European Youth Team Chess Championships 2016

[Leonard Barden]

Looks like England may make 3-1 from what looked like 0-4 not so long ago....

[David Shepherd]

I suspect the Turkish players are all fairly stressed and tired

[Jim Wadsworth]

Meantime congratulations to Israel, who with one game still going have won their match against Austria and thus sealed the title by a substantial margin.

[Jim Wadsworth]

All being well Akito's draw, and thus the match, should be imminent.

However, I really don't understand why Matthew is once again putting himself under unnecessary time pressure, and thus me under unnecessary stress.....regardless of the outcome of the game we will be having a chat...

[Jim Wadsworth]

It was very imminent as it turns out. Well done Akito - great performance from him all week. Not sure if he will get the gold medal for board 4 players but we will see at the closing ceremony later on.

[Jim Wadsworth]

Not sure if he will get the gold medal for board 4 players

regrettably don't think he will - there is one player with an even better performance than 4.5/7. Congrats again to him regardless of that. Akito has had a week of which to be proud.

[Jim Wadsworth]

Matthew lost. He tried to push for a win having not had one all week. Haven't spoken to him yet, he is too upset. Assume he missed the Bxe3+ tactic for black on move 45

[Jim Wadsworth]

Now out of the closing ceremony and starting to pack. 7.30am bus pick up tomorrow morning.

First the facts:
- Ukraine won the girls tournament (where we were not represented), Poland's A and B teams winning the silver and bronze medals
- Israel won the open event, with Hungary second and Ukraine 3rd
- We were seeded 9th and finished 10th, with only B teams from Slovenia and Turkey behind us. Perhaps not quite what we had hoped for at the outset, but it was a very strong event.

Our players:
- Akito was the star of the show from England's perspective, with 4.5 / 7 on board 4 and gaining 35 rating points.
- On board 1 Matthew had a tough time against some very strong opposition. He played pretty well for most of the event but struggled with clock management. He has had better tournaments; but he can perhaps console himself as being one of only two players in the event to get anything off Germany's GM Schroeder who was unbeaten and headed the list of board 1 players with 5/6.
- On board 2 Adam had a bit of a slow start but finished well with two wins to pretty much break even in ratings terms
- On board 3 Pavel, the youngest member of the team, also found the going tough at times but certainly played his part too
- At times we rode our luck but we also were unlucky on occasion - if things had gone our way in rounds 5 and/or 6 we might well have finished further up the final table.
- The boys all worked well together, supported each other and were a cohesive group. As I type they are, inevitably, playing blitz together (instead of getting packed). They seem to have had fun, and as noted in a previous posting all those who are eligible would like to play in next year's tournament (to be hosted by Poland) - even though their consensus is that this is the hardest competition that they have played in. No shrinking violets these!

In the final analysis I suppose we hoped for a slightly better end result. But the work ethic and enthusiasm of the boys has been consistently high and all will have learnt a few things both over the board and from each other. So, well done team.

Finally, our thanks to the organisers who have done a great job; to Traci Whitfield and the ECF for their support; to John Higgs for his tweeting; and to those others who have sent messages of support. And last but not least the boys would like to thank their parents and family members for allowing them this opportunity, and for following our various twists and turns over the last week.

[Jim Wadsworth]

Now safely back home and signing off...