World Youth 2012 - Maribor, Slovenia

[Jonathan Rogers]

Another player who deserves a special mention is Yang-Fan, he was the third highest scorer in the team and has over many years been a very consistent player and an ideal role model for the younger members of the team. His attitude and behaviour set a first class example to the whole team and he has once again shown that he fully deserves his status as an IM, hopefully he will obtain the GM title soon.

I believe he is taking a year out before University, and that has often proved very beneficial. Gawain was no stronger than Yang-Fan at the same age but made rapid progress soon after he left school, albeit that (I think) he ended up not going to University at all.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Going back to my earlier comment, I agree that gaining Elo points or not is the not the only criterion by which to judge performance. In cases where a junior only loses a few points, that may just mean that some of his opponents were more hideously under-rated than he was. I certainly agree with Krishna that we are right to send a large delegation, although really only one person of note has ever disagreed with this - it is just that unfortunately he used to be the Junior Director! I am guessing that Oskar would not have been selected under the old regime ...

But it does bring us back to another issue - juniors do need to gain rating points to keep up with their increasing strength! To what extent might it better to send a large delegation to a strong adult open in Europe rather than the rating death trap of an international junior event, especially a world one (assuming that non-European countries will be particular culprits in fielding grossly under-rated junior opposition)? I would like to see more debate about this. I mean, it's a problem isn't it, if Matthew Wadsworth can do as well as he has and yet still lose rating points (if he is)?

As to the underperformance of the girls, well, no one can really explain this, but so far as I can tell, it has now been going on since Jovanka turned 18 back in 1999. Certainly the top ECF brass is not entirely responsible for it ...!

[Jim Wadsworth]

At any event like this there will always be players who do well and players who do badly. However, my impression was that overall the English squad did well. This is not based on any particular metric, but just watching relatively closely as the results came in. One advantage of sending such a big group is that it is possible to draw more valid conclusions, or at least develop hypotheses which might be useful for future events. Here are some things to think about

1. The English players have in recent years tended to 'tail off' at the end of the tournament. That didn't happen here.

2. The boys seemed to me to outperform the girls, do others agree and is there any reason for this?

3. Did those who had been to similar events perform better than those who were going to their first big championships? Krishna says Yes, but I'm not so sure.

4. Matthew Wadsworth did very well - is there anything about the way he approached the tournament that others could learn from?

Just back home from the airport. It's safe to say that we will be seeking to learn the lessons and to make further improvements. (That said, on the first point above one thing we did talk about a fair amount within the Maribor team was preserving energy to try to avoid any late tail-off of results.)

[LawrenceCooper]

Just back home from the airport. It's safe to say that we will be seeking to learn the lessons and to make further improvements. (That said, on the first point above one thing we did talk about a fair amount within the Maribor team was preserving energy to try to avoid any late tail-off of results.)

My thanks to everyone who arranged the trip, especially Jim. I hope those who missed their flight connections in Munich were able to get seats on later flights.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Trying to gain rating points at these sorts of events is like a bunch of worms trying to get out of a bottle by crawling all over each other.

[Jim Wadsworth]

4. Matthew Wadsworth did very well - is there anything about the way he approached the tournament that others could learn from?

Yes. I am sure Matthew and his parents could tell you lots. Matthew has been to these competitions almost every year since he was an U7.

The short version is a lot of talent, a lot of determination and a lot of hard work...(in the latter case, adding some new openings to his repetoire specifically for this event, work which started 3 months in advance). And, in a couple of games at the recent event in Maribor, a bit of luck which went his way.

The longer version is that:
(1) the experiences gained in his first WYCC in 2007 as an U7 (a first exposure to the coaching process, in particular game preparation and analysis; seeing the different standard required at international level; and the relationships built with other England team-mates) provided a strong foundation for his subsequent development

(2) he has had to absorb some very painful lessons from three near-misses in a row in relation to making the prizes (WYCC in 2008 - a last round blunder when in a winning position against the top seed cost him a prize; at EYCCs in 2009 and 2010 he was in the top ten and well in contention for the prizes with two rounds to go, but on both occasions tailed off to finish one and two places outside the prizes respectively). These disappointments have made him extremely determined, and very tough to beat. It also means that he now understands very well the importance of preserving energy to maintain his level of performance throughout these long and challenging events.

[Jim Wadsworth]

final head of delegation update now live at http://englishchess.org.uk/Juniors/wycc ... al-update/