Glorney Gilbert International 2014

[John Higgs]

Chess Scotland are hosting the Glorney Gilbert International 2014 at Stirling University - it starts tomorrow and finishes on Wednesday. There are two rounds a day, 09.30 & 14.30.

This is a team event that has been running continuously since 1949. It has a long and varied history and is currently run as four competitions:

Glorney Cup Under 18's 5 boards
Robinson Cup Under 14's 6 boards
Gilbert Cup Girls under 18 3 boards
Stokes Cup Under 12's 6 boards

There will be live boards during the event.

Full details can be found at:

http://www.glorneycupchess.org

Good luck to England juniors

[John Higgs]

From Debbie Taylor, England Head of Delegation:

Everyone arrived safely in Scotland on Sunday having travelled by car and or train. It was a warm muggy evening with some drizzly rain. On arrival we were met by members of the Stirling Chess Club who showed us where we were playing in relation to our accomodation, and the dining area. Both straightforward and quite close.

With the dining room opening at seven we all found our team room, were given our team shirts and badges and then went to have something to eat. The canteen provided a good selection of food and we were then ready for the team meeting. We met the coaches and our team members.

We then attended an opening ceremony to meet the other teams, be given some game rules and the draw was done. We all went back to the team room to wait for details of the players for the next day, once we had this it was time for some quick prep and then bed.

Monday morning, an early start with breakfast at 7 am which again was a great selection to start the day. Then the coaches were available for some prep with the first game starting at 9.30. We play Ireland this morning and after some confusion over round pairings we are definitely playing Scotland this afternoon! There are three playing rooms with all games expected to be broadcast live.

thanks to Jane, mum to Alex, for this report.

[John Higgs]

Latest news from Debbie Taylor, Head of Delegation:

Good results today for England juniors in rounds 1 & 2:

Glorney 3/5
Gilbert 2.5/3
Robinson 4/6
Stokes 6/6

Round 3 starts tomorrow at 9am.

Wish us luck

[John Higgs]

The Glorney International – Day 1 Report

This year the Glorney International is taking place at Stirling University. All of the teams are accommodated in Andrew Stewart Hall which overlooks the beautiful Airthrey Loch in the centre of the campus. Just a short walk away is the Pathfoot Building where the dining hall and playing facilities are located along with the Team Room. Each day two rounds will be played. Round 1 is Ireland versus England and Scotland versus Wales. Round 2 is England versus Scotland and Wales versus Ireland. Four separate competitions are taking place – Glorney (5 boys U18), Gilbert (3 girls U18), Robinson (6 boys U14) and Stokes (6 boys U12) making 20 England players in total.

On Day 1 the first round starts at 9:30am with Round 2 at 3pm. Internet access has been patchy so some players who have got the Internet are preparing with team-mates in tandem. The 3 coaches (in alphabetical order) are IM Lawrence Cooper, GM Mark Hebden and IM Adam Hunt. They are previewing future pairings to help players achieve the best results and also analysing games with each player after every game.

At the end of Day 1 England has played Ireland and Scotland. Five players are on 2/2 – William Claridge-Hansen, Josh Higgs, Joseph Dalton, James Golding and Alex Golding with another 5 players on 1.5 out of 2. The England Glorney and Robinson teams are currently leading their sections with 6/10 and 8/12 respectively. The Stokes team got off to a slow start with 1.5 points from 6 games against Ireland but played magnificently in Round 2 with 6 out of 6 against Scotland – they are now on 7.5/12 and are lying in second place to Ireland. The team is also in second place with 3.5/6 just half a point behind Wales.

There are 4 more rounds to play over the next couple of days so watch this space!

Report by Mary Fraser, mum to John

[John Higgs]

Stop press!

England score 18.5/20 in round three!

[John Higgs]

Day two report from Simon Scott:

England had high hopes for their Day 2 morning match against Wales, and didn’t disappoint. Another technical glitch meant that the lights couldn’t be switched on, so the games started with the natural light of a beautiful sunny day. This didn’t affect any of the England players: across the four teams they scored 18.5 out of 20 with no losses. Robinson and Stokes both scored 6 out of 6. A fantastic achievement.

The afternoon session against Scotland was closer but still a great day’s work for the teams. In the Glorney and Gilbert room the session was interrupted by a car alarm which sounded like a fire alarm so had to be investigated! But play was able to continue, resulting in a 3.5-1.5 win for England in the Glorney and 2.5-0.5 for Gilbert. Unfortunately one of the players (not an England player) was disqualified for a mobile phone going off, an unfortunate reminder to us all. In the Robinson a tight match was drawn 3-3, contrasting with a complete walkover 6-0 in the Stokes.

So the final day has it all to play for. England are leading by 4.5pts in the Glorney, by 1.5pts in Gilbert and by 3.5pts in Robinson. England are now tied in first against Ireland in the Stokes, who they play tomorrow morning. An exciting final day awaits us!

[John Higgs]

Stop press from Debbie Taylor, Head of Delegation:

Team England win all 4 Cups!

Thanks to supreme effort from all 20 players and 3 coaches!

Full story to follow

[Paul Bielby]

Congratulations to all concerned, and particularly to the Stokes team who had had to fight back from a bad start.

Thanks too the Glorney Cup website for the live games and pgn versions which enabled me to keep abreast of what was going on - even if the results section remained obstinately blank throughout. Fortunately Debbie Taylor's reports on the ECF Junior site did give enough of the results for the final two rounds to be followed.

Obviously i was most interested in the games of the two Geordie boys whom I had introduced to the game - they both managed 5/6. Well done! And, of course well done to everybody else too..

[Lewis Martin]

Very well done to all!

[John Higgs]

Glorney/Gilbert Day 3 Report

England Sweep The Board!

Incongruous as it seems to write of English triumphs over the Scots (not to mention the Welsh and Irish) in the shadow of the magnificent William Wallace Memorial close to Bannockburn, this was another excellent day for the English chess teams in Stirling.

England retained the Glorney Cup with a round to spare with a 4.5-0.5 morning win over the Irish, and the England Girls built a clear lead in the Gilbert Cup with an excellent 3-0 win. The Robertson team were a little more restrained with a 3.5 – 2.5 win over the Irish, but maybe performance of the day was from the under-pressure Stokes team who reversed their opening morning 4.5-1.5 loss to the Irish U12s with 3 great wins on the top 3 boards –including an extraordinary winning positional whole-rook sacrifice from board 2 James Moreby against his 1884-rated opponent who had 4/4 to that point.

A very determined performance from the bottom 3 boards too, with 3 solid draws against their strong Irish opposite numbers who had been on fire up to that point! Alex Golding has been imperious on top board for the Stokes team and took his score to 5/5, as did William Claridge-Hansen on board 2 in the Glorney.

So England went into the 4 afternoon matches against the Welsh as strong favourites to win all 3 remaining trophies, and duly swept to victory in all three, although the Welsh girls put up particularly stiff resistance in the Gilbert. Alex and William completed their 6/6 scores, but every member of each team made a significant contribution to the overall English success.

A sincere thank you to Debbie Taylor who was a fantastic Head of Delegation and to coaches Mark Hebden, Adam Hunt and Loz Cooper for their brilliant support for the teams.

Thank you to Chris Howell for this report.

[LawrenceCooper]

Thanks too the Glorney Cup website for the live games and pgn versions which enabled me to keep abreast of what was going on - even if the results section remained obstinately blank throughout. .

http://www.chessscotland.com/membership ... y_Cup.html http://www.chessscotland.com/membership ... t_Cup.html http://www.chessscotland.com/membership ... n_Cup.html http://www.chessscotland.com/membership/Stokes_Cup.html

I was very proud of the 20 juniors who helped England win all four trophies especially with so many debutants being involved. Thanks also to coaches Mark Hebden & Adam Hunt, to Head of Delegation Debbie Taylor and to all the parents for being so supportive. I couldn't have asked for a better final event as Junior Director.

[Paul Bielby]

Thanks for that, Loz. I take it the grading performances given are Scottish gradings - are the games in these competitions FIDE rated?

[Peter D Williams]

I was very proud of the 20 juniors who helped England win all four trophies especially with so many debutants being involved. Thanks also to coaches Mark Hebden & Adam Hunt, to Head of Delegation Debbie Taylor and to all the parents for being so supportive. I couldn't have asked for a better final event as Junior Director.

Well done great result by the England players.

Why are you standing down as Junior Director? maybe you could tell forum members in anther thread?

Time to listen to Ken Dodd champion Ventriloquist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4znpOdPRrg

[LawrenceCooper]

Thanks for that, Loz. I take it the grading performances given are Scottish gradings - are the games in these competitions FIDE rated?

All of the four events are to be FIDE rated. I'm not sure about how the performance online were calculated.

[LawrenceCooper]

Why are you standing down as Junior Director? maybe you could tell forum members in anther thread?

Now is not the appropriate time to comment on this, what I will say though is that I've had magnificent support from everyone in the Junior Directorship and from players, parents and coaches.