Jovanka is ECF Player of the Year, having been a full time chess player for the last three years. This involves a busy calendar, including the Women’s World Championship in Ekaterinburg in Russia earlier this year, a tournament in which she is the only English player to have participated since Vera Menchik over 50 years ago. Jovanka plays regularly in the Bundesliga, French league and 4NCL. Other commitments coming up include the European Club Cup for Hillsmark Kingfisher and a trip to play in Gibraltar. Between all this she finds time to write her first book, Play the Caro-Kann, due to be published next year by Everyman Chess. So what’s with the name? “I was born in south east London. My grandfather was Czech. My parents chose Jovanka, Serbian for Joanna, as it rhymes well with the surname.” Advice for young juniors? “Learn those end games, study tactics…and sit on your hands!”

IM/WGM Jovanka Houska

Round 5 games

As the tournament reached its midway point the England players collectively had their best day so far with 12 out of a possible 17 points, or 71%, bringing the cumulative scoring performance to 55%. For interest we have added the length of game in brackets after each player's name in hours and minutes, based on the time elapsed between the 3pm start and when they reported to base camp on the terrace. There is a happy squad spirit going into the rest day on Friday, with individual points totals ranging from 2 to 4.

Radha (2h10m) played a nice attacking game and won. Marcus (3h5m) played a good game and had complete control of the position, but a couple of unfortunate errors towards the end put paid to his earlier good work. Preparation for Samuel’s game (2h35m) – versus the previous day opponent of Yang-Fan - went well, and he got a winning attack very early on; he finished it off with some strong play and a nice tactical trick at the end.

Saravanan (2h10m) won in the old style of an eighteenth century master, check mating his opponent in 18 moves. Yang-Fan (3h45m) got a strong attack from the opening and won some material. Despite tricky resistance from his opponent (who had played Saravanan the day before) Yang-Fan eventually won in the ending.

Sheila’s game (2h55m) earns the highest praise from her coach - an “absolute gem” in which she “played in style”. Well prepared opening moves were followed up perfectly at the end of the game – watch out for Robert Bellin’s annotations. Amisha (4h10m) had a tough, hard fought game in which she had a bit of an advantage most of the time, but her opponent defended doggedly. Amisha was last out among the 17 England players after overcoming her opponent`s resistance in a tough game.

Jessica (3h40m) tried a strange new idea in the opening which would have turned out quite nicely if she had played with a little more precision. As things turned out she had to resist some annoying pressure before saving herself in the endgame. Callum (2h40m) had a competitive game with some chances to be better, but there was never much in it, with a draw a fair result. Subin (3h25m) got a promising opening position, but he did not realize quite how good it was. Instead of seizing the chance to attack his opponent's king, he played passively, with his own king ending up in trouble.

Selina played a nice game: she had a slight advantage out of the opening, then used her space advantage to push back her opponent, who made a desperate bid for counterplay, which Selina refuted successfully to score a convincing win. Chantal (3h50m) enjoyed some good fortune when a queen down and won. James (3h) earned a determined victory He kept the fighting spirit going, and was ruthless in pushing the win through. Ankush (3h55m) lost in a long game against a Russian who was the most highly rated of the 17 England players’ opponents.

Thomas (1h50m) made some inaccurate moves in the opening from which the result was inevitable against his higher rated Polish opponent. Simon (3h40m) entered unchartered territory, coming wrong out of the opening and getting into dire straights. However, he kept up a high fighting spirit to gain the full point. The victory was a well deserved example of “chess justice”, having played fantastic games in the previous two rounds without reward. Li (3h15m) followed his preparation, got a nice position, then a small inaccuracy by the opponent enabled Li to win a pawn and convert to a victory.

Sathanandha,S - Sosovicka,J [B22]
European Youth Under 12, 2006
[Annotated by Neil McDonald]

Play the game here

Li consults his computer ahead of the fifth round

Ankush at the board

Thomas during his coaching session

Samuel prepares for his game using Chessbase

Food for thought

All the meals are provided at the hotel in a dining room with the ubiquitous buffet-style system. Food is one of the key factors assessed when choosing locations for junior chess tournaments. The Plaza hotel has a wide variety of dishes, generally with a central European feel – as you can see from Thursday`s menu, transcribed using original spelling. So far all the players have been fit and well, with just the parents suffering from migraines and various forms of stress-related psychological disorder.

Locally you can buy very good fresh fruit from the market, favourites proving to be figs, blackberries and plums. These are passed around from room to room. With a free day on Friday the whole group walked up to the old town of Herceg Novi for a change of diet, enjoying delicious pizza, a benefit of the proximity to Italy. ECF President Gerry Walsh and his mother joined the party, which occupied several of the outside tables on a pleasant balmy evening.

The day’s menu at the Plaza hotel

White bread slices
Vegetable soup (Corba od Povrca)
Salad - lettuce, tomato, cucumber, parmesan cheese, mustard, olive oil, coriander, salad cream
White cabbage sliced
Beetroot, onions, white cabbage in vinegar
Capsicums in vinegar
Gherkins in vinegar
Peppers chopped

Main Course
Rizoto od (mushroom risotto)
Rozbif Englis (Roastbeef English style)
Svinjski Ribic (Braised porc, birds)
Pohovana Riba (Breaded Whiting Fried)

Pasta – Noodles
Sataras - Paprika (Rice Tomatoes)
Prinac – Style
Pire Spanac (maished speanich)
Pomfrit French (Fried potatoes)
Note: Food labels have been transcribed in original spelling

Mums recommend salad – Charika, Rosie and Manu

Here's the bread at lunchtime – how about pizza tonight?