More from Mureck (Day 7)
Today we visited the beautiful city of Graz, Austria’s second largest city. We headed for the Schlossberg (a mountain in the middle of the city which has an ancient fortress). We reached the top via the funicular railway. After our journey we were ready for a coffee. We found a café at the top with the most spectacular views of the city. We made our descent down many steps to the streets below to discover the vibrant cafes and shops.
If you are into architecture this is the place to come, the old historic buildings are exquisite and the modern contemporary buildings are truly inspiring. The Kunsthaus Graz is one of the city’s new landmarks which houses temporary exhibitions and a restaurant. We made our second pit stop at the Murinsel which is the most amazing structure that sits in the middle of the river Mur. It is accessed via the bridge and the glass building takes the form of a floating shell. It houses a café and an amphitheatre. It has to be seen to be believed.
Once we had finished our refreshments we headed for the very stylish department store in the middle of Graz as recommended by the ladies in the tourist information office in Mureck. We were told we must go to the top of the building to the roof terrace and see the amazing views of this stunning city
I would definitely recommend to anyone to visit this stylish city. The chess results today were 3.5 out of 7, three wins and a draw.
Day 6
Mureck is on the river Mur, which forms part of the border with Slovenia. Some of the team have taken the opportunity to make a short visit over the bridge to this relatively young country. The proximity probably explains the relatively large Slovenian chess contingent at this tournament. 
Mureck website – http://www.chess.at/specials/2011/1108_mureck.htm
About 3km east of the Fabiani guesthouse, past the lake, in the opposite direction from the town centre, we found a metal tower structure, ‘Murturm’. This tower was built after the cold war as a peaceful way of viewing the surrounding countryside; after climbing 168 steps in the baking heat one is rewarded with views above the treetops, of the Mur and a Slovenian town. 
On the chess front, day 6 was the best so far for the England team, with wins for Stephen, Tess and Ieysaa and draws for Lauren and Yousuf, so 4/7. Points so far are Ieysaa 5, Stephen and Theo 3.5, Lauren, Yousuf and Tess 2 and Ibraheem 1.5.
It is only by being here that one can really appreciate how full-on the coaches’ schedules are, with back-to-back training all morning and analysis and preparation from late afternoon until past dusk (with a short dinner break allowed). They must love chess (or schach, as the locals say)! Dave, as head of delegation, has additional responsibilities which have required him to put to extensive use all the psychological and diplomatic expertise he has accumulated to try to keep the peace. He keeps going in his optimistic and affable manner; one wonders where he finds the time to sleep!
Rosemary, who runs the Fabiani, has been very accommodating of our numerous requests, for example on the food front, where the serious nut allergies of two of our delegation have been dealt with very well.
The Olympics is frequently on our agenda, with some TV access with German commentary and many of the adults here accessing BBC for web updates during the day; this is particularly the case during afternoons, when some of the adults in the rose garden are taking their minds away from their children’s chess games with refreshments, usually provided courtesy of Steve and Wayne.
Day 4
It may be the weekend but there is no rest, as another morning of preparation for our earnest young chess players gets underway straight after our hearty breakfast. Whilst those waiting their turn fill in the time eating huge ice creams, playing badminton, table tennis, walks around the lake and cycling in the glorious sunshine (are you all jealous yet?).
An uneventful and relaxing morning for the parents in the rather chilly 35 degrees (it was 38 yesterday) leads up to a somewhat familiar lunch menu. So its 14.30 and we are off to the venue where it transpired that it was not the best day for Team England in terms of scores with only 2/7 on Saturday, but there were some very close games where the score did not tell the whole story!
However, morale is high and our young Gladiators live to fight another day and continue to astound us with their resolute determination to achieve their best for themselves and their country.
Mureck website – http://www.chess.at/specials/2011/1108_mureck.htm
Day 3
We have a guaranteed point today as Ibraheem and Theo have been drawn to play each other. Rosanna took the opportunity yesterday evening to explore the ‘stuff to do box’ and this morning has played a game of chess with Sally, 50 minutes long! The result was a draw.
We have said farewell to Peter and Gill Turner who have headed for home today. We understand that while fine in the Olympic venue, the weather in Somerset has been rain – 1 inch last night.
Here in Mureck, we had a short shower this afternoon which has caused us to shelter under the steps at the venue rather than on our rose bench.
We are still on half marks, our total today – 3.5, 3 draws, 2 wins
Mureck Diaries – Tuesday July 31st
Most of the England team arrived late yesterday afternoon (Monday 30th July), and they were joined by Tess & Lauren Weaver (and their parents) for supper today.
The main party group were pleased to be greeted at the Gasthof Fabiani – firstly, and as expected, by Stephen Whatley and his parents, who arrived on Sunday. But also making up the welcome party were Peter and Gill Turner, which was a very happy surprise. Students of the English junior chess scene will recognise Peter and Gill as squad leaders for this and sundry other events over many years. While on a caravan holiday around Europe, they somehow found themselves in Mureck to say hello to their old friends, Rosemarie and Marino Fabiani, at the right time to make sure the head of delegation, new signing Dave Regis, successfully picked up the baton they were passing on.
The sun has put in a fairly constant appearance, rather like our WiFi connection. We’ve had quite a gentle start to our visit, although, in the short time since arriving, the Slades have researched cycle hire, mapped the valley, ridden around the town, peered at neighbouring Slovenia and tested the waters of the lake. Meanwhile, others in the party have accomplished several major shopping expeditions to the supermarket, an important series of table-tennis and badminton events have been started and the Weavers have survived being delivered to the wrong place from the airport without undue discomposure. We have also learnt how to distinguish male from female spiders.
Oh, and the chess? The coaching and playing timetable begins in earnest tomorrow, while today was spent in an unstructured but productive way. There have been many games of chess played, a variety of openings discussed, several studies studied, and a few master games dissected. We were also able to cheer on Peter’s son Matthew as we watched him convert a two-pawn advantage at the British Championships.
We share our accommodation with teams from Switzerland and Latvia. Our day was rounded off by late-night contests between Theo Slade and Stanislav, one of the Latvian coaches, and between Latvian U10 Daniel and Dave. Two magnificently diplomatic draws were agreed. We then enjoyed a brief post-mortem of Theo’s game with hardly a single mutually understood word between us, which was hampered only slightly by Dave’s inability to recognise names like Pirc and Ufimtsev when they are pronounced correctly.
Roll call – U8 Ieysaa bin-Suhayl, U10 Tess Weaver, U12 Theo Slade, U12 Ibraheem bin-Suhayl, U14 Yousuf bin-Suhayl, U14 Lauren Weaver, U14 Stephen Whatley; Coach – Tom Rendle; Head of Delegation – David Regis
Playing for England and the English Chess Federation, from 31st July to 9th August in Mureck, Austria —
Under 8 – Ieysaa bin-Suhayl
Under 10 – Tess Weaver
Under 12 – Theo Slade & Ibraheem bin-Suhayl
Under 14 – Lauren Weaver & Yousuf bin-Suhayl
Coaches – Dave Regis & Tom Rendle
More details to follow … if you would like to donate to help the team, click on the button below –