European Youth Chess Championship 18-26 August

[LawrenceCooper]

http://www.eycc2016.eu/results-pairings ... tart-list/

[John Higgs]

The European Youth Chess Championship starts tomorrow in Prague. The event is a 9 round FIDE rated tournament for U8s through to U18s.

The England delegation is 28 players and 7 coaches. The team can be viewed at:

http://englishchess.org.uk/Juniors/play ... -the-team/

The event website is http://www.eycc2016.eu/

The first round is tomorrow at 3pm local time.

The chess-results link for our delegation is

http://www.chess-results.com/tnr233627. ... =30&wi=821

Latest news, photographs etc can be seen via the twitter feed : @ECFJuniors2016

No twitter account? You can follow the twitter feed via this link https://mobile.twitter.com/ECFJuniors2016

[Anand_Verma]

I am team manager for England and will send regular updates during tournament. All the team members have safely arrived. We still have one coach in delayed flight and transfer has been arranged for him. Transfer process was very smooth though the team members had to wait long times to get room keys. Not unexpected as organisers have to accommodate 1300 + players and there was long queue at reception. Good news is that entire England team has found accommodation in the tournament venue however yesterday and today, a good time has been spent on getting right rooms. Mixed reviews about the food till now but I will wait for few days before commenting on it.
We had a quick team meeting today. Tomorrow there is technical meeting at 10 AM and we are expecting parings to be out after that. Team looks in great spirit. I will send further updates tomorrow and yes weather is great.

[Anand_Verma]

http://chess-results.com/tnr233625.aspx ... =30&wi=821

Pairings for today - day 1

[Anand_Verma]

http://www.eycc2016.eu/games/live-cover ... -g12-live/

http://www.eycc2016.eu/games/live-cover ... -g14-live/

Two live boards. Alex Golding in U14O and Nilomi Desai in U12G

[Anand_Verma]

Parings for Round 2 and Results of Round 1

http://www.chess-results.com/tnr233624. ... =30&wi=821

12.5/28, Not a bad start knowing England were playing mostly against very highly rated opponent. Show started by two consecutive wins by u8's as has been norm in recent events for England. We had some very fine performances, notably a draw for Alex Golding in U15 section against a FM 350 points above him. Laura Davidson and Thivyaa Rahulan also secured a draw in U14G against an opponents around 300 grades above them. Almost all the losses were tough fought games and I am sure players will have a different fortune in coming games.

Most notable wins came from James Golding, Sharon Daniel and Anisha Sawhney, all winning against highly rated opponents.

On another note, we are fortunate to have two good sized team rooms with good internet connectivity, which are working very well with individual coaching and analysis. I just returned from the team room at 2300 and was surprised to see our hard working coaches sitting there in different corners preparing for morning sessions. I think it might be the first time when we are having almost all coaching sessions in team room and players for sure are getting benefited by this arrangement. These two rooms looks like working office for coaches and they go to their room only to rest.

Tomorrow one Live board - Aditya Verma on board 2 for U12 Open.

[Anand_Verma]

Day 2 Result and Day 3 Pairings

http://chess-results.com/tnr233635.aspx ... =30&wi=821

Day 3 live boards are FM Ravi Haria in U18 section who is playing IM Bilel Bellahcene from France. Jacob D Yoon is also on live board in section U10 Open.

[John Higgs]

Day 2 report from Head of Delegation, Anand Verma:

Much improved performance by England today as the team scored 15.5/28 compared to 12.5/28 on day 1. Many more players opened their account on day 2. We started with a quick photo session and another one is planned tomorrow with the complete squad.

Most notable victories came from Stephen Whatley, Jake Holton and Thivyaa Rahulan who defeated opponents at least 200 rating points above them. Alex Golding, Daniel Gallagher, Radha Ratnesan, Sharon Daniel and Shlok Verma also managed to share points with highly rated opponents.

There are many under-rated or zero rated players in this tournament whose playing capacity is much more than their displayed grade, so well done to all our players who managed to get points today. All the losses were again after long fought games.

Day 3 live boards are FM Ravi Haria in U18 section who is playing IM Bilel Bellahcene from France. Jacob Yoon is also on live board in section U10 Open.

[Anand_Verma]

http://www.chess-results.com/tnr233628. ... =30&wi=821

Round 3 results and pairing for round 4.

[John Higgs]

Day 3 report from Anand Verma:

Round 3 saw the delegation scoring 13 which was commendable given the tough competition we have in Prague. On the positive note we have two players on 3/3 and they will play on live boards. Nishchal Thatte is playing board 2 in U8 and Jacob Yoon is on board 2 for U10. In total we have 14/28 player on 50% or more score after round 3.

With 6 rounds to go, other players might also pick up. I know I am being optimistic but that is the best thing to be in tough competition like European Youth in the heart of chess.

Notable winners (who played against higher seeds) are Ranesh Ratnesan, Jonathan Pein and Shlok Verma and we had nice wins from Anita Somton, Aditya Verma, Ximan Mao and Nilomi Desai.

There were some excellent draws which gave us most joy on Day 3. Alex Golding, James Golding, Stephen Whatley, Sharon Daniel, Jake Holton all played excellent chess and shared points with opponent 200 to 400 grades above them. Lauren Weaver and Victoria Sit shared points in all England encounter. We now have almost everyone who has opened their account and are geared up for giving their best.

It was extremely hot in Prague yesterday but today we have some light showers which has made the weather excellent. Food remains to be a issue and specially if one is a vegetarian they are looked upon as if they have arrived from a different planet! I myself am a vegetarian and after eating salads in breakfast, lunch and dinner I get a feeling as if I have attained Nirvana. Having said this, the dessert and fruits are excellent. The hotel rooms are very spacious and there are tennis courts, a swimming pool, table tennis and an option of walk in a Japanese garden when you feel the need to destress from the chess.

Please follow and encourage our players on the live boards.

Anand Verma

[Anand_Verma]

http://chess-results.com/tnr233626.aspx ... =30&wi=821

Pairing for day 5 and results from day 4

[John Higgs]

Round 4 report from Anand Verma:

Round 4 saw the delegation score 14.5/28. To be on the 50% mark by day 4 is very encouraging. The win of the day was Alex Golding where in a king and pawn game, Alex's king marched to meet his opponents king through a maze of Pawns, a real beauty. Nishchal Thatte continues to lead the team with a perfect score and will again be on a live board today in the under 8 section.

Ranesh Ratnesan, Ezra Brass, Koby Kalavannan, Daniel Gallagher, Julia Volovich, Radha Ratnesan, Anisha Sawhney, Nilomi Desai, Arushi Ramaiya and Lauren Weaver all scored for England. FM Ravi Haria, Jonathan Pein and Rahulan Thivyaa all took a draw.

It has been tiring chess for the last 4 days and after today's round we have a rest day. I will end on a positive note: with 14 of our players on 50% and above the team is highly motivated and are giving their best performances for England.

Please follow Nishchal and Koby on the live boards:

http://www.eycc2016.eu/games/live-coverage/

Anand Verma

[John Higgs]

Today is the rest day.

[John Higgs]

Round 5 report from Anand Verma:

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 U18 G 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]

http://www.chess-results.com/tnr233629. ... =30&wi=821

Results for round 5 and pairings for round 6