European Schools Chess Championships 2018

[John Higgs]

The European Schools Chess Championship started on 30th June and runs to 8th July. The event is a 9 round FIDE rated event and is for boys and girls in the U7, U9, U11, U13, U15 & U17 categories. The venue is Krakow, Poland.

The England delegation is 18 players and 5 coaches. The team can be viewed at:

https://www.englishchess.org.uk/Juniors ... hips-2018/

The event website is http://escc2018.eu/en/home/

The live games link is http://escc2018.eu/en/transmission/

The pairing and results link for the event (tab across for your chosen age group) is:

http://www.chessarbiter.com/turnieje/2018/ti_3440/

Latest news, photographs etc can be seen via the twitter feed : @ECFJuniors2018

No twitter account? You can follow the twitter feed via this link:

https://mobile.twitter.com/ECFJuniors2018

[Andrew Martin]

Thanks to John Higgs for all that he does. We actually have five coaches here, with GM Jonathan Hawkins making up the team.

The first round report from Sheikh Nasarullah ( Anum Sheikh's dad) below:



'After the opening ceremony and other technical meetings, finally the ESCC2018 commenced. More than 300 players are participating in ESCC2018 and flags of about twenty three participating nations could be seen flying in opening ceremony.
The England delegation settled down well as all families finally got their rooms and had a look at the venue and the surroundings. The venue seems to be fine, with some little hiccups with food. But all is well and the focus has shifted to pairings and chess openings, middlegames and tactics.
First round is usually full of nerves for players and it was evident, mostly for the young players who are playing an International event for first time.


For England the first round brought 12.5 points from 18. Most of the results looked as expected based on the ratings of the player. All higher rated players beat lower rated players, except for a couple, one each in both boys and girls section.
Girls scored far better than boys, 3.5/4 compared to 9/16. But it is early days yet.

There were couple of quick exits in round 1 as couple of our players won by default. Based on the feedback given by coaches there was some good quality chess played and as the tournament progresses we might expect even higher quality chess.

Coaches were seen busy in our dedicated coaching room in the morning as the pairings were drawn late. Post game analysis commenced till late with some animated analysis of some games as there was lot to be said about the moves played and not played. There were some live boards too for England players and the parents and coaches alike were seen glued to live broadcast of the games. Some feedback seemed to be coming from back home as well.


For next rounds I hope i will be able to bring a closer feel of the heat of the battle over 64 black and white squares that the games will bring. The game of chess does come with its intricacies, the preperation and refutations, the complex web of tactics and calculations, imagination and creativities. No wonder some great player said, chess is mental torture. Our twenty kids will fight with this torture for rest of the eight days, the parents will have their part as well. Let us hope this will bring some good chess and learning out for the kids and parents.


See you post R2.'


Nas

[Andrew Martin]

From Sheikh Nasarullah:



R2 report===
With the first round behind them, the players and parents both seem to have settled down today. There was a little drizzle during the day in Krakow, but it was mostly pleasant. There was no nervousness of finding the correct lucky charm pens, getting to your table, taking the shortest path to tournamaent hall. All this will be a routine now for next week, except for Tuesday which is a double rounder and will test the stamina of players and coaches and possibly the patience of parents.


Second round found nine England players on Live boards, which means tough matches against players standing amongst first ten in standings.
Games were therefore longer today, the fastest exits were 1hr into the round and some players were late to dinner due to long games. Overall today was a tough day, as the majority of games were played against players of relatively higher strengths.
Out of 18 of our players:
10 found themselves playing against players who were higher rated then them. Out of these 12, three players brilliantly score the whole point, one of the players could manage to split the point.
8 found themselves playing players which clocked lesser than them on the FIDE scale. There were three upsets here and a split of point as well.
This meant our score in round two was 8/18.

Among the winners today were (order of age, increasing):
O-11 Auchi, Nadhmi
O-13 Huang, Henry
O-13 Orgler, Lukas
O-15 Gogia, Armaan
O-15 Gray, Edward
O-17 Varney, Daniel

G-13 Maladkar, Lavanya

There were couple of draws as well:
O-11 Trivedi, Aarnavh
G-15 Davidson, Laura

In terms of perfect scores so far, we have three players at maximum of 2/2
O-11 Auchi, Nadhmi
O-15 Gogia, Armaan
G-13 Maladkar, Lavanya

For the players who lost their games so far, all that can be said is losing is actually part of the game, losing the lesson is not. Hope the valuable lessons were absorbed by our players in the journey of becoming better players.
Best of luck to the England team in R3, in which two players will go on to play top boards and there will be three players whose moves can be watched live

Thanks
Nas

[Andrew Martin]

A report on round three from Sheikh Nasarullah:


R3 report====
Round 3 had the most calm atmosphere so far, while the players where settling in chairs and straightening their pieces the hall looked in order, there was a certian calmness that could be felt.
Once the games started our live boards were the source of interest for most of the parents and coaches, for the parents the ordeal of having to watch each move was too much.It is not easy to stay away even if it is painful. Watching the mistakes and then thinking about the pain that their child is going to go through is also a big torment. But this is the occupational hazard of an accompanying parent. Our full sympathies are with them.
While the players were figuring out the optimum placement of their pieces in the hall, parents were seen busy arranging some activities for free day on Wednesday.

Back to chess:
The games on the top boards were hard fought, the pendlum also was swinging both sides at times. But at the end, the reults did not end in our favour.

We had four wins from players on the white side of board:
O-11 Dharmasena, Kian
O-15 Howell, Oliver W
G-11 Mellor, Jessica
G-13 Sheikh, Anum

There were four draws split on each colour:
O-13 Aubury, Benjamin
O-13 Orgler, Lukas
O-17 Varney, Daniel
G-15 Davidson, Laura

A bye for
O-11 Gardiner, Ethan

The overall score was therfore 7/18

Tomorrow is a double rounder and therfore there was a change in coaching schedule, participants will be doing late and early morning sessions, if not taking rest for the tough day.

Let us hope tomorrow is a better day!


Thanks
Nas

[Andrew Martin]

The double round day report from Sheikh Nasarullah:




Tuesday was a busy day at Galaxy hotel, Krakow. There were some early breakfasts and coaching sessions as the round was starting at 0930 local time, this was the first early round. There will be similar early rounds on coming Friday and Sunday. So players had less time to prepare.
In the Girls U15 section however, our player Laura was content to have only one round for this day. There are only 12 in this section and hence only 7 rounds will be played (other sections play 9 rounds).
Round 4 started at the designated early hour and players went to business as usual, by now the indication of leaders and top half of the players has started crystallising. There were some interesting games today for England players, live boards looked quite promising at start. In one of the games there was a beautiful Queen lift ( i have seen Rook lifts earlier ) on the Black side of a Dragon and the opponent was taken by complete surprise. However after a stiff resistance by opponent and a very long game the points were split. This game was last to end in the hall.

Overall we had wins from:

O-09 Lohia, Sohum
O-11 Gardiner, Ethan
O-11 Trivedi, Aarnavh
O-13 Aubury, Benjamin
O-13 Dharmasena, Gavith
O-15 Gray, Edward
O-17 Varney, Daniel

and there were draws from
O-11 Auchi, Nadhmi
O-13 Huang, Henry
O-15 Gogia, Armaan
G-11 Mellor, Jessica
G-13 Maladkar, Lavanya
G-15 Davidson, Laura

Round 4 score was therefore 10/18

Round 5 started soon after and again there was not much preperation players could do, there were some long games played and the last to come out were Lavanya and Nadhmi.

The wins were:
O-09 Lohia, Sohum
O-11 Auchi, Nadhmi
O-11 Dharmasena, Kian
O-11 Trivedi, Aarnavh
O-13 Dharmasena, Gavith
G-11 Mellor, Jessica
G-13 Maladkar, Lavanya

The draws were:
O-11 CHEN, Daniel Xingyu
O-13 Huang, Henry
O-13 Orgler, Lukas
O-15 Gray, Edward
O-15 Howell, Oliver W
G-13 Sheikh, Anum

Overall score 10/17 (Laura played Round 4 while others played Round 5)

The day did not end here however, the parents and coaches were seen busy watching the England match in the evening. The hotel lobby looked like we were in England, there were flags flying all over. This lasted longer than expected as the endgame play was poor and a stoppage time equaliser resulted in extra time.
The penalty shoot outs were tense but all ended well. The delegation dispersed happily to spend the rest day and come back stronger for the business end of the tournament.




Thanks
Nas

[Andrew Martin]

Sheikh Nasarullah runs the voodoo down for round six:




Round six started in afternoon at 15:30 local time. A Polish chess shop was seen outside the tournament hall this time, showcasing some nice sets, books and stationary.
Coming back from a rest day, players had ample time to regain some composure, do some preparation and recharge their batteries.
Games were again long fought as by the middle of tournament players of similar strengths tend to sit across the table. There were some beautiful games played on live boards this included our Under11 girl player Jess who is now on top board (along with Lavanya ) for next round. Other nice win was from Ethan in our Open U11 section.
Overall we had six wins:
O-11 CHEN, Daniel Xingyu
O-11 Gardiner, Ethan
O-13 Huang, Henry
O-15 Howell, Oliver W
G-11 Mellor, Jessica
G-13 Maladkar, Lavanya

and four draws
O-09 Lohia, Sohum
O-13 Orgler, Lukas
O-15 Gogia, Armaan
O-15 Gray, Edward

Our leaders in score are 4.5/6:

G-11 Mellor, Jessica
G-13 Maladkar, Lavanya

Round six therefore was 8/17 (Laura plays R6 today)

[Neil Graham]

I'm glad the Polish chess shop was stationary - you wouldn't have been able to purchase any stationery if it had been moving.

[Andrew Martin]

Coaching at 7am has never been my favourite activity. Rd 7 was one of those punishing early starts.

Sheikh Nasarullah has the news:

Round 7 was an early start day at 09:30 am, our players started their games after doing coaching sessions early in the morning. It is not easy thing to adjust to the early starts as you get lesser time to rest and even lesser time to prepare. However, the same can be said about the opponents, so it is just a test of who adjusts to the change better.

As the rounds go by, generally the draw rates go up, this is because of the tiring factor. Long chess games use all energy from the players. The nine rounder tournament not only tests your chess skills, but also your stamina. Chess is about outhinking your opponent on 64 squares, but this means the brain must have the best conditions to do that. At this stage some factors become decisive, factors like stamina, diet, preperation, patience, creativity and imagination, emotional strength, how best you react to changing emotions of the game, the painful defeats, the misses, the ever changing intitiative.
It is said that chess is optimal when the brain and body are in perfect sync with each other. That means the physical fitness also plays a big role. Some great chess players have known to do preperation at great length in terms of physical fitness before important tournaments.
Coming back to our team, there has been some education given lately to parents through ECF chess academy touching these aspects of the game, surely the parents are more informed now than before.

Back to the round 7, we had four nice wins from
O-11 CHEN, Daniel Xingyu (Black)
O-15 Gogia, Armaan (White)
O-15 Gray, Edward (Black)
G-11 Mellor, Jessica (Black)

and seven draws frrom:
O-11 Auchi, Nadhmi
O-11 Dharmasena, Kian
O-11 Trivedi, Aarnavh
O-13 Aubury, Benjamin
O-13 Huang, Henry
O-15 Howell, Oliver W
G-13 Sheikh, Anum

So this makes R7 7.5/17


Thanks
Nas

[Leonard Barden]

It's a bit difficult to follow from the above exactly what is happening in the girls U11, the event where England has the best chance of a medal, so I looked it up.

A Russian leads on 6/7 followed by another Russian, a Slovak and Jessica Mellor on 5.5, then a gap to the next group on 4.5.

Jessica has not yet met the leader or the Slovak, but defeated the 5.5 Russian in round 7.
This afternoon in round 8 she has been downfloated to the No2 seed from Turkey who is on 4.5.

Jessica started slowly so she probably doesn't have a great tiebreak, but 1.5/2 would be a good medal chance. Anything more will depend on tomorrow's final round 9 pairings.

[Mick Norris]

The 2 girls that Jessica is currently tied with both had first round opponents fail to show; not sure how that affects the tiebreak

Hopefully she can win today

[Leonard Barden]

Jessica has won in 67 moves.

The first part of the game was classy and impressive, as Jessica showed good understanding of a Grand Prix-style attack against the black king which eventually netted a piece. She could have finished it off quicker, but made rather heavy weather of it when her opponent wouldn't resign a piece and five pawns down.

The other two top games are still grinding on, but it looks likely that Jessica, now on 6.5/8, can take the gold medal by winning in tomorrow's final round and possibly silver or bronze if she draws. It won't be easy, of course, with last round tension, the black pieces, and much at stake.

Whatever happens she's already done very well in her international debut, and performed far above her modest 1477 rating.

Update: Jessica will have White in the final round against the No3 seed from Slovakia. Both are on 6.5/8, with another two players on 6/8. So a win will be clear first, a draw between first and fourth depending on tie-breaks.

[Andrew Martin]

The last round is upon us, with one of the team in with a real chance of a medal. Everyone is 100% behind her.

Nas paints the picture of an excellent round eight for England:




Round eight started at the usual 15:30 local time at Galaxy Hotel Krakow, once the players settled down in the hall for their penultimate games parents and coaches were getting ready for the football game which was starting soon after, the scene was all set-in hotel lobby. Some parents and coaches were seen shopping at the chess stall that has been setup just outside the hall. The word is that the Polish chess sets, and clocks are cheaper and at the same time better quality than what we get back home.

Once the games started, the live boards generated lot of interest for our delegation. Particularly the game of our girl player in U11 section.

Our lead scorer, Jess in the Girls U11 section played a splendid attacking game against the Sicilian. The pressure was on the higher rated opponent from the opening, as the pawns lunged menacingly towards the opponents King. Defending a position is always harder in chess than attacking as the scope of error is small. With a couple of inaccurate defence moves the position was almost winning by twelfth move. However, in chess you must win the won game as things can turn fast if a player misses an opportunity. Jess was able to bring home the whole point in 67 moves. There were some anxious moments for audience looking at her live game, this was truer for her parents. In the end it all ended happy for them. Jess has now got 6.5/8 and is playing the top board in the last round.

Rest of our England team also performed well today as we got 9 wins:

O-11 Auchi, Nadhmi,
O-11 CHEN, Daniel Xingyu
O-11 Dharmasena, Kian
O-11 Gardiner, Ethan
O-13 Aubury, Benjamin
O-13 Dharmasena, Gavith
O-13 Orgler, Lukas
G-11 Mellor, Jessica
G-13 Sheikh, Anum


There were 5 draws:

O-09 Lohia, Sohum
O-11 Trivedi, Aarnavh
O-15 Gogia, Armaan
O-15 Gray, Edward
O-15 Howell, Oliver W



Overall score for R8 therefore is: 11.5/17





Thanks

Nas

[John Higgs]

Good luck to all players in the last round today.

[Mick Norris]

Jessica has won in 67 moves.

The first part of the game was classy and impressive, as Jessica showed good understanding of a Grand Prix-style attack against the black king which eventually netted a piece. She could have finished it off quicker, but made rather heavy weather of it when her opponent wouldn't resign a piece and five pawns down.

The other two top games are still grinding on, but it looks likely that Jessica, now on 6.5/8, can take the gold medal by winning in tomorrow's final round and possibly silver or bronze if she draws. It won't be easy, of course, with last round tension, the black pieces, and much at stake.

Whatever happens she's already done very well in her international debut, and performed far above her modest 1477 rating.

Update: Jessica will have White in the final round against the No3 seed from Slovakia. Both are on 6.5/8, with another two players on 6/8. So a win will be clear first, a draw between first and fourth depending on tie-breaks.

Good luck Jessica

She's listed as 2nd in the table on the website, which might suggest a draw wouldn't be enough for first

[LawrenceCooper]

Good luck Jessica

Seconded.