European Youth Chess Championship 18-26 August

[John Higgs]

The event resumes today after the rest day with round 6.

Good luck to all our 28 juniors.

[John Higgs]

Live board link to follow two of our juniors playing in U8 boys (Nishchal Thatte) and U10 boys (Jacob Yoon):

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

[LawrenceCooper]

Jacob Yoon saved a draw in a long ending that was on the live boards on Chess24. Black's 69th being the move that turned a win into a draw.

[LawrenceCooper]

Round 6 results and round 7 pairings available: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr233629. ... =30&wi=821

[John Higgs]

Round 6 report from Anand Verma:

A good day for England as 18 points were scored on day 6. The most impressive victory was for U18 Girl Lauren Weaver, graded 1552 who defeated a WFM from Russia with a grade of 2060. The WFM was in severe time pressure and complained to arbiters about a faulty clock but fortunately their decision came out in her favour. Lauren won on time but she had a much favourable position as well when the result was agreed.

We have Nishchal Thathe on 5, Jacob Yoon on 4.5, Alex Golding and Aditya Verma on 4 and Ranesh Ratnesan, Daniel Gallagher, FM Ravi Haria and Anita Somton on 3.5.

On the rest day several Rapid and Blitz tournaments took place in the venue which was open to all players and coaches. FM Charlie Storey who is coaching for England took part in the Blitz competition and came second with good victories against some IM's and GM's. Congratulations to him.

With three rounds to go all the players are aware that this is the most critical phase of the tournament and they need to give their best. Today on day 7 we have one live board in U8 boys section where Nishchal Thathe is playing on board 3.

[NickFaulks]

The WFM was in severe time pressure and complained to arbiters about a faulty clock but fortunately their decision came out in her favour.

That is a rather topical issue in England at the moment and may come up in Baku. Assuming nothing is sub judice, can you give any more details?

[Anand_Verma]

Regarding Clock, as per Lauren, she had noticed player not pressing the clock couple of times and opponent was taking long time on her moves. When the clock fell, both the players did not notice it and when Lauren saw it she claimed a win on time. Arbiters were called who discussed in Russian and luckily Lauren has some knowledge of the language so she could make out they were not happy with clock. Since Lauren had a signed score sheet which said she had won, and also result got updated in chess-results in her favor so we did not need to pursue it. So I can say good job done by arbiter.

[LawrenceCooper]

Nishchal has won to reach 6/7

[NickFaulks]

So I can say good job done by arbiter.

Thanks, that one doesn't sound very controversial.

[NickFaulks]

Nishchal has won to reach 6/7

The finish was a bit catastrophic, but I really like the way he plays.

[Roger de Coverly]

Thanks, that one doesn't sound very controversial.

I would assume that they were playing with increments. If a clock isn't pressed a couple of times but moves are made in reply, the offending player could be 30 seconds or a minute short of what their true time should be.

Some coaches would recommend that their charges sit poker faced and wait for the opponent to notice or run out of time.

[LawrenceCooper]

Regarding Clock, as per Lauren, she had noticed player not pressing the clock couple of times and opponent was taking long time on her moves. When the clock fell, both the players did not notice it and when Lauren saw it she claimed a win on time. Arbiters were called who discussed in Russian and luckily Lauren has some knowledge of the language so she could make out they were not happy with clock. Since Lauren had a signed score sheet which said she had won, and also result got updated in chess-results in her favor so we did not need to pursue it. So I can say good job done by arbiter.

Lauren beat another WFM in round 7 Results & pairings: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr233626. ... =30&wi=821

[Nick Grey]

Well done Lauren.
Best wishes for all the players, their parents, coaches, supporters, and team out there.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Nishchal has won to reach 6/7

The finish was a bit catastrophic, but I really like the way he plays.

I am beginning to feel a bit better about losing to him in the Richmond Rapidplay on 14 August!

[John Higgs]

Round 7 report from Anand Verma:

England scored 11 points on day 7 and our two top scoring players Nishchal Thatte and Jacob Yoon both won their games and continued their winning march.

The most impressive performance came from Lauren Weaver who defeated another WFM (2129). She has played with lot of confidence in this tournament and rightly deserves all the good results she has been getting.

In the U10 section we had Ezra Brass sharing points with a player from Serbia. Ezra was much better position wise but play stopped for 43 minutes as his opponent fell ill. The opponent was taken to his parent (rated 2400 himself) and then to a doctor where they started talking in Serbian before they were interrupted and made to talk in English. An arbiter was accompanying them. Play resumed but the opponent again stopped the clock when he was feeling cold and needed a sweater brought in by their head of delegation.

Unfortunately Ezra lost focus on the game due to these multiple interruptions and a draw was agreed. An arbiter was placed to monitor the game in the later half but the damage was already done as Ezra was feeling sick himself after not knowing the exact details of when the game would resume or if it would be resumed at all.

Apart from Nishchal and Jacob doing good, we have FM Ravi Haria and Anita Sompton on 4.5 and Alex Golding, Daniel Gallagher, Aditya Verma, Julia Volovich, Koby Kalavannan and Shlok Verma on 4.

Please follow Nishchal and Jacob on live boards in U8 and U10 sections