English Chess Forum

The European Youth Chess Championship 2015 starts on Monday 21st September and runs to Wednesday 30th September.

The event website is http://www.porec2015.org

Meet England's team here: http://englishchess.org.uk/Juniors/play ... -the-team/

Good luck to our 11 players supported by three very experienced coaches.

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

First round pairings are up:

http://chess-results.com/tnr180028.aspx ... =30&wi=984

Good luck everyone!

The English team has had a very difficult start to the event,scoring 0-11 in Round One.

We have to get off to bed, regroup and come out fighting hard tomorrow.

Rd 2 starts at 10am

Andrew Martin wrote:The English team has had a very difficult start to the event

They do seem to have been overwhelmingly outrated, I'm sure things will pick up.

I win no friends from the sentimental. Nevertheless...

Why do we send these guys before they're ready? 0-11 will not be how it ends. But who's denying what we really know here?

Rethink urgently needed, with short-, medium-, and long-term targets and objectives agreed. The ECF Academy must be supported as a priority

Ireland was also heavily outranked on each board but managed four draws.
Two of our team have a 0-point bye tomorrow.
I'm not clear how the scoring for this events works.

Tim Harding wrote: Two of our team have a 0-point bye tomorrow.
I'm not clear how the scoring for this events works.

I would suspect it's really a full point bye, unless they have indicated that they want the day off.

David Robertson wrote:I win no friends from the sentimental. Nevertheless...

Why do we send these guys before they're ready? 0-11 will not be how it ends. But who's denying what we really know here?

Rethink urgently needed, with short-, medium-, and long-term targets and objectives agreed. The ECF Academy must be supported as a priority

One only needs to look at the ratings to realise that many of the English juniors will find this tournament very tough, but if the players and parents know what to expect then what is the problem?
Actually, I think the fact the England has a smaller and weaker squad than they have had for many years is a positive. The truth is that a significant number of England's better players are turning away from these tournaments and choosing instead to go to Vienna or the Politiken or Riga or the Euro U18 Team Champs. Ultimately that will be much better for the development of their chess.

Given that we are on the edge of Europe, most if not all of the opponents will have had better journeys to the tournament than our players. The ratings are not that reliable and the standings at the half way stage will provide a much better guide as to how the team are likely to perform overall, it is far too soon to start drawing any conclusions.

I have little doubt that the team will score over 50% today

David Robertson wrote:I win no friends from the sentimental. Nevertheless...

Why do we send these guys before they're ready? 0-11 will not be how it ends. But who's denying what we really know here?

Rethink urgently needed, with short-, medium-, and long-term targets and objectives agreed. The ECF Academy must be supported as a priority

I'm prepared to let them play nine rounds, rather than one before making any judgement. Several of the players representing England have taken the sensible route of playing in World/European Schools events and have been active in the summer, others have played in major events before and scored well. I think a more critical test will be the World Youth which is being held around the October half term time and because of this (and the location)
has attracted double the number of players and some of our more experienced players eg Akshaya & Ravi.
http://englishchess.org.uk/Juniors/play ... -the-team/

Matthew Turner wrote:One only needs to look at the ratings to realise that many of the English juniors will find this tournament very tough, but if the players and parents know what to expect then what is the problem?
Actually, I think the fact the England has a smaller and weaker squad than they have had for many years is a positive. The truth is that a significant number of England's better players are turning away from these tournaments and choosing instead to go to Vienna or the Politiken or Riga or the Euro U18 Team Champs. Ultimately that will be much better for the development of their chess.

I defer to those with greater professional experience of the relevant age groups. Mine derives principally from being a parent. If thoughtful professionals - teachers and so forth, including involved parents - think there's no problem, then I'd be wise to take note. But it strikes me that there could be a problem. It's the problem of the mismatch, and its impact on morale within the developing youngster. A few may rise to the challenge of regular setbacks. But most will become discouraged. For sure, we have only a first round. It is likely an outlier, and results will improve. But the potential for mismatches remains throughout. It can't be good; it could get dispiriting. And a thought for the coaches too: how are they to lift the capacity and spirits of youngsters where the ability gap is too wide to bridge in the time to hand?

And is it really better for their chess? Do we have evidence for this oft-asserted claim? Obviously, as part of a winnowing process, those that 'survive' and subsequently thrive provide some evidence. But what, in fact, is the attrition (drop-out) rate overall? I only ask

2.5 out of 3 in the U10's todayhttp://chess-results.com/tnr180032.aspx ... =30&wi=984

50% today with wins for Karthik, Bobby, Amudhan, Zoe, Anum and a draw for Tristian.

http://chess-results.com/tnr180028.aspx ... =30&wi=984

Not the easiest of pairings for Stephen Whatley on 0/2 in the U16's he is paired with a 2455 IM who is the number 1 seed

David Robertson wrote:

Matthew Turner wrote:...if the players and parents know what to expect then what is the problem? (snip) Ultimately that will be much better for the development of their chess.

David has deliberately sought to misrepresent my comments here by connecting two unrelated comments. So, for the avoidance of confusion I have requoted my original comments.

Matthew Turner wrote: One only needs to look at the ratings to realise that many of the English juniors will find this tournament very tough, but if the players and parents know what to expect then what is the problem?
Actually, I think the fact the England has a smaller and weaker squad than they have had for many years is a positive. The truth is that a significant number of England's better players are turning away from these tournaments and choosing instead to go to Vienna or the Politiken or Riga or the Euro U18 Team Champs. Ultimately that will be much better for the development of their chess.

Best of luck to everyone today. Anyone else noted that the round times are a bit bizarre 3pm then 10am and today 5pm - difficult for all the players (not just the English ones, of course) to get into a rhythm.