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Last update: Friday August 8, 2008 16:33
Well I’m afraid this year won’t be quite so entertaining as I’m a bit of an amateur both on the writing front and the chess front, but I’ll give it a go. After many years of taking England teams to Austria Peter & Gill Turner were unfortunately not able to make it this year. However with a few of last years contingent and some new recruits we pulled together a rather smaller team to fly the English flag. Peter and Gill are watching closely with much interest from England ! We hit a small problem from the outset as Ryanair had rather inconsiderately stopped flying to Graz on a Tuesday and didn’t fly to Maribor at all (although I’m not sure that was such a great loss after last year’s experience!) But being British we don’t let such a small matter deter us, we just had an extra day in Mureck and flew out on Monday.
And so it was on Monday 4th August the 16 strong English contingent left Stansted to fly to Graz. Well we hoped it was 16, but up until about a minute to take off there was some doubt as to the whereabouts of Dionne and Brandon. However as the check-in desk didn’t close until 10.30 why would anyone want to check in before 10.29? Well that was how Dionne saw it so at 11.35am our plane took off. Given that we were 25 minutes late taking off we were rather surprised to land to the Ryanair fanfare saying how fantastic they were at landing on time in Graz (not that they fix their statistics or anything) but apparently there was a strong tail wind!
The ever organised Erich (the tournament organiser) was at the airport to greet us and accompany us to the Fabiani guesthouse which was to be our home for the next 12 days. I felt as though it was only a few weeks since we’d been here when Rosemary came out to welcome us back and meet our new recruits. I suppose at this point I ought to introduce us all. Representing the under 14’s are Joe Quinn, accompanied by Dad, Noel, Brandon Clarke with Mum, Dionne, and Robert Bowler with Mum, Cath (me) and Dad, Andy. Younger brother James Bowler is joined by Henry Broadley in the under 12s with Mum, Karen, Dad, Mark and sister, Miranda. Our under 10 player is Isaac Sanders with Mum, Lucy and last but not least our 2 fantastic coaches GM Neil Mc Donald and Tom Eckersley-Waites.
Joe got the biggest welcome as on entering his room the local wasps decided to say hello and promptly left their mark on his fingers. Lesson to be learned – never try to shake hands with a wasp! After a little game of musical rooms we were settled and happy in our new surroundings. We’re sharing the Fabiani with the Welsh team and a family from Estonia. An almighty crash of thunder just after dinner took out all the lights on the veranda and a torrential downpour was a little disconcerting but we had every faith the weather would improve. Maybe it was just trying to make us feel at home!
Tuesday was our day to chill before battle commenced. Sadly the rain was back so we watched it drip off the veranda with our new recruits obviously wondering what they had let themselves in for. By the afternoon the sun was shining and bikes were hired and everyone was happy (well almost ………Dionne’s bike didn’t have a basket !) It was nice to have a day to relax and make the most of the badminton, table tennis, tennis and swimming in the pool in Mureck.
Tuesday evening Rosemary christened Andy “Mr President” and volunteered him to be spokesperson for both the English and the Welsh so from now on we’ll refer to him as El Presidente! We haven’t quite started bowing to him yet! But El Presidente is in contact with Mr Chips (Peter) who has become a real technical whizz with a Skype connection, microphone and webcam so we all feel in safe hands!
Wednesday
6th August. I put the date for my benefit as much as anyone else as it’s
very easy to lose track of what day it is here. The sun is shining, there isn’t
a cloud in the sky and all our players are raring to go. Noel was very excited
about meeting up with Mr Stankiewicz again (a large imposing Polish character
with a comparatively small son playing in the tournament) The opening ceremony
started almost on time with a speech from Erich in English and German, followed
by a little ditty from the local band. Eventually after a 45min delay the first
round started and we could all start getting stressed. I must point out at this
stage that my lack of chess knowledge proves a bonus. I don’t get stressed
as positions or ‘pawn up’ and other technical jargon mean nothing
to me. Basically I wait until they come out and say whether they’ve won
or lost, so Dionne, Lucy and I had a well deserved drink in a local café
(the first of many I’m sure). Brandon was the first out with a win followed
a little while later by Robert who had lost. There was quite a long wait for
the next player to emerge, but Isaac finished victorious so we were 2 to 1 up.
Dinner time came and went, due to the late start, but Rosemary very kindly delayed
it for us. Eventually after 3 long tussles James lost but Henry and Joe won
so we were 4-2 up. A good start to the tournament.
