The 5th EU Youth Chess Championships

1-9 August 2007, Mureck, Austria

Apologia

Ah, well. Umm. Yes, well, perhaps I may have over-inflated somewhat my own self-importance. Apparently – and since we arrived in Mureck it has been made crystal clear to me by none other than Mr Chips himself – I am NOT in charge. Never was. Never meant to be. All a silly misunderstanding. On my part of course. So I now hand over to Peter “Mr Chips” Turner to explain…

Day 1 – Team arrive via Slovenia and the playing hall (no thanks to “HIM-IN-CHARGE”)

You will have noticed that the Stevens & Turners arrived a day early to co-ordinate a welcoming party for the main group. By means of regular text contact with “HIM-IN-CHARGE” we had everything planned in finest detail and to the exact second. Now the idea of texting is fine, but on this occasion to be told that some 1200 miles away only 24 of the 29 expected at Stanstead had been counted would have worried some people. Not me, I reasoned that some of the ‘new’ group members could have avoided detection by crafty use of stealth technology. But to be told that HIC was merely reporting on the missing parties, and not actually trying to find them, was little trying. I was starting to doubt the wisdom of leaving the group to make their own way to Mureck – and certainly regretted having said anything that must have given HIC the idea that he was in charge. What have I let myself in for? A nail-biting 2.5 hour wait whilst the plane was in the air, before finally receiving txt confirmation that 29 people boarded the transfer bus at Maribor! I stopped holding my breath and finally was able to prepare to officially welcome the missing 5, Bowlers & Cleeves, to the team.

Meanwhile back at base (Gasthof-Fabiani) the S&Ts were putting out the flags, chess signs, checking the German drinking songs CD and ordering the requisite number of cold drinks, ice creams etc. Then another txt: ‘We’re entering Mureck’ came through – quick, get the music ready and the surprise item of Patrick & Isabel on their unicycles. 5 minutes – 10 minutes ……… no bus!! The drinks are getting warm, reset the CD, just how long can they keep going on those unicycles!! Panic not, of course the bus must go via the playing hall so Erich can give his official welcome to the team THEN to Fabiani.

And there they are! Baggage unloaded, greetings exchanged, colas & ice-creams devoured, adults ‘chilling out’ – not a kid in sight, we are all in a state of ataraxia! (Look it up). Just to make sure, a random but responsible adult is sent to head count the juniors. All is well.

Evening meal arranged for 7 o’clock. Two long tables, each for 18 persons, are set out and we saunter in to dine. Without a word having been spoken the youngsters go to one table and adults to the other – magic – that arrangement seemed to please everyone. Towards the end of the meal I call everyone to order to announce various bits of (un)important information and to explain coaching groups/times, and to offer thanks to our sponsors – Winton Capital Management - who fund the international standard individual coaching that each Player will receive daily for the duration of the tournament.

Right-ho, having set the tone, I’ll dare to hand back authorial control to the intrepid (!) one. Let’s see if he can’t get this simple task right…

Round 1

Wednesday 1st August, the days dawns surprisingly early. This afternoon will be the opening ceremony and the first round. Responsible Accompanying Persons (“RAPs”) in various states of hangover get to grips with continental breakfast and their Players’ unfulfillable desire for Coco Pops. Then coaching starts at 09:00 sharp: as there is no draw up for Round 1 then opponents are not known, but each coach nonetheless takes it very seriously – they get to know their group of Players if they haven’t met before, go over sharp lines and openings generally. But more of that anon.

For the RAPs, it is a case of “wharra we gonna do now?” Richard “Crocodile Dundee” Hierons (NB: pronounced as in hieorglyphics rather than herons or beer ons) hires a bike and heads off into the 30C heat in search of an internet connection. Mr Chips and Mr Stevens both have transport, so end up ferrying groups of RAPs to the Spar supermarket for purchase of water and fruit to augment the Players’ diet of chips. And there is much sitting in the shade of the verandah watching the unicyclist (Player Patrick “One Wheel” Stevens) perform.

It seems like no time at all before the coaching, table tennis and tennis comes to an end and lunch is served! At last, some structure for the day – many of the RAPs have been waiting for this time. It marks the countdown to the start of play, and for many observers it marks the startup of nerves so what must it be like for the Players? As a RAP with my own Player I know that getting sufficient food into him at lunchtime is pretty much my sole responsibility, everything else (the tennis, the drinks, the singing etc) is just an attendant or coincidental frippery. And so the battle of wills commences. I monitor his plate as he leaves the buffet: bread and rolls. “Anything else?” I ask. “Yes,” he says “butter.” I find some salad with no dressing, find some protein substance that he might be bullied into eating, eventually sit down to my own meal. “He’s not going to waste away in a week” I console myself as I give up and leave him to his preferred diet of processed white bread...

The opening ceremony starts at 14:30 so the ferrying to the venue begins at 14:00. With hired bicycles, two UK vehicles and Rosemarie Fabiani and her people-mover it is a simple operation to get all Players and RAPs into central Mureck. The waiting is nearly over…

And now the Chess bit:

The opening ceremony is sweet. The local Oompah band does its thing, various luminaries from Mureck and the Austria Chess Federation welcome us all, and by 15:15 the draw is up. Horror of horrors, there are 2 (two) England v England pairings, both in the U12 section. Nothing anyone can do about it, the pairings for Round 1 are always a lottery with all players that have no FIDE rating being listed alphabetically. For England it is the two girls who end up playing two of their team mates. Megan Cleeves vs Daniel Hunt and Polly Lambert plays George Galliano. They have to put aside friendships only just formed around the table tennis table, and treat each other as the opposition. And their RAPs aren’t really sure what to do and how to behave either! But there is little time for debate. The Players shake hands, clocks are started and the games are off. Joseph is immediately a pawn down but after two moves realises it is because there were only 7 pawns on the board to start with. A short trip up to the arbiters’ control desk by both Joseph and his opponent secures a spare pawn, and their game resumes.

It is a mixed round. The RAPs either go swimming, shopping or sunbathe on the grass behind the venue. Siblings all go swimming – the municipal pool is solar heated but it has been really hot here recently so the water is great! Noel “Watch out” Quinn is spotted by Mr Stankiewicz, although the latter without the pony tail and biker boots seems less intimidating than last year. But his handshake still leaves Noel wincing…

And then the players start to come out. Both U10s win: Peter Andreev and James Bowler, cracking international starts for both of them. In the U12 Eng-v-Eng matches Danny Hunt beats Megan Cleeve, whilst Polly Lambert and George Galliano draw. The remaining U12s do not go to plan: Brandon Clarke draws but both Joseph Quinn and Robert Bowler lose. The U14s score 2½ points out of a possible 5: Alex Galiano and David Grant both win, Charlie Hierons secures a draw although is extremely frustrated as he had been ahead. Both George O’Toole and Patrick Stevens lose.

In total then, 7 points scored. For a team of 14 this is spot on the 50% minimum target that the team always sets itself. In this case, because there were two Eng-v-Eng pairings, the maximum possible total score was only 12, so 7 represents an above average start! Let’s hope this bodes well for rounds to come…

The draw for Round 2:

The draw for Round 2 is provided to us early by Mr Bowler by phone and fax from England! A half hour later, the tournament organiser’s fax reaches Fabiani and dinner ends abruptly as Players scramble to look up there opponents for the next day. The exception being Polly Lambert, who has again drawn a team-mate, this time Brandon Clarke…

The Players’ results to date:

Highlight from Round 1:

Galliano, Alex [ENG] - Kantor, Reka [SVK]
European Union Youth Championships – Mureck, Austria 2007 Under 14 Rd 1, Board 5
[Annotated by GM Neil McDonald]

1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bc4 c6?! [Black could break up the white centre with the so-called Fork Trick 5...Nxe4 6.Nxe4 (better to disrupt the black king with 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Nxe4 though Black is also OK here after 7...Rf8 and Kg8 as the structural weakness on e6 is off set by the bishop pair.) 6...d5 7.Bd3 dxe4 8.Bxe4 0–0 with a comfortable game.] 6.a4 [More precise was 6.Bb3 ] 6...a6?! again an attack on the white centre was required: [6...d5! with good chances to equalise.] 7.0–0 0–0 8.Re1 Qc7? [If Black tries for the Fork Trick here he runs into 8...Nxe4 9.Rxe4! d5 10.Rh4 dxc4 11.Bh6 intending 12 Qd2 with a winning attack for White.; By now it was imperative to assert himself in the centre with 8...d5! ] 9.e5! White seizes the chance to gain a large space advantage. 9...Ng4? Now the poor horse will be harassed for the rest of the game. [He had to try 9...dxe5 10.Nxe5 intending 11.Bf4 with a strong initiative for White.(Instead 10.dxe5?! allows 10...Rd8 11.Qe2 Nd5 and the black knight stays in the centre.) ] 10.h3 d5 [Or 10...Nh6 11.Bf4 with the threat of 12 Qd2 Nf5 13.g4 trapping the knight.] 11.Bd3 Nh6 12.Bf4 with the same threat as in the previous note. 12...e6 13.g4?!

After the game it was discovered that the correct move to prosecute the attack was [13.Qd2 Nf5 14.Bxf5! gxf5 (or 14...exf5 15.e6! discovering an attack on the queen and so gaining a strong passed pawn.) 15.Bh6 as if 15...f6 16.exf6 Rxf6 17.Bf4! Qd7 (Black loses the exchange after both 17...Qf7 18.Bg5 Rg6 19.Nh4 and; 17...Qd8 18.Bg5) 18.Ne5 Qe8 19.Bg5 Rf8 20.Bh6 with a decisive attack for example 20...Qe7 21.Bxg7 Qxg7 22.Ra3! Nd7 23.Nxd5! cxd5 24.Rg3 winning the black queen.] 13...Kh8? [Black misses the defensive chance 13...f5! freeing the f7 square for his knight and blocking the onrush of the kingside pawns as if 14.exf6? (or 14.Qd2 fxg4!) 14...Qxf4] 14.Qd2 Ng8 15.h4! The forward advance of the white kingside pawns is very instructive. 15...Ne7 16.Kg2 Nd7 17.h5 Kg8 18.Rh1 Re8 19.Rh3 [More vigorous was 19.hxg6 fxg6 20.Bh6 Bh8 21.Ng5 intending 22.Qf4 and then mate on f7.] 19...Nf8 20.Rah1 Rd8 21.Bh6 White has built up his attack in methodical style, co-ordinating every piece for the final assault. 21...f5 22.exf6 Bxf6 23.Bf4 Qb6 24.a5 White wants to clear the way to bring his queen to f4 by freeing the c7 square for his bishop. 24...Qb4 [Or 24...Qxa5 25.Be5 etc.] 25.Bc7 Rd7 26.Qf4! Bg7 27.Ne5 Bxe5 [Black will be mated after 27...Rxc7 28.Qf7+ Kh8 29.hxg6 h6 30.Rxh6+] 28.Bxe5 c5 29.Qf6 Nc6 To stop mate on g7. 30.Rf3! there is no defence against the double threat of mate on h8 or f8. A good positional build up and well handled final attack from Alex Galliano. 1–0

And finally…

Brain teaser 1 – An 8 letter word which contains the first 6 letters of the alphabet.
(Answer tomorrow)