European Youth Team Chess Championships 2016

[Jim Wadsworth]

Draw for Adam as well, so at worst the match will be halved. But Pavel has such a big attack going! No pressure Pavel!

[Jim Wadsworth]

Pavel wins!

So that is England 3 - Slovenia A 1. Congrats to all four players. Let's build from there for the rest of the event!

[LawrenceCooper]

Pavel wins!

So that is England 3 - Slovenia A 1. Congrats to all four players. Let's build from there for the rest of the event!

Fantastic result. You'll have to eat out more often

[Jim Wadsworth]

Fantastic result. You'll have to eat out more often

Thanks Lawrence. I am typing this at a restaurant in town - this time celebratory!

And the team pairings are out - tomorrow we have 4th seeds Germany (again sadly not on a live board). Given they have a sub not yet clear what team they will put out, but a full strength team has a GM on board 1 (who is on 3/3 so far) and an IM on board 2.

[Jim Wadsworth]

Round 4 now underway. Germany have selected their 2050ish rated reserve to play on board 4 against Akito (who is the only board 4 player on 3/3 in the entire event). So whilst not being complacent, we are hoping Akito can maintain his 100% record in his game whilst a couple of the others get something out of their games.

Board 1 has started with the expected French (Advanced variation).

A little bit cooler here, thankfully (high 20s instead of low 30s), and forecast to be cooler still for the rest of the week.

[Jim Wadsworth]

So, at about 2.5 hours in the state of play is as follows:
- Matthews game looks pretty even. Material level, all the rooks and one minor piece each are off the board. Matthew has the bishop pair and control of the only open file; his GM opponent has more space. For a change, Matthew is not significantly behind the clock either. About half an hour each to make 15 moves to get the time control.
- Adams game also looks fairly even. Adam (playing with white today) has a strong N sitting on d6 which his German opponent is going to need to dislodge somehow.
- Pavel is down a N for two pawns, his opponent has more space too.
- Akito is down a pawn but all the pawns are on the same side of the board and nearly all the pieces are still on the board. Looks hold-able to my inexpert eyes.

[Jim Wadsworth]

Three hours in:
- not much has changed in Matthews game other than the clock. He now has ten mins to make about 8 moves to the time control, his GM opponent about 17 minutes. GM would probably claim to have the better position but there isnt much in it.
- Adam is now a pawn down going into the endgame, and his big N has finally been dislodged from d6.
- Pavel is still down on material but he is still going strong.
- In Akito's game, he is still a pawn down. After a series of exchanges they are into the endgame and currently each has a R and two minor pieces. Akito has 3 pawns and his opponent 4 - all on the kingside and all pretty much on the squares on which they started the game. Apart from the missing pawn Akito's position looks solid enough

[Jim Wadsworth]

OK so all four games are now through the 40 move time control (in every case other than Akito, by the collective skin of their teeth!):
- Matthews game is still very even, very hard to judge who really has an edge. Matthew has Q, B & N against Q and 2Ns. 6 pawns each
- Adam is in a N and pawn endgame, Adam has 3 and his opponent 4. Unfortunately, two of those four are connected & passed pawns on the Q-side. Not looking too good for him
- Pavel has R and 3 pawns against R, B & 3.
- Akito also in a N and pawn endgame, still with 3 pawns against his opponents 4.

Suspect it will be a long evening before we know the final outcome! Impressively, the only match in the entire event which still has all four games going is England vs Germany.

[Jim Wadsworth]

Update: Pavel has, sadly, lost. The other three are still going. But not looking good for Adam, some slim draw chances perhaps. Akito also has some draw chances. All three results still available for Matthew...

[Jim Wadsworth]

Adam and Akito have just lost

[Jim Wadsworth]

Matthew drew - he forced his opponent to bail out with a perpetual - so a good result for Matthew personally (playing with black against a previously 100% GM). But obviously the team result is a bit disappointing.

Onwards and upwards....now into the second half of the tournament. I imagine we will have Turkey B tomorrow, but let's wait and see what the pairings say.

[Jim Wadsworth]

Round 5 is now two hours in. As expected we are playing Turkey B.

All four games are pretty even so far.
- Matthew is probably slightly worse over the board (though certainly not decisively so), and yet again has put himself under time pressure (about 12 minutes plus the increments to make 12 moves to the time control, his opponent has almost 40 minutes more).
- On board 2, Adam is into a level endgame, which with the black pieces probably suits him.
- Pavel's game on board 3 is probably the least progressed so far
- Akito's game is the most open. The two Kings are on the g file, and the respective g pawns have just been swapped off leaving both Kings somewhat exposed. No immediately obvious win for either player, however.

[Jim Wadsworth]

Now approaching the 3 hour mark
- Matthew definitely a bit better over the board now. Down to his increment with about three moves to make to the time control...
- Adams game very even, I expect he will offer a draw once he gets past (imminently) his 30th move. (Sofia rules apply, albeit with the threshold being 30 rather than the 40 moves seen at previous events)
- Pavel's and Akito's games much as before - pretty level, albeit lots of cut and thrust going on in Akitos!

[Jim Wadsworth]

Another draw for Matthew - either side of the time control his opponent basically swapped everything off to get down to a dead level opposite coloured bishop endgame. An OK result for Matthew given the Turkish players rating performance in the event is around 2450 - though given he was playing with white, Matthew is currently a bit frustrated.

In the other games
- Adams game is dead level, he just offered a draw
- Pavel looks a bit better
- Akito's game is still unclear

[Jim Wadsworth]

Draw for Adam, happy enough given he was playing with black today