After their tough games on Saturday (21st June) many of the players looked forward to the rest day by relaxing in and around the scenic bay in Kavala. The Air and Sea show continued and was enjoyed by many from the Hotel Balconies (it was also live on Greek TV) whilst others mingled among local visitors in the festival atmosphere on the promenade, which included aviation and food stalls as well as a stage with Greek Dancing (not quiet Stavros Flattley but still enjoyable).
We have to say ‘Thank you’ for Ping for treating and advising those in the group who have been suffering from minor reactions as a result of stings and bites.
So the Chess commenced again today (Monday 23rd June) with coaching sessions in the morning and the games for Day 6 at 4pm.
Aditya was the first out with a win in 30 moves following a Max Lange attack but had a wait of 39 minutes for his opponent to move before an inevitable mate in one.
He was followed by Luca and Karthik who both used tactics to gain material advantage leading to checkmates. Tim won a Rook and Pawn early on leading to checkmate in 39 moves. Ranesh was next out with a win in 62 moves after taking advantage of a bad bishop and finally promoting a pawn to a knight to deliver forced mate, Ranesh (4.5/6) now has strong medal chances in the Under 9 along with Harvey who is on 5/6.
Taran and Yang-Jiang were paired against each other and drew by repetition on move 38 in a same colour Bishop and Pawn ending.
Alex and James had both prepared well and it paid dividends in their openings. Alex’s opponent resigned after he manoeuvred his harmonious placed pieces leading to a threat of mate. Whilst James secured a draw against a player rated 383 points above him. In between the victories and draws some fought hard but returned without rewards.
Dominic won in 30 moves after getting F4 in early, leading to space advantage then delivered a tactic to gain a piece and a positional advantage leading to victory. Amardip won a pawn in a sharp opening converted a Bishop and Knight ending to win in 53 moves.
Laura played an open game and with a piece up in the end game duly delivered victory in 49 moves after promoting to a Queen. Zoe gained material early on but was reduced to just an exchange up in an exciting game, finally winning in 60 moves in a Rook and Pawn ending.
Carmel and Asha were both a pawn up from Tactics however both had to settle for draws against much higher rated opponents.
Daniel put together a nice combination with Queen, Bishop and Knight to check mate in 34 moves with the opponent’s King on h4.
Joseph won in 40 moves his coach (IM Andrew Martin) described his game as ‘original, exciting and unorthodox with good moves -worth publishing’; we look forward to seeing it online.
Paul was a pawn up in a same coloured Bishop ending but had to settle for a draw against a player rated 187 points higher than him, this means that after 6 rounds Paul is the only undefeated player in the Team with a rating gain of 22.5 pts.
Finally Omeet was one of the last out – he played for 4 hours and 85 moves and delivered victory by creating a passed pawn after a complex Knight + Pawn end game.
It was another good day for team with a score of 16/29. Thank you for all your tweets and support from England.