aspx?lan=1&art=4&SNode=S0):

Individual Prize Winners Lower Elementary: Top 6 and Best Girl

The Upper Elementary Division with 36 players was the largest group. The prize distribution remained the same: Top 3 a trophy, numbers 4-6 a medal and there was a trophy for Best Girl too.

In this division a crucial game was played in round 2, Maimaiti vs Hans. Maimaita had driven the night through from Okayama but didn't show any sign of sleepiness. Hans also was in top condition. Except for the draw between themselves they won all other 6 games but on tie-break Maimati finally got 1st Prize.

The last round was a fighting round decisive for the final ranking from 3rd to 10th place. We saw some great chess. All results can be found here: https://s2.chess-results.com/tnr1424145.aspx?lan=1&art=4&turdet=YES&SNode=S0

Individual Prize Winners Upper Elementary

The Middle School Division had attracted 10 players and the High School Division 6 players. Both divisions were grouped together, but with each player playing for their own age category prizes. Unfortunately there were no girls in these categories and the Prize distribution was trophy for Top 1 and medals for 2nd and 3rd Place.

In the combined group Antonio didn't make a mistake and stayed on top of all with 7 wins. Takahiro stayed on tie-break ahead of the other Middle School players with 4 points to fetch 3rd Prize. Holyn with 4.5 points clinched 2nd Prize in the Middle School Division. All results can be found here: https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1424144.aspx?lan=1&art=4&SNode=S0

Individual Prize Winners Middle School

In the High School Division, MBIS Kobe did good business. Eom with 4 points got 3rd Place

medal, Rui with 4.5 got 2nd Place and local hero Riku brought home the 1st Prize trophy.

Individual Prize Winners High School

School Prizes

Kan could rest a little as the School Prizes were handed out by Br. Allen, whom we want to thank wholeheartedly for all his efforts and support to make the event happen at MBIS Kobe. BIG thank you!

The Prizes here again reflected the number of schools participating in each age category and for Lower Elementary and Upper Elementary we had Top 3 Trophies, for Middle School Top 2 Trophies and for High School a Champion Trophy.

The ranking was decided by adding up the points scored by the highest scoring 4 players.

Lower Elementary was a close call until the end with only 0.5 points difference between 2nd and 3rd Place. In the end Kyoto International School came out on top to collect the Champion Trophy. From Kobe it was MBIS to keep 2nd Prize and OWIS would bring 3rd Prize home: a Prize for all the Kansai main cities!

Top 3 Lower Elementary Schools

In the Upper Elementary the fight between the Top 5 was intense. Enishi International School were just one point short to tie on 3rd Place and One World International School unfortunately only had 3 players in this Division and with one more player they might have had big chance to bring a trophy home. Maybe next time!

This time around MBIS Kobe again secured a Prize, the 3rd Place Trophy. Kyoto International School scored one point more to bring home the 2nd Prize but it was Kobe Bilingual School to be crowned Champion of the Upper Elementary Division.

Top 3 Upper Elementary Schools

The Middle School Division had 2 Prizes. The second Place Trophy went to Osaka International School with 5 points. The Champion Trophy would be brought home for Enishi International School by Antonio's score of 7 points.

Prize Winning Middle School schools

The High School Division finally only had a Champion Trophy which was won by the MBIS Kobe team of two with 10 points.

Champion High School Division: MBIS Kobe

MBIS Cup

The final and ultimate Prize to win was the MBIS Cup: a Cup that needs to be defended every year. Adding up the top team results of a school in each age category resulted in MBIS Kobe to be the winner of their own inaugural Cup. Well done!

The Cup was handed out by Lewis who is taking over Br. Allen's chess duties. We wish Lewis good luck! And then: party time!

Congratulations MBIS Kobe!

It was a pleasure to have worked together with MBIS Kobe, support from the staff and student volunteers was tremedous. It was a great day to see children engaged a whole day in a scholastic chess tournament setting. Chess can be a team sport as much as any other activity.

Thank you Japan Chess Federation for your endorsement and support.

Finally, thank you for having joined the event as parent, teacher, friend, uncle, aunt of grandparent - they were all there.

Team MBIS Kobe x Team Caissa Osaka Chess Club. See you next year!