English Chess Federation

4th European Union Youth Chess Championship U14, U12 & U10

Mureck, Austria, 8-17 August

Day Seven

8:57 a.m. Some of the Team Mates are in the coaching room. They have been up for an average, but you know as well as we do that they are anything but. “What’s the status of Ryanair?” asks one of the RAs at breakfast. “Oh, I played him in round free I fink,” replies a Team Mate, “He does the Sveshnikov Knox Gambit.” “Oh,” wonders the RA, “I must get a coffee.”

A Brief Sibilant’s Perspective:

On a bicycle ride during the chess round, we cycled past the river and the water mill, and in the middle of a wood, I nearly ran over a snake that slithered away, it was about the same size as your computer. When we arrived at the chess building it was still hot and quiet and as we wheeled our bikes to lock them up under the stairs, you see the occasional young child, hand in their mother’s, crying. In the building, coaches and parents stroll down the aisles and stop at an interesting game. The player’s eyes dart around the squares, looking for a way to the top, or a way out.

Back to yours truly:

The Sibilant’s RA quietly informs me that, to ensure that she gets to pay for it for once, she has already ordered the wine for dinner. And it is only 9am. That just shows the quality and intensity of the competition we are up against.

So let’s take a gentle stroll through the gallery. Oh, (and deliberately apropos of nothing) well done to Ben S at Swansea!

Round 7 (the chess bit):

Not sure if I can bring myself to do this. Not something we really want to linger over although of course there are a small number of notable exceptions – so let’s hear it for the successful combatants! Victor and Samuel and Polly win in the U12s, and William and Harry draw in the U14s.

Overall then, a resounding bump back to earth after the high of Round 6, with just 4 out of a possible 11 points. The Team Mates’ overall score dips below the magic 50%. Still, two more rounds to go and everyone remains up for it …

The Team Mates’ results for Round 7:

The Team Mates’ results to date:

The game of the round:

The Game of the Round bit. But this time, a special treat for all you chess aficionados, we have a game of the round plus two free excellent games from earlier rounds!! Play them and weep…

Lambert,Polly [ENG] - Howell,John Adam [WLS]
EU Youth Chess Championships (U12) Mureck, Austria 15.08.2006

1.e4 c6 2.c4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.cxd5 Nf6 5.Nc3 [5.Qa4+ Bd7 6.Qb3 Qc7 7.Nc3 is quite an interesting line, and probably the most accurate way for white to play.] 5...e6? unlike analagous lines from the Scandinavian (1...d5), this pawn sacrifice is insufficient. 6.dxe6 Bxe6 7.Nf3 Bb4 8.Qa4+! Nc6 9.Ne5 a nice way to increase white's advantage:.

9...Bxc3 10.dxc3 Qe7 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Be2 0-0 13.0-0 A very practical decision - white nurtures the advantage by ensuring a safe king whilst there are relatively few tricks involving the bishop on e2. [13.Qxc6 Bd5 14.Qa6 Bxg2 15.Rg1 Bf3 16.Be3 Bxe2 17.Qxe2 is certainly no better than the game, and is perhaps a little complicated.] 13...Rfe8 14.Bf3 Bd7 15.Bxc6 and why not...? 15...Rad8 16.Bxd7 Rxd7 17.Bg5 again, a good move to tie down some of black's pieces. 17...Rd6 18.Be3 Qb7 19.Qb3 Qe4 20.Qb4 Qd3 21.Bxa7 a good time to finally take this pawn. 21...Re2 22.Bd4 Rde6 23.Bxf6 R2e4? turning a lost position into a completely lost position. This simply drops a piece to 24.Bd4 h6 25.a4 Rg6 the last chance... 26.f3! [26.a5?? would not have been clever: 26...Rxg2+! 27.Kh1 (27.Kxg2 Rg4+ 28.Kh1 Qf3#) 27...Rxh2+! 28.Kg1 Rh1+ the rook keeps going... 29.Kxh1 Qh3+ 30.Kg1 Rg4#] 26...Rxg2+? eh? 27.Kxg2 Rh4 28.Qb8+ Kh7 29.Qg3 very neat. White continues to win more pieces! 29...Qe2+ 30.Rf2 Qe7 whoops... 31.Qxg7# Well played Polly. Other than perhaps an inaccuracy leading to a level-ish position on move 5, she barely put a foot wrong all game (as the notes suggest)! 1-0

Treat #1:

Streeter,Harry {eng} - O Donnel,Matthew {sco}
EU Youth Championship (U14) Mureck, Austria, 2006

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.f4 Harry prepared for this game by playing through Spassky's wins against Geller in their 1968 world championship candidates match. In fact he ended up playing more like Karpov... 6...e6 7.Nf3 Nge7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Be3 Nd4 10.Bxd4 But Spassky would have never have made this positional mistake :( Harry should have played 10. Bf2!? so if 10. d5 he can play 11. e5 without allowing a potential fork on 10...cxd4 11.Ne2 e5 12.h3 f5 Now Black's centre pawn preponderance gives him a slight advantage. 13.Nd2 Be6 14.Kh2 d5 This however is much too ambitious. Better was 14...Qb6! attacking b2. 15.fxe5 Bxe5 16.Nf3 Qd6 17.Nfxd4 f4 18.gxf4 Bxd4 19.Nxd4 Rxf4 20.Rxf4 Qxf4+ 21.Kh1 Bd7 22.Qf3 White has won a pawn, but it is by no means easy. 22...Qe5 23.Rf1 Here Harry takes control by seizing the open file, as if 23...Qxd4 24.Qf7+ and 25.Qxe7 is carnage.

23...dxe4 24.Qxe4 Qxe4 25.dxe4 Nc6 26.Nxc6 Bxc6 27.e5 A big error. The correct plan was Rd1 followed by centralising Harry’s king on e3, with good winning chances. 27...Bxg2+ 28.Kxg2 Re8 29.Re1 Kf7 30.Kf3 Ke6 31.Ke4 Rc8 32.Re2 Rc4+ 33.Kd3 The black king and rook paralyse the passed pawn. 33...Rh4 34.Re3 Rh5 35.Kd4 Rh4+ 36.Kd3 Rh5 37.Kd4 Rh4+ 38.Kd3 g5 Having the pawn on c3 will prove very useful in the pawn endgame. 39.c3 h5 40.Ke2 g4 41.hxg4 hxg4 42.Re4 Rh2+ 43.Ke3 g3 Black should settle for a draw with 43...Rxb2. 44.Kf3 g2 45.Rg4 Kxe5 46.Rg5+ Kd6 47.Rxg2 Rxg2 Not a wise exchange, as the pawn endgame is hopeless. Instead 47...Ra7 should have drawn despite the missing pawn. 48.Kxg2 The keen student of the game should examine the following endgame very carefully. 48...Kc5 49.Kf2 Kc4 50.Ke2 b5 51.Kd2 a5 52.b3+ Kc5 53.Kd3 Kd5 54.a3 Kc5 55.c4 bxc4+ 56.bxc4 Kc6 57.a4 Kc5 58.Kc3 Kb6 59.Kd4 Kc6 60.c5 Kb7 61.Kd5 Kc7 62.c6 Kb8 63.Kc5 Kc8 64.Kb6 Kb8 65.Kxa5 Ka7 66.Kb5 Kb8 67.Kb6 Ka8 68.Kc7 Ka7 69.Kd8 A long and gruelling game, but a satisfying result! 1-0

Treat #2:

Tomazini,Aljosa [SLO] - Kilpatrick,Callum (2071) [ENG]
EU Youth Championships U14 (Round 6), 14.08.2006

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 I was trying to remember the theory here, I think I played it correctly as I got a rather strong position 3...d5 4.fxe5 Nxe4 5.d3 Nxc3 6.bxc3 c5 7.Nf3 Nc6 8.d4 Qb6 9.Qd3 Evidently my opponent was worried about Bb4 ideas [9.Bd3 cxd4 10.cxd4 Bb4+ Is very good for Black] 9...cxd4 10.cxd4 Nb4 11.Qb3 Bf5 12.Qa4+ Bd7 13.Qb3 Qg6! A clever manouevre 14.Kd2 Miserable defence but there isn't much else! 14...Be7 Played after a long think, in the end I just decided to play simple chess 15.c3 Nc6 16.Qxb7?! Rb8 17.Qa6 [17.Qc7 Bf5-+] 17...0-0 18.Qd3 Bf5 19.Qe3 Na5 20.Rg1 Rfc8

21.Bd3 Qc6 [21...Rxc3 Would have finished the game more quickly 22.Bxf5 Nc4+ 23.Kxc3 Qxf5 And according to Fritz it's mate in 9!] 22.Be2 Qa4! 23.Ke1 Rxc3 24.Qf4 Be4 25.e6 Rf8 26.exf7+ Rxf7 27.Qb8+ Rf8 28.Qxa7 Bb4 29.Bd2 Re3! 30.Bxb4 Qb5!! Clever finish 31.Kf2 Qxe2+ 32.Kg3 Rexf3+ [32...Rfxf3+ I had seen this pretty mate but i decided not to play it since my time was a little low and i didn't want to risk being incorrect... 33.gxf3 Qxf3+ 34.Kh4 Qh3+ 35.Kg5 h6+ 36.Kf4 Rf3+ 37.Ke5 Nc4# Beautiful, every piece joins in the attack] 33.Kh4 R8f4+ 34.Kg5 h6+ White resigned 0-1

Mr Chips brings the pairings for Round 8 back with him from the venue this time, so everyone knows the worst before dinner – two ENG vs ENG pairings and no fewer than 6 FIDE rated opponents - we should do badly more often…

Pairings for Round 8:

And finally, for anywhere still hanging in there…

Message from Prtrchess@hal.con on Thu, 22 June 2006 17:59:53 EDT

To: XXXXXXXXXXX
Subject: Re: Snails – Danny – Life in General

Hello there!

Shelley is much improved and working on a Gagarin rescue plan. He is trying a low tec solution first. He has managed to get 3 snails balanced on top of each other and done the calculations as to how many he will need to reach out into space. It's quite an enormous amount. Perhaps Danny could do the arithmetic. Shelley is contacting all his relatives by 'snail mail' to ask for help in getting 1,345,987 snails together for the great snail escape plan. Did Danny's calculation come up with a similar figure?

Just been out to check how the snail tower is progressing. I have to go out on a regular basis because in the hot weather the slime dries up and loses its 'sticky' properties and the tower collapses, spray with water every hour. Some people think I'm mad but we have to try everything to rescue Gagarin. Latest picture of rescue attempt:

I think it's going quite well but look at the sort of prejudice which exists. This is not funny if you're a snail.

Cheers
Peter

***** End of Message *****

Interesting Fact #7:

Not only do snakes and snails share the same first three letters, but neither has legs.