World Youth Chess Championship 2014

[Leonard Barden]

she is playing a 2300+ player who is on 6.5 points (big upfloat) so I can't see a 1700 player getting a result against a 2300 player
the English contingent have performed 0.186/1 points above their expected score

In fact, Amy strategically outplayed her opponent, WIM title, No 3 seed, 400 points higher rating and all, and was clearly winning from 26 Nh1? (Nf5) until in time pressure she missed the crushing 35...d5!

The game continues and Amy still has a small edge at move 40.

[Roger de Coverly]

Which results are you looking at? The English contingent are doing rather well. Amy Hoare is gaining seventy points and is on board 2!

Amy is in shared fourth place, even if two points behind the leader and one point behind the shared second. Overall, as of this morning, they had a score of half a point more than 50%. Whether that's "rather well" depends on your expectations, which are now considerably lower than twenty years ago or more where many in an equivalent squad would have been aiming for a top 10 finish.

[Matthew Turner]

Whilst Junior ratings might not be a definite guide they do provide something if a yardstick and this performance stacks up very well against English performances in the past. The English rated players have scored 14/18 (plus ten) against unrated opposition, so haven't felt the benefit of these wins in terms of rating, but they have pushed them up the pairings to face stronger opposition. It is just an all round good performance.

[Lewis Martin]

These results here below Matthew....nothing special at all...

Instead of complaining all the time, why don't you put your efforts into helping the English Junior Chess scene instead?

As for individual results, they are doing fine. Adam C Taylor was doing well at the start, but seems to have tired out possibly? No doubt with more experience on the international stage as well as working on improving his game, he could be a very strong player indeed. Amy is doing very well so far. Stephen seems to be picking up too. No-one is doing terrible, though some may have found it a tough experience. Don't forget that wins against unrated players do not get counted.

Partly, I believe it is do with international experience as well as your own match experience. In terms of those juniors well travelled, it probably isn't so much of a coincidence that Stephen and Amy are our better performers. It can be quite daunting to play abroad, particularly for the first time.

We are relatively small in terms of the number of chess players we have compared to other countries. So, in terms of 'the next Luke McShane' who knows? It is quite rare to have a GM in their teenage years, given the relative amount of FIDE-rated or indeed number of high-level tournaments in England. There is a lot more in the likes of Spain, Bulgaria, Germany, and it isn't a coincidence they have a lot of strong young players.

[Roger de Coverly]

It is quite rare to have a GM in their teenage years, given the relative amount of FIDE-rated or indeed number of high-level tournaments in England.

To get the actual title, you need Norms and the rating. It's just as important to have the playing strength which, historically at least, players gained in the bear pit of weekend Swiss tournaments. Apart from Yang-Fan and Hawkins, are there any other obvious GM candidates on the horizon?

[Lewis Martin]

To get the actual title, you need Norms and the rating.

That was what I was referring to when mentioning "high-level" tournaments.

Apart from Yang-Fan and Hawkins, are there any other obvious GM candidates on the horizon?

Going off tangent a bit with the thread (and probably worth discussing in a new topic/thread) with regards to English Youth Chess and opportunities available in terms of strong competition.

But to answer that question, it is tough. It all depends on individual efforts as well as a certain degree of talent. Matthew Wadsworth (one example) has talent, but can he do it? Time will tell.

I keep telling James Adair (An IM and has a GM norm too - think he narrowly missed out on another GM norm at one tournament) that he could do it, but he just wants to get on with life, away from chess. I think he will keep playing chess but only when he wants to. I can understand that too. My last long-play game was three months ago!

If he wants to keep at it, then I'm sure James is also a strong candidate for the GM title.

[Rob Thompson]

Ameet Ghasi is also likely to be close, though I don't know offhand how many GM norms he has.

[IM Jack Rudd]

This is the list of all the active ENG IMs rated 2400+, which would seem to be a good place to start looking for potential GMs.

[Roger de Coverly]

which would seem to be a good place to start looking for potential GMs.

Indeed it is, also the youngest of them is 20 this year.

By contrast I happened to notice that an Italian lad that I played in the 2010 Major Open is playing in the Under 16 in South Africa and now has a rating of around 2450 (currently only an FM).

[LawrenceCooper]

Results of the last round for ENG
Rd. Bo. No. Name Typ FED Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name Typ FED Rtg No.
9 20 31 CM Altman Joshua U10 ENG 1704 4½ 1 - 0 4½ Li Chin Chon U10 MAC 1478 47
9 27 83 Misyura Ilya U10 ENG 0 4 1 - 0 4 Kirchner Markus U10 GER 1487 45
9 35 75 Gong Kai Yi U12 MAC 1283 3½ 0 - 1 3½ Jayawarna Nugith U12 ENG 1687 55
9 25 29 FM Mitrabha Guha U14 IND 2096 4 1 - 0 4 Huang Dion U14 ENG 1796 54
9 28 63 Subramaniam Shreyes U16 MAS 1813 3½ 0 - 1 3½ Taylor Adam C U16 ENG 2023 44
9 31 54 Whatley Stephen A J U16 ENG 1881 3½ 1 - 0 3½ CM Modi Sachin U16 RSA 1676 74
9 33 81 Li Harry U16 ENG 0 3½ ½ - ½ 3½ Chen Junhong U16 CHN 1846 58
9 13 16 FM Nasuta Grzegorz U18 POL 2361 4½ 1 - 0 4½ Hackner Oskar A U18 ENG 2102 42
9 2 3 WIM Osmanodja Filiz U18 GER 2310 6½ 1 - 0 5½ Hoare Amy B U18 ENG 1981 25
9 17 31 WIM Abdi Zineb Dina U18 ALG 1911 4 1 - 0 4 Foster Chantelle L U18 ENG 1840 38

[Martin Crichton]

Amy lost today against a 2300 as expected (but put up a good fight (LB) ...didnt see the game)

Tomorrow she drops to board 9 and faces another difficult challange against a 2200+ rated opponent

the rest of the english contingent on 50% again today. My point being none of them are shining through... a certain hyped prodigy in the press 2 years ago is having a particularly average tournament.

SNo Name RtgI FED 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pts. Rk. Rp K rtg+/- Group
31 CM Altman Joshua 1704 ENG 1 1 0 1 ½ 0 1 0 1 5.5 21 1603 40 5.60 10B
83 Misyura Ilya 0 ENG 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 0 0 1 1 5.0 42 1340 0 0.00 10B
55 Jayawarna Nugith 1687 ENG 0 ½ 1 0 0 0 1 1 3.5 69 1239 40 -9.60 12B
54 Huang Dion 1796 ENG 0 ½ 1 0 1 ½ 0 1 0 4.0 68 1551 40 0.80 14B
44 Taylor Adam C 2023 ENG 1 1 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 1 4.5 46 2010 40 16.40 16B
54 Whatley Stephen A J 1881 ENG 0 1 0 1 0 1 ½ 0 1 4.5 40 1961 40 31.20 16B
81 Li Harry 0 ENG 0 1 1 0 ½ 1 0 0 ½ 4.0 57 2001 0 0.00 16B
42 Hackner Oskar A 2102 ENG 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 ½ 0 4.5 35 2003 40 -11.60 18B
25 Hoare Amy B 1981 ENG 1 0 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 5.5 17 2053 40 67.20 18G
38 Foster Chantelle L 1840 ENG 0 1 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 1 0 4.0 42 1671 40 -32.40 18G
net gain 67.6 / 10 = 6.76 per player k factor of 40 = mean score of 0.169/1 above expected score
the figures in a tournament like this do point out very clearly that the FIDE ratings are broadly accurate throughout the world and the English junior ratings are in line with ratings of juniors in other countries.

[IM Jack Rudd]

the figures in a tournament like this do point out very clearly that the FIDE ratings are broadly accurate throughout the world and the English junior ratings are in line with ratings of juniors in other countries.

They can't possibly point the former out. The problem most commonly complained about is that juniors' ratings are out of synch with those of adults of similar standard, and evaluating the truth of that by looking at an all-junior tournament is impossible.

[LawrenceCooper]

My point being none of them are shining through... a certain hyped prodigy in the press 2 years ago is having a particularly average tournament.

Average in the sense he has beaten every player below him in the draw and a much higher rated Bulgarian FM, drawn with a player almost one hundred points higher than him and lost only to two Chinese players (who aren't known for being completely devoid of chess talent) and an American almost 150 points higher.

[Jonathan Rogers]

And I also thought that Adam Taylor was doing very well a few days ago.

I have only been following at a distance but my overall impression too is that this is at least better than we have done for quite a few years.

[Roger de Coverly]

I have only been following at a distance but my overall impression too is that this is at least better than we have done for quite a few years.

Those who remember the glory days of the past feel uncomfortable that scoring 50% is regarded as a success. One point at least, why isn't at least one domestic event structured as an 11 round marathon, complete with the hardship of a double round day or two? Admittedly the youngest event then was for under 14, but the GMs of the Seventies all made some of their initial impact in the eleven rounders parallel to the British Championship itself.