The 5th EU Youth Chess Championships

1-9 August 2007, Mureck, Austria

Prelude

Right, listen up! No messing, this is it. Read carefully, I’ll type this only once:
I’m in CHARGE! Honest! In CHARGE! Mr Chips said so. To prove it he has sent my mobile number to the whole England party so that they know. Ha ha ha ha! TRa-la-la-la laaaaaah. Harry Trotter? Read it and weep, with your little spells and your Bowls-of-mort and your owls and your platform 9.7645 recurring. I AM IN CHARGE! So the rules will be slightly different this time. We’re off to the parents’ tennis and ping pong world championships, with some grosse stein-draining training in the intervals. All the kiddiwinks can … whoa there! No point giving them any clues before the event, they’ll just have to find out like everyone else once we are there.

And “Where is there?” I hear you ask. Wait your turn I say, “Remember I’M the boss”. And if you keep asking, I’m a-not going to tell you aaaaaanything. Let me just say that Erich, the tournament organiser, has written to say that he hopes that the weather will improve before we get there. Uh-oh, Chungo it’s Danger Island next. What does that mean? Constant torrential rain? More floods? Pumpkin fields (there’s a clue) transformed into inland lakes? The river forming the border with Slovenia (another clue) a veritable white water rafter’s wet (literally) dream? No! No! No, surely that’s Gloucestershire (I wonder if Uncle Bill has got water and electricity back yet?). After urgent txt and email messages with Erich it transpires he means that he hopes the temperature cools slightly from the 35C it has been! Sunshine, heat, dry, wow! Aren’t we the lucky ones. But remember, I’m still in charge.

Right, listen up, those of you who have got this far and are still reading. GIVE UP! It ain’t going to get any better. Still there? Well, more stamina than sense, so I’ll let you in on our little secret. Shhhh! Don’t tell anyone. We’re off to Austria, ostensibly (that’s a 48 point word if you manage to get a triple-word score with a double-letter score on the first ‘s’) to accompany our children who have demonstrated sufficient talent and enthusiasm for chess (go figure!) to have been invited to represent England at the 5th EU Youth Chess Championships. This tournament is held in Mureck in the sleepy south-east of the country, near the border with Slovenia. It also appears to be the pumpkin-growing capital of the world!

But now I suppose I must introduce the chess bit. Yes, those of you who have read me before and think I make it all up [that’s the politest feedback you get – ed.] know that there is a nugget of sanity in every bar (Topic!) so here it is...

And now the chess bit:

So chess is our particular nom de plume and this time the tournament is the 5th EU Youth Chess Championships in Mureck, Austria. Over 120 boys and girls (under 10, under 12 and under 14) from over 15 countries in Europe congregate at this delightful venue to play 9 rounds of chess over 9 days, starting Wednesday 1st August and ending with the final round at 08:30 am (local time) on Thursday 9th August. The intrepid party from England, led again by Peter “Mr Chips” Turner and Gill (the “Partridge Tunnellers”) [but with ME in CHARGE] comprises (a record) 14 England players, 3 coaches and assorted hangers on (AHOs). The proud England players, for the record, are:

As for the coaches, I’m not supposed to say who they are but then again I’M IN CHARGE (so there!) and they are:

GM Neil McDonald
IM Adam Hunt
Tom Eckersley-Waites

They have a gruelling 10 days ahead of them: coaching invariably starts on departure at the airport on Tuesday (Standsted? 15 kilos per person? No NCO then…) and then Tom will end up playing Frisbee non-stop in the Gasthof Fabiani car-park (check it out at www.gasthof-fabiani.at), Adam will end up playing tennis non-stop on the indoor and outdoor tennis courts and Neil will… well, we’ll send out a search party if he is not back from the playing halls by 9pm each evening.

Coda:

Mr Chips, if you’re reading this, you wondered what you might have let yourself in for by putting me in CHARGE: well now you know, and I trust that I have demonstrated the maturity and responsibility and self-control that you have obviously seen in me and surely you no longer have any qualms about your decision. Just don’t quaff quicker than me, or I’ll have to relegate you…

And now the alternative coverage:

Well, we were going to run a telephone competition to see which version of reporting you preferred but I’ve already won (heh heh heh), in line with current broadcasting standards the phone lines closed days before we told you they would. Magnanimous as I am in victory, I therefore allow you to see the “alternative” (i.e. losing) entry. Get yourself sitting comfortably, you might drop off, don’t say I didn’t warn you…

The 5th EU Youth Chess Championships, Mureck, Austria.

It is with great pride that 13 chess-playing youngsters from across the length and breadth of England set out to undertake the greatest honour there can be – to represent their country at their chosen specialism. In this case, it will be at the 5th EU Youth Chess Championships hosted in Mureck, a small but delightful and picturesque town in south east Austria. As a parent of one of the youngsters, I know exactly the literal effort, the highs and lows, the blood sweat and tears that they have all invested in their chosen sport and the incredible achievement of being asked to represent their country cannot be over-stated. I feel extremely proud to travel with my particular Player – I regularly bask in the reflected glory, endlessly regaling friends and colleagues with tall tales of stunning mates and classy tactics, but secretly dreading the endurance required for long weekends in Halifax or Swindon, the ridiculously small waiting area for parents at some tournaments I could mention. The high that is the Weald Congress in sunny weather – BBQ, table tennis, golf, tennis and ample parking – is a rarity, but all this is as nothing compared to the hours of toil and mental stress that each player puts themselves through in every game. Let’s face it, I’m just the chauffeur and yes – in reality I love it!

I guess if you are reading this then you have some interest in chess, or know or are related to one of the Players heading to Austria. I have to admit that I know little of chess (I once played a rapid play tournament and ended up with a performance rating of -7) but I cannot but admire the tenacity of the Players that I will end up spending the better part of the next two weeks with. You probably know much of what it is like – and I will try to obtain a Player’s eye-view of it over the coming days – but as a parent you can do little except ensure that they are fed, watered and rested as much as possible. Once the clocks start, after last minute instructions to “concentrate”, “do your best”, “play the board”, it is entirely over to them. Watching them you suddenly realise that though they may only be 9 or 12 of 14 or whatever age in real life, at the board they are ageless: outwardly they are still small – they swing their legs whilst thinking without their feet reaching the floor – but in their heads they are thinking of strategms, or lines, or tactics, many of which were first played centuries ago. It makes your head whirl and your nails shorter. And each game is an endurance challenge, 3 or 4 or more hours of such concentration, yet just one weak move and it is all over. Chess is harsh, there are no points for nearly winning, and there is the constant pressure of the clock, tick-tocking its way down to zero: you lose! Even if ahead on material. I can only say I am glad my job isn’t organised like this!

I may be alone - but I do not think it – in outwardly moaning about the travel, the weekends spent in travel lodge X just off junction Z of various motorways around England, the cost of coaching , tournaments, the constant comparing of child X against child Y, the rumours, the gossip etc. But let’s face it – when your kid comes out of the round with that half smile to him or herself, you know they’ve won and their joy is palpable – it makes up for all the downsides. And when they get a phone call or a letter inviting them to represent England under the auspices of the ECF – how long does it take them to come down off the ceiling?!

So here I am about to head out to Austria for my summer holiday. Not my choice, but I am more than happy to go along, even if only as the chaperone (I can’t even be the chauffeur, I’m no pilot). I hope for wins and success but dread already the blunder, the forgotten opening – not for myself but for the look of desolation on the Player’s face. How can “You did your best” not sound trite or empty when he or she knows exactly what when wrong and why… after all, they probably had the better part of the last hour of the game going over and over it in their minds in an attempt to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

But hey, what am I doing? Already trying to manage down my own expectations! “Have more faith in the lad!” as my own dad would say. We haven’t even got there yet, there’s the excitement of packing, going to the airport, choosing snacks, sweets and games in the airport shops, meeting up with the rest of the gang: some known, others not – making new friends, both me and the Player! Meeting the coaches and catching up on what everyone’s been up to, the excitement of arriving at Gasthof Fabiani in Mureck, finding our room and settling in. Getting to hire two bikes for the 10 days, several games of table tennis and a grosse bier (or three). Swapping stories with the Turners and the Stevens, who have driven to the venue this year (so Tim at least is able to be a chauffeur!). And, it may be a wild stab in the dark, but perhaps a game or two of blitz or exchange chess might be played on the veranda as the sun goes down, anything to put off thinking about the morrow. But some will be wondering what Round 1 will bring. Will there be any England players paired against each other? Will opponents be highly rated or complete unknowns? A good start can set the Player up for the entire tournament… unheard of, but there’s no harm in hoping that all thirteen Players start with a win…