Maryna and a number of other students from the school qualified for the competition, which was held in Nenagh, thanks to their success in an inter-schools chess competition held at Coláiste Íde agus Iosef in Abbeyfeale in April.
The chess whiz received a fantastic welcome back to the school this week, with staff and fellow students lining the entrance and hallways and applauding her achievement.
Principal of Coláiste Gleann Lí, Charlie O’Doherty, spoke to The Kerryman after Maryna’s win was announced and said he was understandably delighted by her success.
“It’s amazing. It’s amazing for the work that she’s put in herself and also for the staff in the school. There are not many times that you can say, as a principal of a school, that you have a student who is an All-Ireland champion. We are just over the moon with her win,” he said.
“We have a chess club in the school and we have some very good staff who do an awful lot of work with it. There are a lot of sports out there and a lot of schools that focus on them, so we have to identify what is right for us and where our strengths lie. Chess is big for us and it’s paid off.
“Maryna is just over the moon. She really puts in the work, going to competitions all over the place, so she’s very involved in the chess world,” he continued.
The Coláiste Gleann Lí students who took part in the recent All-Ireland chess tournament up in Nenagh. Pictured are: Declan Stokoe, Maryna Petrenko, Mikhail Kadsai, Kostya Dievochkain, Irena Petrenko and Arseniis Ooly. Photo by Fergus Dennehy.
As for Maryna herself, The Kerryman chatted to her at the school on Friday morning and, aside from revealing that she has been playing for the last 10 years, since she was seven years old, this is what she had to say about her win:
“I’m delighted because it was a very strong tournament and stressful for me. There were a lot of people there who have already played in major tournaments in Ireland, such as the Irish Championships, so the standard was very high.
“As it was a school tournament as well as a team tournament, it was very important to show that our school is great and that we are trying to develop our skills, not just in chess but in everything else as well,” she said.
On what keeps drawing her to chess and helping her hone her skills, Maryna said there is so much to enjoy about the game.
“I like the geometry of the board. It looks like art to me. I like trying to figure out the tactics in every game and how to defend your king from your opponent’s pieces. You develop a lot of skills the more you play. I just really like it,” she said.
In a school where chess continues to flourish – The efforts of the other students who made it to the finals in Nenagh should not be forgotten – Maryna Petrenko has firmly placed herself among its brightest success stories to date.
For Coláiste Gleann Lí, it was a winning move worth celebrating.