England marched into round 5 and scored 50% – a very creditable performance.
We had impressive victories from Savin Dias, Giulio Sahinoz, Aditya Verma, Aman Gogna, Ximan Mao, Julia Volovich, Anita Somton, Arushi Ramaiya and Laura Davidson. Victory for Laura was most notable as she played attacking chess and won against an opponent 200 points above her.
Ezra Brass, Alex Golding, Jake Holton, Stephan Whatley, Jonathan Pein and Lauren Weaver shared their points. Almost all the draws were against much higher rated opponents and the most notable draw was secured by Lauren Weaver in U18G section, where she played solid chess to share a point with an opponent 400 rating points above her.
Day 6 has thrown up an unfortunate pairing between two England players in the U14 Open Category: Koby Kalavannan and Alex Golding. Some of the England players have clashed in earlier rounds and other countries are also sharing the same fate.
On Tuesday evening we had a much relaxed atmosphere and had a gathering of players, parents and coaches in the Japanese Garden. We had invited a few key organisers like Dr Jan Mazuch and it was very nice to have some lighter moments after 5 days of intense chess. Apart from a few tough questions on Brexit all other discussions were very cordial and we shared a lot of laughter.
We had kids enjoying the usual exchange chess and our coaches could not keep themselves away and joined into with the players. Today was the rest day and almost everyone was out for some sight seeing in the scenic old town of Prague. I am sure this has refreshed them and all the players will be geared up again for strong performances in the remaining rounds.
Competition is getting very intense, however we have good number of players with near 50%+. They will need lots of luck and good chess to make a mark for England and for themselves.
In round 6 we will have two live boards: Nishchal Thatte who continues his undefeated journey and will be on board 1 in the under 8s and Jacob Yoon in the U10 section.
Do remember you can follow our fortunes, view photographs etc on the twitter feed – @ECFJuniors2016
— Anand Verma