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Hi folks. Rather tougher day than the last two results-wise, but a good few bright spots. Today's winners were Nihad, who played excellently to get on the board, and Vagif, who translated a positional advantage into a superior endgame into an easy win. Andrew continued his good form with his first half-point of the tournament against another strong opponent. Ian produced another solid and creditable draw, while Ali will be slightly disappointed that her advantage only resulted in a share of the point. Everybody else battled hard and there were no quick defeats, with an honourable mention being due to Anna, who was up against it from early on but fought extremely hard over the course of today's longest game, and was extremely unlucky that the king-and-pawn ending at the end wasn't quite holdable.
All else still well out here, though my theory about the weather seems to have been confirmed: today was much cooler than it has been recently, with some cloud cover and a pleasant breeze. Much nicer to sit out in, but from a results point of view, bring back the sweltering heat...
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Hugh,
That is a relatively fair overall points total for today considering the results we have been having over the two previous days. Very good to see Vagif (has he stopped talking yet?) and Nihad chalking up good victories. We are bound to be paired against tougher average opponents if we do well on consecutive previous days and have to face it. You guys are doing great out there, let's try and keep a steady flow of points coming in. With due respect to all Scottish congresses that these juniors normally play in, this is as tough as it comes, they are playing against the best in Europe at their own agegroup. I think we should be really proud of all their hard work so far and the excellent support they have been receiving,
Robin.
ps sending you each a sunlamp to sit at your board
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The first result strictly is up today. It looks like Hamish has won by default as there is a large K beside his 1 on his totals plus a strange +-- on the match result between the two players (Hamish has the plus bit)
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I am not sure why the results update seems so slow over the last couple of days. Seems now that nothing happens for ages, then they all appear at the same time. Only other result today is Vagif with a draw. He seems to have settled down now and hopefully can keep building his score to the end. Really looking forward to hearing what Alan and Hugh think of him! He is very aggressive and tactical but has a surprisingly good endgame for such a young player. However, he plays like lightning! Be interesting to see what he has learned from this top event.
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Nice win for Andrew against a 2326 FM to move to above 50%!
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Bit of a mixed batch today so far with that fantastic result of Andrew the highlight. I just want to mention to keep an eye on the boys U8 section where a couple of English players are doing exceptionally well, performances at the moment way above their elder squad members.
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Today ended up being quite difficult. Andrew kept up his excellent form, while Vagif will again be a bit disappointed to have only taken half a point from a game he dominated throughout and can take a lot of positives from his play. Alice will be pleased to have gotten on the board with her draw. Elsewhere it was something of a struggle, but heads haven't gone down - I'm hoping we can bounce back and finish strongly in the rounds to come.
Hamish's opponent was apparently unable to play today due to having been hospitalised. Hamish denies having had any involvement in this.
Rainy, muggy and oppressive today, but still managing to be uncomfortably hot. Scotland may take a bit of getting used to again.
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Quote:was apparently unable to play today
I was wondering what Hugh 'Hitman' Brechin's role was.
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Thanks Clement, though I am sure you could have found the same moves to win the endgame as I did.
Yesterday was another fun game, a double-edged Nimzo-Indian Defence. It started fairly innocuously, but soon got into a very complex position where both sides have many ideas. I won the exchange for a pawn, then chucked the exchange back, finally managing to draw the ending.
[pgn][Event "European Youth Chess Championship B18"]
[Site "Prague, Top Hotel Prague"]
[Date "2012.08.21"]
[Round "5.28"]
[White "Schreiner, Till"]
[Black "McClement, Andrew"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2234"]
[BlackElo "2088"]
[Annotator "McClement, Andrew"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2012.08.17"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 d5 5. Bd3 O-O 6. Nf3 b6 {This is a
slightly less drawish line than the more common 6. ... c5} (6... c5 7. O-O cxd4
8. exd4 dxc4 9. Bxc4 b6 10. Bg5 Bb7 11. Rc1 Nbd7 12. Qe2 Rc8) 7. O-O Bb7 8. a3
(8. cxd5 {is the main line:} exd5 9. Ne5 Bd6 10. f4 {with ideas of Rf3-h3.} c5
11. Rf3 Nc6 12. Nxd5 $5 Bxe5 13. fxe5 Qxd5 14. exf6 g6 {is one line
demonstrating the many possibilities of this line.}) 8... Bd6 9. cxd5 (9. b4 {
with the idea of preventing c5 is another common line. I can counter with}
dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nbd7 11. Bb2 a5 12. b5 e5) 9... exd5 10. b4 {Now I cannot play
c5 without getting an IQP.} Nbd7 {Preparing to recapture with my knight,
hitting the bishop.} 11. Bb2 c5 12. bxc5 bxc5 13. Nb5 $5 {This forces my
bishop back and brings in ideas of Nbd4.} Be7 14. dxc5 Nxc5 15. Be2 Nfe4 16.
Rb1 Qa5 (16... a6 17. Nbd4 (17. Nc3) 17... g6 $5 {might have been an
interesting way to play, dominating his knights with my pawns.}) 17. Qe1 Qa4 (
17... Qxe1 18. Rfxe1 Rfc8 19. Red1 {I thought would give a slight advantage
for white, although it is fairly modest.}) 18. Bd4 Rfc8 19. Ne5 $1 {His
knights control many useful squares.} Ne6 20. Ba1 (20. f3 $1 Nxd4 21. Nxd4 Nd6
22. Qg3 Bf6 23. Nxf7 Nxf7 24. Rxb7 Bxd4 25. exd4 Qxd4+ 26. Qf2 $14) 20... Rab8
21. f3 {This move kicks the e4 knight, but at the cost of weakening e3 and the
g1-a7 diagonal.} N4c5 22. Rb4 Qa5 23. Bc3 $6 (23. Ng4 a6 24. Nd4 Nxd4 25. Bxd4
h5 26. Ne5) 23... Na4 $1 24. Bd4 (24. Bd2 $1 Bxb4 25. axb4 Qd8 26. Nxa7 Rc7 27.
b5 $44 {A knight could well come to c6 here, and my pieces are tangled.}) 24...
Bxb4 25. axb4 Qd8 26. Nxa7 Nxd4 27. exd4 Rc7 (27... f6 $5 28. Nxc8 fxe5 {and
the knight is trapped.} 29. Bb5 $1 Ra8 30. Qe3 Bxc8 31. Bc6 Ra6 32. b5 $1 Ra7
33. Ra1 Be6 $44 {The knight is almost lost here.}) 28. Nb5 Re7 29. Qd1 Nb6 (
29... Ra8 $1 $19) 30. Re1 Ba6 $4 (30... Nc4 $1 31. Bxc4 dxc4 32. Na3 (32. Nxc4
Rxe1+ 33. Qxe1 Ba6) 32... c3 $19) 31. Nc6 $1 Qe8 $1 32. Nxe7+ (32. Nxb8 $4 Bxb5
$19) 32... Qxe7 33. Qd2 $1 Nd7 34. Nc3 Bxe2 35. Rxe2 Qxb4 36. Nxd5 Qd6 37. Nc3
(37. Ne7+ Kf8 38. Qe3 $16) 37... h6 38. h3 {Saving the pawn in case of a back
rank rook check, but weakening the king still further.} Nf6 39. Qd3 Ra8 40. Re1
Ra3 41. Qd2 $6 (41. Qc4 $1 $16 {I still have some compensation, but white is
doing well.}) 41... Qb4 $1 42. Rc1 (42. Ne4 Qxd2 43. Nxd2 Rd3 44. Ne4 Nd7 45.
Nd6 Rxd4 46. Re8+ Nf8 $11) 42... Nd5 43. Ne4 Qxd2 44. Nxd2 Rd3 45. Ne4 Rxd4 46.
Rc8+ Kh7 47. Rd8 Nc3 {No more tricks.} 1/2-1/2[/pgn]
Today was tough because many players got into good positions but then messed up, which can be hard to get over. Still, with three rounds left everyone can still post a decent score.
I also note that Jonny and Shivan had a decent time of it down in Gatwick - Jonny scored 5.5/9 in the all play all and the highest rating performance of that group.
There have been some really interesting games at this tournament, with plenty of good play by the Scots, which bodes well for the future.
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if we keep focused and play with the same determination and attitude we have been showing throughout this tournament, there are a lot more points waiting to be picked up. Some other teams will be already thinking of that plane home. Hugh and Alan won't allow us to do the same, I can assure you! We will be going all out as a squad to win as many games as possible right to the last move of the last game,
Robin.
