English Chess Forum

The European Youth Team Chess Championship starts tomorrow - the venue is Karpacz in Poland. The event is a 7 round FIDE rated tournament for girls and boys aged U18.

England is represented by a boys team of 4 players: Andrew Horton, Ravi Haria, William Claridge-Hansen and Matthew Wadsworth.

The official event website is http://eytcc2015.eu/en/. The first round is tomorrow at 3pm local time.

The web site for pairings and results for the boys is: http://www.chessarbiter.com/turnieje/2015/tdr_3080/

Latest news, photographs etc can be seen via the twitter feed : @ECFJuniors2015

No twitter account? You can follow the twitter feed via this link https://mobile.twitter.com/ECFJuniors2015

Well you can on a mobile. Laptop users might find this a touch easier on the eye.

Thank you Justin for that helpful link.

Hope you have seen the team photo that has just been tweeted - another smart turn out by English Juniors

Round one pairings are up : England on black v Austria.

7 AUT Austria - England ENG 14
1 AUT Mesaros, Florian - Horton, Andrew P ENG 1
2 AUT Dragnev, Valentin - Haria, Ravi ENG 2
3 AUT Huber, Martin Christian - Wadsworth, Matthew J ENG 3
4 AUT Kiss, Balint - Claridge-Hansen, William ENG 4

Mick Norris wrote:7 AUT Austria - England ENG 14
1 AUT Mesaros, Florian - Horton, Andrew P ENG 1
2 AUT Dragnev, Valentin - Haria, Ravi ENG 2
3 AUT Huber, Martin Christian - Wadsworth, Matthew J ENG 3
4 AUT Kiss, Balint - Claridge-Hansen, William ENG 4

Live here: http://eytcc2015.eu/en/live-open-match-7/

Round 1: Austria 2.5 - England 1.5

1 AUT Mesaros, Florian (2390) 1 - 0 Horton, Andrew P (2279)
2 ENG Haria, Ravi (2261) 0 - 1 Dragnev, Valentin (2380)
3 AUT Huber, Martin Christian (2286) 0 - 1 Wadsworth, Matthew J (2160)
4 ENG Claridge-Hansen, William (2113) ½ - ½ Kiss, Balint (2215)

Round 2 opponents tomorrow: Moldova (who lost today 4-0 vs top seeds Germany)

Jim Wadsworth wrote:Round 1: Austria 2.5 - England 1.5

1 AUT Mesaros, Florian (2390) 1 - 0 Horton, Andrew P (2279)
2 ENG Haria, Ravi (2261) 0 - 1 Dragnev, Valentin (2380)
3 AUT Huber, Martin Christian (2286) 0 - 1 Wadsworth, Matthew J (2160)
4 ENG Claridge-Hansen, William (2113) ½ - ½ Kiss, Balint (2215)

Round 2 opponents tomorrow: Moldova (who lost today 4-0 vs top seeds Germany)

Congratulations to Matthew on his first round win and all the best to the team.

The 'live games' cite 'Jamie Horton' which I assume is an error; it's his brother, Andy.

Even so, this is the best we've got, pretty much. And not bad.

But it's way short of the best. And short even of Austria. How do they do it? How don't we?

Interesting looking at the surnames for the Austrian players. Two very Hungarian names (board 1 and esp bd 4) and a very Slav-sounding name on bd 2. A mix of chessical cultural heritage? Perhaps that mix explains why they can turn out such a good side.

"Interesting looking at the surnames for the Austrian players. "

This is the most English-sounding England junior team I've seen for ages! I think we are quite capable of having a good mix of players. I'm told the Vienna Chess Club had 600 members at one stage, perhaps this enthusiasm continues.

Best of luck to the England Junior team in this strong event in Poland.

Bit of a coincidence here since their 1st round match score (Austria 2.5 - England 1.5) matched that of the England Seniors 1st team playing, simultaneously, against Italy in nearby Vienna - where Kevin is playing and posting from!

8 MDA Moldova - England ENG 14
1 MDA Iovcov, Valerii - Horton, Andrew P ENG 1
2 MDA Gorbanovsky, Oleg - Haria, Ravi ENG 2
4 MDA Morozov, Nichita - Wadsworth, Matthew J ENG 3
5 MDA Macovei, Andrei - Claridge-Hansen, William ENG 4

Mick Norris wrote:8 MDA Moldova - England ENG 14
1 MDA Iovcov, Valerii - Horton, Andrew P ENG 1
2 MDA Gorbanovsky, Oleg - Haria, Ravi ENG 2
4 MDA Morozov, Nichita - Wadsworth, Matthew J ENG 3
5 MDA Macovei, Andrei - Claridge-Hansen, William ENG 4

http://eytcc2015.eu/en/live-open-match-6/

Moldova, a tiny and impoverished country currently being driven into bankruptcy while the world looks at Greece. They still seem to outrate us quite comfortably, though.