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The games begin
The competition is taking place in the Plaza Hotel, where we are staying, in three different playing halls. All players and parents have been issued with identity passes, without which you are not allowed to enter the playing hall. Even then, non-players are only allowed in for the first ten minutes, the only exception being the team manager.
The English squad had its meeting at 2.15, when the players were handed their identity passes and bottles of water. Gerry Walsh, president of the English Chess Federation, addressed everyone with some words of encouragement. Then down to the playing halls, where there was a familiar scramble as players sought to check the draw and find their board number. The tournament started punctually at three – a benefit of having held the opening ceremony the previous evening.
Round 1
The coaches - Robert Bellin, Andrew Greet, Jovanka Houska, Neil McDonald and Thomas Rendle – have kindly helped comment on the players’ games in the first round.
The tournament got off to a great start for the English squad, with 11.5 points out of a possible 17, or 68%. First out was Marcus with a victory after capitalising fully on a mistake by his opponent. Then came Radha, who fought an evenly matched game, playing all stages well, ending in a draw. By the time two hours had passed, Saravanan also came out with a victory in good attacking style. Samuel gained a good position from the opening and had his number ten seed Russian opponent on the ropes for most of the game, which ended in a draw. Yang Fan all this time was able to catch up with some sleep, having been awarded a first round bye courtesy of his surname Zhou.
Turning to the U14 girls section, Amisha had a tough game in which her maturity came into play, digging in when the tide could have turned against her and putting her opponent under time pressure to gain victory. Sheila had a smooth victory. Jessica won with a smooth positional style, enjoying the game so much that it lasted a long time. In the U14 boys, Callum played a solid game against his Israeli opponent, taking his chance when it came and finishing like a pro. Subin was winning after the first 25 moves courtesy of a well prepared opening variation and strong middle game moves, but overpressed in trying to exploit his advantage, such that the game ended in an unfortunate defeat.
Selina showed the value of good preparation, destroying her opponent after a slip in the opening. Chantal played a fantastic game, outplaying her 4th seeded Spanish opponent in the opening, but her flag fell in what was an absorbing game. James had a hard fight against the 3rd seeded Russian player in his section, with the game going all the way to the wire and the two players the last to finish, unfortunately with no points for James.
Thomas
had an interesting game with a King`s Indian sacrifice coming as a bolt
from the blue and he was unlucky to lose. Ankush had
a surprisingly solid positional draw. Li dismissed
his Finnish opponent as expected. Simon had an important
victory with cutting edge frontier theory, carrying out a sustained
attack with sacrifices. This tremendous game is reproduced with annotations
by Robert Bellin.
Ronchetti,N
(2421) - Fowler,S (2181) [C18]
European Youth Championships 2006 (1), 10.09.2006
[Annotated by Robert Bellin]
Play the game here
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Ne7 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.Qg4 0-0 8.Bd3 f5 9.exf6 Rxf6 10.Bg5 Rf7 11.Qh5 g6 12.Qd1 Qa5 13.Bd2 Nbc6 14.Nf3 Qc7 15.dxc5 e5 16.Be2 To the uninitiated this sequence probably looks hardly more than a random collection of very odd moves, but in fact we are in one of the most critical variations of the massively complicated Winawer Variation and the move White has just played is a recommendation of Ivanchuk which brings us to the very brink of 'frontier theory' in this line. 16...Bg4 [ 16...Qa5?! was played in the stem game Ivanchuk-Brynell, Gothenburg 2005,but after 17.c4! Qxc5 18.0-0!? Ivanchuk showed that White has a powerful initiative.] 17.0-0 [ 17.Ng5 is a possible alternative leading to a position with chances for both sides after 17...Bxe2 18.Qxe2 Rf6] 17...Bxf3!? 18.Bxf3 e4 19.Bg4 Nf5 Black is a pawn down and White has the bishop pair but in return Black has space in the centre and harmonious and active pieces. 20.Re1 [ the odd-looking 20.Be3?! has been played but Black was fine after 20...Nxe3 21.fxe3 Rxf1+ 22.Qxf1 Qe7 in 0-1 Atlas-Kindermann, Austria 2006] 20...h5!? Once again Simon chooses the most challenging continuation. 21.Bxf5 Rxf5 22.c4?! This turns out to help Black much more than White. 22...Rd8 23.Qc1 Ne5 24.cxd5 Ng4! Inducing a serious weakening of White's light squares. 25.d6 Qxc5 26.Be3 Qxd6 27.g3 Ne5 28.Kg2 Nf3 As fruit of his earlier play the knight arrives in dangerous proximity to White's king. 29.Rh1 [ 29.Rd1 looks more natural.] 29...h4 30.g4 h3+! Enemy monarch in his sights, Simon is playing with great energy. 31.Kxh3 Rf7 32.Kg2 Nh4+ 33.Kg1 [ Locking the rook in the corner looks a bit strange but it's doubtful that 33.Kf1 would be any better.] 33...Qf6 34.h3 Qf3 [ Time pressure wobbles begin. This natural move aims to keep White tied up but there was a hidden tactical shot in 34...Rd2!! with massive pressure, e.g. 35.Rh2 Nf3+ 36.Kg2 Qe5 37.Rh1 Nh4+ 38.Kf1 ( 38.Kg1 Qg3+!!) 38...Rdxf2+ 39.Bxf2 e3] 35.Qf1 Kh7 Black seeks to avoid a possible check on c4 but forgets that White is actually able to make an active move now. 36.Bg5 Rfd7 [ 36...e3!?] 37.Kh2? [ White was understandably reluctant to let his queen go with 37.Bxh4 Rd1 but this would have been the better course when Black would probably have enough activity to share the point but no more. In fact with the gamecontinuati on White not only loses the queen anyway but also ends up bound hand and foot as well.] 37...Rd1 38.Bxh4 Rxf1 39.Rhxf1 Rd2 40.Rae1 e3 41.c4 g5! 42.Bg3 e2 43.Rg1 Rd1 44.c5 Kg8 45.h4 gxh4 46.Bxh4 Rd7 47.Rg3 [ 47.Rh1 would have merely prolonged the agony.] 47...Qxf2+ 48.Rg2 Qxh4+ It's mate i n two. A wonderfully vigorous display by Simon against powerful opposition - bravo! 0-1
Nobody is allowed into the playing venue without their pass
Radha enjoying her coaching session
Saravanan prepares for the afternoon`s game, researching the database
