European Youth Championships 2007

13-24 September, Sibenik, Croatia

Round 5

Today was a relatively dull day with very little to report outside the tournament itself. The highlight was Krishna appearing with a significant swelling around the eyes which gave the impression she was harbouring a black eye. Rumours were abounding about her having a tussle with one of the other countries’ coaches but they were disappointingly quashed when the culprit was identified as a wayward mosquito.

Later the weather started to take a turn for the worse, with the waiting area becoming extremely windy and there was even some light drizzling. Like most of the team, I had assumed the days would consist of oppressive Mediterranean heat and had packed accordingly. So, sitting outside, waiting for the children to finish was a testing affair but thankfully the games were over relatively quickly.

Roy was out first with a win in which he completely outplayed his opponent and with 3 out of 5 he is championing the English team. Next out was Katie with a ‘short and sweet’ win, a rare occurrence in U18, and got some valuable rating points from her higher rated German opponent. Peter Roberson reported a loss against a much higher rated opponent next and was closely followed by Craig also reporting a loss. Amisha was out next with a loss, again against a much higher rated opponent. It seemed the spate of excellent scores yesterday had pushed our players up the boards to extremely talented opponents.

Callum was out next with a victory in a challenging game where his opponent played a strange move in the opening which Callum successfully transposed into an opening that he knew well. A good result and with 3 points in the U16 tournament Callum is doing exceptionally well. Finally, it was Anjali and Subin who drew against their Estonian and Italian opponents in tense games.

Overall, the final result was 4 ½ out of 9. Bearing in mind, the gargantuan score yesterday and the quality of the opponents faced today, it can be classed as another excellent day for the English team.

Round 5

Cumulative Results