Summerscale Chess Clubs website

EUROPEAN YOUTH CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2008

Matt Hunt, reporting as English squad head of delegation
from the Championships in Montenegro
and Claire Summerscale on the ground in London.

Official website

Welcome to the European Youth Chess Championships and the England Delegation, settled in at last to the Centar Igalo Hotel on the bonnie banks of the bay of Topla in Montenegro. At least we are assured it is a bay and yesterday when the rain briefly stopped and the clouds lifted to over 50 feet above ground level someone did report seeing the sea! So it must be said that weather-wise at least all you watchers from afar are missing nothing.

The Who:

The coaches are GM Neil McDonald, IM Andrew Greet and IM Thomas Rendle and the reprobate (excellent collective noun - Claire) of accompanying parents includes: Matt Hunt, Peter Williams, Alexey Andreev, Neil Fitzgerald, Antonis Kokossis and Hui Wang.

The what: Chess: 64 squares, 16 pieces (each player), 90 mins for 40 moves, then add 30 minutes to finish the game (each player). Oh, and add 30 secs for each move made. So a 60 move game where both players use the same amount of time as each other can last 5 hours. As for any other rules, apparently they’re pretty standard, so I’ll assume you know them…

The Where: Igalo in Montenegro, a sort of eastern Mediterranean (Adriatic) kiss-me-quick seaside village resort, just 2 km up the coast from the picturesque town of Herceg Novi where yours truly attended his first international chess tournament back in 2005. And indeed Subin Sen and Maria Wang were both there that time too!

The When: We arrived on Sunday in three tranches, assuming people can be split into tranches without breaking any international or local laws? Sixteen of the party flew Gatwick to Dubrovnik (in Croatia) where the group was immediately split evenly asunder with half the group heading straight to the hotel and the other half having to wait 45 minutes for a flight from Barcelona (I know naaaathing). During this wait the heavens opened and have proceeded to remain that way. The final tranche was the three-fold Wangs who had to fly direct to Tivat and got to the hotel an hour or so later. So everyone arrived pretty well unscathed and settled in to the sound of monsoon.

The early hours of this morning were memorable for the density of the downpour, the sight of rivers cascading down the steep roads through the village, and the rumble and crack of thunder and lightening. Lexie would have been petrified. I tell you I was pretty spooked and I’m no dog! The hotel, in the grey morning light, looks no better and no worse than it appeared last night, but remains indescribable – I will have to let your imaginations work their own magic – and I am sure that one day, many years from now, we’ll be able to smile about the experience.

The Why: To represent England at this prestigious international youth tournament! What an honour for the players, they have worked hard just to get here, but now they have to work even harder to gain the results that will do them justice - Matt Hunt

We will be following their progress and reporting on their games daily. I'm sure you will all join me in wishing them all the very best of luck - Claire

Coaching routines start in the morning, with one hour slots from 09:30 to 12:30. Then lunch, relaxation and last minute preparation, then we all gather at 14:30 to march en masse to the playing hall (or paddle, depending on the rain).

The Hotel Plaza wi-fi is broken, so we aren't able to connect to the World Web Intersite. No pairings appear at the auspicious Hotel Centar Igalo but thanks to some efficient texting from the UK where the WWIntersite is readily available (and the pairings have been posted for some time) over lunch everyone gets to know who they are playing in the first round. Some real tough opponents, but there’s nothing to lose so the players remain in high spirits. And then suddenly it grows dark, very dark. The clouds are thick, almost black and slide down the mountains into the water. The hills around Igalo mysteriously grow hazy then disappear altogether. And then the heavens open – if we thought yesterday was bad, it proceeds to rain like none of us have seen since – well, since we left England. At this point, I truly wonder if we will be able to get to the venue. I’d hire a boat except the playing hall is over the hill and there’s no way any boat could get up what are now frightening rapids coming down the roads and hillsides between us, never mind taxis or buses. Just as it looks hopeless and I draft an apologetic communiqué to the ECF explaining the default from Round 1 of the entire England Squad, the rain stops, the clouds vanish and the mountains re-appear – all in the blink of an eye. And the sun comes out! So smiles all round, we’re back in business!

Wow, the magnificent tournament hall and all of our players. If you can spot them, your eye sight is certainly better than mine! Claire The venue is unusual – the playing area is out of bounds to all bar the arbiters and Heads of Delegations once the games have been underway for 15 minutes. However, one side of the hall is a massive grandstand, so spectators retire to watch their players from above. And Hui (Mr. Wang) has binoculars, which makes some of the board positions readily analysable from the stands.

Section	Colour	Player	Opposition	Opp rating	Result
18	w	James Hanley	Rozum Ivan (rus)	2444	L
16	b	Subin Sen	Strunski Andreas (ger)	2294	D
16	b	Lateefah Messam Sparks	Tsatsalashvili Keti (geo)	2271	L
14	b	Danny Hunt	Nikologorskiy Konstantin (rus)	2174	L
14	w	Danae Kokossis	Baraeva Marina (rus)	2083	W
12	w	Peter Williams	Semianiuk Konstantin (blr)	0	L
12	b	Maria Wang	Rato Ana Margarida (por)	1508	W
10	b	Peter Andreev	Popov Artemiy (rus)	0	L
10	b	Robert Fitzgerald	Sirokov Jevgenijs (lat)	0	W
10	w	Anna Wang	Kokanovic Zana (bih)	0	W

A tough first round draw but some good results. Robert was first out with a win – what a start to his maiden international competition! Danae started the tournament exceptionally well, beating the 5th seed, a Russian WFM, a great result. Maria also showed her class, beating a much higher rated player. Congratulations to Subin, fresh from his impressive performance at the World Youth Under 16 Olympiad, he held the 2294 Gerogian 19th seed to a draw from an endgame in which he was a pawn down.

Keep an eye on the tournament home page. The organisers put the pgn games files of all the games up quickly: here

After the excitement of clear skies all afternoon and evening of Day 1 we are awoken on Day 2 before 6am by the sound of thunder and more torrential rain. This time however it stops before breakfast time and the sun comes out – it looks like it’ll be a dry day. And when we come downstairs for breakfast, we find the pairings for Round 2 are posted on the wall in reception – fantastic!

The coaching regime is in place now and the players are ready to settle in to the routine. First up though, we have to find a chess set or two and then a room big enough to fianchetto in - that’s slightly less than swing-a-cat-in size, but bigger than what is obviously the Centar Igalo’s standard “Chess Coach’s Room”. After that is all sorted, the coaching is resumed.

But let us not get ahead of ourselves, we’ve not played Round 2 yet! And let’s remember it is dry, it is not raining, the sun shines and we’re not getting wet – hoorah! Some serious explorations of the locale begin, with intrepid Reprobates heading out for a sneaky (real) coffee and fry up to supplement the “continental” breakfast in the hotel. There is some R’n’R for the Players as well – if they can be dragged away from their game research for any time at all. It is turning out to be not such a bad place after all: loads of little shops, mini-markets, stalls and kiosks, restaurants, cafés and grill-bars to entertain and sustain. And of course, just a mile or so away is the pretty and historic old town of Herceg Novi

Then before you know it, and not long after Maria and Anna have bribed Danny into eating all his lunch in exchange for an extra portion of marsh-mallow cake, it is time to go back to the venue - hopefully you can see why I find it so hard to describe.

Section	Colour	Player	Opposition	Opp rating	Result
18	b	James Hanley	Kasela Sten (est)	1979	D
16	w	Subin Sen	Baron Tal (isr)	2285	L
16	w	Lateefah Messam Sparks	Zalimaite Ieva (ltu)	1844	L
14	w	Danny Hunt	Kollar Jan Marek (svk)	0	W
14	b	Danae Kokossis	Vasina Olena (ukr)	1988	L
12	b	Peter Williams	Krstonijevic Bozidar (mne)	0	W
12	w	Maria Wang	Rigolot Lucie (fra)	1709	W
10	w	Peter Andreev	Misiuk Patrik (ltu)	0	W
10	w	Robert Fitzgerald	Zubkov Vsevolod (rus)	0	D
10	b	Anna Wang	Hojjatova Aydan Hikmat Qizi (aze)	0	D

And the clocks do start bang on time! And very quickly (in fact instantly in chess terms, although an hour in human terms) Danny is out with a win! Not long afterwards Peter Andreev is out with a win too – so two of the 5 with zero points get straight off the mark. Then comes Anna, rescuing a draw at the last minute and Robert also securing a safe draw. Subin is next with, by his own admission, a disappointing loss from a drawn position. Meanwhile Peter Williams has slipped out unnoticed (except by dad Peter!) also with a win. So only Lateefah and James, both still playing, both waiting to get off the mark. Suddenly Danae is out – she’s lost, and then Maria comes out, she’s won. Then Lateefah… but she has lost too. Everyone heads back to the hotel – well, if James wants to play long games all the time then he can do it on his own… but seriously, he is left playing and by the time the CoD gets back to the venue he’s just finished. Having gone into the end game a pawn down (again!) it is no surprise to hear he’s lost. Except I didn’t, because he secured a draw! Result! Certainly better than anything Spurs have managed so far this season. And this means the total for the team today is 5.5 points from 10. Added to the 4.5 from yesterday and we have 10 points from a possible 20 so far – exactly on our 50% minimum target. Well done the Players!

Day 3 dawns, bright and clear and dry. So everything remains looking up. And the pairings were posted in our Hotel reception just after 9pm last night, very efficient of the tournament organisers!

There is excited chat over breakfast – everyone is really into the tournament now and sorting out their daily routines. At Neil’s instigation we decide to learn a few words of Montenegrin – this morning it is “Please” and “Thank you”.

The coaching routine is settled and already it “just happens” each morning. The Players are all buzzing with ideas, the coaches are kept fully occupied and the local shops are doing a roaring trade in bottled water and Milka chocolate. And from 17:00 onwards the coaches are again on duty, to go through the games with each player as they finish or, depending on timing, after they have had some dinner. And then after dinner? Guess what – more chess (oh, and a little schoolwork for some)!

After various other morning activities – visiting cafés, getting internet access, walking and more individual chess research - most of the group reconvene over lunch, which runs between 12-14. We have two tables of 10 permanently reserved for us so it is quite civilised going into lunch and not having to battle for food or to get a table big enough to sit together. After lunch is an hour or so of quiet time, final questions to coaches, last minute investigations of obscure variations, and procurement of bottled water for the battle ahead. Then it is time to meet for the walk up to the playing hall…

James, Anna and Subin hard at work.

Section	Colour	Player	Opposition	Opp rating	Result
18	w	James Hanley	Wallin Aleksi (fin)	1887	W
16	b	Subin Sen	Karzinins Genadijs (lat)	1896	L
16	b	Lateefah Messam Sparks	Uusitupa Erika (fin)	1696	W
14	w	Danny Hunt	Ben Artzi Ido (isr)	2101	L
14	w	Danae Kokossis	Baekelant Eva (bel)	1935	L
12	w	Peter Williams	Starcevs Dmitrijs (lat)	0	D
12	b	Maria Wang	Tantsiura Marja (ukr)	1976	L
10	b	Peter Andreev	Osap Nikola (srb)	0	W
10	b	Robert Fitzgerald	Sirosh Ilja (est)	0	L
10	b	Anna Wang	Paramzina Anastasya (rus)	0	L

With Lateefah's win today, the whole squad is now off the mark. Well done.

At breakfast there is much debate about whether or not we can remember yesterday’s new Montenegrin words and if not, do we still try and tackle any new ones today? We choose “Good Morning” for our first Word of the Day but having heard the Montenegrin decide that is enough for one day. Tomorrow we must pick something easier…

And then, before you can say “Good Morning” in any language, the coaches start to drift away from the table and head, via the pairings boards, to their respective coaching venues. Last minute preparation for today’s opponents is called for!

Time passes. Games are played. Results come in. Sunbathing opportunities go begging. Lots of chat between countries. And at the end of the day, England come out with 5.5 points in total – and it was so close to being even better! Peter Andreev leads the England field with 3 out of 4 so far, with Robert Fitzgerald and Anna Wang also doing extremely well on 2.5 out of 4. Come on, England!

Here is Danae’s excellent win from Round 1, annotated by coach GM Neil McDonald:

Kokossis, Danae (1765) - Baraeva, Marina (2083)
Round 1, Board 5, 15.09.2008

Danae Kokossis started her international career by winning in a very assured positional style against the fifth seed in round one. In fact it's fair to say, she never gave her much higher rated opponent the ghost of a chance. I've rarely seen such a miserable 'Dragon' bishop!

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 The Hyper-Accelerated Dragon. Black puts the bishop on the long diagonal without any more fuss. But as we shall see, White is able to clamp down on the d5 square in a manner that would be impossible after the moves 2...d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 [forcing White to defend the e4 pawn] 5.Nc3 g6, the Dragon Mainline, when the c2-c4 pawn move is blocked by the white knight. 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Bg7 5.c4! Exactly. Danae seizes the chance to gain space and obstruct any attempt by Black to free her game with d7-d5. 5...Nc6 6.Be3 White strengthens her knight and is ready to answer 6..Qb6, putting yet more pressure on d4, with 7. Nb3, attacking the black queen followed by 8.Nc3 etc. 6...Nf6 7.Nc3 d6 [Black cannot conquer the d4 square as after 7...Ng4 the sequence 8.Qxg4 Nxd4 9.Qd1 e5 10.Nb5! is known to be good for White.] 8.Be2 Bd7 9.0-0 0-0 10.f3 Rc8 11.Qd2 White has consolidated her grip on the centre and is asking her opponent 'what can you do?' Baraeva flounders around unable to find a constructive plan. 11...Ne5 12.b3 b6 13.Rac1 Qc7 14.Bg5! In contrast, Danae has a clear strategy: put pressure on f6 to oblige Black to exchange knights on d5, after which she can utilise the c-file to create a passed pawn. 14...Qd8 15.Nd5! Now Black has to avoid her pawns being smashed up by a capture on f6 by the white bishop or knight. 15...Nxd5 16.cxd5 f6 A horrible looking move, but the knight was in danger of being dislodged from e5 in a disastrous way, for example 11...Rc5 12.f4 Ng4 13.Bxg4 Bxg4 14.Nc6, when e7 drops- a variation which demonstrates Black's problems along the c-file. 17.Be3 Rxc1 18.Rxc1 Qb8 19.Nc6!

The logical finale to White's fine positional play. Black has little choice but to take the knight as if 19. ..Qe8, to defend e7, the a7 pawn drops. 19...Bxc6 20.dxc6 The passed pawn proves decisive because of the light square weaknesses in Black's centre and the useless bishop on g7. 20...Qc7 21.f4 Nf7 22.Bc4! Kh8 [Of course if 22...Qxc6 23.Bxf7+] 23.Bxf7! A very good decision. Danae eliminates the only black minor piece that can fight against the passed pawn. 23...Rxf7 24.Qd5 Rf8 25.Qe6 Rd8 26.g3?! More precise was 26.h3 or immediately 26.a4 - not that the slight weakening of the white kingside makes any real difference here, as Black is absolutely tied down. 26...Rf8 27.Qd7 Rc8 28.a4! White has all her pieces on optimum squares and so it is time to use the pawns to break the blockade on the c-file. 28...Kg8 29.a5 bxa5 30.Qxc7 Rxc7 31.Bxa7! The point: if the bishop is captured 32.c7 costs Black the rook, while otherwise the disappearance of the a7 pawn opens the way for the capture of the a5 pawn, after which White has connected passed pawns. 31...f5 32.exf5 gxf5 33.Bb6 Rc8 34.Bxa5

Now just a certain degree of accuracy is required from White, as Black has nothing to match White's passed pawns. 34...Bd4+ 35.Kg2 Kf7 36.b4 e5 37.fxe5 dxe5 38.b5 Ke6 39.b6 Bxb6 40.Bxb6 Kd6 41.c7 Kd7 The position is a trivial win but Danae finishes it off in a very economical way. 42.Rd1+ Kc6 43.Rd8 Kb7 44.Kf3 h6 45.h4 h5 46.Ke3! White is playing for zugzwang: after say 46...e4 47.Ba5 Black will have to start handing over material. Apart from the 26th move, it's hard to see how White's play could be improved. A superb effort by Danae. 1-0

Section	Colour	Player	Opposition	Opp rating	Result
18	b	James Hanley	Matsenko Sergei (rus)	2440	D
16	w	Subin Sen	Rozic Samo (slo)	1912	D
16	w	Lateefah Messam Sparks	Johannsdottir Johanna Bjorg (isl)	1655	L
14	b	Danny Hunt	Hasanicevic Amir (bih)	0	L
14	b	Danae Kokossis	Wilfling Sandra(aut)	0	W
12	b	Peter Williams	Zaynutdinov Iskander (rus)	1851	D
12	w	Maria Wang	Khazieva Elza (rus)	1739	L
10	w	Peter Andreev	Salim Riza (rou)	0	W
10	w	Robert Fitzgerald	Musiienko Danylo (ukr)	0	W
10	w	Anna Wang	Kuznetsova Vasilisa (rus)	0	W

Day 5, Friday, the half-way point of the tournament. It seems like only yesterday that we arrived, but already today we will mark the turning point, it being the 5th round in the 9 round tournament. Three new words of Montenegrin at breakfast: Good Day and Good Evening, and Goodbye (“Ciao!”). We all heartily agreed that the last of these would be easiest to remember. By the time we leave here we’re hoping to be up to GCSE standard! Then the usual morning routine kicks in – coaching, FEBs (Full English Breakfast) and real coffee, swims and skateboarding the world wide Intersite. And so help me but that milky Cacao tastes better and better each morning! Especially with a mini Jaffa Cake (which seem unreasonably popular over here).

Before the tournament is over, on behalf of all those attending, I’d like to record our thanks to the coaches for their hard work and commitment to the players. Aside from the formal preparation slots between 09:30 and 12:30, the coaches are available until 14:30 to answer any questions from the players. At 14:30 they technically have time off until 17:00 but in fact end up coming to the playing hall, encouraging the Players up to the last minute and then often cannot drag themselves away but rather stay to see how things go. From 17:00 they are back at the hotel to go through Players’ games with them as they finish. This can go on until after dinner – a very full day for each coach. Tomorrow is the rest day but I know that the coaches will be using the time not only to look up the Round 6 opponents, but also to make suggestions for their players to mull over before the formal coaching resumes on Sunday morning.

What about the playing events? Well, to set your expectations: it was a very tough day, and very few points were scored. Danny was first out with a win which seemed to bode well but then our top scoring u10 Peter Andreev lost. Anna Wang who was also doing so well in the Girls u10 made a mistake in the opening from which she could not recover. Then came Peter Williams – another loss. James finishes quite quickly with a draw so a second score for England Players at least. Then Danae comes out with another good win. Things start to look up, but then Lateefah, Maria and Robert all lose after marathon 4 hour games. Just Subin left in, and after 5 hours and a tense end game – a theoretical draw – in which Subin threw everything and his King at his opponent to try to secure victory, he has to settle for a draw. Subin is somewhat disappointed but even I could see that he had tried everything possible to snatch victory from an excellent defensive opponent.

So a difficult day for all. It just needs pizzas to cheer everyone up so a large group makes an impromptu adjournment to a local sea front Pizzeria and Gelati specialists for a really nice pick-me-up. Much fun was had by all in the knowledge that tomorrow is a day off… for me too, so next update will be on Monday!

Section	Colour	Player	Opposition	Opp rating	Result
18	w	James Hanley	Tereick Benjamin (ger)	2382	D
16	b	Subin Sen	Arat Umut Baris (tur)	1860	D
16	b	Lateefah Messam Sparks	Avoyan Liana (arm)	0	L
14	w	Danny Hunt	Draskovic Davor (mne)	0	W
14	w	Danae Kokossis	Tomnikova Lidia (rus)	1980	W
12	w	Peter Williams	Meng Roger (ned)	0	L
12	b	Maria Wang	Cazacu Gabriela (mda)	1598	L
10	b	Peter Andreev	Duda Jan-Krzysztof (pol)	1939	L
10	b	Robert Fitzgerald	Sheremet Anton (blr)	0	L
10	b	Anna Wang	Gazikova Veronika (svk)	0	L

It's time for our players to take a well-deserved break. 20th September is the rest day. Currently the scores are as follows (Claire):

Section Player Points/5 Position 18 James Hanley 2.5 31= 16 Subin Sen 1.5 86= 16 Lateefah Messam Sparks 1.0 66= 14 Danny Hunt 2.0 69= 14 Danae Kokossis 3.0 21= 12 Peter Williams 2.0 77= 12 Maria Wang 2.0 47= 10 Peter Andreev 3.0 26= 10 Robert Fitzgerald 2.5 54= 10 Anna Wang 2.5 31=

It is the rest day, Saturday, and we are turning for the “back 9” as they say in golf. The weather is good but no one is up early to take advantage of it – the efforts of the first 5 rounds have taken their toll and all the Reprobates/Parents need their catch-up sleep. And without the parents, the players’ natural tendency to sleep-like states, mean they are likely to miss breakfast… as indeed Danny does!

So what happens on the day off I hear you ask? Well, quite a lot actually, here’s the run down of events undertaken by various sub-groupings of the overall party:

* Players and their Reprobates enjoy FEBs and mozzarella salads for breakfast;
* A Coach attempts to walk “round the bay” (about 100km but don’t tell him);
* Players, Coaches and Reprobates play table tennis from 11:30 to 13:00, with Coach Andrew G coming out on top on the balance of probabilities;
* A Coach still does not return from his walk round the bay;
* Reprobates continue the Nano Masters tournament, which opened in this very location precisely 3 years ago;
* A Coach still does not return from his walk round the bay;
* Players and Coaches play volleyball with an imaginary net but real inflatable ball (the ball was free with the previously mentioned Milka chocolate bars – little did the Milka marketing people imagine that it would amuse the combined talent of the England Chess squad plus Coach for 3 hours!);
* A Coach still does not return form his walk round the bay;
* Players join with Serbian colleagues to create Team United in European Junior Team Rapidplay Championship i.e. more competitive chess!
* The Coach finally returns, just before search parties are sent out, with stories of wild men and dragons;
* Players, Coach and Reprobates enjoy ice creams on the sea front.

Just to elaborate on one of the above items… Peter Williams (playing Board 1) and Robert Fitzgerald (Board 2) combined with two Serbian players (Petar and Svetlana) to create a team for the Team RapidPlay event. This event was taken seriously but was much less stressful than the Championships themselves. Peter, Robert, Petar and Svetlana (see the photos of them before and during Round 4 against the local team from Montenegro) enjoyed themselves enormously and got some memorable scalps – and celebrated with pizza afterwards! So a real chill-out day was had by all. And in the evening, minds turned once again to the main event, as individuals pulled out their research on their opponents and returned to theory and openings practice.

And whilst we wait for the normal routine to resume, here is Robert Fitzgerald's round 4 game, annotated by IM Tom Rendle.

Fitzgerald, Robert - Musiienko, Danylo
Round 4, Board 29, 18/09.2008

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.Nf3 Nd7 7.Bd3 [7.h4 is a very popular move at the top level these days 7...h6 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 e6 this is favoured by top players such as Anand and Kramnik.] 7...Bxd3 8.Qxd3 e6 9.0-0 Ngf6 10.Re1 Qc7 11.c3 Robert has played very sensibly so far. His opponent should continue with ..Be7 and 0-0 after which the position is fairly level. 11...0-0-0?! This is perhaps a little ambitious, and Robert aims to punish this inaccuracy immediately. 12.b4! c5 13.Be3 [13.bxc5 might be stronger, e.g. 13...Nxc5 14.Qb5 Ncd7 15.Rb1 and White has the b-file to attack down.] 13...cxb4?! This opens up Black’s King and leads swiftly to disaster. [13...c4! would've kept the Queenside closed, at least for the moment.] 14.cxb4 Bxb4? [14...Kb8 was Black's only chance to stay in the game, but after 15.Rac1 Qd6 16.Ng5 Qe7 17.Bf4+ Ka8 18.Nf5 White is clearly on top] 15.Rec1! Nc5 Black had clearly pinned all of his hopes on the pin on the d4-pawn, but this is easily sidestepped. 16.Qb1 Qa5 17.Bd2! Nd5 [17...Bxd2 18.Rxc5+ wins] 18.Rxc5+!

18…Qxc5 [18...Bxc5 19.Bxa5] 19.dxc5 Bxd2 20.Nxd2 An excellent win from Robert, who is making his debut in the Europeans. 1-0

With the rest day behind us, the competition for real resumes today, Sunday, with Round 6. Although it seems like several weeks since Round 5 the routine quickly resumes, with the breakfast “new words” being Good and Excellent (the latter being “excellent” so I think I’ll remember that one). Coaching commences on time – and in fact I hear that some happened yesterday too! That just shows the diligence and commitment of the Players. If you have any notion that this is a bit of a holiday, extra time off school, please think again and quickly. I cannot exaggerate the effort that the Players put in over the course of the 10 days: not just coaching, individual preparation and game de-briefing (which in total comes to at least 3 hours per day) but then the game itself which is 3, 4 or even 5 hours in length during which time the Players are having to work extremely hard mentally. And they do this on 9 days out of 10 in a row! I often compare this feat of concentration and mental focus with the finals exams for my degree: I am sure the papers I sat equated to fewer games over a longer period!

Back to Round 6, and the rest day seems to have paid off certainly as we gather before the march up to the playing hall, with fresher looking faces all round the Players. And the Reprobates look a tad less stressed too! Don’t think that’ll last long… And so we head out, joining the crocodile stream of players from hotels more far flung than ours, cutting across Dr Simo Milosevic Institute lands to arrive at the playing hall…

Well, the games are over, the dust has settled and it has been another tough day. Not for nothing do they say that the Europeans can be as difficult as the Worlds. But it is not all doom and gloom, thanks to the Under 10s who all won: Peter A, Robert F and Anna W – well done to them all! Maria and Subin get draws to bring the total to 4 out of 10 – but that’s it for the day.

Section	Colour	Player	Opposition	Opp rating	Result
18	b	James Hanley	Narmontas Matas (ltu)	2369	L
16	w	Subin Sen	Vaarala Eric (swe)	1765	D
16	w	Lateefah Messam Sparks	Hohluka Arina (lat)	1675	L
14	b	Danny Hunt	Schreiner Till (ger)	2041	L
14	b	Danae Kokossis	Neuhauser Salome (fra)	1924	L
12	b	Peter Williams	Ignat Ilie (mda)	1557	L
12	w	Maria Wang	Soyunlu Narmin Asat Qizi (aze)	1834	D
10	w	Peter Andreev	Melnikov Egor (rus)	0	W
10	b	Robert Fitzgerald	Petrov Vladimir (bul)	0	W
10	w	Anna Wang	Fuskova Martina (cze)	1501	W

Here's a round 2 game, annotated by IM Andrew Greet, a skilful technical performance from Peter Williams. We join the game part way through…

Krstonijevic, Bozidar - Williams, Peter A

Black has equalised comfortably out of the opening, and now he goes on the offensive. 23...b5! 24.c5?! White needlessly cedes the d5-square. 24.b3? is inadvisable due to 24...Qxa3, while 24.cxb5 would have been met by 24...Rd5, regaining the pawn while keeping a healthier structure. 24.Rc1 or 24.Qe2 would have been better though. Black can still obtain the use of the d5-square by capturing on c4, but his own queenside pawns could also become vulnerable. In that case the game would have remained approximately equal. 24...Rd5 25.Qe3 Nd7 26.Qf4 a4 27.Qc7?

White thinks he has found a good square for his queen, but has overlooked a tactical shot. 27...Ne5! Leading to a fatal weakening of White's pawns. 28.Qxe7 The desperate 28.Ng5+!? does not solve White's problems after 28...hxg5 29.Qxe7 Nf3+!? 30.gxf3 Rxe7. 28...Nxf3+ 29.gxf3 Rxe7 30.Re5 Red7 31.Rxd5 Rxd5

Black's better structure and more active rook should suffice for victory, and Peter finishes the game efficiently. 32.f4 Black was threatening ...e5... 32...Rf5 ...but White's last presented a new target. 33.Kg2 Rxf4 34.Kg3 Re4 35.Rd2 g5 36.Rd3?! The position was already hopeless, but allowing the black rook onto the seventh rank is hardly the way to prolong White's resistance. 36...Re2 37.b3 axb3 38.Rxb3 Rd2 39.Rb4 Rd3+ Winning another pawn. 40.f3 Rxa3 41.Kf2 Ra4 0–1

Section	Colour	Player	Opposition	Opp rating	Result
18	w	James Hanley	Green Andrew D (sco)	2038	D
16	b	Subin Sen	De Schampheleire Glen (bel)	1969	L
16	b	Lateefah Messam Sparks	McDonald Maryann (sco)	0	W
14	w	Danny Hunt	Jovancevic Jovan (MNE)	1951	L
14	w	Danae Kokossis	Kessler Michaela (aut)	1835	L
12	w	Peter Williams	Kisic Bozidar (mne)	0	W
12	w	Maria Wang	Beshukova Ekaterina	0	W
10	b	Peter Andreev	Savenkov Konstantin (rus)	0	W
10	w	Robert Fitzgerald	Arat Ufuk Sezen (tur)	0	D
10	b	Anna Wang	Egorova Ayyyna (rus)	0	L

Here is the Game of the Round annotated by IM Andrew Greet. With the following win, Peter Andreev moved up to the impressive score of 5/7. He's currently standing 9th= in the under 10s. Go Peter.

Savenkov, Konstantin - Andreev, Peter
Round 7, 22/09/2008
1.Nf3
A surprise - before the game we had seen that Savenkov usually preferred 1.e4.
1...Nf6 2.b3 g6 3.Bb2 Bg7 4.e3 0–0 5.Be2 d5 6.0–0 c5 7.d3
White is playing the opening without any trace of ambition, although there is nothing wrong with his position as yet.
7...Nc6 8.Nbd2

We actually have a reversed Queen's Indian with the extra move d2-d3 for White although there is no way that this can elevate his chances to anything more than equal. Based on the main theoretical path of that opening, the usual move would be 8.Ne5 to exchange a pair of knights. 8...Qc7! Preparing ...e5 with an imposing pawn triad. 9.c4! Finally White shows some interest in fighting for the central squares. 9...e6

It was worth considering 9...d4!? 10.exd4 Nh5 (or 10...Ng4!? 11.h3 Nh6) followed by ...cxd4, reaching a reversed Benoni in which the bishop on b2 would be misplaced. Alternatively the ambitious 9...e5!? could have been considered, although after an exchange on d5 the black queen may prove to be misplaced on c7 following the arrival of a rook on c1.
10.Qc2 Bd7?!
Peter makes a slight error, placing the bishop on a poor square and neglecting the defence of his c-pawn. 10...b6 intending ...Bb7 would have been the normal way to develop.
11.cxd5
Intending Qxc5 next.
11...Nb4!
An excellent recovery, avoiding the loss of the pawn.
12.Qc4!?
Savenkov decides to transfer his queen to an aggressive location.
12...exd5 13.Qh4 Qd8 14.Ng5?
But this is totally unjustified.
14...h6 15.Ngf3

White has wasted a tempo while presenting Black with the 'free' move ...h7-h6. The reasoning behind the move is not clear - perhaps he was simply unable to resist the temptation of threatening mate! 15...Bf5 Not only attacking the d3-pawn, but also threatening ...g5, meeting Qg3 with ...Nh5 trapping the queen. The immediate 15...g5 would also have been very strong, e.g. 16.Qg3? Nh5 17.Qd6 Bxb2 winning a piece outright. 16.Bxf6 seems to be the only chance, although 16...Qxf6 17.Qg3 still looks grim for White after 17...g4 18.Nh4 Qg5 threatening ...Be5 or ...Bf6, or simply 17...Bb5. 16.Ne1 g5! 17.Qg3 Nh5! 18.Bxh5 Bxb2 Black has clearly benefited from this exchange of minor pieces. His bishop on b2 now reigns supreme over the dark squares, while its white counterpart is woefully misplaced on h5. 19.Rb1 Bc3

Now White will lose material, as he has a knight and two pawns en prise.
20.e4 Bh7 21.Nef3?
A further mistake in a very difficult situation.
21...Nxd3 22.Ne1
White must have noticed, to his horror, that 22.exd5 would be refuted by 22...Nf4!, not only attacking the bishop on h5 but also threatening ...Ne2+ winning the queen.
22...dxe4
With two extra pawns and a superior position, the win should be a formality. Peter makes no mistakes and finishes the game with merciless technique.
23.Nxd3 Qxd3

White is unable to avoid a queen exchange as the knight on d2 would drop. 24.Nc4 Qxg3 25.hxg3 Rad8 26.Rbd1 Rd4!? Preparing to double on the d-file. If White exchanges then Black will improve his pawn structure. 27.Rxd4? Perhaps this was a bit too compliant, but the position was hopeless anyway. 27.Rc1 would not affect the outcome after 27...Bb4 28.a3 b5! 29.axb4 bxc4 etc. 27...cxd4 28.Nd6 b6 29.Rc1 a6 30.a4 f5 31.Be2 Rd8 32.Bc4+ Kg7 33.Nf7 Rd7 34.Ne5 Rc7 35.Kf1 Kf6!

The final touch, trapping the enemy knight. 36.f4 gxf4 37.gxf4 Bd2 0–1 A very well played game by Peter, who exploited his opponent's errors mercilessly.

COME ON ENGLAND!

Section	Colour	Player	Opposition	Opp rating	Result
18	b	James Hanley	Froewis Georg (aut)	2269	W
16	b	Subin Sen	De Schampheleire Glen (bel)	1969	W
16	b	Lateefah Messam Sparks	Martins Marta Sofia Cardoso (por)	1500	W
14	b	Danny Hunt	Gouliaros-Antoniadis Alexandro (gre)	1843	L
14	b	Danae Kokossis	Yakobov Diana (isr)	0	L
12	b	Peter Williams	Arat Ufuk Sezen (tur)	0	W
12	b	Maria Wang	Boyarchenko Vlada (lux)	1587	D
10	w	Peter Andreev	Toma Radu-Cristian (rou)	1893	W
10	b	Robert Fitzgerald	Melnikov Egor (rus)	0	L
10	w	Anna Wang	Elizarova Taisia (rus)	0	W

Not much to report other than a really rather remarkable day! The sun has come out again and seems to be shining on the England Players with a record day of 6.5 out of 10 points. Peter Andreev continues his winning streak to go into the final round on an exciting 6 out of 8. (This puts Peter 6th= in the under 10s. A victory tomorrow would be an absolutely fantastic result for Peter in his 1st international - Claire)

Tomorrow is the final day, and the last round is earlier than usual at 13:00 local time, 12:00 noon in the UK. So coaching starts tonight as soon as the pairings are out, with the oldest player in each group having an hour and the two younger ones in each group going at slightly earlier slots in the morning. This should give everyone time for a late brunch or early lunch after coaching so that the Players are not going into their last round on a sleep-inducing full stomach. And for the Coaches and Reprobates, it means there is less time for chewing nails…

Overall, we are now 37.5 out of 90. Please cross your fingers for all of our player tomorrow!

Here are two excellent games from the Wang sisters, Maria and Anna, annotated by GM Neil McDonald and IM Tom Rendle respectively.

Wang, Maria - Beshukova, Ekaterina
Round 7, 22/09/2008

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6! Before the game it had proved impossible to discover any useful information about Ekaterina Beshukova, beyond the fact that in reply to 1.e4 she played 1...c5. Therefore Maria and her trainer [yours truly, Neil McDonald] had decided to prepare for three Sicilian variations, the Classical, Scheveningen and Najdorf, and hoped to be lucky. The Kan variation with 2...e6 was therefore a rather good choice by Black. 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Be2!? A sly move, hoping after 5...Nf6 6.Nc3 [but not 6.e5? Qa5+ winning the e5 pawn] 6...d6 to get back into Scheveningen lines she had been studying that morning. 5...b5 But Black refuses to oblige. 6.Be3

An automatic developing move that doesn't punish Black for her backward development. Instead White should target the b5 pawn with 6.0-0 Bb7 7.Bf3 Qc7 8.a4! If then 8...bxa4 Black will be left with a weak pawn on a6; whereas after 8...b4 9.c3! White could open lines on the queenside. In neither case would Black completely solve her opening problems. 6...Bb7 7.Bf3 Qc7 An imprecision. Black should make a concerted attack on the e4 pawn, when she emerges with at least equal chances upon 7...Nf6 8.Nd2 d5 or 8.e5 Nd5. 8.0-0 Nf6 Too late! Instead 8...Bd6 9.g3 Nf6 looks unclear. 9.e5! Maria seizes her chance. Over the next ten moves she resists the urge to make crude attacking gestures in favour of quiet moves that genuinely strengthen her game. 9...Nd5 10.Bxd5 Bxd5 11.f4 Bc5 12.Nc3 Bb7 13.Kh1! A vital part of White's strategy is to prevent her opponent developing her queenside pieces as 13... Nc6 can now be answered by 14.Ndxb5! as the bishop capture on e3 is no longer check.

13...h5 14.Qd3 h4 15.h3! Stopping Black's counterplay with 15... h3 in its tracks after which Maria can focus on her own initiative. 15...Be7 16.Rad1 b4 17.Ne4 Nc6 18.Qc4 White is in too much of a hurry to get at her opponent. After the laid back 18.Nb3! planning 19.Nbc5 to increase the pressure on d7, or perhaps eliminate Black's strong bishop with 20.Nxb7, White would have a bind on the centre.
18...Rc8 19.Nd6+ Bxd6 20.exd6 Qxd6? A serious mistake. Black should have played 20...Qa5! with an unclear position. 21.Nf5! Now Black can't avoid a disaster on the d6 square. 21...Qc7 22.Nd6+ Ke7 23.Nxc8+ Quite good enough to win the game, but the old rule still applies: if you see a good move, look for an even better one! Here 23.Qc5 would win a whole rook in view of the threat of 24.Nxc8+. If for example 24... Kd8 then 25.Nxf7+ nabs the rook on h8. Another rapid finish would be 23.Bc5, when if 23...Kf6, to evade the discovered check, 24.f5 e5 25.Ne4 is mate.
23...Rxc8 24.f5!

You should always hit your opponent where he or she is weakest. All the black pieces are bunched together on the queenside, which means that the other wing is empty of defenders. Therefore Maria breaks open the f-file for her rooks, and at the same time clears the way for her queen to swing over to the kingside. 24...Rh8 Preventing 25.Qxh4+. 25.fxe6 fxe6 26.Bc5+ Already Maria is preparing the combination that will end the game. 26...Ke8 27.Qg4 As planned, but 27.Qxh4! was more incisive, when 27...Rxh4 28.Rf8 is mate, while 27...Rg8 28.Qh7 also ends matters. 27...Qe5 28.Qg6+ Kd8 29.Qf7 Nb8 Stopping the threatened mate on d7, but allowing a pretty finish. 30.Bb6+ Kc8

31.Qf8+! The black king can't run any further after 31...Rxf8 32. Rxf8 mate. “A beautiful attacking combination” - Danae Kokossis. 1-0

Wang, Anna - Elizarova, Taisia
Round 8, 23/09/2008

We pick the game up after 23. Qe2

Anna decides to keep the Queens on, seeing that she has chances to attack the Black king. 23...Nd5 24.Bd4 h6? [24...f6 stopping Ne5 should have been preferred] 25.Ne5 all of a sudden Black is in serious trouble as now ...f6?? loses the Queen to Nf7+ 25...Kg8 26.Qh5! f6 [26...g6 27.Nxg6! is also crushing e.g. 27...fxg6? 28.Qxg6+ Kf8 29.Bg7+ Kg8 30.Bxh6+ Kh8 31.Qg7#] 27.Qf7+ Kh7 [27...Kh8 allows mate in 6 28.Ng6+ Kh7 29.Bc2 Qb8 30.Nxe7+ Kh8 31.Qg6] 28.Bc2+

… f5 29.Nd7 apparently this is mate in 19!!?! but I confess I liked the simple [29.Qg6+ Kg8 30.Nf7 threatening mate on g7 and the Queen on d6] 29...e5 30.Bxe5 Qg6 31.Bxf5 and Black resigned. A fine attack from Anna, who is now on 4.5/8. 1-0

So, with one round to go, the charts look like this. It's an extremely tough event and Peter Andreev and Anna Wang are leading the charge at this point. Good luck to everyone tomorrow.

Too excited to learn any new words at breakfast. And hard to eat what with fingers, toes, arms and legs all crossed for the last round! Coaching proceeded last night and resumed this morning at 9am. I am too nervous to write so I’ll hand you over to Claire in the UK…

But whilst we wait for the results, here is Peter Andreev’s excellent win in Round 8 annotated by IM Andrew Greet.

Andreev, Peter - Toma, Radu-Cristian (1893)
Round 8, 23/09/2008

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g4!?

Peter and I had prepared this rarely played and ambitious idea before the game. The usual continuation of the Closed Sicilian would be 3.g3 , e.g. 3...g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.f4 when White intends Nf3, 0–0 and later g4 with a kingside attack. The point of the text is to try and save a tempo by playing g4 in one move instead of two. 3...e5!? An ambitious move, clamping down on the potentially sensitive f4-square. 4.d3 d6 4...Nge7 also deserves consideration, intending ...Ng6. 5.h3 g6 6.Be3 Perhaps a slight inaccuracy, as following the almost inevitable f2-f4 White may lose a tempo with the bishop. After the game I suggested 6.Bg2 Bg7 7.f4!? Qh4+ 8.Kf1 followed by Nf3 when White's misplaced king is of little relevance.

6...Bg7 7.Bg2 Nge7 8.f4 exf4 9.Bxf4 Be6 10.Nge2 Qd7
Perhaps Black intends long castling?
11.0–0 0–0
No, he decides to go short after all. Having been presented with a clear target, Peter wastes no time in building an attack.
12.Qd2 Ne5 13.Ng3 b5 14.Bh6 b4 15.Nd5!
I was especially pleased with Peter for playing this move. Earlier in the tournament he had displayed some reluctance to accept a doubling of his pawns. I explained that there are many different factors which contribute to the overall evaluation of a chess position, and that sometimes a player is required to sacrifice one thing in order to gain something else. When I saw this move, I could tell that he had been paying attention!
15...Bxd5
Black decides to eliminate the dangerous knight. Obviously 15...Nxd5 was unplayable because after 16.exd5 the bishop on e6 is trapped.
16.exd5 f5!?

This looks like a good attempt to defend the kingside. Can you find a way to maintain White's initiative? 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 18.Qg5!? With the dangerous threat of Nh5+. There was another strong continuation in 18.g5!? intending Ne2-f4 and targeting the weak e6-square. 18...Nf7? Under pressure, Toma makes a fatal error. 18...Kh8 was necessary. 19.Nh5+ Kg8 20.Nf6+ Kg7 21.Qh4!? White could have won an exchange with 21.Nxd7 Nxg5 22.Nxf8, but Peter prefers to play for mate! 21...Qd8 22.Rae1!

I love this move which brings White's last undeveloped piece into the attack. 22...h6? Missing the principal threat, although the alternatives were also hopeless: a) 22...Ng8 allows 23.Qxh7+ Kxf6 24.Re6+ Kg5 25.Rxg6 mate. b) 22...Ne5 is slightly more resilient, but White can still clinch the victory in fine style with 23.Qxh7+ Kxf6 24.h4! g5 (The only move to avoid imminent mate.) 25.Qh6+ Kf7 26.gxf5 with overwhelming threats.

23.Rxe7! g5
23...Qxe7 24.Nh5+ wins the queen.
24.Nh5+ Kh8 25.Qe1!
Perhaps Black had overlooked this clever retreat, with which White defends his rook and secures the victory.
25...Ne5 26.Rxe5 1–0

I will post results as soon as I get them. Good luck to everyone in Montenegro and stop chewing your fingers to all worried parents. Thank you to Matt Hunt for such excellent photos and comprehensive reports. Well done to the coaches for their extremely hard work:

Section	Colour	Player	Opposition	Opp rating	Result	Points/9	Final Position	Starting rank
18	b	James Hanley	Bojchev Marian (bul)	2406	D	4.5	33rd=	45th
16	b	Subin Sen	Balokas Dimitrios (gre)	1779	W	4.0	69th=	75th
16	w	Lateefah Messam Sparks	Lisac Tihana (cro)	1773	W	4.0	45th=	38th
14	b	Danny Hunt	Tomin Nenad (srb)	1883	W	3.0	93rd=	76th
14	w	Danae Kokossis	Kralova Klaudia (svk)	0	W	4.0	49th=	46th
12	w	Peter Williams	Andias Joao Pedro Menezes (por)	1672	D	4.5	54th=	51st
12	w	Maria Wang	Garcia-Castany Musellas Gal La (esp)	1631	W	5.0	27th=	79th
10	b	Peter Andreev	Vorontsov Pavlo (ukr)	0	L	6.0	13th=	31st
10	b	Robert Fitzgerald	Ladopoulos Dimitrios (gre)	0	L	4.0	70th=	43rd
10	b	Anna Wang	Sidorova Anna (rus)	0	L	4.5	32nd=	71st

A last round win for Peter Andreev would have taken him to 3rd=. I'm gutted for him but also so proud that in his 1st international tournament he performed so well. Well done Peter.

A good last round rally for many of our players. Well done to everyone.

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