– by Chris Howell, Head of England Delegation [below, l-r – Matthew, Oliver and Boris]

The England team had another unbeaten round to finish the EUYCC 2013 tournament, with all 3 members of the team completing their first FIDE partial ratings, and receiving medals at the closing ceremony.

Matthew Howell (Sussex Juniors) finished on 3.5/9 to finish in 16th place in the U14 boys, giving him an 8-game partial rating of 1520; a fine performance as he was the bottom seed in the tournament.

His brother Oliver (also Sussex) made the best score of 4.5/9, having played against many of the top seeds in the tournament, and he finished 9th= (11th on tiebreak) in the U10 boys with a partial rating of 1488 from his 6 rated games.

Boris Pastukhov, like Matthew representing England in an individual tournament for the first time, scored a creditable 4/9 to finish 14th in the U10 boys, with a 1371 7-game partial rating achieved.

Overall this new tournament was superbly organised by International Organiser Zdenek Fiala and the Czech Federation, with their President IM Petr Pisk a constant presence helping with all aspects of the tournament. There were good prizes, many activities and trips organised outside the chess itself, and all games were instantly available on-line as they were played. The tournament will be held again in the Czech Republic next year, and is a fine addition to the range of junior International events now available for our young players; it deserves to expand from the 107 players from 15 federations taking part this year.

My thanks to the players for their excellent effort both during the games and in preparation, to our wonderful translator/photographer Natalia Pastukhova, and to all at the ECF office and in the junior hierarchy who helped make this trip a success.