Post
by John Higgs » Mon Nov 05, 2018 12:01 pm
Round 1 report:
Most of the England delegation arrived in Santiago de Compostela on Saturday evening, before the first round on Sunday afternoon. There were a few families who had arrived a couple of days earlier to get used to the weather and conditions. The Head of delegation successfully navigated the team through the normal teething issues around administration, and settled the group into the relaxed surroundings of the team hotel.
The playing hall is set in the Gaias City of Culture, which is a stunning piece of modern architecture with an art gallery, library and museum. The venue and hotel are both just outside the city.
This delegation is a nice mix of talented, young and experienced players, both girls and boys equal numbers. We are all looking forward to seeing them in action, and we are sure you are too.
There are three age groups in the tournament U8, U10 and U12 and the team has representatives in the U10/U12 Girls and Open sections. Before the first round the team had a motivational team presentation, which concluded with distributing the ECF and WCCC badges. The Delegation travelled the ten minutes to the playing hall in the buses arranged by the organisers, and everything went smoothly. The players finally settled down on the board.
Parents were seen sitting outside in a tent, some late into the first day rainy evening. It is early days but the start looked good, the players could be seen working hard on the board. They will have to do it 11 times during this tournament, up to 4-5 hours if it comes to that.
For England, the first round brought 9.5/14 points. The highlight was the performances for the U12 Girls, where this group scored 4/5 points with Anum and Abigail both battling for 4+ hours, to win their games which lasted until 9 in the evening having started at 4.30.
The one surprise was a loss by Shreyas Royal to a talented player from Kazakhstan who was significantly better than his rating suggested. No doubt Shreyas will bounce back soon.
There were some quick wins in U10 Boys section, Nishchal and George came out of the hall with broad smiles. It is great to see these kids play so well at this level.
There was a long game for Adam Hussain, who was battling it out with a 2000+ rated player, till late in the evening. Adam and Abbey were the last two kids to finish their games. Abbey had a nice win, however for Adam the result was not in our favour – but it is early days and there is a lot to happen in next 10 rounds which I am looking forward to seeing.
We had nice wins from Roxolana, Jess, Julia and Jacob while Keerthana settled for peace with a draw. James was playing a 2200+ rated player and enjoyed a nice position for some time. I think at some point he overlooked a tactic. It was not a good scene to see this boy lose, but he is a talented kid.
Niamh in the U12 Girls was playing Board 6, against a 1800+ player. She had a good start and looked impressive, but somewhere in the opening she could have done better.
In general feedback from the coaches is that the team played well, with the majority of the games going as expected based on ratings. The Chess24 website broadcasts the top 20 games live in each section on 30 minute delay with the games starting at 4.30 local time (3.30pm UK time).
The team is looking forward to round 2 and hoping that the weather picks up after a day of almost continuous rain!
John Merriman
Last edited by John Higgs on Tue Nov 06, 2018 10:42 am, edited 2 times in total.
"I'm not the one who got it wrong. I'm the only one who got it right". Carrie Mathison.
