The 5th EU Youth Chess Championships

1-9 August 2007, Mureck, Austria

Round 6

Yet another glorious day dawns. Even the flotsam and jetsam of last night’s marathon darts match cannot diminish the simple joy of working out which t-shirt to wear. And I am feeling very virtuous – I remembered to force my Player into the shower this morning! And for a small ice cream fee he is also sworn to tell his Mum he’s had a shower every other day. I think I’m safe…

After breakfast 3 RAPs and 2 siblings head off to the railway station to spend the day in Graz, the nearest metropolis. Back at the ranch of course it is coaching. And the Players love it, turning up at their allotted hour without any need for prompting by RAPs or the coaches themselves!

But hold the printers and stop the presses. No more pfaffing with this “we’re on holiday stuff”, I’m going to cut to the chase… and what a chase it is…

And now the Chess bit:

Let’s not beat around the bush, the Players have surpassed themselves even though the pressure is on. You may already have seen the results on the official site: not one of the England Players lost! Not an event that happens at all often. Certainly one I may mention again before this report is over…

So, not one of the England Players lost! Fantastic day but not without more real nail-biting moments. Not one of the England Players lost!! Did I mention that already? I’d tell you more but I’d had more than my fair share of lager in the sunshine (32C today!) so do not really recall much. Let me hand over to the one of the siblings for a Players eye-level view of events as they unfolded …

Our first player to emerge from the horrifying depths that is an Austrian cress tournament was Megan. Who after 90 minutes of toil managed to secure a well deserved draw. Robert, Peter and James followed in delightful speed similar to that of a road runner (meep meep).

Little did we know of what was to come. Brandon had just finished a well played game against a German. If you care about the facts - he won. However the opponent’s mother sprinted speedily to the abattoir [arbiter? – ed.]. Clearly something was afoot. It turned out that our own dear Mr Quinn had been accused of cheating (via telepathy?). To prove her outrageous and extremely bias thoughts the overly-proud Mum extracted many eels of film showing Noel somehow coaching Brandon into winning. We should note that Noel is not noted for his chess playing abilities. The mother had not only filmed Noel FOR HOURS, but had filmed Brandon’s game, Joe’s game (yesterday) and had even taken it upon herself to follow Joe to the loo.

In other news, David’s game was apparently very weird. All trainers were baffled. Many heads were scratched to investigate his opponent’s thoughts. No advancements were made. But a draw is a good result!

That left just George O, Alex and Danny at the boards. This time Danny was a pawn up, and after 5 moves in succession with just 3 seconds left on the clock each time, his opponent accepted the inevitable and resigned. So he retains his record of no losses, and goes into the next round with a score of 5 out of 6. Very exciting for a hobbit!

Alex meanwhile is grinding out a solid win. His opponent is not as short on time as Danny’s was but eventually she capitulates. Her father/coach (?) then insists that they play on a bit, offering his own thoughts, but Alex parries all suggested attacks and so they reset the board and exit stage right.

Only George O left now. After a strong opening he goes into the end game down – his queen and 2 pawns vs a rook, bishop and 5 pawns. His opponent is confident, smiling at friends who visit the board to see how it’s going. He has 10 plus minutes and George is down to 2 minutes, it is looking bad. But the watchers (y’know, Mr George and Mr Danny and the coaches) sense a change in momentum as George apparently gets his queen into the action! I only know from hearsay, but the quality of George’s play forces his opponent to use up all his time and they are both left fighting for a result with 1-2 minutes on the clock. His opponent no longer has time to smile at his friends and George definitely looks the more relaxed of the two. Mr George then has to leave the playing hall for some life-giving “oxygen” outside, and almost immediately George calls the abattoir to claim a 3-fold repetition. There is some debate, then his opponent somewhat crestfallenly (?) agrees the draw. Another great rearguard action securing a valuable ½ point for George keeping him 2nd in the U14s…

In conclusion of today’s exciting events, EVERYONE SCORED A POINT-ISH! The likelihood of this happening was similar to that of pugs flying. Those who went to Graz had a terrific time and made well thought fashionable purchases. RAPs were said to enjoy the sun. And even Izzy managed to get into the spit of a deluded hanger-on by buying some pink flowery flip-flops. We all have our fingers crossed for another superb result. Providing - of course - that Mr Quinn is up for the challenge!

The England points total therefore is 12 out of 14 and not one of the England Players lost! Old hands will call it “plus 10”, we just call it a cracking day for all. The squad was definitely in the saddle for this one…

The full results of Round 6 are as follows:

The draw for Round 7:

The Players’ results to date:

Much to the consternation of the RAPs, the coaches declined to award 14 Game of the Round awards, but conceded 2 instead:

Bowler, Robert [ENG] - Huber, Elke (1431) [AUT]
European Union Youth Championships – Mureck, Austria 2007 Under 12 Rd 6
[Annotated by GM Neil McDonald]

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Qe2!?

Following in the footsteps of former World Champion Alekhine... 5...e6?! ...who back in the 1930s managed to pull off [5...Ngf6 6.Nd6# MATE! against three amateurs acting in consultation- proof that three heads aren't necessarily better than one! Twenty three other players have also fallen for this trap.; More precise for Black was 5...Ndf6! ] 6.Bf4! Aiming at the newly created hole on d6. 6...Qb6?! [Still 6...Ndf6 was best to keep control of the d6 square.] 7.0–0–0 Ngf6 8.Nd6+ Bxd6 9.Bxd6 Robert's opening experiment has been a great success, even if he didn't mate in six moves. Black is prevented from castling by the powerful bishop on d6. 9...Qd8 10.Nf3 Nd5 11.g3 b5 12.Bh3 Threatening 13.Bxe6! fxe6 14.Qxe6+ Ne7 15.Rhe1 when e7 drops. 12...N7b6 13.Bc5 Ne7 14.Rhe1 0–0 Elke Huber has managed to castle but her centre weaknesses are still her downfall. 15.Ng5 Re8? [Necessary was 15...h6 but then Robert had prepared the combination 16.Nxe6 fxe6 17.Bxe6+ Bxe6 18.Qxe6+ Rf7 19.Bxe7 winning two pawns.] 16.Rd3?! [Instead 16.Qh5 virtually ends the game at once in view of the double attack on f7 and h7.]

16...Qd5 17.f4 [Still decisive is 17.Qh5! ] 17...Qxa2? Falling for a well concealed trap. [Black can fight on with 17...h6 ] 18.Ra3! Exactly: the black queen has to flee after which the pin on the a-file wins a knight. 18...Qd5 19.Bxb6 a6 Black could resign here but but battles on grimly hoping for a blunder from her opponent. 20.Bc5 [Need we say again that 20.Qh5 still wins quickly?] 20...a5 21.Bxe7 Rxe7 22.f5 Bb7 23.fxe6? Justifying his opponent's stubborn resistance. Robert forgets about the knight on g5. [One of many ways to win was exchanging queens with 23.Qe4 ] 23...Qxg5+ 24.Kb1 Qd5? Returning the compliment. After [24...f6 White's passed pawn gives the edge, but a long fight would be ahead.] 25.exf7+ Rxf7 26.Qe8+ [It was simpler to win a rook with 26.Be6 Qd6 27.Rf3 Raf8 28.Rxf7 Rxf7 29.Rf1] 26...Rxe8 27.Rxe8+ Rf8 28.Be6+ Qxe6 29.Rxe6 The dust has settled and White is the exchange up. 29...a4 30.Rae3 h6 31.Re8 Rxe8 32.Rxe8+ Kf7 33.Rb8 Ba6 34.Rb6 [Robert's brother later pointed out 34.Ra8 Bb7 35.Ra7 winning the bishop.] 34...Bc8 35.Rxc6 From now on Robert makes no mistakes and plays the endgame like an expert. 35...Bf5 36.Rb6 Bd7 37.c3 Ke7 38.Ka2 Kf7 39.Ka3 Ke7 40.Kb4 Kf7 41.Rxb5! A decisive simplification. 41...Bxb5 42.Kxb5 Ke6 43.Kxa4 Kd6 44.c4 Kc6 45.b4 An energetic display by Robert. His clever trap with 18.Ra3! was overlooked by both myself [Neil McDonald] and Adam Hunt, as well as of course his opponent! 1–0

Stevens, Patrick [ENG] – Meireles, Ana Maria (1634) [POR]
European Union Youth Championships – Mureck, Austria 2007 Under 14 Rd 6
[Annotated by Tom Eckersley-Waites]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6 5.Nb3 Nf6 6.Nc3 e6 7.Be3 Qc7 8.Bd3 d5 and here ends our preparation... [8...a6 9.0–0 Be7 10.f4 d6 11.a4 is another variation, with a different game.] 9.exd5 exd5 10.0–0 Be6 11.Qf3 Be7 12.Bf4 [12.Nb5 is perhaps a little more accurate, as after 12...Qd7 (12...Qd8 13.N5d4 is another way to play, with a small edge for white.) 13.Nc5 Qc8 14.Qg3 gives pretty good play for white.] 12...Qd8 13.Nb5 0–0 14.Nc7!? an interesting move, that can give rise to a fairly standard position where the knight on c7 causes complications. 14...Rc8? [14...Bg4! is the only move to avoid the positions reached in the game.] 15.Nxe6 fxe6 16.Qh3! a very strong move that justifies Patrick's previous play.

16...Qd7 [16...e5 17.Qe6+ Rf7 18.Bxe5 is the point.] 17.Rfe1 Nd8 [17...e5 18.Bxe5 (18.Bxh7+! Kf7 19.Bf5+-) 18...Qxh3 19.gxh3 looks good, but unfortunately the notes show that this doesn't quite work!] 18.Nd4 winning a pawn and giving Patrick a great position. 18...Ne4 19.Bxe4 dxe4 20.Rxe4 Qd5 21.Rae1 [21.Nxe6 Qxe4 22.Nxf8 Rxc2! must be avoided.; similarly 21.Rxe6 Qxd4 22.Rxe7 Qxf4 23.Qxc8 Qxf2+ is mate, and hence ought not to be played!] 21...Rc4 22.c3 Bc5? taking black's position from bad to worse, but having looked at the position a little more I'm unable to find something that improves his position very much! 23.b3 Rxd4 24.cxd4 Bxd4 25.Qg4 Qc5 26.Rf1 e5 27.Be3 Nc6 28.Qe6+! Kh8 29.Bxd4 exd4 30.Qd7! these strong queen moves seal the deal. 30...Qc2 31.Re8 ...Qc5 32.Qf7 is all over. A virtually faultless game from Patrick, who has fritz agreeing with most of the moves he plays! 1–0

And finally…

Brain teaser 5 – Underground again. A tube station, 11 letters, only one vowel. Answer is ‘St. John’s Wood’ – Oh yes there is only one vowel, it just appears 3 times! – sorry.

Brian teaser 6 – Combination of numbers & letters. CROSS + ROADS = DANGER S=3 Find the value of the other numbers, using digits 1 to 9. Each letter has a different number.