European Youth Championships 2007

13-24 September, Sibenik, Croatia

Saturday 15th September - Round 2

3pm and the parents and coaches are settling in to await the results. No one except the players are allowed in the playing halls after the first 10 minutes until 4:30pm when finally the heads of delegations are permitted to re-enter. The exception to this are Lucy and Wesley, the Channel 4 film crew who have permission to film Peter Williams’ games for a special programme which is following his progress over a period of years.

In a reversal of round 1, Callum (U16) is first out with a win. A good start and we are all feeling optimistic. The game is swiftly analysed and it is clear that Callum had a much better understanding of the opening than his Croatian opponent and took control from that point.

Craig (U12) appears 5 minutes later having secured a draw against his much higher rated French opponent. Peter Wells, as Craig’s coach settles down to the serious business of post game analysis and identifies that it was a “very sensible game”.

There is a 30 minutes wait before the next player emerges. It is Subin (U14) with news of a draw against a Croatian player. The well oiled machinery of the coaching system gets into action and the game is analysed by his coach Glenn Flear – Subin has handled the opening “very solidly.”

Peter (U12) is next out following his defeat of a Macedonian player in a game where he smoothly outplayed his opponent.
Roy (U10) arrives at 6.05pm. After getting the better of his opponent from Belarus in a tactical encounter, he had secured a solid win.

Katie (U18) emerges 15 minutes later having lost in an unexpectedly tough game and is rapidly followed by Peter (U18) who has also lost. Analysis by his coach, Peter Wells, shows that Peter had been somewhat unlucky. He had had an advantage and had played an incredibly plausible move which turned out to be weaker than expected. His opponent had seized the advantage from then on.

Anjali (U14) reports a loss at 7.10pm. Her Polish opponent played very well after exploiting a slight advantage in the opening.

Last out is Amisha (U16). She had obtained a comfortable position in a rather quiet variation of the King’s Indian. However, her opponent’s extra experience tipped the balance away from Amisha during a long hard struggle. The higher graded Georgian eventually won the game.

Round 1

Round 2

Cumulative Results