English Chess Federation

World School Chess Championships - Round 3

Matt Hunt Reports:

A rather hurried report I am afraid. Not my fault. It is the first “two rounds a day” day. I need to get this done and get outta here.

Breakfast is early. Actually breakfast is always there, it is just that we are early for once. Need to eat, fast, and get back to the Pallini Beach. The sun rises over the sea. The fish are feeding (I expect). The old man pulls his fishing boat down to the water’s edge. He is glad to see gulls. It’s a good sign. He picks up a hefty pebble and drops it waist deep in the water. It falls straight down. Good. No breeze. No current either. The fish will be lazy. He gets into his boat, moving a little slower than when he was a young man. He remembers fighting to be Kingfisher of the Village. It was never this hard to get in the boat. It tilts as he adjusts his position, so his hand trails in the water. Good. The sea is wet. That means the fish will live. And he will…

[SLAM! – ed]

Where was I? Oh yes, breakfast. Just a bowl of cereal. Difficult to consume anything more substantial once you have noticed some of the other countrys’ Responsible Adults in shorts. Obviously at this time of the morning anything goes. Having said that, I will just try a teeny weeny bit of omelette, sliced sausage and maybe some of those fried potato slices. That’s better. More than makes up for missing my weekly dose of 5-a-side footie (hello to The Cock and Bottle!). I’d still rather have had another 3 hours sleep. As at least one canine hotel guest says: “I didn’t bite you, leave off my hair, let me lie.”

[WHACK! – ed]

I come to slowly. Apparently I have mentioned breakfast. Well, after breakfast the strangest thing happened. The Players all start to congregate around the coaching rooms: we have precisely 1½ hours before Round 3 and they all need their piece of the coaching pie. Thankfully, the unsung heroes that are the coaches (when not operating as part of the cartel that is TPTB they can be very nice y’know) have sat up most of the night preparing for this cramming session, and so diligently instruct and enthuse The Players for the forthcoming match. The stakes are getting higher still – again a number of The Players are up against opponents with FIDE ratings – but we are all keen to achieve at least a minimum 6 out of 12 points, to keep our average above 50%. A not inconsiderable factor in the success so far must go to the bargaining skills of Responsible Adult #4 for negotiating with a local retailer to get 12 bottles of water (one for each of The Players for each round) at the incredible bargain price of 3 euros. As if chess skill has anything to do with it.

Apologies to Ed and Mr and Mrs Ed V-R for a spurious “s” that may or may not have appeared in amongst Ed’s name in earlier rounds. My fault. As The Team Mascot sighed: “No sign of IQ, no sign of intelligent life.”

One of The Players winds a few team mates up with stories of experiencing an earthquake during a chess match: “Get under the table” is the instruction. It could only happen in Japan.

Quote of the evening: “What shall I have to help me get to sleep tonight – a milkshake or a coke?” Why not go the whole hog with a can of red bull the Responsible Adults wonder…

Sadly, your eagle-eyed reporter has an admission to make. More than 48 hours behind on a piece of news. Overhearing that one of the Responsible Adults, who had been in Halkidiki but was now viewing the results on the website, I had to admit that I hadn’t even noticed that Alison had left. Oops. Thinking about it, the giveaway was that Ben had stopped having to say “No!” to yet another offer of a quick day trip to Thessaloniki.

[You’re just wittering now, get on with it – ed]

And now the Chess bit:

The playing hall is (as regular viewers will know by now) in the Athos Palace. I managed to sneak into the hall, bypassing the intense security, to get some photos before the crowds started to congregate for Round 3. Do not fret yourselves, I was never at risk of anything really serious, but it made for some gloomy photos as you can see – even using NASA photo enhancement technology you have to peer hard to spot the flags of the nations and to see the real scale of the event, with row after row of playing boards standing silent and still like headstones in a graveyard…

With 5 minutes to go the scene is transformed. A melée, a scrum, opening day of the January sales all come to mind. At 5 minutes to go, the chief arbiter asks (again and again) for Responsible Adults and coaches to leave the arena. Again and again his words go unheeded, until he announces that all financial obligations must be met before Round 4 this afternoon otherwise teams will be defaulted. His final announcement is a sobering one: there was an incident in Round 2 whereby a mobile phone went off – under FIDE rules the player involved immediately defaulted (lost) their game. Suddenly everyone – The Players and the Responsible Adults - are reaching into their pockets…

Finally, the Round commences. Near silence descends – roving reporters have 10 minutes to take any photos – and all non-players are banished to the central aisle, between the ropes. Check out the photo, can you see any difference to the general melée?

First out is Ed V-R with a very creditable draw against his FIDE rated opponent. Joseph Quinn also gets a hard fought draw. Patrick Stevens loses having taken his opponent right into the end game, and George O’Toole suffers his first reversal against his top seeded opponent. Then some uplifting news: both Jessica Thiliganathan and Callum Kilpatrick come out with wins. So with half the players out it is 3 points out of a possible 6, on target for our 50% score.

Sharan Soni eventually comes out but unfortunately has lost, but then Daniel Hunt wins after 3½ hours. Samuel Franklin is not long behind, also with a great win! Our score is now 5 out of 9…

Still at the boards with the four hour mark approaching are Ben Wetherfield, Harry Streeter and Polly Lambert. All the fingers are crossed back at the Pallini Beach pool-side café where the coaches are going through the games with those players who have returned. Text message from Mr Chips up at the Athos Palace let us know who is coming back to base and what state they are in. A few Responsible Adults are nibbling desultorily at Greek salads, a beer or two is already open, but deep down everyone is waiting until all The Players are safely back, through their games with the coach and coming down from the intense concentration high (the “Zone”) that they enter for the duration of each game. Then we can start to concern ourselves with getting a balance of protein, slow-burning carbs and sugar into their bloodstreams in time for Round 4, now just 3 hours away.

News from the Athos Palace: Ben is out, on his way back with a smile on his face. He blundered the exchange to lose a rook for a knight but went on to win! That now leaves only Harry and Polly. With the time control being used (90 minutes each on the clock plus 30 seconds added per move) it is felt that games will likely not exceed 4 hours (i.e. a 60 move game). As I write, it is 3 hours and 50 minutes since Round 3 started…

Finally, news of Harry – an upsetting loss. And then, after an incredible 4½ hour marathon, Polly succumbs with less than 6 seconds on the clock. She is disappointed but cannot be said to have not tried.

From an overall perspective, a good morning for England, meeting 50% score exactly. What this afternoon holds is anyone’s guess, but many of The Players will now be playing on the very top boards of their age group.

The full results of Round 3 are as follows:

No time to wait for the pairings, not time to analyse a game of the Round, as there are only a few minutes before the next round begins. Instead, here is the end of Patrick’s game from Round 2. Starting after move 24 where his opponent has all remaining 8 pieces lined up on the 7th rank, Patrick plays a technically sound ending to secure a draw.

(3) Stevens,Patrick - Joubert,Louw [C45]
World Schools Chess Championship Halkidiki, Greece (2.30), 26.04.2006

Position after 24.g5!

24. ...f6 25.h4 Bf5 26.Bd3 Ke6 27.Bc4+ Kd6 28.Bd3 Bxd3 29.cxd3 fxg5 30.hxg5 b5 31.Ke4 g6 32.f5 gxf5+ 33.Kxf5 Ke7 34.c4 a6 35.Ke5 c6 36.Kf5= ½–½

(P.S. Hello to the RGS)