FUTURE TRIPS
Mike Forster has tried to contact the Squad members in Year 7 upwards to ask them to express their interest for a trip in Lucerne from October 29 to November 4th this year and a trip next easter in Frydek.


He has had a number of emails rejected due to spam or out of date emails. Please contact Mike Forster urgently if you are in the squad and interested in the trip and have not received an email. We will be trying to allocate the places for the Lucerne trip within the next few weeks


His email is [email protected]
  

  

New Members
Congratulations to Conor Beattie on gaining his second squad norm. We are very pleased to welcome him into the squad and hope he will be able to join us on trips soon.

Letter regarding trips 24
All squad members born 2009 onwards should have received a letter regarding trips. If you have not had one please contact me at once

                Frydek Mistek 2024
The group left on March 27th and arrived safely in Frydek I append (I hope) a couple of photos
​National Chess Junior Squad trip / Frydek Mistek: Easter 2024 See: National Chess Junior Squad - Home (ncjs.co.uk) The National Chess Junior Squad is a UK based charity supporting our members in educational chess trips abroad. Day 1 The shock of a very early morning alarm call started our National Chess Junior Squad trip to Frydek Mistek - as we all made our way to the RyanAir departures at Stansted for a 7.55 Flight to Katowice. Our participants this year are: Arthur Kendall, Aidan Burnside, Emre Balsari, Alexander Horwood, Yueyue Sui, Henri Blin, George Tagg, Qixuan Han, Aditya Mittal, Kanishk Walia, Shrihan Koppuravuri, Mihir Sharma, Louis Buckland, and Jacob Wynn. After a slight panic from Louis who was facing a major M25 diversion after a junction closure, we all just made it through security in time for a quick toilet trip and a chance to sort out water bottles before our gate was up and it was a mad race to the "gate that was due to close in 10 minutes" only to discover there was really a half hour wait in a queue! On the way there Ryanair group bookings had kindly managed to rearrange our configuration of 16 among 4 contiguous rows, so most of the children had a chance to meet each other on the team and bond on the journey. For two of our players it was their very first plane flight – with even more reasons to remember the trip. After a prompt arrival and a breeze through luggage collection and border control, our transportation was somewhat surprised and still 45 minutes away from picking us up. Many chess games were therefore played online during the wait before we made the 90 minute journey to the hotel, crossed the border from Poland to Czechia and settled into our rooms in the hotel Rosa in Mistek. (Frydek-Mistek includes the merger of Mistek in Moravia on one side of the river Ostravice river as well as Frydek at a higher altitude in Silesia). We just had enough time to preorder our evening meals from the menu - and to then head down to the playing hall via a 12 minute walk for tournament registration with our customary visit to the Albert supermarket on route and a chance for the children to spend Czech Crowns - if only in virtual form for some of them. Emre managed to scare us by dropping his wallet in the supermarket - but fortunately this was handed in while we were looking for it. We made it to the venue and the children were able to get some practice in on real boards and sets while the leaders sorted out the admin of the registration. With a nice split of 5 players each in the U12 and U15 sections (nice because we needed 5 players for each team in the team event, and the split between sections reducing the chance of English having to play English) as well as 4 players in the open section. On the way back we crossed the river and bought our traditional tournament football that was to see much action over the next few days! The meal in the hotel proved to be very successful (at least more successful than last year!) with almost all the food consumed and some relatively happy children albeit very weary from the long day. Our alarms were duly set according to a 7.30 breakfast. Day 2 After a good night’s sleep all the children made it through the excellent breakfast and arrived in good time in their bright new yellow NCJS kit) for a dazzling photo and round 1. The Chess tournament at Frydek is a great introduction to serious chess for our Junior Squad with a great venue and events all the way from the international open right down to U7s. There were also plenty of participants that had been taken there by their parents although the diversity of countries that were present pre-covid has still not completely recovered. After a bi-lingual opening ceremony to cover off important rules like the “impossible move rule” - it was time for our handshakes and the first round. In the open there was an accelerated Swiss draw in effect for the early rounds and the pairings were a little less unbalanced than they would have been in a normal Swiss pairing system. For some of our less experienced squad the slow FIDE time limit of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment was significantly slower than anything they were used to, and the wide variation in exit times correlating with their experience of slower chess. After a long round with many good and bad moves we finished on 8.5 out of 14 in round 1. After a traditional Czech lunch and our customary football session at lunchtime…. .. we then totalled the same score of 8.5 out of 14 in round 2. An encouraging and consistent start. Day 3 On Day 3 the chess resumed with again some very long games. Both this round and subsequently we consistently found that the last games to finish in the junior each round included one or more English players and we began a tradition of being the last group to go to lunch. In the morning with our players now against much more balanced opposition we scored 7 out of 14. After round 3 we also had to submit our two English team participants for the Annual Frydek junior team competition. More on this later – but we submitted our teams: “English Dragons” and “English knights” knowing that our chances of success in the team competition were now fixed! With mandatory fresh air and most players participating in the football after lunch, many of our players were out rated by their opponents and we scored a hard-fought 5.5 in the afternoon with the team overall now just on plus one and a half over 50%. Both teams were on the same score and well down the places in the team competition. The score did not however, reflect the hard work that the players put in this round, with both the last games to finish being English games well into the late endgame and playing off the increment. Also encouraging was the focus and determination of our players to carefully study and analyse each game afterwards and to understand the opportunities for improvement and the learning points in each game. Day 4 Today began with a slightly disconcerting surprise as the arbiter duly announced in the morning that everyone needed to remember to put their clocks forward that evening as the Czech clocks were due to go forward from 2am such that the time between 2am and 3am was “lost sleep”. The slightly nicer surprise was Kanishk winning a share of the best game prize – the organisers awarded a T-shirt to the winner, and chocolate to the loser. Helpful timing for comfort food! https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=RhI0eQmbgAqsK6yMrIl3Gqmz6TnLutd6Yia1aG/4mjVIAzTCHygup mSn4MSbTcog In Round 5 we scored a healthy 9 points and improved our team placings. Arthur had been steadily outplaying his opponent positionally as black in the following game https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=S/dsKU2YrPWaOX7MKqpbb+HKW6nHpDDu1Ydta8fqFU77avWY+ oEp9BpNwTZloQSt When Whites move 30.Qc2 transformed his opponent’s position from worse to lost. Arthur converted the win and moved just a half point behind the leaders. After some quick but quality football time (This round started an hour earlier in the afternoon for the juniors to fit in the Simul and other children’s events) in round 7 we achieved our best round yet – with all five of our under 12s winning and a fantastic score of 11.5 for the English players this round. Our only loss in the Junior events was after two English players had to play each other – and after round 6 Our English Dragons were in the lead in the team competition with English Knights very close behind. Most of our players wanted to play in the Simul by Anton Korobov - Wikipedia (peak rating 2723)! But with only 6 boards to spread our players he agreed to let our players team up on the same boards. The result became a very interesting test of how well our players could cooperate effectively quite apart from a test of their chess ability. After a long battle that threatened our late dinner time of 20.30 – our team produced the only winners of the day in the simul with congratulations to Adi, Kanishk and Shrihan. I think most of the players were thrilled to have played such a strong player. His signature on Jacob’s shirt brought many smiles to the room! After our players made it through dinner it was time to put all our alarm clocks forward an hour and cope with less sleep the next day – Frydek was living up to its reputation of being a “marathon” not a “sprint”. Day 5 In the morning another nice surprise where our game between Shrihan and Adi the day before produced the best game prize of the day. Adi was very happy with his shirt, and Shrihan with his chocolate! In round 7 with the tournament approaching the final rounds there was much interest in the live boards being broadcast by the tournament control and Chess shop and the battle on the top boards in the U12 between Arthur and Alona. This eventually finished in a draw in an equal position. This round we saw our toughest opposition yet as our open players were facing 2200+ opposition with the acceleration completely removed. Louis had reached a great score of 4.5 out of 6 up to this point and was in joint first position at the start of this round. In the junior competitions we were all playing higher quality opposition after our great round 6 of the day before. In the end, this round our U12s and U15s each managed 50% in their section, and our open players took our total to 5.5 this round. Our focus however – was on a growth mindset – and not the results, and with much analysis and discussion we found many interesting learning points for improvement that we were later able to verify via computer confirmation. (ref: GM Blog : Developing a learning vs. winning mindset | Saint Louis Chess Club) For this lunch time our vegetarian quartet had opted to eat out from the chess venue and reported that the Vegetarian Taco’s and salad were their best meal yet! The rest of our players ate as usual at the Frydek National House lunch venue and after football it was the penultimate round 8. This time our open players were again playing very tough opposition and eventually finished on 1 out of 4. Our u15s and U12s between them scored five out of ten so our total was 6 for the round. Also today was the final submission for the art competition with a theme of Easter and Chess. There were some brilliant creations. Day 6: Our final day of the chess competition had an earlier round time of 8am on this Easter Monday. It was therefore a prompt 6.30am breakfast before our walk to the venue and a chance to calm and focus before the last round. With the English Dragons team 1.5 points clear of the 2nd place team – and the best 4 scores counting for each team, we needed at least 2.5 to guarantee a joint top score. Due to the way colours had fallen earlier in the event our Dragons had four blacks and one white in the final round. It was going to be a nail-biting finish. In the end – the dragons did achieve the 2.5 points they needed to take the team title. There was much serendipity this round. In one game white was OK but chose to go for a long combination winning the exchange – only to be much worse having won it. In another game, white was holding his “bad Bishop” vs Knight endgame and chose the lost King and pawn endgame instead. Such is the fickle fortune of chess. In the Boys u12 event. Arthur was the outright winner and YueYue was second. With our team trophy we would have three big trophies as well as the medals and other prizes we had won to show to our families at the arrivals hall. The prizegiving itself was very entertaining and a great spectacle. One day we must learn how to achieve such shows in England! We just had time after the lottery prizes to race back to the hotel, grab our swimming gear, and finished the day with a public bus via the help of our guide, and both Swimming and Bowling by the lake. We had an hour and a half of swimming, with slides, and had prebooked all 4 lanes of the bowling so that we had the place to ourselves. There were 14 happy children by the time we finished dinner with the prizewinning cake for first prize: Day 7 Normally the Junior Squad try and arrange the excursion before the tournament, but this time due to the limited affordable flight options our excursion was afterwards. In the morning we had a trip to the blast furnace where we learnt all about the production of iron and steel, and had the opportunity to stand inside a disused blast furnace to fully appreciate the scale of its construction. Bolt Tower - Dolní Vítkovice (dolnivitkovice.cz) We also had the chance to ascend to the very top of the Bolt tower, and then descend on foot via the “Adrenaline bridgewalk” all the way to the ground. Some players noted with regret that they had failed to mention vertigo or an “allergy to heights” on their medical consent forms. After a quality pizza lunch in the bakery we visited the science museum in the afternoon – and with whatsapp as our communication aid – everyone was able to independently explore the brilliant exhibits here in small groups and still meet up for the exit at exactly the right time. Our last evening at the hotel saw a four board bughouse match thanks to the Chess organizers kindly lending us kit until the last day. On Day 8 it was time to pack up and after a lie-in and breakfast all the players signed the cleaned-up football (Thanks Jacob) that we had used all week and at the drawing of a name it was Emre who won the signed ball. Then we loaded our cases into the trailer, checked that we had everything and everybody, and headed to the Marlenka cake factory in Frydek. Virtual tour MARLENKA - MARLENKA Enterprises The tasting plates and honey drinks plus the chance to buy cakes at a discount made this excursion high on the list of a number of the players who had enjoyed their desserts this week. It was also great to see real robots in action and to hear the talk from the English speaking guide. Finally it was our trip to Ostrava airport for a panini lunch for those that were hungry and a last chance to play online chess at the café, followed by our flight back to Stansted and the waiting parents. For some of our children it was their first trip abroad, and the feedback has been rewarding and appreciated. As leaders, it was a privilege and pleasure to take such enthusiastic, talented and appreciative children on this trip. They should all be very proud of their achievements, and their attitude to improvement. Please see the National Chess Junior Squad website for guidance on how to qualify for the squad. We will be visiting Frydek again next Easter and are looking for other chess trips suitable for our members. Our trips are non-profit making and we are an educational chess charity. Mike and Debbie (Easter 2024)National Chess Junior Squad trip / Frydek Mistek: Easter 2024 See: National Chess Junior Squad - Home (ncjs.co.uk) The National Chess Junior Squad is a UK based charity supporting our members in educational chess trips abroad. Day 1 The shock of a very early morning alarm call started our National Chess Junior Squad trip to Frydek Mistek - as we all made our way to the RyanAir departures at Stansted for a 7.55 Flight to Katowice. Our participants this year are: Arthur Kendall, Aidan Burnside, Emre Balsari, Alexander Horwood, Yueyue Sui, Henri Blin, George Tagg, Qixuan Han, Aditya Mittal, Kanishk Walia, Shrihan Koppuravuri, Mihir Sharma, Louis Buckland, and Jacob Wynn. After a slight panic from Louis who was facing a major M25 diversion after a junction closure, we all just made it through security in time for a quick toilet trip and a chance to sort out water bottles before our gate was up and it was a mad race to the "gate that was due to close in 10 minutes" only to discover there was really a half hour wait in a queue! On the way there Ryanair group bookings had kindly managed to rearrange our configuration of 16 among 4 contiguous rows, so most of the children had a chance to meet each other on the team and bond on the journey. For two of our players it was their very first plane flight – with even more reasons to remember the trip. After a prompt arrival and a breeze through luggage collection and border control, our transportation was somewhat surprised and still 45 minutes away from picking us up. Many chess games were therefore played online during the wait before we made the 90 minute journey to the hotel, crossed the border from Poland to Czechia and settled into our rooms in the hotel Rosa in Mistek. (Frydek-Mistek includes the merger of Mistek in Moravia on one side of the river Ostravice river as well as Frydek at a higher altitude in Silesia). We just had enough time to preorder our evening meals from the menu - and to then head down to the playing hall via a 12 minute walk for tournament registration with our customary visit to the Albert supermarket on route and a chance for the children to spend Czech Crowns - if only in virtual form for some of them. Emre managed to scare us by dropping his wallet in the supermarket - but fortunately this was handed in while we were looking for it. We made it to the venue and the children were able to get some practice in on real boards and sets while the leaders sorted out the admin of the registration. With a nice split of 5 players each in the U12 and U15 sections (nice because we needed 5 players for each team in the team event, and the split between sections reducing the chance of English having to play English) as well as 4 players in the open section. On the way back we crossed the river and bought our traditional tournament football that was to see much action over the next few days! The meal in the hotel proved to be very successful (at least more successful than last year!) with almost all the food consumed and some relatively happy children albeit very weary from the long day. Our alarms were duly set according to a 7.30 breakfast. Day 2 After a good night’s sleep all the children made it through the excellent breakfast and arrived in good time in their bright new yellow NCJS kit) for a dazzling photo and round 1. The Chess tournament at Frydek is a great introduction to serious chess for our Junior Squad with a great venue and events all the way from the international open right down to U7s. There were also plenty of participants that had been taken there by their parents although the diversity of countries that were present pre-covid has still not completely recovered. After a bi-lingual opening ceremony to cover off important rules like the “impossible move rule” - it was time for our handshakes and the first round. In the open there was an accelerated Swiss draw in effect for the early rounds and the pairings were a little less unbalanced than they would have been in a normal Swiss pairing system. For some of our less experienced squad the slow FIDE time limit of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment was significantly slower than anything they were used to, and the wide variation in exit times correlating with their experience of slower chess. After a long round with many good and bad moves we finished on 8.5 out of 14 in round 1. After a traditional Czech lunch and our customary football session at lunchtime…. .. we then totalled the same score of 8.5 out of 14 in round 2. An encouraging and consistent start. Day 3 On Day 3 the chess resumed with again some very long games. Both this round and subsequently we consistently found that the last games to finish in the junior each round included one or more English players and we began a tradition of being the last group to go to lunch. In the morning with our players now against much more balanced opposition we scored 7 out of 14. After round 3 we also had to submit our two English team participants for the Annual Frydek junior team competition. More on this later – but we submitted our teams: “English Dragons” and “English knights” knowing that our chances of success in the team competition were now fixed! With mandatory fresh air and most players participating in the football after lunch, many of our players were out rated by their opponents and we scored a hard-fought 5.5 in the afternoon with the team overall now just on plus one and a half over 50%. Both teams were on the same score and well down the places in the team competitition. The score did not however, reflect the hard work that the players put in this round, with both the last games to finish being English games well into the late endgame and playing off the increment. Also encouraging was the focus and determination of our players to carefully study and analyse each game afterwards and to understand the opportunities for improvement and the learning points in each game. Day 4 Today began with a slightly disconcerting surprise as the arbiter duly announced in the morning that everyone needed to remember to put their clocks forward that evening as the Czech clocks were due to go forward from 2am such that the time between 2am and 3am was “lost sleep”. The slightly nicer surprise was Kanishk winning a share of the best game prize – the organisers awarded a T-shirt to the winner, and chocolate to the loser. Helpful timing for comfort food! https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=RhI0eQmbgAqsK6yMrIl3Gqmz6TnLutd6Yia1aG/4mjVIAzTCHygup mSn4MSbTcog In Round 5 we scored a healthy 9 points and improved our team placings. Arthur had been steadily outplaying his opponent positionally as black in the following game https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=S/dsKU2YrPWaOX7MKqpbb+HKW6nHpDDu1Ydta8fqFU77avWY+ oEp9BpNwTZloQSt When Whites move 30.Qc2 transformed his opponent’s position from worse to lost. Arthur converted the win and moved just a half point behind the leaders. After some quick but quality football time (This round started an hour earlier in the afternoon for the juniors to fit in the Simul and other children’s events) in round 7 we achieved our best round yet – with all five of our under 12s winning and a fantastic score of 11.5 for the English players this round. Our only loss in the Junior events was after two English players had to play each other – and after round 6 Our English Dragons were in the lead in the team competition with English Knights very close behind. Most of our players wanted to play in the Simul by Anton Korobov - Wikipedia (peak rating 2723)! But with only 6 boards to spread our players he agreed to let our players team up on the same boards. The result became a very interesting test of how well our players could cooperate effectively quite apart from a test of their chess ability. After a long battle that threatened our late dinner time of 20.30 – our team produced the only winners of the day in the simul with congratulations to Adi, Kanishk and Shrihan. I think most of the players were thrilled to have played such a strong player. His signature on Jacob’s shirt brought many smiles to the room! After our players made it through dinner it was time to put all our alarm clocks forward an hour and cope with less sleep the next day – Frydek was living up to its reputation of being a “marathon” not a “sprint”. Day 5 In the morning another nice surprise where our game between Shrihan and Adi the day before produced the best game prize of the day. Adi was very happy with his shirt, and Shrihan with his chocolate! In round 7 with the tournament approaching the final rounds there was much interest in the live boards being broadcast by the tournament control and Chess shop and the battle on the top boards in the U12 between Arthur and Alona. This eventually finished in a draw in an equal position. This round we saw our toughest opposition yet as our open players were facing 2200+ opposition with the acceleration completely removed. Louis had reached a great score of 4.5 out of 6 up to this point and was in joint first position at the start of this round. In the junior competitions we were all playing higher quality opposition after our great round 6 of the day before. In the end, this round our U12s and U15s each managed 50% in their section, and our open players took our total to 5.5 this round. Our focus however – was on a growth mindset – and not the results, and with much analysis and discussion we found many interesting learning points for improvement that we were later able to verify via computer confirmation. (ref: GM Blog : Developing a learning vs. winning mindset | Saint Louis Chess Club) For this lunch time our vegetarian quartet had opted to eat out from the chess venue and reported that the Vegetarian Taco’s and salad were their best meal yet! The rest of our players ate as usual at the Frydek National House lunch venue and after football it was the penultimate round 8. This time our open players were again playing very tough opposition and eventually finished on 1 out of 4. Our u15s and U12s between them scored five out of ten so our total was 6 for the round. Also today was the final submission for the art competition with a theme of Easter and Chess. There were some brilliant creations. Day 6: Our final day of the chess competition had an earlier round time of 8am on this Easter Monday. It was therefore a prompt 6.30am breakfast before our walk to the venue and a chance to calm and focus before the last round. With the English Dragons team 1.5 points clear of the 2nd place team – and the best 4 scores counting for each team, we needed at least 2.5 to guarantee a joint top score. Due to the way colours had fallen earlier in the event our Dragons had four blacks and one white in the final round. It was going to be a nail-biting finish. In the end – the dragons did achieve the 2.5 points they needed to take the team title. There was much serendipity this round. In one game white was OK but chose to go for a long combination winning the exchange – only to be much worse having won it. In another game, white was holding his “bad Bishop” vs Knight endgame and chose the lost King and pawn endgame instead. Such is the fickle fortune of chess. In the Boys u12 event. Arthur was the outright winner and YueYue was second. With our team trophy we would have three big trophies as well as the medals and other prizes we had won to show to our families at the arrivals hall. The prizegiving itself was very entertaining and a great spectacle. One day we must learn how to achieve such shows in England! We just had time after the lottery prizes to race back to the hotel, grab our swimming gear, and finished the day with a public bus via the help of our guide, and both Swimming and Bowling by the lake. We had an hour and a half of swimming, with slides, and had prebooked all 4 lanes of the bowling so that we had the place to ourselves. There were 14 happy children by the time we finished dinner with the prizewinning cake for first prize: Day 7 Normally the Junior Squad try and arrange the excursion before the tournament, but this time due to the limited affordable flight options our excursion was afterwards. In the morning we had a trip to the blast furnace where we learnt all about the production of iron and steel, and had the opportunity to stand inside a disused blast furnace to fully appreciate the scale of its construction. Bolt Tower - Dolní Vítkovice (dolnivitkovice.cz) We also had the chance to ascend to the very top of the Bolt tower, and then descend on foot via the “Adrenaline bridgewalk” all the way to the ground. Some players noted with regret that they had failed to mention vertigo or an “allergy to heights” on their medical consent forms. After a quality pizza lunch in the bakery we visited the science museum in the afternoon – and with whatsapp as our communication aid – everyone was able to independently explore the brilliant exhibits here in small groups and still meet up for the exit at exactly the right time. Our last evening at the hotel saw a four board bughouse match thanks to the Chess organizers kindly lending us kit until the last day. On Day 8 it was time to pack up and after a lie-in and breakfast all the players signed the cleaned-up football (Thanks Jacob) that we had used all week and at the drawing of a name it was Emre who won the signed ball. Then we loaded our cases into the trailer, checked that we had everything and everybody, and headed to the Marlenka cake factory in Frydek. Virtual tour MARLENKA - MARLENKA Enterprises The tasting plates and honey drinks plus the chance to buy cakes at a discount made this excursion high on the list of a number of the players who had enjoyed their desserts this week. It was also great to see real robots in action and to hear the talk from the English speaking guide. Finally it was our trip to Ostrava airport for a panini lunch for those that were hungry and a last chance to play online chess at the café, followed by our flight back to Stansted and the waiting parents. For some of our children it was their first trip abroad, and the feedback has been rewarding and appreciated. As leaders, it was a privilege and pleasure to take such enthusiastic, talented and appreciative children on this trip. They should all be very proud of their achievements, and their attitude to improvement. Please see the National Chess Junior Squad website for guidance on how to qualify for the squad. We will be visiting Frydek again next Easter and are looking for other chess trips suitable for our members. Our trips are non-profit making and we are an educational chess charity. Mike and Debbie (Easter 2024)​

                               Frydek Mistek 2023.
After an absence of three years foreign trips have returned to the Junior Squad. I would like to thank Mike and Debbie for taking this initial trip and the seven families who, at short notice arranged for their sons to go on the trip. The players were Sivasatayam Balasundaram, Kit Blades, Luke Freeman, Nayan Rastogi, Adam Sefton, Luoke Wang, and Pengxiao Zhu.
The NCJS trip to Frydek began with an early 5.25am start at the Wizair departure area. This did not, however, dampen the  excited enthusiasm among the boys at their first chance for a trip after three long Covid years of Frydek cancellations. With a slight delay due to M25 issues, we were soon through the self service bag drop challenge and said goodbye to the waving families as we went through the security checks. With just enough time for the water fountain, toilets and some airside meal deals it was soon time to go to the check in gate where we made the most of the seating while the stationary queue waited for the announcement that the plane was slightly delayed.
Eventually we were able to progress to our "randomly allocated" seating - that had fortunately given the nine of us three blocks of three seats, so that no one was stuck on their own anywhere.
With good weather it was a comfortable flight, with the biggest delay being the very long queue for non-EU passports that consumed over an hour before we finally escape to the baggage claim.
As we left departures our volunteer translator Vasek was waiting for us with the mini-bus, and it wasn't long before we were all on the mini-bus heading from Katowice in Poland to the small town of Frydek Mistek across the border.
There was a friendly welcome at the hotel Rosa with staff available with very good English. Once the room allocations were sorted, we had an hour to unpack and settle into our rooms, and select our choices from the dinner menu. Then we had time to meet Vasek's children and fit in a quick walking tour from the hotel via the square to the tourist information - and then on to the local mini-supermarket to grab some drinks and other sugar based sustenance. From there we were shown the safe route via the underpass to get to the playing hall and the park. We were all safely escorted back to the hotel for a hearty meal and some encouraging team bonding. We have lots to look forward to tomorrow - with both a trip to the mining museum and a trip to the swimming pool and slides.
Day Two
With the excursion bus booked for 9am, everybody was down for a prompt 7.30 breakfast and made the most of the generous buffet choices.
With both hot and cold food available everyone managed to find something to their palate and we were replete by the time we caught the bus to the mining museum at Landek Park.
With a tour initially of the rescue centre our translator Vasek did an excellent job of coping both with the commentary from our tour guide (an ex miner since it has now closed) - and the probing questions from the children. After a video showing the rescue crews training by squeezing through narrow pipes with heavy rescue gear - the children were inspired to try their own circuits through a wooden training challenge and described it as the highlight of the day so far! After this we made our way to the lift shaft, kitted up with hard hats, and descended below ground in an original mining cage to be delivered to both original and demonstration tunnels that showed the evolution of the mine from the smallest tunnels via horses pulling carts, through to the most modern mining equipment used in this mine before it was closed.
​
After the tour we visited the on-site restaurant for a lunch, and then travelled back from Ostrava to the Swimming pool at Frydek Mistek. With some fast water slides available that plunged the children into the drop pools the children had plenty to chat about by the time we headed back to the hotel. After a short rest it was time to head to the playing hall for registration and to meet the tournament organizer and arbiters. Here there was an opportunity to see the chess hall and the stage, and to finally get hands on with the tournament chess sets and to play a game or two before it was time to head for dinner. With an opening ceremony at 9 tomorrow morning, it was an earlier lights out to get plenty of rest before the first game. We look forward to the tournament tomorrow!
Today it turned serious, our first games in the tournament. In preparation everyone was down for an early breakfast. After the mandatory checklist for pens and water bottles the brisk walk to the venue ensured everyone was wide awake. The opening ceremony included a welcome in English, and a reminder about the "impossible move" rules! After a suitable time to take some photos (including a number by the official photographer to be published on their web site), the games commenced.
The organizers had kindly reserved a table for the English - and we were able to use the provided boards and sets to keep everyone occupied until the last games finished. With Adam finishing first, and Siva the last to come out - round one resulted in a confidence boosting seven out of seven - with Siva finishing just in time for us to all enjoy the soup and goulash. At home the parents were able to enjoy the top three games in each section as live boards, and an ongoing video stream of the tournament hall allowed them to see for themselves how hard the children were working at the board.After lunch the squad reconvened to the park - in order to pursue a long standing tradition of "getting some footie in!" Though, in the interests of health and clean clothing - this was the non-contact version, to allow our smaller competitors a reasonable chance against the oldest boys.
The afternoon session was to prove more challenging than the morning, with the English players among the very last to finish. This round also included a particularly nerve wracking game between Kit and his higher rated opponent - with Kit showing steely determination in allowing his opponent a large number of checks in the knowledge that eventually he would escape to a winning position. In the end our under 15 squad members achieved a win and three draws, while our three under 12 players managed between them all three possible results, to give us a net plus one for the round.With a trip home via the en-route supermarket - Albert - just in time to buy drinks etc before the Good Friday close down, we made it back in good time for our evening meal, with time for just a little preparation before it was lights out in anticipation of day 4. 
Day 4 is Good Friday and breakfast was later this morning. After a quick breakfast it was a crisp snowy walk to the venue and after another chance for photos the games began. This round there were some very close games and some very hard fought battles. With an overall plus 2 score the team included some great saves from lost positions, and in the end Louke and Kit were among the last to finish after long endgame battles that could have swung either way. Lunch was a choice  between turkey and mash or pancakes and jam - with the choices having been made on a form before we left England. Many of those with turkey - were caught looking enviously at the pancakes! After lunch there was again an opportunity for football, and then a tough afternoon round including our first all England pairing. The players were sent to their boards with a message to play hard fought and exciting chess, and there were some great quality games as a result. With a plus 3 score from the round there is still all to play for tomorrow - with two of our players expected to be on the stage in round 5. ​
Scores after 4 rounds. U12 Adam 3.5, Luoke 3, Pengxiao 3: U15 Kit 3.5, Sivasatyan 3, Nayan 2.5, Luke 2. (In both sections 3.5 is the top score)
Day 5 in Frydek started with a prompt 7.45 Breakfast and a last minute stop at the supermarket to ensure everyone had drinks with them for the game. With the announcements, we still arrived in good time - and found out on those announcements that there is a special simultaneous display for up to 20 chidlren starting at 18.00 against a top class grandmaster: Anton Korobov. This was a slight surprise as it was not mentioned in the programme - but did explain the earlier 2pm start for the afternoon round today. We are assured it will take around 1-2 hours - so are giving all the children the chance to participate if they want to. Frydek is something of an endurance challenge - with a real danger of fatigue towards the final rounds, so the option to stay out of the simul and rest is also a sensible choice. 
Round 5 this morning proved to be a test of theory for a few of our participants. While both Luke and Siva were unfortunately caught in some deep preparation, Kit was taking advantage of his opponent who played a known theoretical mistake. All these games resulted in a decisive advantage and victory. Pengxiao also achieved an opening advantage but needed slightly more precision to prevent his opponent from escaping with a draw. On other Live boards Adam played a very steady game and eventually his opponent collapsed under pressure. Luoke achieved a very pleasant position against the Benko and went on to achieve a nice win. Nayan completed the round with a careful victory taking the total to plus 2 for the round. Lunch was a mix of good and bad news as those with the pasta displayed much envy of those with the breaded chicken. The children with the chicken did not want to play swapsies. Then with no time for football today we took those who wanted some fresh air out for a quick walk. The afternoon round was pleasantly successful and there were some very happy children. In the under 12 while Pengxiao had to play Luoke (this game ended up being a draw) - Adam won in fine style on board one after outmaneuvering his opponent in a position with many symmetrical features. In the under 15 Nayan, Kit and Luke all won - while Siva was happy to achieve a draw against the tournament's top seed. With plus four for the round England now had clear leaders in both competitions with both Adam and Kit on 5.5 out of 6. With our under 15s being generally seeded well below the top players this was particularly encouraging.
With the simultaneous running from 18.00 we ended up with six players taking up the challenge - and only one taking the option for an early rest before dinner. Pengxiao and Siva were the last to finish but it was a great experience for all the boys. With Round 7 in the morning there is lots to look forward to!
Day 6 started with an early breakfast then a head to head battle between two of under 12s - Adam and Luoke on board 1. Adam won the exchange in the middle game but allowed Luoke to block up the position so that the rooks had no scope - in the end a draw. In the under 15s Nayan and Luke both drew their games. Pengxiao had taken a very risky pawn as black in the opening but somehow managed to survive to a rook ending where he was just worse, but there was still hope. Kit had significant pressure and a time advantage and declined a number of draw offers from his opponent trying to find a win. Alas, after turning down the last one, Kit blundered and was soon facing a lost position. It was an important lesson that the draw offers were only an "illusionary" security blanket" and on the importance of using a time advantage effectively. In the end Pengxiao could not hold the rook and pawn ending - but Siva did manage to turn around a bad position into a win - so we finished the round with minus 1 - but still had good chances if we could show some resilience and bounce back in round 7. 
Lunch was a challenge for the young players - who generally struggled this time with the traditional Czech food they had chosen. After 20 minutes of (none contact) football in the Park and some fresh air - spirits were significantly lifted, and it was a much more positive team that sat down to face round 8.

First out this time was Pengxiao - who won a nice game after his opponent collapsed under pressure. Luke ended up losing to some middle game tactics, after missing that a move was check in a long combination. In the under 12s - both Adam and Luoke won nice games, with Adam finding a really nice try in a double rook and queen ending that proved too tricky for his opponent to defend. Kit was looking to be in trouble - but found a nice tactic to hold the draw. The last to finish were Nayan and Siva - with Nayan unlucky to be facing an opponent who found an excellent combination to finish him off, and Siva's opponent managing to trade all the remaining pieces to reach a winning king and pawn ending.

Dinner in the hotel proved much more attractive than the lunch - with burgers and pasta the order of the day. With an 8am round start tomorrow we negotiated a 7am breakfast and it was an early lights out ready for the final round.Day 6 Started with an early breakfast then a head to head battle between two of under 12s - Adam and Luoke on board 1. Adam won the exchange in the middle game but allowed Luoke to block up the position so that the rooks had no scope - in the end a draw. In the under 15s Nayan and Luke both drew their games. Pengxiao had taken a very risky pawn as black in the opening but somehow managed to survive to a rook ending where he was just worse, but there was still hope. Kit had significant pressure and a time advantage and declined a number of draw offers from his opponent trying to find a win. Alas, after turning down the last one, Kit blundered and was soon facing a lost position. It was an important lesson that the draw offers were only an "illusionary" security blanket" and on the importance of using a time advantage effectively. In the end Pengxiao could not hold the rook and pawn ending - but Siva did manage to turn around a bad position into a win - so we finished the round with minus 1 - but still had good chances if we could show some resilience and bounce back in round 7.
Lunch was a challenge for the young players - who generally struggled this time with the traditional Czech food they had chosen. After 20 minutes of (none contact) football in the Park and some fresh air - spirits were significantly lifted, and it was a much more positive team that sat down to face round 8 First out this time was Pengxiao - who won a nice game after his opponent collapsed under pressure. Luke ended up losing to some middle game tactics, after missing that a move was check in a long combination. In the under 12s - both Adam and Luoke won nice games, with Adam finding a really nice try in a double rook and queen ending that proved too tricky for his opponent to defend. Kit was looking to be in trouble - but found a nice tactic to hold the draw. The last to finish were Nayan and Siva - with Nayan unlucky to be facing an opponent who found an excellent combination to finish him off, and Siva's opponent managing to trade all the remaining pieces to reach a winning king and pawn ending.
Dinner in the hotel proved much more attractive than the lunch - with burgers and pasta the order of the day. With an 8am round start tomorrow we negotiated a 7am breakfast and it was an early lights out ready for the final round.
Day 7 With the earlier round time of 8am this morning it was everybody up for a 6.45 breakfast. After reminding everyone of their lunch choices both Adam and Luke were worried enough to ask for a contingency cheese sandwich and these were duly provisioned from the breakfast options. We arrived in good time for the round and there was just enough time to take a few quick photos before Adam appeared celebrating: "I drew! I won!" - it was a very quick game. It was not much longer before Pengxiao also appeared - having scored a quick win after some unsound opening aggression by white. Next out were Luke and Siva. Luke with a hard fought draw, and Siva demonstrating an excellent combination involving a rook sacrifice to play for a pawn promotion. Nayan also found a nice win, so in the end we were left with just Kit and Luoke up on the stage battling it out for the prizes. We were starting to get concerned about Kit's position - but breathed a sigh of relief when his opponent offered a draw to let Kit finish on 6.5 out of 9. How he would place all depended on board one, where the other players on 6 were still playing. Luoke was in trouble however, with his king trapped on the edge vs accumulating mating threats. He tried to resist but his opponent found the winning finish. We had finished with plus 2 for the round, but the greater cause for celebration came when we saw the draw agreed on board 1, leaving Kit in first place in the u15 based on the buchholz tie break. 
After lunch it was soon 1pm and time for the prize giving. This was considerably more entertaining that those used to English prize giving ceremonies are used to. The white and black dancing rooks soon won the hearts of the children who were laughing and giggling throughout the prizegiving at their various antics. We had good cause to celebrate on the podium. With Adam winning the under 12 and Luoke one of the runners up. In the U15 Kit celebrated first place and the "England lightswitches" team of four came third in the team competition to win a fabulous fruit covered chocolate torte. The icing not on the torte, though, was Luke Freeman winning a top prize in the raffle. 
Back at the hotel our happy NCJS team were joined again by our superb translator Vascek - and we travelled to the bowling alley for two fun hours of competitive team fun. With our last dinner in the hotel to follow, it had been an incredible day, and a great experience for all our young talents. On our final day in Frydek we had time for a later breakfast and everybody packed for room inspections. Our bus was hired to take us first to the Technical museum for passenger cars in Koprivnice. At the museum we had a guided tour translated by Vasek. There were many examples of Tetra cars from the oldest Prasident through to the last cars produced in the 1990s. After the museum we crossed to a nearby Italian restaurant where we had pre-booked tomato soup and  "Italian chicken with flat potatoes". We had time for a quick trip into the Albert supermarket for our last chance to spend Czech crowns. Then it was goodbye to the Czech Republic and time for the drive back to Poland and Katowice.
Despite being very early at the airport we were unable to check in until two hours before the flight - and then had some worrying passport scrutiny that was only relieved when the necessary residency permit was produced by the child in question. By the time we got through security the gate was already open - but there was a convenient water fountain at Katowice so we were able to refill our empty bottles with fresh drinking water in time for the flight. With rain at both ends the inward flight was more turbulent than we were used to but with our teammates for company it wasn't long before we were back on the tarmac at Luton and in the long passport queue. The border guard asked how we did and the children were pleased to show off their trophies. 
As we went through the arrivals gate we followed Victor's suggestion and there was much trophy waving. A very happy team and a very successful trip!
Thanks to Mike and Debbie for all their hard work and also these reports. I believe I have made a mistake somewhere but will correct it as soon as I have time. Finally, really well done to all the team for a sterling effort. We are all very proud of you.

                                          

                                                             BLACKPOOL 10-12 FEBRUARY 2023
Due to a complete absence of strong junior events in the North we have agreed that Blackpool will be used as a qualifying event both for the Junior Squad and the EPSCA Trial. Players should enter the section appropriate for their grade and they are looking for a score of 2.5\4 plus a half point bye or 3to\5. Please check the website a week after the event to make sure I have got your child's score (or have spoken to you at the event)
Entry Forms are on Blackpool Chess Congress Website

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                                                                             English Closed 2022
It was great to see this prestigious event up and running after a two year gap and the squad would like to thank Andrew Martin, Amy Grieve and their team for making this possible. As with most if not all congresses this year numbers were down (48) but I have every reason to hope that they will at least  return to normal by next year. The team are sticking with the first full weekend in October which is certainly a more hospitable time and gives parents an opportunity to explore the leafy surrounds of Yateley Manor whilst games are in progress. The closed event was arbited by Mike Forster and he ran a tight but friendly ship and despite the closeness and competitiveness of the sections it was good that this friendly atmosphere prevailed throughout the weekend. I was very happy to do the computer work and watch the chess. With many of our top players present it was never going to be easy in any section. Of the 22 players in the U12s no one managed 3/3 and only one each in the other two sections - neither of who won on Sunday morning.4 was the winning score in each section. The U12s saw 6 players on 3\5 and all three games had definite results. Pengxiao Zhu won the trophy on tie break and was joined on 4 points by Luoke Wang and Kameron Grose. The U14s saw a two way tie between Dimitrios Zakarian and Tashika Arora with Dimitrios winning their match and therefor the trophy. The U16s was the only sole winner - Emily Maton with Melissa Hamilton half a point behind and Ashwina Haria-skuse and Ronit Sachdeva a further half point behind. It was great to see 6/10 entries being girls and the top three players all girls. It shows it can be done.
​We can now look forward to next year when I hope the event will be bigger and stronger..

​

            ENGLISH CLOSED CHAMPIONSHIPS AT YATELEY MANOR OCTOBER 1ST AND 2ND
i am very pleased to say that this is going ahead. Please note the new dates. As you know this is by invitation only and is strictly limited to 70 players. It will be on a first come, first served basis. Due to the covid panic we have not had U11 trials in 2020 or 2021 so I have done my best regarding invitations. If you feel you should have had one  but have not please contact me with your reasons for getting an invite (which must be good)and we will consider it. I will maintain an entrants list above so you can the number of spaces that are left. But remember when we get to 70 that is it so do not be late. 

                                                                                               Trips to Poland and Frydek
​Sadly health issues led to the cancellation of both these trips. I am sure we can put  them down in the 2021 schedule and a letter will be sent out in the summer.

                   Group at Europa Point                                        The photographer photographed                        Some of our boys in St Michael's Cave
                     Young and old apes                                          Players doing battle Round Four                 Two pairs of squad players do battle. Round Four

 at U16 
                                                                                                      GIBRALTAR 2019

A group of 20 players met Glynis Purland and ian Burford at Gatwick Airport at the unearthly hour of 0500. The players were Shivam Agarwal,
Ben Aubury, Kian Dharmasena, Gavith Dharmasena, Armaan Gogia, Joe Hirst, Joseph Hurst, Samir Khan, Arjun Kolani, Jason Lv, Vidura Mendis, 
Max Miller, Eoin Moore, Aurideep Nayak, Hugo Rayner, Alexander Richards, Ron Usharovsky, Max Walker, Edison Xu, Daniel Yu.. I had been diverted to Malaga the day before but after sitting on the ground for 45 minutes the plane took off and landed safely in Gibraltar where a minibus was waiting to take the party to the Caleta. As the rooms were not ready the party got the 1300 bus in to town and had an early souvenir shop! On arrival back registration was sorted and they settled in to their rooms. 1730 was the reception in the hotel garden with nibbles and drinks and afterwards we had a 5 round blitz. We had 90 entrants and competition was fierce. Edison Xu won the U12 prize and £50 whilst Chris Tombolis (Squad but travelling with parents) was 3rd.
Friday was the start of the main tournament and there were two rounds although some managed a swim between rounds. It was the owners 80th birthday and your editor joined a select bunch to celebrate it. I must say Arjun woke me gently and politely when handing his result in! This is one event where the squad party is always over subscribed and parents accompany their children. This year 9 squad members had come along to play over and above the 20 members of the official party. After two rounds our U12s were doing well with Shivam, Arjun, Edison and Alexander all on two points Eoin is on 1.5; Daniel, and Kian on 1 and Joseph on  0.5    At U14 Level only Hugo is not on 1   Saturday is a single round followed by an excursion. Our scores after this third round were U12 Alex, Arjun, Edison 3, Shivam, Eoin, Kian, Daniel 2, Joseph 1.5. U16 Armaan, Vidura, Aurideep 2;Ron, Ben, Gavith 1.5; Joe, Samir, Max M, Max W, Jason Hugo, 1.                 
In the afternoon all "new" players go on the Rock Tour which meant 18 went with Glynis and I.We had an excellent driver\guide - the best in 10 trips - and we visited Europa Point, St Michael's Cave and had an introduction to the apes before continuing around the Rock and driving back through the town. On our return many of the kids and the adults headed for the pool and had a good session in their before getting ready for the simultaneous. The titled players did very well only losing 4 and conceeding 8 draws. We got 5 of the 8 draws (assuming the figure I have been given is correct|!) and the players were Joe (U16), Daniel, Jason, Arjun and Alex. Congratulations to all 5. Sunday was a double round day with a Master Class in the evening. The Under 12s did very well and with one round to go 6 of the top ten are squad players and all from the group. Arjun and Edison have 4.5; Alex and Kian 4, Shivam and Joseph 3.5 whilst Eoin and Daniel are on 3 and could get in the prizes with a win tomorrow.  Sadly the Under 16s are not in as good a position and most are hovering around the 50% mark.Ron, Joe, Armaan and Ben are on 3; Gavith, Aurideep, Vidura, Hugo, Max W and Samir on 2, Max M and Jason on 1.5. Hopefully they will gain inspiration from the Masterclasses tonight.
The final round at U16 saw 4 wins and 3 draws but, sadly, the draws were by those on 3 so no prizes were gained in this section. Final scores were Joe, Armaan and Ben 3.5; Ron, Gavith and Max W 3; Max M and Jason 2.5; Aurideep, Vidura, Samir and Hugo 2. However it was a much better picture at U12 level.3 wins and two draws saw Arjun second alone (and a point ahead of third) with Edison, Shivam, Alex and Joseph joint thirs and Kian joint 8th.
Mention should be made of our "independent squad players. At U16 Chris Tombolis was 7th equal and joint U14 winner whilst Julia Volovich was Girls U16 champion as well as 7= and joint U14 winner. At U12 level Aarnavh Trivedi and Hari Stewart were 8=.
Tuesday morning the group had a clear up session and an 0900 bus to the airport for the flight back to Gatwick North arriving there 1330. They have proved a well behaved group and, in fact, brought home over £3000 in prize money. Dates for next year 19th - 24th August.

                                                                              BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIPS TORQUAY 2019
This was held at the Riviera Centre in Torquay end of July to early August. We were blessed with good weather most of the time and Devon Chess had put on a good programme of outside events which were well supported. The playing numbers were 1200 which is a good figure and the size of the venue proved very popular. With two large halls in use there was a spacious feel to the event and the four 7 day junior championships had their own playing hall.  Total junior entries were well over 300 (not including those who played in adult events) and the following squad members were crowned champions. U16 Calum Salmons, U14 Aaravamudhan Balaji Girls Polina Shchepinova, U12 James Merriman Girls Tarini Jayawarna,  Congratulations to all these players and we look forward to next year's event.
​(New qualifiers and half norms will be added later)

                                                                       

                                               Three photographs of our Industrial Archaeology visit in Vitkovice Blast Furnace.
                  Group on Football Field                                            View of playing Hall                             Has our group no limit on their talent?
                       George on stage                                                      Tarini at play                             All the prize winners plus the infamous rook 
                    Squad prize winners                                    England SHORT team with cake                    George and Daniel before final round
           Classical architecture in Mistek                                      At the Tatra Museum                                         Ready to return home

                                                                     Trip to Frydek Mistek 2019

Tuesday 16th April
It was a pleasure to meet the group at Stansted after a five minute £3 bus ride from the hotel, as opposed to my last adventures on the way to Paris.
Helena Thomas accompanied Victor  and the players were  George Clarkson, Toby Cox, Melissa Hamilton, Georgia Headlong, Tarini Jayawarna, Joshua John, Kennan Kesterson, Andrew Kirby, Yuvraj Kumar, Lakshya Lokwani, Vidura Mendis, Arthur Page, Aditya Pramod Paleri, Hugo Rayner, Alexander Richards, Shahjahon Saidmurodov, Arnav Srivastava, Adam Tarling, Max Wilton, Daniel Yu.
​Every time now we seem to do more work for Ryanair. Not only did we label our bags at bag drop but we used the barcode scanner to send them down the carousel. Aircrew training no doubt awaits.
The security staff have obviously been on a new training course and concentrated on different priorities. This time I was spared the extra "hands up we've got you surrounded" scanner but not all the team escaped it.
When air side we had time to raid WHSmith for some cheaper food than is available on board before the long walk to gate 47. As usual the boards were displaying now boarding a long time before we actually were boarding . Then they helpfully mixed the priority and non priority queues to add more confusion. Despite Ryanair's lack of organisation we boarded efficiently and enjoyed a pleasant flight. Some passengers applauded when we touched down. Thankfully not our players, but I did explain that just as they would not expect applause if they checkmated with a Rook and King, so you shouldn't applaud a pilot for a landing. Some things are just expected.
Ostrava is a small airport so we dealt with passports and baggage reclaim without a hitch and met our friend Vasek with the coach just outside the terminal. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery on the way to our hotel where we checked in before eating.
Unusually tonight our meal was in the new shopping mall at KFC and the players had the task of ordering their own meals. They need to remember that if you say chips here you get crisps. If you want French fries however that's a different matter! We crossed an alternative bridge on the way back to the hotel which seemed to confuse some of the team. Lemmings were mentioned. We closed the day with the usual meeting and a little free time before lights out. We have some serious tourism to do tomorrow.
Wednesday 17th April
The economy of this area is based on a mixture of heavy industry and tourism. After breakfast we boarded the bus and headed for a blend of the two:  a former blast furnace at Vitkovice. We ascended Bolt tower, an inspection platform and cafe 60m up over the plant. A panoramic view of Ostrava was spread out before us as we enjoyed coffees and cakes. There followed a tour of the plant as we were walked through the process of combining ore, coke and limestone into molten iron. The team can now be questioned on the functions of such creatures as Veronika and the elephant.
On the way to lunch we walked past an enormous gas holder which is now used as a concert venue. At the end of the last war the Germans left a bomb in it and it lay undiscovered for twenty years. Had it exploded and set off the gas, half of Ostrava would have gone up as well!
We enjoyed a hands on exhibition concerning the industrial revolution and the development of power production through the ages. We nearly finished making some chess pieces using the laithes and experimented with pulleys, levers and the principle of moments.
An hour in the delightful Olesna Aquapark pool and flumes rounded off the afternoon nicely for us before dinner at the hotel. The provision of vegetarian options is less common and thus much more difficult for us in the Czech Republic so we were pleased when we were given fish at the hotel.
The day ended with the usual pre-chess briefing / meeting before bed.      
Tomorrow the chess starts and the top three games will be live on www.chessfm.cz
Thursday 18th April
Today we became chess players again and after enjoying our buffet breakfast we set off on the short walk to the National House, the venue for the tournament. On the way we rehearsed the route to the Squad's favourite supermarket: Albert.
The opening ceremony began with stirring music which might just catch on at the British, before the arbiters emerged. It continued in three languages from an agreed text so we could all follow perfectly. Two hundred and fifty players from ten different countries had entered the various sections. The stage was arrayed with trophies, medals, flags and a giant chess set and as the arbiters left, the boards where the drama of the live games would be played out were revealed.
At 9,15 we went to work knowing the seedings were in our favour but counting your chickens is dangerous. A trickle of wins came in which then turned into a flood such that I had almost forgotten how to write zeros. Of the last ten games to finish, we were involved in six of them which showed our fighting spirit. When the round finished we had scored 16 out of 20, a fine effort for the first morning. Hugo had played on the stage and enjoyed the experience. In the afternoon we had Tarini  and Toby up there and fifteen players had earned national flags, a record for the Squad. Round two was always going to be a higher challenge and the computer had thoughtfully paired eight of our players against their team mates.
We still managed to match our target score of approximately 11 per round to finish the day with 27 points.
The normal lunch of soup and a choice of main courses had fuelled us not only for chess but also for our usual football match among ourselves in the lunch break. This was punctuated by the ball getting stuck up a tree but a continued volley of trainers soon had it dislodged and heading earthward again. No, we didn't lose any trainers!
Our dogged and determined endgame play nearly made us late for our evening meal at the hotel but I wouldn't want it any other way.
After a short break we went for a walk to see a church and statue which had had chequered histories of natural disasters and the Centrum hotel, our old haunt, which seems to be having a natural disaster of its own now in slow motion. We walked back over the new footbridge, a steel and concrete construction which if you get the timing right  contrives to bounce you merrily along on its springy surface.
We closed the day with a short meeting and some preparation for round three games before lights out.
A good start but greater battles for higher stakes lie ahead.
Friday 19th April
It was another beautiful day in the eastern end of the Czech Republic and the sun shone brightly from a clear blue sky as we walked to the venue. Joshua flew the flag for us on the stage and in total fourteen players sat proudly next to the red cross on a white background. As the morning progressed our higher seeds in the u15s managed to secure wins whilst those below found quarrying out wins more difficult. We recorded nine defeats, the highest number so far. The total for the round was nine points, our lowest but still respectable, and still kept us almost three points ahead of the team target after three rounds.
At lunch many of us found the vegetarian option, fried mushrooms in breadcrumbs with a garlic mayonaise, to be the tastiest of the three on offer. Six players from Orlova joined us to play football in the park between games and apart from a last desperate tackle on Joshua by a tree when he was through on goal, the foliage played a relatively minor part in proceedings.
In the afternoon Adithya, George, Arnav and Shahjahon all enjoyed the unique atmosphere of the stage and we flew twelve flags in total. Our u12 players distinguished themselves by recording wins by all the five highest seeds. The u15s have been scoring six points steadily since round two and in round four boosted this to six and a half. Our 11.5 points was just a little above the target schedule and kept us 3.25 points ahead after four of the eight rounds.
Friday Afternoon
Joshua had produced a delightful Queen sacrifice to get a winning ending. Arnav defended stoutly for four hours on the black side of the Ruy Lopez and finally succumbed to the "Spanish Torture" only in the last few minutes.
Eating spaghetti without a spoon was interesting in the hotel at dinner and suitably pasta fuelled we enjoyed a short walk to hear about the Parish Church of John the Baptist and its chequered history of fires, wars, desecration and rebuilding. We saw the memorial to the brave men of the Eighth Regiment who distinguished themselves in both world wars and learned a little of the differences in the economies of the west and the old communist eastern block.
The meeting tonight was short but has presented us with a nice problem. Nineteen of our players have expressed an interest in playing in the simuls tomorrow and we probably have only twelve places. Watch this space to see how we cope to

Saturday 20th April
Today there was only one round because there were various other chess related activities in the afternoon, principally for us the two simuls. We were granted 14 places altogether so only five players were disappointed when the draw was made from my sun hat. There were many long games in the main event, notably Melissa's win where she stretched Capablanca's maxim"a threat is stronger than it's execution" to the maximum before playing the killer moves. We had fourteen players awarded flags and three on the stage; George, Adithya and Joshua. At the end of the round we had accumulated eleven points, just 0.06 below schedule. Over the five rounds we now stand over three points ahead of schedule towards the team target. We have also entered the competition for teams of five. After five rounds we are second out of twenty six and should we finish in the top three we will win medals, a trophy and a cake.
At lunch we were joined by our friends from Orlova who played with us yesterday and Adithya's opponent from this morning who is also Czech. Scoring through a forest of legs is now proving more difficult. Georgia tried to master the art of tackling without trainers and Joshua had more arboreal difficulties but despite these great fun was had by all.
As it turned out we managed to get fourteen of our team into the simuls against GM Fedorov 2563, and WIM Kanakova 2202. Melissa drew with the WIM whilst Adam, Lakshya and Yuvraj managed to beat her. Arnav distinguished himself by beating the GM.
The show later in the day was varied and entertaining. It included two entries in the Junior Pole Dancing World Championships, some chair dancers and a magician. The latter managed to fool us all by tearing up a newspaper and have it re-form itself in the blink of an eye. Then a bottle appeared, seemingly from inside a balloon which had just been inflated. He came unstuck however when he made some sweets appear from a paper bag. The stage was invaded by hoards of tiny Czech children trying to grab sweets and for a moment he disappeared amid the throng. When the mob retreated he hastily retrieved what remained of his tricks and with all the dignity he could muster left the stage.
On the way back to the hotel we used a different subway and found a piano which miraculously was pretty much in tune. Shahjahon had us spellbound whilst playing one of his examination pieces and we applauded spontaneously at the end. It was every bit as good as his last performance at the airport in Katowice. After dinner we did the annual walk up to Frydek castle and saw landmarks, buildings and statues which are significant in the history of the area. Some preparation and a short meeting closed the day.

Sunday 21st April
Today was a normal tournament day with the usual two rounds. However it was a very important day where vital work was to be done towards team and individual targets. We were represented on the stage this morning by Shahjahon and Kennan and flew fourteen flags in total. It proved to be a tough task to bring in the wins and we equalled our lowest round total of nine out of twenty. This score is still respectable and shows how consistent this team is.
We played football again at lunchtime with our Czech friends after removing an Easter decoration with real egg shells from the centre circle.
In the afternoon round George, Daniel, Adithya and Kennan flew our flag on the stage and our grand flag total was again fourteen. I continued our efforts to improve international relations by discussing a possible event in Luxembourg and being interviewed by Czech TV. I hope the inevitable sub titles accurately reflect what I said.
Events went in our favour right from the off this afternoon when Kennan took advantage of a blunder and won quickly. Then Melissa's opponent's phone went off and it was two-nil to us. In total we recorded ten wins and along with the seven draws we had achieved our best round since the first with 13.5. We now need 7.5 out of 20 tomorrow to reach the team target overall. Daniel, Alex, Max, Georgia, Hugo, Vidura, Toby and Kennan all achieved their personal targets today. After six rounds our team stood second out of twenty six in the race for cake, medals and a trophy. It will be close however as the pack is closing in behind.
After dinner Helena organised a team quiz for us over three rounds. The picture round involved identifying board games and everyone got at least one! Next was a Dingbats round with pictograms representing sayings or idioms. Lastly was a round using the format of family fortunes. The results are embargoed until the team are told in the morning.
Lights out was earlier this evening due to the early start tomorrow.  I hope I see everyone for the seven o'clock breakfast!

Monday 22nd April
We began today placed equal second in the team competition with Club 1925. Kennan and Shahjahon were representing us on the stage and in total we sported seventeen flags. Well we would have done if they had had enough! In the event Toby and Georgia had to share one. The organisers have been most generous in giving presents to the players. At the start of each round we have found chess gingerbreads, t-shirts, pens and plaques by our boards. Today we received lanyards and it looked like Adam was going for the world record as his teammates successively decorated him. If you've ever seen a Christmas tree playing chess..... Eight of our team were playing each other and the final allowance from the team target for clashes amounted to two points. These factors put us well on the way to achieving the 88.5 points we had set ourselves at the beginning of the event.
As usual in the last round there were quite a few draws. Toby and Yuvraj in the u15s recorded wins, as did Andrew and George in the u12s. We drew eleven games and with 9.5 points in the round finished on 90.5 points, two ahead of the target and four ahead of the adjusted target after clashes were taken into consideration. On the individual front, George, Andrew and Daniel recorded top ten finishes in the u12s. George won a prize for fourth place on tie break and Tarini was placed first out of the u12 Girls. In the u15s, Kennan, Adithya and Shohjahon recorded top ten finishes. Adithya and Kennan both won prizes for their achievement. Personal targets were today achieved by Adithya, Lakshya, Yuvraj, Melissa, Arthur, Adam, Tarini and George.
In the team competition we were placed third out of twenty six and thus won a trophy, medals and a cake. Some of these will make it back to England.
For the last time we headed to the park for a game of football and were treated to the use of a new ball by Max who had won it in the raffle.
After half an hour we returned to the hotel to reveal the Quiz competition winners. Our teams, as at the chess,  were named after English Grandmasters and the winners were the McShanes followed by the Nunns, the Shorts and the Perts. All were presented with edible prizes and then we headed to the bowling alley. We met Vasek and his sister for two hours of bowling as a nice social way to end the trip.

Tuesday 23rd April
We had the luxury of a lie in today with breakfast at 08:30. That gave us time for a quick supermarket raid before checking out of La Rosa. I had anticipated that the team would buy food for the plane journey but should not have been surprised when four of them came out of Albert with slush puppies.
Vasek met us at the bus having ridden there on a hire bike. He assures me the ride will not appear on Strava! We arrived at the Tatra car museum to be greeted by a new English speaking guide. She was excellent and told us a lot about the development of the company and the effect on it of the two world wars plus communism, Stalin and Hitler. The latter never did collect his snowmobile which looks like something from a James Bond movie. We thanked our guide and just had time for the short intensive engine maintenance course I usually deliver next to one of the exhibits.
A brief and final burst of souvenir shopping in the gift shop preceeded our lunch across the road. Everyone could eat fried cauliflower.
The steps outside were ideal for a final photograph before boarding the bus for the airport. There we said goodbye to our good friend Vasek who will be the father of a little girl next time we see him, in addition to his son Robert.
We had the check in area to ourselves because we were the next flight out and mercifully this is a small airport. Ryanair excelled themselves by posting the boarding notice on the departure board before the plane had even arrived! 
Apart from a little turbulence when climbing through the clouds the flight was smooth and we arrived on time. There is now a little more paperwork needed for those not having a UK passport but we were prepared and the team were soon reunited for the handing out of reports and walk through customs. Family faces lit up as we emerged from International Arrivals and everyone was soon collected and whisked away before the parking meters gobbled up any more hard earned cash. Yet again we had returned from the Czech Republic having won a trophy and achieved our team target. Best of all we now have both some new friends with the same talent and consuming interest, and some great memories. I would like to thank Helena for the work she did before the trip and for contributing so much during the week. Thanks also to the team who's obvious enjoyment both on and off the board make it so rewarding

​FINAL SCORES AFTER 7 ROUNDS
U12
6 George (4th); 5 Daniel (11th) Andrew (15th); 4.5 Tarini, (17th), Alex (20th), Adam (24th);  3.5 Arthur (38th). TOTAL 61 players
U15
6 Kennan (4th); 5.5 Aditya (6th); 5 Shahjahon (9th), Toby (11th); 4.5 Max (17th); 4 Arnav (20th), Georgia (21st),  Joshua (22nd), Lakshya (23rd), Vidura (24th),  Hugo (25th),  Yuvraj (29th); 3.5 Melissa (37th);  TOTAL 48 players
In Continental tournaments you do not get "equal" results. Everything is tie broken. Most of the prizes here are kind not cash so cannot be shared.
Well done to all the players for their fighting chess and good results. and thanks to Helena for her pre tour organisation and to Victor and Helena for so ably looking after the team and helping them achieve these pleasing results. Pete

                                                              National Chess Junior Squad Championships 2019.

This year's championships were again held at Daventry Court. Unfortunately the late Easter meant that the school holidays varied a lot over the country and the weekend chosen was the only one available so, inevitably, there was a lower than usual entry. Hopefully as we can return to our usual weekend after Easter next year we will get more players.  The total entry was 83 with only 6 in the U16s. We are intending to FIDE rate the event next year although this will mean we cannot have any players rated 2200 or above. This would only have affected two players in the last 5 years so I think it is worth it.  I spoke to the players who seemed happy with the idea. 
The chess itself was just as competitive and after four rounds we had sole leaders in U16 and U12 but tied first in the other two. Disappointingly the U16 was an all play all and going in to the final round Armaan Gogia led on 3.5 followed by Devan Patel on 2.5 points. Devan had a quick draw to take second place leaving Armaan as sole winner.He also drew whist Michael Banks won to join Max Miller as 3rd= In the u14s Mate Ther and Christopher Tombolis led on 3.5 and played in the last round. Mate won and was the sole winner with Toby half a point behind in second. Just behind on 3.5 points were Finlay Bowcott Terry, Eryl Malanta Ranesh Ratnesan, Chris Tombolis and Ben Aubury.. The u12s was the only one to have a player on 4 - George Clarkson and he played Jason Lv who was half a point behind. They drew leaving George as sole winner  Jason shared second place with Edison Xu, J ason Lv and Aarnavh Trivedi who were on 4. Finally in the U10s Thisumi Jayawarna and Sanjit Kumar had drawn but won their other three games and were half a point ahead of Mayank Palav. Thisumi beat Mayank to take first place whiolst Sanjit Kumar, Julie Oh, Riya Barbier-Ramaiah and Elis Dicen shared second place.
Finlay Bowcott-Terry and Oliver Faulkner scored their second half norms thus gaining their places in the squad whilst Suyash Prasad, Connor Clarke, Denzel Supatan, Emily Maton and Sai Chinmayee got half norms.
Thanks are due to Daventry Court for looking after us so well whilst Glynis Purland and Adran Elwin worked really hard to ensure the chess went well.

                                                                          PARIS 2019
Report by Victor Cross Day 1
I don't usually dwell on my journey to meet the team in these reports but on this occasion I am going to break with tradition. While in a taxi to Totnes, my mail line station I discovered that all the trains were cancelled due to a fatality at Tiverton Parkway. We decided to divert the taxi and pick up a train at Taunton, on the other side of the closure. On arrival there I discovered the first train departing would not arrive in time for me to join the trip. On I went in the taxi to Bristol where I was just in time to sit down before the train left. The bill for this alone was £200 after negotiating a discount! Surely the rest of the trip would go smoothly after a start like that?
Balvinder Ahluwalia and the team ( Amardip Ahluwalia, Matthew Forster, Alex and James Golding, James Moreby, Tristran See, Chris Tombolis, Aarnhav Trivedi, Abigail Weersing, Edison Xu) were all gathered and even the French border guards were cooperative as we moved through to the train. We all sat together and enjoyed the journey, only suffering from a surfeit of puns. Two metro trains delivered us to Pont Marie station from where it was only a short walk to the hostel.
Dinner followed at the partner hostel and proved to be filling but uninspiring. We concluded our first day with the usual meeting and ascertaining the area where functional wi-fi could be found in the hostel. The provision of opponents' names beforehand is a really good feature of this event and we needed to take advantage of various information sources both on the internet and from files thoughtfully sent by parents. This really is a team effort!
Paris day 2
Breakfast at eight o'clock at the hostel would be described by some as insubstantial. We will make plans to improve the situation tomorrow.
The venue is just a short walk from the hostel across the Seine. Our team may or may not be divinely talented but we still used the bridge. The chess is being played in the Hotel Lauzun, a beautiful four hundred year old building where one of the French King's mistresses once stayed. They didn't tell us where all the others were. As a consequence of it's historic nature, no bags can be taken inside and no eating or drinking is permitted either inside or at the board. Obviously this is not ideal over a four hour game. There is a social area in the central courtyard where drinks can be consumed and networking between organisers is facilitated. A signing ceremony took place between organisers from Paris, Murmansk and Rotterdam in one of the beautiful rooms indoors. A memorandum of understanding was agreed to keep this event going after the ending of the Bassamro sponsorship. It is not known whether or not this includes a backstop.
Our first match against Rotterdam was more closely fought than the 3-7 scoreline would indicate. I had a long chat with the Dutch trainer afterwards and he was most generous with his time in assisting with the analysis of games. We may see him and his players again now he is aware of Gibraltar and Frydek- Mistek. There was a selection of filled rolls and fattening but delightful delicacies for lunch.
Paris day 2 part 2
I am sure this combination will have a detrimental effect on my lap time when I get back to the velopark. During the lunch break three of our players went out to buy a toothbrush. I am not sure how big it was but I gather the mission was successful.
In the afternoon we played the Irish team and in a mirror image of the morning game we won 7-3. All bar one player have now scored for us and Abigail leads the way with 2/2.
Our meal this evening was much more interesting and nourishing than yesterday. I think we benefited from being the last sitting and they wanted to avoid waste. The dining room is in the basement with a ceiling and consequent acoustics similar to the Cavern Club in Liverpool. Matthew's headphones doubled as ear defenders.
We closed the day with our usual meeting and collection of data relevant to the games we are due to play tomorrow.
Paris day three
Breakfast today was supplemented by extra fresh croissants purchased by Balvinder and were very gratefully received. We spent an hour at the venue on our computers preparing for today's opponents from Murmansk, all the time being careful not to touch the walls or fireplaces for fear of falling foul of the assiduous room attendants.
While the team were playing our attention was drawn to the unusual sundial which not only showed the time but also the month, with lines indicating the equinoxes, midsummer and midwinter. Our watches go forward tonight but it will take some serious stone masonery to correct the sundial.
This day would have delighted our distinguished former colleague Ian Cowen. He always dreamed of beating a Russian team and we did it in style. An 8.5-1.5 win against Murmansk ranks alongside the best achievements of the Squad. At the cocktail reception in the evening one of their leaders asked us how we did it and I couldn't help smiling at the role reversal implicit in the question.
Lunch followed the same pattern as yesterday until I got mine. The Dutch boy I asked told me in fluent English what was in each of the baguettes. I bit into a tuna filled roll, something I never eat and couldn't help thinking of Morecambe and Wise. He told me all the right fillings but not necessarily in the right order.
Paris day three part two
We started the match this afternoon with two points because the opponents were a Parisien team of reserves drafted in at the last minute to replace the team from Tunisia who withdrew due to administrative problems. The reserves were two players short so James and Arnav went for a walk with me to look for postcards and souvenirs. In both cases we were successful and when we returned there was more good news. Points were mounting up in our favour towards another 8.5-1.5 victory. What a day. Seventeen points out of twenty and only one defeat. A splendid day's work.
Barring an exceptional series of events we are now guaranteed of third place and are playing the top team from Paris tomorrow for second. Statistically it is still possible for us to win the event but that part  is out of our hands.
Paris final day
Our fears about the clock change proved unfounded as the team were all on time for the usual 08:00 breakfast. At 08:45 we moved out, trundling our cases behind us. Miraculously there was room in the venue at the bottom of the stairs in order for us to comply with the rigorously enforced luggage policy. We sat down with our laptops to do the final bit of preparation before the battle with the Paris team. We had each won three matches and we were just  27-29 down on games won. A victory in the match however would secure second place.
At the opening ceremony the tension in the room was obvious. I also caught a security man leaning against the wall and it took great restraint not to remind him of his own strictures on the subject. It was a long time before any of our games finished and then it advanced through 1-1 to 2-2, all the time the Stockfish evaluation of the games in play kept us on the edge of our seats. When the dust had settled we had lost an enthralling match by 4.5-5.5 and so came third in the event. The Rotterdam team won all five matches and thus the event, but won only one more game than ourselves. Paris won the most games but lost their match against Rotterdam. It was an event of a high standard played in stunning historic surroundings and was very much enjoyed by all of our party.
Lunch was the usual selection of filled baguettes and this time I managed to avoid the tuna. There followed a short prize giving during which the organiser couldn't help but mention Brexit and then with another trophy to add to the Squad collection we headed to the metro.
Gare du Nord was more quiet than I have ever known it for a Sunday and despite our train being cancelled we were allocated seats on the next available train, as they had promised. The French border guards who had caused the cancellation due to industrial action displayed a narrow range of emotions from boredom to disgruntlement as we passed through. In contrast the UK border guards were thoroughly charming and had time to ask about the event and congratulate us.
The journey went smothly and we arrived in London at 15:39, hours earlier than we would have done on the original timetable. In view of the possible implications of the border guards' action it could have been so much worse.
This was a short but thoroughly rewarding trip with an appropriate standard of opposition for our players. Our scores ranging from 2/5 to 4.5/5 I think illustrate the point. Balvinder must be thanked for assembling such a strong team and making all the arrangements and the players for the team spirit they displayed throughout the weekend.
I would like to thank Balvinder for all the work she did arranging the team, organizing the travel and sorting out the accommodation. Also to Victor for his help with coaching, supervising the kids and writing the reports. this has been another very successful trip.  Pete

                                       JUNIOR SQUAD CHAMPIONSHIP ENTRIES 2019
Updated 4th April 
Under 16​  Max Miller, Michael Banks, Elias Gelain-Sohn, Vidura Mendis, Armaan Gogia, Devan Patel,
Under 14   Robert Akeya-Price; Ben Aubury; Ben Crosby; Ranesh Ratnesan, T Cox; C Clarke; B Hammond, T Howeson , P Crosby, 
                H Rayner, C Tombolis, Eryl Malanta, Joe Hirst, Saahil Bansal, Raina Jithendra, Sam Parry, Mate Ther, Oliver Faulkner, Adam Hussain,                         Polina Shchepinova, Melissa Hamilton, Finaly Bowcott-Terry, Elizabeth Finn, Oliver Manchester,
​Under 12   Alexander Richards; Arthur Page; Jason Lv; L Cox; E Xu; Abhi Jadav Stakhey Sedykh, D Zakarian, G Clarkson, T Arora, E Currah, M                             Timbrell, S Agarwal, M Sharma, Tarini  Jayawarna, Arjuna Mendis, Dawn Supatan, Denzel Supatan, Radha Ratnesan, Silas Bowcott-Terry                     Solomon Mitchell, Arman Farahi, Adam Faulkner,Kandara Acharya  Myla Hussain, Sai Chinmayee, Emily Maton, Ruben Evans, Suriya                         Velayudham, Joseph Hurst, Aarnavh Trivedi, Suyash Srikanta Prasad, Jacob Wynn, Lauren Manchester, S Balasundaram, Ashwina Haria-                     Skuse, Rohan Janaki
​Under 10   Sanjit Kumar; M Palav, A Dasgupta, Eye Malamta, Thisumi Jayawarna, Risha Jithendra, Maximilian Jurewicz, Julis Oh,                                               Austin Mitchell, Riya Barbier-Ramaiah, Elis Dicen, Vitbhash Pusapadi, Asher Hussain, Kyden Waite, Dylan Evans Joy Janaki,

       Wieliczka - Waiting to go underground                        Some of the party underground                                ​(tails to follow)
 ​             Group at Town Hall plus mayor                                In play during Grand Prix                                   Prize winners at Grand Prix
                 Our successful football team!                         Polina and Elizabeth making rope                             Devan proud of his rock salt
Bobby (w), Shajahan (b), Leo  Kennan (3) Alec (b)                        In play at Trzebinia                                             In play at Trzebinia
                    Prize Giving at Trzebinia                                      Prize Giving at Trzebinia                                     Prize Giving at Trzebinia
                 More pictures on this website                                   Mariankirche - Krakow                                          Mariankirche - Krakow     
​                     Market Hall - Krakow

                                                      VISIT TO CHRZANOW FEBRUARY 2019

Wednesday 20th
We all met up in good time at Stansted and although we had had problems with the Ryanair website in linking and printing, the staff were very calm and helpful. All problems were solved and it way nice to go to the gate on a train rather than walking part of the way to Poland. The leaders were Victor Cross and Adam Burroughs and the 12 players were Robert Akeya-Price; Elizabeth Finn; Alec Hedger; Tim Hedger; Kenan Kesterson; Solomon Mitchell; Devan Patel; Alexander Richards; Shahjahan Saidmurodov; Polina Shchepinova; Daniel Yu; Leo Yu.
We all sat together on the plane and arrived ten minutes early into Katowice. Being smaller than the London airports we use, the group coped admirably with passport control and baggage reclaim. One smaller boy with a large case did open it and I wondered if he was about to get inside. When I saw him handling it up the stairs I knew why he hadn't. It was so full there wasn't room. I did ask him how many hairdryers he had in it. Yes, on a previous trip a player did bring a hairdryer.
English speaking students at the school met us and accompanied us to the bus and then to the hotel, now my third in the area. After what for some was already their third meal of the day, we left the hotel for the chess club. In his speech of welcome the Dyrektor told us this was the 15th. visit of the Squad to the Chrzanow area over 18 years since 2001. It just shows the debt of gratitude a generation of English players owe him for the opportunities he has provided.
I told the team we were going to play the son of the head in a simul. After the giggles died down I informed them he was a grandmaster. All of a sudden the real size of the task dawned. We joined some local children and in all Daniel played 26 people. In an impressive display he won every game.            I controlled Daniel in Gibraltar and he was 34th with 6.5\10 in a field that included over 70 grandmasters. (Pete)
After a little shopping we returned to the hotel for our evening meal, a team meeting and bed. They have arranged a very full programme for us which had changed after I left home on Tuesday. 
Thursday 21st
A buffet breakfast at 7.30 was a very convenient way to start the day. There was plenty of choice, both hot and cold items and a minimum of waste. At 8.30 we boarded the bus and joined a party of Polish children from the school for a day at the Royal Salt Mine at Wieliczka. Some different areas have now been renovated and brought back into use as an alternative visiting experience. We changed into overalls and were given hard hats and lamps. With our guide we set off like apprentice miners. In between banging our heads and crawling along the floor we heard about the lives of the miners, their horses and cats. We also heard about the mice that got in with the straw for the horses which explained why the miners needed cats. We saw mining techniques through the ages and even tried our hand at rock breaking. Everyone jumped when a simulated explosion went off to expedite the digging process. Having received the level one course in souvenir shopping we went to try out our skills, mostly with success. We even managed to identify guide books containing English explanations. On the way back to the hotel we mixed up the seating for the two nationalities to encourage them to interact. Dinner at the hotel was, as usual, filling with as many helpings of spicy sausage soup as you wished before the main course. I know someone who's mouth is salivating now at the thought. We then had some down time in our rooms to recharge our batteries.
As a chess warm up we played a few rounds of inter room consultation chess which will be continued later in the trip. We then returned to the new permanent Chrzanow chess club premises for a 7 round blitz event. At this stage I must congratulate Bobby, Shahjahan, Leo and Devan on their performance in yesterday's simul. They drew their games against the grandmaster after I misunderstood the announcement of the final result.
The participants this evening ranged from small children to elderly men, all enjoying the challenge. There are not many games where this could happen. The prizes were most generous. Everyone outside the main prizes received a lanyard and a pen. Main prizes began at large amount of cash through to enormous pepper grinders, trophies, bags and table tennis bats. There were overall and ratings based prizes, along with those based on nationality. Alec and Timothy both won their sections, Shahjahan and Elizabeth were second in theirs, whilst Kennan  was third in his. Our luggage will be heavier on the way back! After a dinner which reminded me of the Sausage Sandwich Game from Radio 5 Live's Danny Baker Show we had our usual meeting before bed to recharge our batteries before another full day tomorrow.
Friday22nd
The first commitment of the day was our audience with the newly elected Mayor of Chrzanow. His English was excellent and our questions and responses were thoughtful and wide ranging. He was so pleased with the meeting he invited us in to see his office as well as the conference chamber. He kindly gave us souvenir gift bags from the city and everyone left the building with a good feeling.
Our next challenge was to take on their u13 football team. Adam marshalled our players masterfully and thanks to goals from Solomon (2), Daniel (2) and Shajahon we won the match. Banners and medals were presented to the managers and teams before we hurried away to School 8.
A two round chess match now took place between ourselves and SP 8, the host school for most of our visit. We lost the first round of 15 min. matches 5-7 after achieving good positions without the time left to convert them into wins. After playing so much increment based chess I think we failed to adapt to the change sufficiently. We won the second round 6.5-5.5 but it was not enough to turn the whole match in our favour. Chrzanow deserved their victory. They used their time appropriately  and their openings and tactics were impressive. The nature of the school has changed since my last visit so the older children they were able to include made the match a true test. Shajahon and Leo made a praiseworthy contribution to the match by winning both of their games. Awards and chess mugs were given out.
Lunch at school was followed by a short tour of the building guided by some of the older girls. Their English was excellent and we visited art and computer lessons before trying our hand at volleyball, with disastrous results.
Lidls is right next to the school and its lure proved too strong so a short shopping raid took place before boarding the bus to return to the hotel.
We concluded our consultation tournament between bedrooms before the short bus ride to SP 10 for the evening tournament. 7 rounds with 10 minutes each was the order of the day. The participants ranged in age from 6 to long since retired and we had  many of the higher seeds although not the top one. We had our best night yet with seven of our twelve players winning trophies. Shajahan and Timmy were placed first in their section, Bobby & Polina second with Elizabeth, Alec and Kennan placed third. With most of our team scoring from 4 to 5 it was a really good solid effort. It took so long however that we were half an hour late for supper. Luckily the hotel were very understanding. The meeting afterwards was necessarily short and we retired to bed so as to be ready for the battles ahead in Tzrebinia tomorrow.
Saturday 23rd
Today marked the start of the main event of our visit in Trzebinia. The playing hall was festooned with advertising banners from tourist boards, power and communication companies and the county council. Players from Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia took their seats along with ours. Adam and I were invited to sit in the front in the rows of suited business men, company representatives and local politicians. Everyone in the hall was seated on moulded plastic patio chairs. We were entertained by a group of young dancers who also recited poems. Everything was being filmed by the local TV company. The invited guests in suits were then presented with trophies of varying sizes decorated with tournament logos.
When the procession was over and the announcements began, one of the chairs containing a player snapped and collapsed. Fortunately no injury was incurred and proceedings continued. Then as the camera panned round the top table, one of their chairs suffered a similar fate, the suit sprawled on the floor and it was all caught on camera. The camera man was summoned over by a gentleman near us and it would be reasonable to surmise the conversation went something like, "... and you will not broadcast any of that, not even in the out takes!"
The national anthem followed with all of us standing. I asked one of our players his opinion of the anthem and he said, "It was long".
Play then commenced. There were five sections by age, each separated by a two year span. There were 14 players in the top group and the next two had 27 and 24 respectively. We had players in the top three groups. Thirty minutes were allocated to each player, with no increments and the pairings were by computer. The display at the front with impressive trophies and national flags, all with the FIDE logo in the background was redolent of the status of the occasion.
The organisers had thoughtfully provided a rope to separate the players from the ranks of anxious parents sitting nervously at the side.
The welcome reception provided for selected visitors during round one was thoughtful and very well received.
We had lunch at the venue and after the chess was over we enjoyed an hours swimming in the local pool which would be the envy of many towns in England. Dinner at the hotel was followed by a meeting and we were early to bed. Tomorrow is the big day and we have players in contention in several categories. Results and standings can be found on chessarbiter.com. but simply in Group C Daniel leads with 4.5 whilst Alex, Solomon and Tim have 3.
Group D has Shahjahan 2nd on 4, Bobby on 3.5, Kennan and Alec 3, Leo 2.5, Polina and Elizabeth 2 and in group e Devan has 2.5
Sunday 24th
Breakfast at seven came as a nasty shock today but it was just as tasty as ever. I am sure the hotel must be running out of chocolate based cereal. At least one of the team is a regular yogurt eater.We boarded the bus for the short journey to Trzebinia and bounced merrily over as many potholes as we would have done in England as we made our way to the school.At the tournament you could almost taste the apprehension and tension among the parents and the arbiting team. Calm soon descended when play started at eight thirty. At various times outside the tournament hall screams are heard. A giant football mascot type eagle is there with hoards of tiny children fleeing before it.
Play began and the action was fast and furious with four rounds before lunch and only fifteen minutes between them. We went through the usual maelstrom of wins that slipped away, opponents who were demolished quickly, engages won and lost on book knowledge intermingled with nervous parents and small children exhibiting every emotion from deep despair to hysteria. We kept our calm while all this swirled around us and at the end we had won more trophies and prizes than I can ever remember.
Of the three tournaments we entered we won one and tied first in another, although losing out on tie break. Daniel won a cup nearly as big as him and a tablet computer. We also collected diplomas, waffle makers, radio mice, blenders , headphones, board games, pepper grinders and desk calendars. Everyone scored fifty percent or more which was a fine record to take back to England.
With all our booty we rushed out to the bus as though we were making a getaway. The next item on the agenda was shopping in souvenir heaven, otherwise known as the sukienice in the Rynek in Kracow. We got there seven minutes before the expected closing time to find it was closing later. The team dispersed to find chess sets and presents for the remaining people in their families. When the mission was accomplished we walked round the city centre. We saw the St.FlorIan gate, the river Wisla and climbed up to hear the story of the dragon overlooking his statue. Earlier we had heard the story of two brothers building the church of St.Mary and the bugler who met a sticky end. Feeling cold at this point we found a warm cafe and dived inside. We had found the perfect place for chocaholics. Here hot chocolate was exactly what it said on the tin: chocolate but hot and served with a cup and a spoon. Some indulged, most had a warming drink and a snack. Then we headed for the bus. Back at the hotel we still devoured our evening meal before a meeting and packing. Preparing our prizes for travel proved a challenge and as I write this in the departure lounge in Katowice its success is still to be determined.
​Final Standings Group C 1st Daniel 8.5; 4th Solomon 6; 5th Timmy 6; Alex 5: Group D 2nd Shahjahan 8; Kennan, Alec, Leo, Polina 5; Bobby, Elizabeth 4.5 Group E Devan 4.5.
My thanks to Adam and Victor for running the trip and providing photos and commentary; to Nicki for organising the trip and to the players for making it so successful. 
​Pete

                                                   ENGLISH CLOSED YATELEY MANOR 2019
Report
A very good weekend of chess was had by those who attended and we thank the 57 players (listed below) who took part. Our thanks go to Yateley Manor for the use of the school and to those who took entries and arbited the event. Chris and Sue Howell and Mike Forster. The only disappointing part was the number of entries in the U16. FIDE Registration has been mentioned but problems with time limits have also been mentioned. 3x 4 hour games on the Saturday is not on and a Friday night round would be a lot of hassle. As far as I can see the only way is for us to make the tournaments U200 FIDE in their wisdom (if any) will allow 90 minute games to be rated providing all the players are under 2200 (200). What is the view on this? Please let me know during the year. If we had an award for bravery, Ben Hammond coming in and playing two games on Sunday morning after breaking his arm Saturday would be the recipient. I always said rugby was safer.

Champions
Congratulations to Calum Salmons and Edward Gray (4), Shahjahon Saidmurodov (4.5) and Edison Yu (4.5) who were U16, U14 and U12 champions respectively.  

Participants
Under 16    Sarah Weersing, Batuhan Kaya, Eryl Malanta, Edward Gray,  Max Miller, Calum Salmons,  

Under 14   Toby Cox, Maximilian Wilton, Ron Usharovskiy, Robert Akeya Price, Georgia Headlong, Ben Aubury, Abigail Weersing, Tom Howeson, Jacob Yoon, Niamh Bridgeman, Shahjahan Saidmurodov, Lakshya Lokwani, Ben Crosby, Jason Lv, Kyle Pelling, Alec Hedger, Elizabeth Finn, Arnav Srivastava, Nakul Nataraj, Mohammed Ismail, Raina Jithendra, Adam Hussain, Melissa Hamilton, Jonathan Britnell, Hugo Rayner, Henry Huang, Jeff Tomy, Samir Khan, Saahil Bansal, Chris Tombolis, Gavith Dharmasena, Ben Hammond, Adithya Pramod Paleri, Julia Volovich

Under 12   Daniel Yu, Arthur Page, Edison Xu, Arjan Kolani, Stakhey Sedykh, Shivam Agarwal, George Clarkson, Dimitrios Zakarian, Solomon Mitchell, Hari Stewart, Andrew Kirby, Timothy Hedger, Adam Tarling, Nadhmi Auchi, Rajat Makkar, Alexander Richards, Kian Dharmasena

                                                                                         Quadrangular 2018.

This annual event took place on 8th and 9th December at Liverpool College. It is always a good opportunity for squad members and some who have not yet qualified to play against at least two "foreign" countries. This year we continued to have a full team from the North whilst the Midlands provided an U12 team and 6 of the U14 team. We did have a couple of unexplained no shows and two going home ill after losing. It is a great shame that these players do not consider their team mates and perhaps should realise that they might well not get selected in the future. 
On the good side this was on of the most exciting events for a long time with the U12 event all hanging on the final game when Denzel Supatan scored the vital point, This gave victory to the North with Midlands second. At U14 level the joint Irish Midlands team were second with North 4th whilst North were 3rd at U16. Bashir Rovezi and Denzel Supatan both scored 3\3 for North whilst Edison Xu and Joe Hirst got 3\3 for Midlands. Four other players got 3\3 from Scotland Connor Sibbald, Matthew Wilder and Jennifer Feng and Joel Chung from Wales. Congratulations to all 8. The fact that there were 14 last year shows how competitive it was this year. 
Next year's event will be held at Liverpool College on 7th and 8th December.

                         Berliner Dom                                              Group at Brandenburg gate                                Group at the Berlin Wall
              Group at the East Side Gallery                                   Players at the Match                                    More players at the Match
                     Group at Heathrow                                                Simul in Berlin                                           Nakul, Matthew, Armaan
         Thomas NG (Surrounded by Germans)                     Zac, George H and Ron (I am working on it)

                                                                             Berlin 2018
Please note. When looking at the photos if your child is not in them I promise there is nothing sinister. (Sorry to have to say this)
​
Saturday 20th October
The three leaders Victor Cross, Dawn and Adam Burroughs met our team at the airport ready for our visit to Berlin. The team is Saahil Bansal, Freddie Coleman, Giovanni Curragh, Matthew Forster, Armaan Gogia, George Harman, Georgia Headlong, Jermy Jaden, Batuhan Kaya, Peter Koiza, Nakul Nataraj, George Neale, Thomas Ng, Zac Potel, Mate Ther, Ron Usharovsky, Abigail Weersing, Sarah Weersing, Nikolai Woltery, Leo Yu.
Terminal 5 is an efficient airport and our progress through the different procedures was infinitely easier than at the older Heathrow terminals. It was put to the test however when two players arrived 50 minutes late for the rendezvous. Any utopian visions of traffic flow on the M25 which remain should now be shattered and a more pragmatic timetable adopted in future. With three leaders we were able to cope. The flight was delightful and only ninety minutes. After passports and baggage reclaim we met our friend Bettina who has kindly organised the Berlin end of things for us. Our hostel is an excellent one if you like red and brick walls. Actually making their own beds was a culture shock for some of the team, but one for which some parents will be eternally grateful! We ate at BK with Bettina and planned Sunday before our usual evening team meeting and then straight to bed/pile/heap. It's a full day of chess and sightseeing tomorrow.
​Berlin Sunday 21.10.18
Breakfast at eight was an unpleasant piece of planning for some but it was accomplished. There was plenty of choice with cereals, boiled eggs, assorted rolls and selections of cheeses and sausage slices. Some even attempted to use the toaster but thankfully we didn't need to call the fire brigade. We then made a roll or sandwich to go with our packed lunch and headed out to meet Bettina at the station. Using an assortment of public transport we got to the chess club which was hosting the match. Excellent playing conditions included wooden boards and pieces, DGT 3000's, good lighting and plenty of space. We were 4 points up after round 1 where we all had white and still 4 ahead after round 2 where we were all black. Colours were mixed in round three but we extended our lead to win 33.5-24.5. Every player scored for the team and only one player scored 3/3 so it was a good all-round effort. Thirteen years ago we brought a team to Berlin and suffered a heavy defeat so victory this time felt all the sweeter.
We had discussed a brief history of, and the background to the Berlin Wall at our meeting last might so our visit to the wall itself with its gallery of murals was set in context. It made a lasting impression. We stood next  to the famous clock and meeting point in Alexanderplatz which has featured in spy novels and films. All this time the huge TV tower and observation gallery loomed over us and now it was our turn to ascend 200m in forty seconds and see a wonderful panorama laid out before us. Quite tall buildings were dwarfed and the cars and trams looked like toys. It painted a beautiful picture as the daylight faded into dusk and the city's illuminations came to life.
After regaining our natural habitat on the ground we found four fast food outlets conveniently close together and offering plenty of choice. The opportunity was too good to resist and so met with no resistance. There being no seating, this army not only marches on it's stomach but also eats on it's feet.
There followed a train ride back to our hostel, our customary meeting and then bed, much earlier than last night. Since one of the team had briefly nodded off on another passenger on the way, we clearly needed our sleep.
The individual scores in the match were 3 - Ron; 2.5 - George H, Zac; 2 - Armaan, Jaden, Batuhan, Nakul, Thomas, Nikolai, Leo: 1.5 - George N, Abigail, Sarah; 1 - Saahil, Freddie, Giovanni, Georgia, Mate, (Matthew and Peter also scored one but I suspect they only played two games.)
Berlin 22.10.18
We ate breakfast at our usual eight o'clock, made and packed our lunches and headed for the station. Despite intensive training, some of us are still walking on cycle paths instead of pavements. Without our friend Bettina we found our way to the terminus in Berlin where we met Felix our guide for the morning. He had been on holiday in England only yesterday so we had a lot to discuss. He showed us the Brandenburg Gate near which JFK made his famous speech. The wall which skirted the monument has been replaced by a line of bricks along the road. We saw the Adlon hotel which was famous for intrigue during the cold war. We saw the residences of the German Chancellor and President but unfortunately couldn't go in the Reichstag because it was closed to the public. Instead we went on a tour of the Berlin Dom or Cathedral. The view of the interior took your breath away as you opened the door. We climbed a labyrinth of stairs up to the viewing gallery on the outside of the dome, the biggest in Germany although Cologne is taller.
We ate our packed lunch on the train and tram we took to our next destination, the Jump House. A multitude of trampolines and foam block pits along with a Gladiator beam kept us happily engaged for an hour of ascents, decents and soft landings.
Further adventures on the Berlin integrated transport system led us to another chess club where we enjoyed five rounds of chess with fifteen minutes per player per game. There were three grading bands and we were pleased to win two of them, along with other medals for minor placings. All the leading players won trophies and everyone was given a packet of tic tacs and a note pad. To go along with the unique commemorative pens we were presented with yesterday they showed the thought our hosts had put into these events for us. We had no need to make arrangements for dinner tonight because the chess club had kindly provided us with a hot pasta meal. We closed the day with a short meeting because it has been a long and busy day and we have another tomorrow.
Rapidplay results 5 - Matthew; 4 - Armaan, Nakul,; 3.5 - George H, Jaden, Peter, Mate, Nikolai; 3 - Batuhan, George N, Zac, Ron, Abigail; 2.5 - Freddie, Sarah; 2 - Saahil, Giovanni, Thomas, Leo; 1.5 - Georgia.
Simultaneous Results (played in pairs)
Wins - George N + Freddie; George H + Armaan; Saahil + Nakul: Draws - Abigail + Sarah; Matthew + Peter; Mate + Ron; Thomas + Nicolai.
Berlin 23.10.18
The breakfast routine was the same today and we made our way to central Berlin successfully, again unaided. There we met Bettina for our visit to the museum of spying. There we learned from our guide about surveillance devices of all sorts and shapes and sizes. Lipstick that took pictures, recording devices in belts and watches, cameras the size of your little finger nail and others hidden in ties and bras were just a small sample of what we saw. A prize exhibit was an enigma machine from WW2. A popular challenge was the lazer room which had to be crossed without triggering an alarm. Various unique souvenir items that we can take on a plane were purchased but the rifle disguised as an umbrella we had to leave behind. This venue was a stand-out attraction and should be high on a list of possible activities in any future visit to Berlin.
Shopping was next on the agenda and the team was let loose on a mall. Both emerged unscathed from the experience and we moved on to see the church memorial to WW2 with it's unrestored bell tower. We stood on the spot where the famous annual Christmas market is held.
The last chess of the trip was a clock simul against a grandmaster with our players as consulting pairs. A really good battle ensued and with a bit of help from the clock we achieved a five-all draw. The best games were analysed on the demo board, as were some endgame puzzles. He was most impressed with our standard of play but said we were noisier than German 
children. The hosts at the three venues and especially Bettina, have been very generous with prizes. There were trophies and medals at the rapidly, special pens and certificates at the match and today every player received a small engraved trophy and a fridge magnet to remember the visit. Right next to the chess school was a restaurant so we all sampled Austrian cuisine as a different gastronomic experience.
We are now experts in testing all forms of motorized, wheeled vehicles and between times have amused ourselves by inventing games such as the 4kg torture game to test the strength of your arms and your will. The Harry Potter quiz proceded over many installments and from time to time the yellow car spotting game, with extra points for Minis made an appearance. We were earlier back to the hostel this evening but it was still a full day and so we closed with a short meeting before bed. 
Occasionally I have brain fade in writing these reports after midnight and this is one of those times. I forgot the most startling revelation at the Spy museum: not all spies are human! The USA spent $20000 equipping a cat with surveillance equipment and training it to walk towards the target building in Moscow. Unfortunately when deployed it was run over by a car!
On the last day we had a later breakfast at eight thirty: a precious extra half an hour in bed. There followed a short but intensive course on how to pack souvenirs and trophies into already full suitcases. After checking rooms, paying the bill and stripping the beds we headed to the station. A train passed carrying railway sleepers. Someone said that it must be a sleeper train. I wonder who that was? By some miracle we managed to board the train with all our luggage without the help of one of those people waving table tennis bats. We alighted a further two stops on at Alexanderplatz where we were met by Felix and someone we have known for years but have not seen for some time, Michael. The plan was to leave our cases at left luggage. The best laid plans...... We got there to find all the lockers taken. We dragged our cases to another location on the other side of the square to find some open, but not enough for all of us. At this stage Felix and Michael went off to ask at nearby hotels to see if any of them could help. The rest of us sat down at an open air cafe and tried to pull off the trick of studying the menus intently, but indecisively, for forty five minutes without being thrown out. At length some team members actually weakened and collected a plate of chips, just as the German guides returned. They had had no luck so we all had to go back to the station, now, because time was short. Somehow the plate of chips came too. We made our way to Berlin main station and found enough empty lockers for everyone. Then the hunt for change started. The change machine on level 2 was broken, the one on level 3 had been taken away. We all turned out our pockets and with some help from Felix we accomplished the task.
We had now run out of time to see the GDR museum, but if we hurried we would just be in time to have a boat ride on the river. With ten minutes to spare we got there, boarded and settled down for an hour during which our pulse rates would hopefully return to normal. There was a commentary from time to time in English about the sights we were passing and the team caught some of it between card games while the management tried to blot it out so we could finish the reports.
After the cruise we walked back to the station and passed a carving of a mythical bird on a bridge. The Potterologists were consulted on whether it was a phoenix, a gryphon or a wyvern. They pronounced it a gryphon; it was too fat to be a phoenix and they had never heard of a wyvern.
We recovered our luggage, mainly because the locker numbers were actually on the keys. Felix and Michael led us to the express bus that would take us to the airport. They had done everything they could to give us an interesting day and events had conspired against them. We said our goodbyes and boarded the bus. We paid for the adults, no problem. The ticket machine wouldn't give out 19 tickets for the team. The driver swore, in English presumably for my benefit. He then asked the machine to produce the tickets in smaller groups. It ran out of paper and he swore again. He inserted more paper and tried again. It mangled the ticket into a rather fetching little concertina. By now you know what he did next. He drove off to do battle with the Berlin traffic whilst still trying to get tickets out of the machine with questionable parentage. Finally I had my tickets and since the bus was so full I couldn't move, I was treated to a commentary on other drivers, pedestrians and bin men parked in the bus lane, all interspersed with fluent anglo-saxon expletives. It was a journey I will never forget but fortunately the team couldn't hear him due to the screen and the road noise.
After the day we had had the rest of our journey was uneventful. Check in, passports and security are all at the gates so there is no general scrum to get through. The rolls and baguettes were all half price so they quickly disappeared. The cabin crew on BA were charming and congratulated us on our success and we arrived early at Terminal 5. In the blink of an eye and the shake of a hand everyone was returned to their families. The team had been amazing today. Through all the trials and tribulations not one of them had complained. Thanks to the team and to Dawn and Adam for everything they did to make the visit such a success.

Victor Cross 24.10.18​
​

                   Team for Flanders 2018                               Melissa and Tarini with the cup                 Kennan and Edison - best score by English Player

                                                                                     England v Flanders
This is always a hybrid match as the players were EPSCA until 1 day before the match (and were invited as such). Anyhow, as I have a foot in both camps there is no problem. We travelled by Eurostar to Brussels where we were met and taken to the venue (Skyclub Grimbergen). This year the squad team was much the stronger and triumphed 24.5-9.5.The players then went off to their billets and the staff had a meal together. The following morning all reassembled and we had a 5 round 15 minute tournament. Again, our players proved the stronger and Edison won with 5\5. We had Tyani (Flemish board one) as the best Flanders player with 5\6 with Edison and Kennan also on 5\6 and the best English players. We then had the prize giving and headed for home. Unfortunately Eurostar was 50 minutes late and I had to move quickly to catch my train but all were collected safely and seemed to have enjoyed the weekend.

Match v Flanders
Saturday 1st September 2018
Grimbergen Flying Club
B  England                    Flanders                        England             M  RP
1  Edison Xu           0-1  TyaniDe Rycke         1-0  JoshuaJohn       1    4
2  JoshuaJ ohn       1-0  MeindertCaudron        0-1 Edison Xu          1    5
3  Kennan Kesterson1-0 EliasDe Reese          1-0  AarnavhTrivedi   1    3
4  AarnavhTrivedi     1-0  LunaMorote             0-1Kennan Kesterson 2    4
5 ArnavSirivastava   1-0  LauraDecruyenaere    0-1KianDharmasena 1.5  3.5
6 KianDharmasena 0.5-0.5 JolanDebucke       1-0  ArnavSirivastava  1    2
7 AndrewKirby       0.5-0.5  CasimirRoose       0-1 ShivamAgarwal    2   3.5
8 ShivamAgarwal     1-0  EllenDeleu               0-1  AndrewKirby       1.5 3.5
9 DanielChen          1-0   KarenDeleu             0-1  BorisStoyanov     1    3
10 BorisStoyanov    0-1  MareMorote              0-1  DanielChen         2    3
11 EoinMoore         0-1  LeenDeleu                0-1 MelissaHamillton  2    3
12 MelissaHamillton1-0  RubenDebucke         0-1 EoinMoore           1     3
13 AlexRichards      1-0  HoaraRoose             0-1 SolomonMitchel   2     2.5
14 SolomonMitchell  1-0 JorreVanherck          1-0 AlexRichards       1     3
15 TiriniJayawarna 0.5-0.5 FlorisVergauwen    1-0 ArthurPage          1     2.5
16 ArthurPage          1-0 WoutHofman            0-1 TiriniJayawarna    1.5  3
                           11.5-4.5                            5-11
                      England 22.5            Flanders 9.5
​

      Most of the 99 players in their t-shirts                            Adam U12 top board round 2                            Vishnu U16 top board round two
  Adam, Saahil and Hugo at the entrance to the cave       Toby and Param in front of limestone                  Tom and Juju with stalactites behind
               An unauthorised passenger                                          Hugo and friend                             Alfie, Michael and Vishnu with another friend

                                                                             Gibraltar 2018
At the usual unearthly hour the group met Glynis Purland and Ian Burford at Gatwick. We had 20 players, Saahil Bansal, Tom Carroll, Ben Cox, Toby Cox, Gavith Dharmesena, Ben Headlong, Oliver Howell, Adam Hussain, Michael Ifalore, Nugith Jayawarna, Vishnu Kirupakaran, William Lovell, Shobhin Manocha, Alfie Onslow, Teddy Onslow, Devan Patel, Hugo Rayner, Juju Samworth-Calvier, Param Vyas and Kevin Ye. It was a good journey and they arrvied and registered althou they had to wait until 1400 to deposit their bags. The afternoon was spent orientating themselves and at 1730 we all met in the garden for the opening speeches and a buffet reception. After this it was the Blitz tournament. Our top scorer was Teddy who was 3rd= on 5pts. On 4.5 we had Alfie, Nugith, and Tom, 4 was Devan and Kevin, 3.5 was Michael, Oliver, Juju, Adam, Vishnu and Ben C, 3 William, Ben H, Toby, Shobhin, Gavith and Saahil, 2.5 Param, 2 Hugo. Friday saw the first two rounds of the main tournament. As you can see from the photos above we had a player on both top boards (but top of the second half!). Our results for the first two rounds were as follows:- U16, 2 Alfie, Michael; 1.5 Nugith, Teddy; Tom, Oliver; 1 Devan, Vishnu, Ben H, William, Kevin, Juju,Toby, Saahil; 0.5 Ben C, Gavith, Shobhin, Hugo; 0 Param.  Adam has 1 in U12s.
There are various other English players here with families but I will only mention our group apart from the final prize list.
In  the evening there were Master Classes by Jovanka Houska and David Howell which the boys attended. I went to David's class and found it both enjoyable and useful. After the class David was pleased with the interaction and behaviour of the group. 
Saturday was a one round day and in the afternoon the players had a choice between going on a Rock Tour or visiting the leisure centre. Roughly two to one ended up going on the tour. After the third round the scores were as follows:- U12 Adam 1. U16 Tom, Nugith 2.5; Alfie, Devan, Michael, Kevin, William 2; Ben C, Juju, Oliver, Teddy, Gavith 1.5; Ben H, Vishnu, Saahil, Toby 1; Param,  Shobhin, Hugo 0.5.
The afternoon saw me on the Rock Tpur (hence the photos) and I felt it was one of the best. We started at Europa Point, Gibraltar's southern tip, We then went up to St Michael's cave which first timers found very impressive, see photos above. Then it was ape time. We had the best "display" from the Apes that I can remember and many photos were taken (again see above). It was an experience the players will remember for a long time. (Leisure Centre to come). Then it was back to the hotel, dinner and the simultaneous display against Stuart, Jovanka, David, Pia Cramling and Juan Bellon.  We had a good set of results with 3 wins (Toby, Shobhin and Vishnu) and seven draws (Saahil, Ben C, Gavith, Michael, Devan, Juju and Kevin).. 
Sunday was a chess day with two rounds followed by master classes as Friday. After two further rounds the scores were as follows:- U12s Adam 3 He is going home tonight as on Tuesday he flies off to Riga. We wish him the best of luck.
U16s 4 Nugith; 3.5 Alfie, Michael: 3 Oliver, Teddy. Tom, William; 2.5 Ben H, Kevin; 2 Ben G, Hugo, Juju, Saahil, Shobhin; 1.5 Gavith, Vishnu. The master classes ran smoothly and were enjoyed by the group after which we got ready for our final round.
There were three squad v squad games (on a personal note I always feel too many of these end in draws which can affect a place in the prize list), Anyhow, our final results (and there are no tie breaks) were:- Alfie, Nugith and Michael 4.5 Tom 4; Oliver, William, Teddy, Kevin 3.5, Ben H, Devan, Shobhin, Juju 3; Gavith, Hugo, Saahil, Toby, Vishnu 2.5; Ben C, Param 2. The dolphin trip was good with plenty of dolphins showing off and no one actually sick. The final event was the gala dinner. This incorporated the prize giving and saw  Alfie, Nugith and Michael along with James Moreby sharing 2= (Nugith winning a substantial sum for the third year in a row. Sadly it is his last year.) Tom, along with Chris Tombolis and Tom Shepherd were 9= and, as a bonus Kevin shared the best game prize. At U12 level we had no player in the last round but Julia Volovich, Abigail Weersing and Sam Gilmore shared 3rd place and Jessica Mellor shared 10th. Tarini Jayawarna shared the best game prize.Although far too young for the squad I must mention Andrew Volovich who was U8 champion. Hopefully a future squad member. 
The final morning saw a prompt departure and a safe flight home. I am sure the lads all enjoyed themselves and I can announce that the event will be held again next year on a similar date and Glynis and Ian are happy to take a party..

                                                                British Championships at Hull 2018.
This year's event was held in the City Hall in Hull which is a fine baroque style building dating from 1903 - 1909. The first couple of days were very warm, especially in the U11s room but the players coped well and the final three rounds were in a much cooler room (although the Morris Dancers and band outside were a trifle challenging.) Fortunately the players took such things in their stride. This is a two day event and there were only 8 squad players in the tournament. There were others who were trying for their first half norms and these were successful:- Joseph Hurst (Notts), Suyash Srikanta, Hari Stewart and Adam Tarling,
Sunday the main four junior events started. At U10 level there are very few actual squad players eligible but the other three sections had a large number of squad players plus others who were after norms. Half norms were gained by the following:- Tobias Potel, Joe Hirst (SOT), Ben Hammond, Lukas Orgler, Nandinee Thatte whilst Daniel Yu and David Phillips gained their second norms. The following Squad players became British Champions. Julia Volovich U12 girls, Ranesh Ratnesan U14, Polina Shchepinova U14 girls, Federico Rocco U16, Laura Davidson U16 girls.  
Hull and District Chess provided an excellent series of non chess events and, considering the heat, the venue was OK. We are not sure where we are next year but we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible wherever!

                                                    Junior Squad Championships, Daventry Court 2018

This event took place in the Midlands after a gap of three years. The hotel is a good venue although this year we were in seven different rooms which is not as easy to control. The downstairs suite is really good but upstairs we were lucky that Chris Strong was there with nothing to do and ran the U10 section for us. Adrian Elwin ran the U14s and 16s downstairs whilst Glynis Purland and Ian Burford ran the 52 strong U12s. I was "floating" and making sure everything got on the web. Numbers were about 10 down on last year but there were 112 playing (names below)..There was a lot of good chess and by the end of the day on Saturday even the U12s only had three  players on 100% Julia Volovich, Jacob Yoon and Kian Dharmesena.  More remarkable was the U10s, which do have far fewer draws, but had none in the first three rounds. This meant that Shreyas Royal, Harry Zheng and Larissa Cuthbert were all on 3\3.. Round four saw Harry against Shreyas with Larissa floating down to play Kavin Thooran. The U14s had a lone leader, Chirag Hosdurga, who floated down to play Chris Tombolis. At U16 level Peter Isaksen and Victor Stoyanov (the two top seeds) were both on 3\3 and, very obviously, played in round four. Sunday morning saw a lot of decisive games with Shreyvas and Larissa both maintaining their 100% records in U10  and, of course, playing in the last round, a game which Shreyvas won. Jacob and Julia had played at U12 level with Jacob winning whilst Kian had lost to Adam Hussain which left Jacob on 4 playing Jeff Tomy on 3.5 whilst the other two on 3.5    Nadhmi Auchi and Adam Hussain also played. Both top games were drawn. At U14 as Chris and Armaan Gogia had played both floated down (and won) whilst at U16 Victor got the draw he required to be champion. A full list of prize winners is below.
Junior Squad Prize List 2018
 
Under 10
Ist        Shreyas Royal                         5pts     £120
2nd=     Larissa Cuthbert                      4pts     £60
            Harry Zheng                            4pts     £60
            Ernie    Fields                          4pts     £60
GP       Sanjit Kumar                           3pts     £10
            Elis Dicon                               3pts     £10
            Rubin Evans                            3pts     £10
                                                      
Under 12
1st        Jacob Yoon                             4.5pts  £120
2nd=     Shahjahan Saidmurodov         4pts     £30
            Adam Hussain                                    4pts     £30
            Nadhmi Auchi                                    4pts     £30
            Jeff Tomy                                4pts     £30
            Ben Aubury                            4pts     £30
            Kian Dharmasena                    4pts     £30
GP1     Elizabeth Finn                         3pts     £5
            Melissa Hamilton                    3pts     £5
            Alexander Richards                3pts     £5
            Tom Howeson                         3pts     £5
            Sasha Kamotskiy                    3pts     £5
GP2     Raina Jithendra                       3pts     £25
       
 Under 14
1st=      Armaan Gogia                         4.5pts  £100
            Christopher Tombolis              4.5pts  £100
3rd        Chirag Hosdurga                     4pts     £60
4th        Jonathan Britnell                     3.5pts  £40
GP       Vidura Mendis                        3pts     £15
            Toby Cox                                3pts     £15
                                                      
Under 16
1st        Victor Stoyanov                      4.5pts  £120
2nd=     Peter Isaksen                           4pts     £45
            Lucy Bennet-Stevens              4pts     £45
            Aurideep Nayak                      4pts     £45
            Max Walker                            4pts     £45     
                                                     

 ​Players in Junior Squad Championships, Daventry Court 2018
U10 - Harry Zheng, Clemence Pham, Laith Auchi, Taymour Auchi, Jude Shearsby, Kevin Thooran, William Lee, Sanjit Kumar, Islam Asiamov, Larissa Cuthbert, Elis Dicen, Thisumi Jayawarna, Eve Malanta, Charlie Ball. Arman Faradi far, Ruben Evans, Sophie Wang, Ernie Fields, Alee Javed, Zain Javed, Adam Faulkner, Kyden Waite, Shreyas Royal
​
U12 - Ben Aubury, Jacob Yoon, Abigail Weersing, Boris Stoyanov,  Niamh Bridgeman, Logan Fear, Jerry Zheng, Anum Sheikh, Felicity Petit, Catherine Pham, Raina Jithendra, Henry Huang, Nadhmi Auchi, Adam Hussain, Jacob Wynn, Alexander Richards, Lucian Cox, Kian Dharmasena, Matthew Timbrell, Oliver White,  Stakhey Sedykh, Tom Howeson, Shahjahan Saidmurodov, Lakshya Lokwani, Daniel Yu, ​Navaneetha Srinivasan, Jason LV, Samuel Gilmore, Jeff Tomy, Thomas Dan, Melissa Hamilton, Tarini Jayawarna, Emily Maton, Dimitrios Zakarian, Suyash Srikanta Prasad, Katie Ball, Kian Chan, Sasha Kamotskiy, Joseph Hurst, Oliver Faulkner, Kandarya Acharya, Anton Drel, Zoha Ashraf, Dharmik Vyas, Arjuna Mendis, Suriya Velayudham, Elizabeth Finn, Charlie Goldsmith, Amritansh Misra, Julia Volovich, Lakshan Siddarth,  Umar Syed,
​
U14 - Hugo Rayner, Christopher Tombolis, Chirag Hosdurga, Param Vyas, Jonathan Britnell, Michael Banks, Max Wilton, Toby Cox, Gavith Dharmasena, Georgia Headlong, Ciaran Brightley-Davies, Imogen Dicen, Mate Ther, Elias Gelain-Sohn​, Dominic Holmes, Eryl Malanta, Armaan Gogia, Lawrence Fields, Vidura Mendis, Merlin Davies, Samia Sheikh, Urbi Modura, Purba Audhora, Saahil  Bansal, 

​U16 - Lucy Bennet-Stevens, Oliver Thornley, Sarah Weersing, Viktor Stoyanov, Aurideep Nayak, William Lovell, Max Miller, Laura Davidson, ​Peter Isaksen,  Max Walker, Daniel Finn, Aditya Tangirala, Devan Patel, 

              Whole team on a steam carriage                     Electricity generating race (Victor barred)            Hall Marking (Hopefully not their fingers)
​       Guide explaining how to tap a blast furnace                     Really enjoying wood turning              Operating an old switchboard at makeshift station                Waiting for the start of round five                              General view of playing hall                                Saturday Simul 2018
               The dreaded rook at the simul                                       Facing the IM                                     Team Prize winners Frydek 18 
      Adam Hussain 2nd Arjun Kolani 3rd U12s                        Aditya Munshi 2nd U15s                            Polina Shchepinova 3rd Girls U15
                   Team Prize (again-sorry)                                    Ben Aubury Raffle prize                           The official team photo (with prizes)
​                        Adam and Arjun                                                Aditya and Polina                                         Winning team with Cake 

                                                                         Frydek-Mistek 2018
Tuesday 27th.
The team was:- Robert Akeya Price, Ben Aubury, Elizabeth Finn, Edward Gray, Adam Hussain, Arjun Kolani, Oliver Manchester, Aditya Munshi, Devan Patel, Hugo Rayner, Polina Shchepinova, Mate Ther, Chris Tombolis, Ron Usharovsky, Nicholas Vallis, Leo Yu. Leaders were Victor Cross and Dawn Burroughs.
Congratulations... everyone arrived at Stansted in plenty of time, and thank goodness we did! Our attempts at a group bag drop were thwarted at every turn but eventually we managed to complete the required procedures and move to security. There was a frought atmosphere among the staff there because they had to keep telling people the same things over and over again. In contrast I was told my team were angels which was a well earned compliment. Having no spare time to eat air side we went straight to the gate to board the plane. Despite rumours to the contrary, Ryanair had stocks of food on board to satisfy even this team so no one went hungry. Embarking and passports went smoothly and after baggage reclaim we met Vasek our guide, boarded the bus and headed for the hotel. They are now building the final piece of the dual carriageway toll road between Ostrava  and Frydek-Mistek Mistek. Users of the A303 eat your heart out! We are staying in the La Rosa, the same hotel as we found very convenient last year. Dinner was at the new shopping mall, the choices were pizzas or KFC, both now native tongues for English chessplayers. After a meeting and some form filling we went to bed. We have some serious tourism to do on Wednesday.

Wednesday 28th
Our first day as tourists began with a self service breakfast including plenty of choice. We then met Vasek our guide and departed for Ostrava. Our bus driver was the same lady as yesterday. The way she manoeuvred the vehicle made me think she either drove a sports car or Harry Petter's late bus in her spare time. The former steel works of Vitkowice was our destination. Thanks to this company and blast furnace the Eifel Tower and Sydney Harbour Bridge are still standing. They made half of the rivets of the former and all of them for the latter. Drinks and delicacies with a high chocolate content were consumed half way up the sixty metre Bolt Tower. After a soup and chicken lunch we spent the afternoon at a technical museum demonstrating  industrial evolution from human hamster  wheels to computers, with an ideal mixture of explanation and hands on experience. Swimming in the lovely heated Olesna Aquapark pool finished the active part of the day well. In the evening we enjoyed a meal at the hotel followed by a familiarisation walk to the chess, supermarket and back. We closed with our usual meeting about the day ahead followed by bed. Battle starts tomorrow!

Thursday  29th
The chess starts today! There are three junior tournaments with 191 competitors from 11 countries. The opening ceremony was conducted in Czech, Russian and English, in front of an impressive backdrop festooned with sponsors' logos. The top six players in each section play on the stage and their games are live to view on the web from nine in the morning and from three in the afternoon on Friday and Sunday. The presentation of the event really is a credit to the organisers and the stage really is set for high quality chess. Clearly we have multiple aims: prizewinners, players on the stage and players with flags of nationality on their boards because that means they are in the top half of their event. This morning we had three on the stage and six with flags. This afternoon the respective numbers were one and seven. After consideration of grades, ratings and previous results the team target is 72.5 so we need to score just over 9 points per round on average. After two rounds we have 18 points, just 0.13 below the schedule we have set ourselves. Obviously that is a creditable score on which to build. Everyone seemed to cope well enough with the three choice system which is always used for dinner at this event. However within that there is no scope for special orders or personal requests and this must be understood when sending your child here. After our meal at the hotel we went for a short walk along the banks of the Ostravice. We saw the Centrum Hotel where the squad stayed for many years which is said now to be for sale for one Czech crown. While on the old bridge we oriented ourselves for Ostrava, Moravia, Silesia and the mountains. On returning to the hotel we had some free time before going to our own rooms for lights out at 9,30 Czech time. Any disturbances around this time including phone calls are disruptive to team routines and do deprive both the player and their room mate of much needed sleep. And with that zzzzzzz..... (managers get tired too).

Friday 30th
After our sound start yesterday it was important to build on it during the second double round day. We were absolutely focused as a team this morning and in the Under 15s it was nearly three hours before any games were finished. Then the wins came in. Of the first ten games we dropped two and a half points, and in one of those two of our players played eachother. Overall we scored eleven out of sixteen, our best round yet. Arjun played a tactical delight against the Sicilian of the sort that gets published. After lunch we had a four a side football tournament between our own teams in Smetany Park near the venue. I wonder how many British titled players have played in that park in the last twenty five years. We continued our good form in the afternoon scoring ten and a half points. The Under 15s recorded their best round yet with eight out of eleven. At the half way stage we are 3.25 points ahead of schedule towards out target of 72.5. We have four teams in the team competition named after British grandmasters, Adams, Short, Jones and Howells. Trophies, medals and a cake are at stake so there is a lot to play for in the second half of the event. Dinner in the hotel was followed by a shortened walk over the bridge into Frydek. We saw the stadium and the towers or spires of the churches and castle. The parish church of St.John the Baptist has had a particularly turbulent life. Between 1447 and 1886 is was damaged or destroyed by fire several times, including the melting of the great bell. It was also devastated during the Thirty Years War. The castle was formerly owned by the Habsburgs and held the first match played by our Squad in Frydek-Mistek many years ago. A short meeting, preparation and a little down time were fitted in before our usual 9.30 lights out. One game tomorrow but we can devote our full efforts to it knowing the afternoon is a more recreational affair.

31st
Only one round today at the usual time. Walking between the hotel and the venue one of the team remarked that we were going a different way today. If truth be known we had walked a different way every day, he just hadn't noticed! Since we had moved ahead of our target score yesterday, we had more players on the top boards on the stage (4) and more had earned flags by their boards (9) than at any time in the event. Winning is becoming harder as we are now taking on our closest rivals. Seven players drew their games but after four hours work we had mixed in six wins and only three losses for a score of 9.5. The u15s are now 1.5 ahead of schedule and the u12s are now 2.19 ahead. Our total of 49 is now 3.69 ahead of schedule. One of our teams was equal first overnight out of 26 in the team competition and was lying second after today's round. At present we have three u12s in medal winning positions and also two u15s and one girl. With three rounds to go, two of which are on Sunday, tomorrow is a very important day. As a team we are building up a good store of information on future opponents which has already proved useful. After lunch there were two simultaneous exhibitions, one by Sergey Movsesian GM and the other by Stanislav Jasny IM. We were initially given five spaces but after negotiation the organisers kindly agreed that anyone who definitely wanted to play could take part. We achieved several successes and the full list will appear tomorrow. Pictures of GM Movsesian were distributed and signed. The usual show followed at five o'clock. The two dancing rooks kicked off proceedings followed by dance group Beat Up Ostrava. A magician pretending to saw off volunteers' arms and heads was next but only got our attention when he appeared to set someone's hair on fire. A gymnast performing choreographed contortions from a suspended ring closed the show. We adjourned to the hotel for dinner, the start of our pairs tournament, a meeting and preparation before bed. Our performance tomorrow will go a long way to deciding our fate in the various competitions.
​
Sunday 1st April
The winners in the simul yesterday were: Nick, Oliver and Ben against GM Movsesian and Chris, Leo, Adam, Aditya, Devan, Polina  and Edward against IM Jasny.
Today we had breakfast at the usual time of 8 o'clock while watching people outside scurrying about in the rain. We planned a route to the chess under arches as far as possible. On arrival we invaded the stage. Adam, Arjun and Ben in the u12s, Aditya and Christopher in the u15s all flew the cross of St. George proudly at the head of affairs. Despite only losing five games out of sixteen, we only managed to score seven points in total in the morning session. After a good lunch and a kick about to get some oxygen in our lungs we went into battle in the afternoon still 1.62 points ahead of schedule but also determined to build our insurance policy against a bad round tomorrow morning. Impressively we only lost three games in round seven and only one of them to a non - English player. Scoring eleven points brought us level with the schedule for the day and 3.56 points ahead of schedule overall. We stood third out of twenty six teams in the team competition. We were still in line for a cake, medals and a trophy but it would be nice to upgrade the size of the cake tomorrow. Overall individual and girls' prizes in addition to the team ones are all there to play for with a good round tomorrow. Adam, Ben, Leo, Edward, Polina, Oliver and Hugo all achieved their individual targets with a round to spare. We need five and a half points on Monday to reach our team target. Our favourite supermarket just near the subway is Albert, no doubt a familiar one for many Squad players who have played in Frydek-Mistek over the years. I am sure there will be a profit slump there when we leave, especially in the confectionary aisle. I have had the pleasure of meeting a family from Vilnius today. They speak excellent English and some of our team have exchanged text messages with the boy Donald who is playing. Richard Finchmanas is still organising chess in Vilnius and we said it would be nice to see him again. We will have to see if a Squad visit there comes about again but contact has been made. The team went to bed half an hour earlier after our usual group preparation session so now the manager had better do the same. Tomorrow has the potential to be a big day

Mondat 2nd April
Breakfast at seven o'clock? I can hear the team groaning now! It was ready, including scrambled egg with onion, frankfurters, cheese, cold meats and a range of cereals and fruit. The coffee machine produced excellentt coffee and unintelligible messages in equal measure.
The chess started promptly at eight o'clock and we set a record for this trip with two on the stage and eleven in total earning flags by their boards. From the start we were winning and the victories kept on coming, eleven in all and only three defeats. When the chips were down and we had so much to play for we recorded our best round of the event: 12 points. Before allowing for clashes between ourselves we were 6.5 points ahead of target, afterwards we exceeded it by 8.09.
The England Adams team had finished second out of twenty six teams and ahead of teams representing the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Russia. We had upgraded the size of our cake and won medals and a trophy.
Amid this team success there were notable individual achievements. In the u15s Aditya was second and Polina was third in the Girls' category. In the u12s Adam was second and Arjun was third. All won medals and trophies. One of the most outstanding aspects of the chess was that no one scored less than 50%. I believe it is the first group to perform this feat. To top it all Ben won a rucsack in the raffle.
Obligatory photographs were taken of the teams and individuals with trophies and the whole team and everything they had won. Large quantities of our cake was consumed before we left the venue.
Bowling was the next item on the agenda and it was lovely to meet Vasek and his wife and young son Robert along with his sister Beronika. who also speaks excellent English. We enjoyed talking about our families and visits we had made to London while bowling balls bounced merrily down the lanes and sometimes even avoided the gutter entirely. Two hours passed quickly and we were soon having to walk back to the restaurant across from our hotel for a final meal of pizza. Translations were provided and large quantities were consumed.
At the following meeting we congratulated ourselves on the chess, distributed guide books and discussed methods of packing ready for the room inspection. We have one visit tomorrow to the Tatra car museum before lunch and journeying to the airport. It has been a full trip and the team will have a lot to tell their parents about.

Tuesday 3rd April
Some of us are very tired now so the usual breakfast time of eight o'clock was very welcome. After being given the responsibility of the keys to the hotel yesterday for the staff day off it was a relief to hand them back. The young lady on reception lived in Plymouth for some time so it was pleasant to compare notes with her.
Room inspections followed, then meeting Vasek round the corner at the bus stop.
After loading the cases we headed for Koprivnice, the home of Tatra cars and trucks and also Emil Zatopek. We saw his Olympic medals and action pictures before meeting the guide for the cars. The Technical Museum charts the development of the company, and therefore also car trends and design from before 1900 to the 1980s. Our tour was in two parts. The museum guide took us round to talk about the exhibits, then we went round again with me explaining how the cars worked and giving helpful car maintenance tips I was given by my father who among other things was a trained mechanic. The team showed their powers of concentration were undimmed by hours of chess by listening really well to me and the guide and to learn about and see cars made for Hitler and Stalin.
Lunch was in a new restaurant for us just across the road from the cars. You couldn't miss it; it was called Restaurant and Coffee. Chicken drumsticks, baguette and side salad went down really well.
The last visit of the trip now being over we headed for the airport.
Along the way we were treated to a wonderful view of the Beskidy Mountains, a skiing area from which the chess school gets its name. The ski slopes and the Lysa Hora weather station stood out clearly against the blue sky.
At the airport we said a profound thanks to Vasek before performing the usual rituals of air travel. No problems were encountered and we were congratulated by the cabin crew on our achievement at the chess. On landing we were congratulated by the Border Force officers and then collected our luggage. Landing at Ostrava  had been much simpler, there was only one operational carousel. The issuing of reports followed, then the family reunions through the doors at International Arrivals. It has been a pleasure to lead this team but we all owe a big debt of gratitude to Dawn Burroughs who after doing such a great job organising the trip then found herself ill in bed three days before she was due to travel.
Undoubtedly it has been one of our most successful visits to Frydek-Mistek and we thanked the organisers sincerely before we left.
Words - Victor Cross, pictures Dawn Burroughs.

FINAL SCORES (On the continent all scores are subject to tie break)
U15s Aditya 6.5 2nd; Devan 5.5 9th; Chris 5 11th; Mate 5 19th; Edward 5 20th; Polina 4.5 23rd; Robert 4.5 27th; Ron 4 31st; Nicholas 4 32nd;
Hugo 4 36th  Oliver 4 37th.  TOTAL 67 players

U12s Adam 6.5 2nd;  Arjun 6 3rd;  Ben 5.5 8th;  Leo 5 13th;  Elizabeth 4 30th. TOTAL 60 players

On behalf of the squad I would like to congratulate the team on their performance, add my thanks to the organisers and also to our parents who give unstintingly of their time and money to help their children's chess. Finally a massive vote of thanks to Dawn and Victor for their organisation and the care they take of our players. Without such helpers the players would not get these experiences.

                                                                                   TRIP TO SAXONY FEBRUARY 2018
        Our group at Stansted prior to departure                            Squad bowlers in Leipzig                                  Saxon bowlers in Leipzig
                Both teams at the Rapidplay       ​                             Players concentrating                                                Bowling
                          Energetic Blitz                                                        Town Tour                                              Gondwanaland (at zoo)

 At 1530 on 12th February our group of seven players, Jonathan Britnell, Gavith Dharmesena, Alec Hedger, Nakul Nataraj, Yaqub Saeed Tristian See and Oliver Thornley met Glynis and Ian at Stansted for the flight to Leipzig. Our host, Hendrik, was on the plane as well (he had been playing in the 4NCL) and was a great help in getting us to the hostel. As it was fairly late it was straight to bed as we have a full day of chess followed by an evening of bowling on Tuesday. The rooms are spacious and en-suite, breakfast was the usual continental and things are being set up. Glynis is having to play board 8 as we went a player short - last minute cry off.  I will not comment on the team make up!! The tournament was the usual 4x4 Scheveningam. Round One was 4-4 with wins for Tristian, Yaqub and Jonathan whilst Nakul and Oliver drew. In round two we went down 4.5 -3.5 with Oliver and Gavith winning and Tristian, Nakul and Jonathan drawing. I have had detailed accounts of board 8 but am still making no comment!! Round three has seen us pull back the deficit as we won 4.5-3.5 with wins for Tristian and Alec and draws for Nakul, Yaqub, Jonathan, Oliver and Gavith. Leipzig and the zoo are down for this afternoon. They had a lovely afternoon. Hendrik did a guided tour showing the church, statue, old houses, church style in university block, town hall built in 9 months, Goethe statue, exchange house and lucky foot! We had 15mns to buy souvenirs and then on to the Zoo. Gondwandaland looked so different to our previous visit. There is a special illuminated show on throughout. Absolutely beautiful. We were there till 7pm then got the tram home and had a quick supermarket visit. Thursday saw the final round and again it was very close. Alec and Oliver won whilst Tristian, Nakul, Yaqub, Jonathan and Gavith all drew giving us victory by 16.5-15.5. All in all an excellent tournament. This afternoon we went to the Panoramic. A converted gasometer. They have special exhibitions which change every few years. We had a bilingual guide explaining to us the history of the Titanic. There was an exhibition and fantastically massive panorama of the Titanic as she lies on the sea bed. Very, very impressive.
The team played Energetic Blitz this evening - won by Tristian with Nikul runner up. The final event was a rapidplay. I have the scores out of 8 but not the positions.We had three on 7.5 - Nakul, Alec and Tristian: 6.5 Jonathan: 5.5 Oliver: 4.5 Gavith and Yaqub. I had a quick word with Glynis last night and all seem to have enjoyed themselves and also behaved themselves.  They arrived back safely and all had dispersed within 5 minutes of the appointed time. I would like to thank the Saxony Junior Chess organisation for hosting us and Glynis and Ian for taking the trip.

​

                   English Closed Championships held at Yateley Manor School 27-8 January 2018

This annual event was held at Yateley Manor with kind permission of the Head Teacher. I would like to thank the South of England team for their cooperation and especially Chris Howell and Mike Forster for the work they did running the event. As ever they did an excellent job.
There were 59 players and all who were due arrived pretty much on time. Well done everyone. I was in Gibraltar (battling severe storm force winds) so did not see the chess but I believe it was up to its usual high standard. The winners were U16 Victor Stoyanov; U14 Jason Covey and U12 jointly by Julia Volovich and Adam Hussain. We also welcome in to the squad 7 new members Niall Clarke, Xavier Cowan. Emmanuelle Gelain-Sohn, Matthew Gray. Toby Kan, Yuvraj Kumar and Max Miller. We hope they will have an enjoyable time with us.

                                                Quadrangular December 2017
 
This was again held at Liverpool College in the first weekend of December by kind permission of the school and the help of Brian and Zeeta. This year we had North, Scotland and Wales as usual but after many years of problems with the Midlands we had an U12 Midlands team, a joint Midlands/Irish U14 team and an Irish U16 team. This worked very well and this year we had 102 players on both days. North and Scotland had full teams whilst Wales were two short Saturday and one Sunday with Midlands one short Sunday. It was great to have the Irish here and also pleasing to be close to a full house.
After two rounds the Midlands looked certain winners at U12 level, Wales was in the driving seat at U14 and Ireland the same at U16. Sunday morning was not the time for any shocks.  At U16 Ireland won 6-0, at U14 Wales won 8-2 and at U12 Midlands won 7-3. So we had three different winners and, unusually, 14 players with 3\3 – Toby Cox, Aarnavh Trivedi, Kian Dharmesena, Anika Khare, Joseph Hurst, Amar Johal (Midlands), Peter Carroll, Felix Jordan (Ireland), Kyle Pelling, Marek and Nikolas Korsinskij (North), Pranav Saravanan, Pranav Arcot (Scotland) and Chirag Guha (Wales). Congratulations to all those players.                                                                                                   

           JUNIOR SQUAD CHAMPIONSHIPS; 7-8 APRIL 2018; MERCURE DAVENTRY COURT HOTEL
The entry form is now available on this website (see more... then entry forms. Alternately I can email you a copy if you contact me. The event is open to all players of a reasonable standard and is an event where players can gain a squad half norm (3 out of 5)
                          

                                                                     GIBRALTAR 2018 CONFIRMED DATES  16-20 AUGUST

         Some of our group at Europa Point​​                            Findlay guarding the Rock                               Does this remind you of Macbeth??
            Vainly trying to see Africa                                       Heading back to the bus                                 Some of the beauties of the cave
        Are they posing as Neanderthal man?          More chess players posing on the steps to the cave                 More beauties of the cave
                   Admiring the Apes                                        Attempted hijack of the bus                               Close encounters of the Ape kind
           Nugith Jayawarna 1= Blitz. 2= U16s                             Mate Ther 2= U12s                                    Peter Koiza and Daniel Finn 8+ U16s

                                                                                       Squad trip to Gibraltar 2017
On Thursday August 17th 19 boys, Tom Brown, Ben Cox, Thomas Finn, Daniel Finn, Oliver Howell, Michael Ifalore, Viktor Jamroz, Nugith Jayawarna,
Nikhil Kadambadi, Peter Koiza, Finlay Lister, Shobhin Manocha, Alfie Onslow, Teddy Onslow, Pramoth Ragavan, Samir Samadov, Mate Ther, Rohan Yesudian and  RiyaanYesudian met Glynis Purland and Ian Burford at Gatwick Airport at the unearthly hour of 0500. Everyone turned up and the flight was smooth until on the approach to Gibraltar a yacht got in the way. I jest not - you should fly regularly to Gibraltar!! Any how all arrived safely at the Caleta Hotel and checked in to be joined later by the final member of the party, William Lovell. They had an orientation walk before dinnerand relaxed (and registered) in the afternoon. At 1730 we had the hotel reception with drinks (soft) and nibbles (warm) including a speech from your editor! Then it was on to he Blitz Chess. As last year Nugith showed his prowess coming 1st equal whilst 5\5. Thomas F, William and Peter came 5= with 4 whilst on 3.5 we had Alfie and Tom, 3 was scored by Michael, Viktor, Samir, Teddy, Nikhil, Oliver, Daniel, Ben, Royan, Riyaan, Shobhin and Mate.whilst Pramoth and Finlay got 2 points. After a good night's sleep (I hope) we were ready for the main tournament. We have 2 players (Viktor and Mate) in the U12s and 18 in the U16s which makes clashes inevitable. Both our U12s won in round one whilst we had 8 wins and two draws in the U16s. Pride of place must go to Oliver Howell who played black against the top seed and won!  The second round was in the afternoon and our two U12s continued in their winning ways. At U16 level we had Nugith on two, Alfie, Oliver, Nikhil and Michael on 1.5, Riyaan, Rohan, Samir, William, Pramoth, Teddy and Peter on 1, Thomas, Tom, Daniel and Shobhin on 1.5 whilst Ben and Findlay have yet to score. In the evening the players had a choice of two Master classes (assuming they did not fancy a French one run by Stuart Conquest or a Spanish one run by Juan Bellon or Pia Cramling.) run by Jovanka Houska or Adam Hunt. Most of them joined Adam and this took them until about 2130. Saturday is a single round day. Sadly our two U12s could not continue their winning ways whilst the U16s scored 50% overall. The current positions are Nugith, Alfie, Michael, Samir, Rohan and William on two,  Oliver, Nikhil, Peter and Daniel on 1.5, Riyaan, Pramoth, Teddy, Findlay, Thomas, Tom and Shobhin on 1, whilst Ben, despite some good long games has yet to score. In the afternoon  there was a choice of activity. The majority opted for the Rock Tour whilst the others went bowling in King's Bastian. As I was organizing all three coaches I gave my camera to Nate Weersing and thank him for his collection of photographs some of which are reproduced above. Please note that only some of the players went on the tour - those who did not are not pictured. This not not mean anything sinister!! We were in three minibuses but all followed the same routes with stops at Europa Point (sadly a heat haze so no photos of Africa); St Michael's Cave (with plenty of Ape activity outside) and the Ape's Den (which they have deserted but which has excellent views of the Lower Town. Meanwhile those who went to the leisure centre also had a very good time although I am told that bowling proved far more popular than ice skating. Then it was back to the Caleta for a break before the simultaneous against the combined might of Stuart, Jovanka, Adam, Pia and Juan. As I suspected the simultaneous went on until 2300. It is actually the 5 coaches (3 GMs and 2 IMs) playing in tandem. This is a good way to lose friends!! It is actually harder for the coaches than playing 20+ each and our squad took full advantage of this. Daniel, Shobhin, Teddy and Tom all won whilst Mate, Nikhil, Pramoth, Riyaan, Samir, Thomas and William all drew. Sunday is a two round day and we hope for some good results. However, it is a very strong tournament and, in theory, we should get no more than two prizes. It is also the one "foreign" event where a fair number of squad players travel with family as the hotel and city are so pleasant that the parents come for a holiday. In the final analysis I will mention all squad players who gain prizes. Sunday is a double round day and vital for those with prize aspirations. We had a very good morning. Both our U12s won whilst at U16 level we had 8 wins (Ben, Nikhil, Nugith, Oliver, Peter, Pramoth, Riyaan and Thomas.) and 6 draws (Alfie, Findlay, Rohan, Teddy, Tom and William). In fact the four who lost all did so to an English player. I suspect it will be harder this afternoon. It was aniktor on 3 and Mate on 4 and looking to gain a FIDE rating of over 1500. At U16 level Nugith, Oliver and William are on 3.5, Peter and Thomas on 3, Alfie, Daniel, Nikhil, Pramoth, Rohan, Samir and Tom on 2.5, Ben, Michael and Riyaan on 2, Findlay and Teddy on 1.5 and Shobhin on 1. The evening was the second masterclass with most joining Adam again after which bed and some preparation called. In the final round we scored a magnificent 14 points which (with 3 inter squad games) meant we only dropped 3 points to those not in our party. This meant that 5 players went home with money when I thought only two would. Both our U12s won money with Mate 2= and, according to chess-results.com a new rating of 1766. Viktor  was 11= with 4 points. At U14 level Nugith was 2= with Peter and Thomas 8=. Peter had a performance rating of 1949. Our other unrated players were Ben who came back from a poor start to get a performance rating of 1505 and Findlay who clocked in at 1456. The other U16 scores were 3.5- Alfie, Oliver and William; 3 Ben, Daniel, Nikhil, Pramoth, Riyaan, Rohan, Samir and Tom; 2.5 Findlay and Teddy; 2 Michael and Shobhin. The afternoon was taken up by the Dolphin trip and we were lucky that the put on a very good display for us. I am not sure how many succeeded in photographing them. The last night is always the Gala Dinner and Prize Giving so we were ready for "action" by 1950.
​There were also Squad players who were there with their parents. The following were prize winners. U16 James Moreby 2=and Matthew Forster 8=. At U12 level Ranesh Ratnesan and Samuel Gilmore were 6= Christopher Tombolis and Andrew Kirby were 11= whilst Abigail Weersing won the U12 girls. Very well done to everyone.
JUST A QUICK REMINDER. WE ARE DUE TO LAND AT GATWICK AT 1330. PLEASE DO NOT BE LATE.

                                                                              British Championships 2017 Llandudno
There is a new format for the championships this year and there are no longer U13 and U15 events whilst the U11 has been reduced to three days (and might well be two next year owing to the trouble we had with people not reading the entry form). As far as squad players are concerned we must congratulate Logan Fear on coming runner up and being the best English player. Obviously with this being the British Championship and especially at U11 many of the players are not squad members. However it was very pleasing to see that five players. Ben Aubury, Oliver Faulkner, Elizabeth Finn, Samir Khan and Leo Yu gained their first squad half norm. The U10, U12, U14 and 16 event took place Sunday to Saturday with one round each which seemed to be appreciated by families who could enjoy the glorious surroundings (not that I am biased and for those who do not know I was born in Llandudno).This meant that we had four Championships finishing on the Saturday. The U10s are too young to be in the squad and the U12 girls was a three way tie so of the 8 titles achieved Welsh players took 2 and squad players the other 6. Therefore we congratulate the following champions. U16 Koby Kalavanan; U14 Viktor Stoyanov; U14 Girls Nadia Jaufarally; U12 Christopher Tombolis; U12 Girls Julia Volovich. Second norms were gained by Jem Gurney, Tim Lewis, Devin Patel, David Phillips and Leo Yu. The latter followed on his U11 norm and has immediately accepted a Squad place. Further half norms were gained by Finlay Bowcott-Terry; Ben Hammond; Toby Kan; Aditya Paleri and Arnav Srivastava on gaining half norms in the U12 and Aardash Saravanan in the U14. It is difficult to be certain how successful the change in format has been. Certainly the town seems to have been very popular but, of course, we do always move about. If you do have any comments to make on the new format I would really appreciate you emailing me. This applies to good or bad thoughts. Too often people who are happy do not say and an unfair view is reached. I will read all replies and reply where possible.

        Hard hat time at Blast Furnace Museum            Experiments at the ​Blast Furnace Museum             Engrossed players at Blast Furnace Museum
                  Some of the team in play                               Hodgson team with their winnings                                        The Cake
                      Team and prizes                                        The Rook - tournament mascot                                     Leisure activities

                                                                                         Frydek-Mistek 2017
Well done everyone! No panics, no alarms, everyone met on time at Stansted and boarding passes were handed out. The desk manager opened a special lane for us to check in and we waited while he tried to persuade an off duty colleague to check us in. He failed so we joined the queue but still went smoothly through, to the scanners and to the waiting area. We had ten minutes for a shop raid (food not cosmetics) before our gate went up. After walking for a long time towards the Czech Republic we reached the plane to take us the rest of the way. Priority boarding and assigned seats were a big improvement over previous systems and even our flight was fifteen minutes quicker than usual due to wind (meteorological not gastro-intestinal).
We were met at the airport by our friend Vasek who is in charge of the cultural and historical parts of our visit. We were taken by coach to yet another hotel for the Squad, the La Rosa, just round the corner from the square in Mistek and handy for the chess. We had our choice of fast food outlets in the new Mall in the evening but future evening meals will be in the hotel. The day closed with a meeting to brief the team on tomorrow which will be one of our two tourist days.
Wednesday
Last night we had passed a war memorial on our walk. It was dedicated to the Silesians, the only ones to offer resistance to the ww2 German invasion. In ww1 they had fought their way east, marched through Siberia and arrived home via Canada, two years after the end of the war. A regiment for them to be proud of.
After breakfast today we went for a short local walk before meeting the bus. Our visit was to the Vitkowice blast furnace museum and technical exhibition. We climbed Bolt tower, which the man himself had climbed but was not actually named after him. We now know the intimate workings of a blast furnace and can be quizzed on Veronica, puddling, top bells and slag. The exhibition was very hands on and was based on the history of the industrial revolution. There was no mention of Trevithick or Arkwright so there was obviously a Czech slant but the experience was excellent and it will be high on the list of priorities in future visits.
The Olesna Aquapark with its flumes was very popular and after a very full day we returned to the hotel for our evening meal, a briefing meeting about the chess and then bed to prepare ourselves for the tournament.
Thursday part 1
The chess tournament started today so we tested the hotel dining room to breaking point by arriving all at once. It coped admirably so we plan to repeat the exercise tomorrow. After a short walk across Freedom Square (translated because my keyboard cannot supply the accents necessary to render it in Czech) we arrived at the National House for the tournament. The opening ceremony was conducted as usual in three languages but with one major difference: the entrance of the arbiting team was devoid of the usual trumpet fanfare. Play then started in the main hall but not on the bottom twelve boards of the under 12s. They were in a room upstairs but not signposted or published as such. When we did take our places up there the clocks hadn't started because the others had had the same trouble.
While the players got stuck into their games we sorted out the individual and then team targets based on several factors and the players were told later in the day. Our team target is 11.75 per round so it will be interesting to chart our progress against this benchmark.
Lunch consisted of soup followed by a choice of the three main courses. Pork was easily the most popular and ran out early. The sausage soup was delicious and would have been very much enjoyed by a Welshman we all know. The Albert supermarket is close on the other side of the subway so groups have been able to go shopping after their games and all returned successfully.
Thursday part 2
The afternoon rounds start at three o'clock so we tore ourselves away from our games of exchange to take our places. I have been most impressed with our standard of play and have very much enjoyed watching the after game analysis by the team. The brains trust contributing ideas is entertaining and heartening.
After scoring 25.5 today we are two points ahead of schedule going into tomorrow so it has been a good effort all round. I am sure that Oscar, Juju and Yaqub would actually like to play a foreign player sometime soon having only played team mates so far. We extended our walk back to the hotel to take in the Smetana Park, new footbridge, football pitch and the Church of St.Jacob the Bigger which is a prominent local landmark.
We devoured our chicken and rice dinner and then had a quick meeting which included the mistranslation story concerning the Prime Minister and the machine gun.
After a short time for preparation and visits to friends rooms it was time for own rooms followed by lights out. This tournament is rewarding but tiring and we need our sleep. zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Friday
The day began with breakfast at the usual time of eight o'clock. There was no sign of the two families we shared the room with yesterday. Our table manners weren't that bad, surely?
Viktor and Federico were playing eachother on the stage this morning so there was a lot of interest around the live board screen. A lot of effort went into our games and we received compliments from friends  from Poland on our fighting spirit.
We scored 11 points in the morning to leave us 1.25 ahead of schedule.
As is customary at this event we played.football in the park at lunchtime. The man marking job Thomas did on Thomas had to be seen to be believed. Great fun was had by all even though we lost count of the score.
Our entries to the team competition had to be in today. Four team of five.were selected and chose their own  names: England Hodgsons, England Adams, England Under 12s (because they are) and England Shorts (because they are!).
The afternoon again saw some interesting struggles and after four hours we had scored ten points. That left us on 46.5, 0.5 below where we had hoped to be at the half way mark.
The day closed after beef and rice at the hotel with a pairs swiss tournament at ten minutes each, alternating moves and no conferring.
The added random factor being the lights going on and off on a timer and motion sensor during the games.
Saturday
Only one round today but beans for breakfast for the first time although there has always been plenty of  choice. Different cereals, scrambled egg, bacon, a range of bread and croissants, different juices and fruits and a quality coffee machine all amounted to a good way to start the day.
Each morning.we walk a slightly different way to the venue and today took us through the square past all the stalls being set up for the Easter Fayre.
We had two on the stage today on the live game boards: Federico and Jonathan. Nine of our team were playing under their national flag, nearly a record for this trip. Our teams of five stood third, sixth, sixteenth and twenty third out of thirty in the race for a trophy, medals and cake.
The round proved our toughest yet and despite a great deal of effort we recorded our lowest total: 7.5. This left us 4.75 points behind target after five rounds.
We got in another football match in preparation for our annual Belarus challenge scheduled for Sunday and then some of us who wished to take part headed for the simuls . Eight players were lucky enough to take a board and shared the best performance in recent memory. Viktor and Federico beat GM Navarro, while Batuhan, Peter, Armaan, Tom and Teddy all beat IM Stanislav. We suffered only one loss and that was to Navarro.
The show followed the simuls and was of a high standard. A girls' dance troop performed to Caribbean rhythms and some gymnasts did amazing things on chairs and giant rings. Best was the cocktail waiter who kept us mesmerised while optics, glasses and other assorted receptacles piroetted before our very eyes. 
​Dinner at the hotel was chicken and chips, a meal which we recognised and devoured with relish (ketchup to be precise).
After our meeting we concluded the pairs chess and then it was own rooms and lights out because we need our sleep if we are to fight our way back towards our target.​
Sunday 
Today was the last in our now normal routine of eight o'clock breakfast and nine o'clock start of play. We passed the old market square on the way today just for a change. Once at the venue we poured over the team leaderboard which had just been posted. It showed the England Hodgson's team in sixth place as our best hope of winning a cake. The Under 15s equalled their highest round score of 9.5 and showed their fighting qualities by drawing only one game out of the fifteen. The team as a whole scored 11.5, almost exactly our target per round.
At lunchtime we played our now annual football match against Belarus. This year it was seven a side with rolling, unlimited substitutions. Juju our captain did an excellent job in balancing the team on the pitch whilst giving everyone a chance to play. There were grounds for considering the score to be two all, or a win for Belarus by three- two or four- two, depending on your allegiance or interpretation of the rules.
Back at the chess the Hodgson's were now in third place, good enough for a cake to share if it was maintained or improved upon by the end of the event. A fine afternoon's effort saw us lose only three games out of twenty and between us score twelve points. We were now back to 4.75 points behind schedule towards our team target, just as we had been at the start of the day. Six players achieved their individual targets and more can do so tomorrow.
Federico and Oscar had to play eachother in a live game on the stage this afternoon and there was much interest  shown by spectators. Tom shared stage honours to make this round our best in terms of representatives on the stage.
As the pairings had just gone up we stopped to look at them before returning to the hotel for our evening meal, team meeting and a little preparation before an early bedtime.
Breakfast at seven will be a shock to some tomorrow but this team have been the most punctual I have ever known at arriving early or on time for breakfast. Let's hope they keep it up tomorrow.
​Monday part 1
The clocks started at 8 o'clock today and there were lots of tired players and parents trudging into the venue. Federico and Christopher had important games on the stage and nine of our players had qualified to have flags on their board. As in most rounds there were ups and downs: draws became wins, won positions were only drawn and occasionally blunders were exchanged. When the dust had settled our u15s had scored another consistent 8.5/15 and the u12s had scored 3/5. That took us to 89 points, 5 behind our target of 94. When the allowance given when we play against ourselves is factored in we finished 2.725 points out of 160 below our team target. However we enjoyed considerable individual success. Christopher was placed second, as was Federico. Viktor was placed fifth and unluckily Charlie and Tom on the same score missed out on tie break. Our Hodgson's team were equal second but third on tie break out of 31 teams. That alone meant we won a cake, some medals and a trophy. To cap a very successful day we had several winners in the raffle at the end.
Having already had lunch at the venue we headed back to our hotel, framing a team photograph with all our winnings on the way.
We changed into casual clothes and headed for the bowling. We had four lanes for two hours and great fun was had by all. Vasek's sister Beronika came to join us and practice her English. Everybody succumbed to the temptation of chips, except the management.
Monday part 2
We competed our local tour with a walk up to Frydek square. We saw the castle and two statues and heard about the various disasters that befell the church of John the Baptist.At our meeting we celebrated the statistics of our success and ran through the plan for the following day. After a delicious schnitzel dinner and some welcome cake sharing, we adjourned to our rooms to pack ready for.checking out tomorrow.

Tuesday
An eight o'clock breakfast was a luxury today and even then some of the team were moving very slowly. We were packed soon after breakfast and had planned to have a last game of football before meeting the coach. Traditional English weather made this unwise and Vasek later asked us to take it home with us.
The coach met us at ten fifteen, just after we were entertained by a slow speed RTA when a car reversing out of a space had a minor skirmish with another on the road. Egos were more damaged than the vehicles.
Our last visit of the trip was to the Tatra car museum in Koprivnice. We were guided round the history of the company, it's designs and huge range of products: mainly cars and trucks  but also fridges and aircraft. 120 years of production was beautifully presented for us including a car for Stalin and a snowmobile for Hitler which he never collected. Emil Zatopek was a native of the area so we were treated to an exhibition of his athletics gold medals.
The souvenir shop was interesting but expensive but this did not put off some of the party.
Lunch followed which was a traditional Czech Easter meal of chips, fried cheese and tartare sauce. It would be fair to say it left some of the party underwhelmed.
We stopped at a penny supermarket briefly before heading for the airport. This team has such a voracious appetite for shopping maybe next year we should offer this trip as a shopping expedition with a little chess!
Ostrava is a self contained and efficient airport and after giving Vasek a rousing round of applause to say goodbye we progressed smoothly through to our plane. Priority boarding and Ryanair's new and much more sensible policy of assigned seats made boarding a pleasure. The two hour flight whizzed by and we were soon reunited with our luggage and our parents. It was a pleasure to share one of our most successful trips with this team and we must all be grateful to Dawn Burroughs for the work she did before the trip and to Helena Thomas for taking care of us and sharing management duties in the Czech Republic.
And, of course, to Victor Cross without whom many of our current trips would not takke place - ed.
Participants
U12 - Jonathan Britnell, Giovanni Curragh, Oliver Manchester, Thomas Ng, Chris Tombolis
U15 - Thomas Carroll, Freddue Coleman, Armaan Gogia, Peter Isaksen, Batuhan Kaya, Xavier Laurillard, Charlie McLaren, Thomas McLaren, George Neale, Teddy Onslow, Oscar Pollack, Federico Rocco, Yaqub Saeed,Juju Samworth-Calvier, Viktor Stoyanov.
Scores after first five Rounds 
Chris 5.5, Jonathan 4.5, Giovanni, Oliver and Thomas 4
Federico 6, Viktor and Tom C 5 Charlie and Oscar 4.5, Batuhan Thomas Mc and Teddy 4, Freddie and Peter 3.5, George 3, Xavier and Juju 2.5, Armaan 2, Yaqub 1.5
​And YES, a cake was won and was consumed after dinner Monday evening!

                                                                                Junior Squad Championships 2017

The 2017 Championships were again held at Wokefield Park which is a very pleasant and welcoming venue. Despite the ECF putting on a coaching weekend after our date was in the calendar and ordering children to play we still had a very respectable 134 players. The largest section was the U12s with 63 players. There were 17 U16s, 21 U14s and 33 U10s. The first day went smoothly and going in to round 4 there were 9 players on 3/3. In the U16s it was Koby Kalavannan v Alfie Onslow; U14s Alex Golding v Amardip Ahluwalia; U12s Jacob Yoon v Shahjehan Saidmurodov whilst at U10 George Clarkson played Shlok Verma and Dimitrios Zakarian floated down to play Solomon Mitchell. At U10 level Shlok beat George whilst Dimitrios.won to leave 2 on 4/4. At U12 Jacob defeated Shahjahan; at U14 Alex defeated Amardip whilst at U16 Koby and Alfie drew. This meant that going in to the final round the top seed was on board one in the three older sections and board two in the U10s.
The afternoon was not predictable as far as the U10s was concerned with Shlok, our 5th seed, claiming the victory. Three players shared 2nd place, Dimitrios, James Merriman and Daniel Yo. Lauren Manchester and Om Sikaria won the grading prizes. At U12 level Jacob Yoon (playing with a broken leg!) was the winner. Remy Rushbrooke came runner up whilst 3rd= were William Golding, Shahjahon Saidmurodov, Amun Sheikh and Henry Yu. Grading prizes were won by Saahil Bansal, Gavith Dharmasena, Raffy Balouka Myers, Toby Cox, Sasha Kamotski and Aaryan Singh.
The U 14 was won by Alex Golding with a perfect score. Runner up was Amardip Ahluwalia,3rd was Devan Patel and  Ben Cox, Laura Davidson, Alan John, Batuhan Kaya, Aurideep Nayak and David Phillpis wer 4th= with Ben and Alan sharing the grading prize. At Under 16 Koby Kalavannan was first with 4,5 followed by Alfie Onslow 4, with Tom Brown and James Golding tying for 3rd on 3.5. The grading prize was won by William Lovell.
We also had a crop of new squad members qualifying and we congratulate the following and hope they enjoy their time in the squad:- Raffy Balouka-Myers, Toby Cox, Gavith Dharmasena, 
Finally thanks to the hotel for looking after us and to Balvinder Ahluwalia, Matt Carr, Adrian Elwin, Glynis Purland and Alec Webster for all their help as without them we could not have such a successful tournament.  

         Team with Eiffel Tower in background                                  Ready for battle                                         Ready for Round Three
                  At the "Cocktail" party

 

                                                                    SQUAD TRIP TO PARIS 2017
Please note, every child is not on every photo. If they are missing there is no cause for concern
We met at St.Pancras for the Eurostar and everyone was on time! The group was Amardip Ahluwalia, Emily Green, David Liu, Thomas Ng, Alfie Onslow, Tristian See, Luke Vallis and Nicholas Vallis. Balvinder Ahluwalia and Victor Cross were the leaders. The only delay was when a player set off the scanner. A case of too many bangles. The coaches on the train have improved greatly since our early Eurostar trips but the view as we crossed the channel was as bad as ever.
Our instructions on arrival were to follow signs for metro 2. The only visible signs were for metro 4 and 5. Eventually we found we had do descend two levels and then the signs appeared. We could have done with a good second row forward as we forced our way onto the metro. The journey was easy to follow but the same cannot be said of the walk to the hotel. We had to continue keeping the Arc de Triomphe on our left. Since that is in the middle of a roundabout ....! When we found the hotel it was actually very close to the metro station. We ate a delicious buffet dinner at a nearby restaurant where the draw took place for the chess. After we had our numbers we predicted the pairings and went back to finish eating. Fifteen minutes later the arbiter at the other end of the phone replicated our pairings. Our hotel is the Princess Caroline and we ate at the Monte  Carlo restaurant but parents should be reassured that it is all included in the price and no casino visits are planned.We concluded the day with a team meeting and went straight to bed.
On day two we contributed to the small hotel nightmare, all the guests arrive for breakfast at once! In future the Rotterdam team will eat later. Our local guide then escorted the Russians, the Dutch and ourselves to the tournament via the metro. We learn the route because we will be on our own tomorrow. Security was tight at the UNESCO building with ID tags and an airport style scanner. We met leaders and players from the last Basamro events and renewed friendships. Following the opening ceremony we were up against a tough adversary, Murmansk. Many long games resulted but after four hours all we had to show for our valiant efforts was a fighting win by Amardip.
Lunch was again a buffet. Even those with little French knew the word pizza. In round two we faced Rotterdam, fresh from a win in the morning. Wins by Amardip, Nick and Thomas saw us either leading or level all afternoon until losses on the high boards left us frustratingly short on 3.5-4.5.
We eschewed the metro in favour of a scenic walk back to the hotel. Google maps said 4km but the team will tell you we walked far further than that. We took the obligatory pictures of the Eifel tower, adorned with its evening light display. Having worked up an appetite we devoured our buffet dinner and the day finished with some preparation for tomorrow and a brief meeting.
We are getting used to the routines now on day three. Brexit, whoops sorry, breakfast was much smoother with only one team there at a time. The metro journey to the venue went like clockwork and because nobody forgot their security passes, our entry to the venue went without a hitch too. UNESCO has a different feel at the weekend when the delegation offices are closed. Various items of technology emerged from our bags, along with mine that looks like it came from a museum. We had plenty of time to prepare and try out variations before the other teams arrived. Our battle with one of the two Parisien teams was interesting. They had a seven to one ratio of boys to girls like us, but in their case the one was the boy! The lowest boards finished quite quickly but the top six games outlasted most of the games in the two other matches being played. We had our chances and while some were taken, others slipped away and we fell just short again, losing 3.5-4.5. So near and yet so far.
While the games were in play we had noticed that the canteen was closed. A slight concern crossed our minds because our army certainly marches on its stomach. At the crucial moment however, filled baguettes were produced and we thought, "When in Rome....". The bread tasted so much better than in England.
Our second match was against the other Parisien team, said to be the stronger of the two. There were several exciting games including a moment of farce concerning an illegal move. Since we were not guilty we just enjoyed the the moment and focussed again on our games. We scored more on the middle and higher boards this time but could not put together the complete performance required to win and went down 2.5-5.5.
The evening programme said cocktail reception. At the due time, or a little after, we all gathered to hear speeches by spokesmen for the chess and UNESCO organisers. Dishes of hot food were then revealed and we filled our party plates with assorted goodies. The staff were treated to a small glass of special UNESCO red wine and after a little socialising we finished off with a Moroccan sweet and headed to the metro. We were soon back at the hotel for a meeting, game preparation and packing for home.
he last morning dawned and from the balcony the glistening evidence of overnight rain could be seen on rooves, roads and pavements. We met at breakfast and tucked into the hot scrambled eggs and ham and the huge array of cold options and fruit. Of course the croissants were delicious too. Having checked out and returned our keys we headed to the metro; more of a challenge now we had our cases it tow. Some of the team groaned when they saw the steps rearing up like the north face of the Eiger. We reached the venue in time for a little more preparation/warm up before the real battles commenced.
Our opponents were Leningrad,  the winners of the last BASAMRO event in Murmansk and as such formidable opponents. We drew on each of the youngest player's boards while some bloodthirsty middle games were reaching a climax elsewhere. Whilst we lost the other six games, we certainly didn't go down without a teriffic fight. Lunch was provided at the venue along with assorted filled baguettes for the journey home. After the prize giving we said goodbye to the other teams and managers and thanked the organisers profusely for such an exciting and challenging event.
After taking local advice we set off on our metro journey to Gare du Nord and quickly met our first setback. The station where we had planned to change was closed for maintenence. Yes, it doesn't just happen in England! An alternative was quickly found and we arrived at the Eurostar terminal where a further problem lay in wait. There had been an electrical failure near Paris Nord earlier in the day and delays of two hours were forecast. In the huge queues there was much frustration but also commendable self discipline. Balvinder pulled a master stroke when she told an employee who we were. Soon the cry went up, "Make way for the England team!" The hordes parted as if by magic and we ascended the stairs to passports and check-in. We boarded the train and made what turned out to be sedate progress through France and into the tunnel while reports were written, baguettes eaten and of course chess was played.
We arrived at St.Pancras at 9p.m. and picked up our free consolation Snickers bars on the way to the exit. Handover to parents was understandably quick, followed certainly in one case by a sprint for another train. Torbay was already out of reach for me that night but I did manage to reach Swindon to check in by 11p.m.
The trip was short but memorable. Paris painted a beautiful backdrop to the event and the chess was challenging and in many cases exciting too. Despite narrowly missing out on wins in two matches, the team took on each new opponent with renewed enthusiasm and determination and for that they should be commended. We owe a debt of gratitude to Balvinder who did so much before and during the trip to make it an enjoyable experience for us.
I would like to add my thanks to Balvinder, Victor and all the players for the hard work they have put in. Pete


​

       Michael with 3rd place trophy from Blitz          Group at underground church in Bochnia Salt Mine                Some of our players and staff
       Our winners of Friday's tournament                                     Michael. 2nd in group E                                          Remy 3rd in Group C

                                                                        POLISH VISIT FEBRUARY 2017
Our group met at 0700 at Gatwick Airport for the flight to Krakow where they were met by our hosts from School 8 in Chrzanow. The team consisted of Joshua Beukes, Bobby Doherty, Edward Gray, Alec Hedger, Michael Ifalore, Remy Rushbrooke, Zevon Rustom, Oliver Thornley, Fedor Turetskiy, Jacob Yoon. with Ian Burford and Glynis Purland as leaders.Only one of the group has been on more than an overnight trip with the squad and we hope this will be a great experience for them. The school are Polish champions and we have a long history of matches both in Poland and England as well as meeting them in other tournaments After lunch the group went in to School 8 where they were to play a simultaneous against the headteacher's son Daniel Sadzikowski who is a 2539 rated IM. There were other Polish kids playing but.only Michael managed to scrape a Half point. I have known Daniel since he was 8 and he takes no prisoners! The group then went back to their hotel via Tesco (the usual stocking up)!!! After the evening meal and a meeting re behaviour, expectations, plans etc. there was free time till 10pm and all were quiet by 10.20 ( which coincided with end of the Arsenal game!!!)
Thursdays plans are - breakfast in hotel, Assembly and lessons at school 8 followed by.lunch at school. Then they have a visit to the Town Hall to meet the Mayor and some councillors followed by the annual School 8 v Junior Squad match. We then move on to another school for a blitz tournament. 
The "school" team included old boys and staff (we are a national team) and this resulted in a very exciting match. Michael, Bobby and Joshua won whilst Edward and Oliver drew but in the end we went down 6-4. We then moved on to the blitz. Here I should explain that on the continent (and World championships even) they do not have ties, they always use tie breaks so although on score a player might be 6= their actual position  could well be different. Our best position was Michael who was 2= on score (7) but 3rd on tie break. Our other positions 6 (6=) Jacob 8th, Oliver 9th, Alec 10th; 5.5 11= Remy 11th, Edward 12th; 5 (16=) Zevon 17th, Bobby 18th; 4.5 (24=) Fedor 24th; 4 (27=) Joshua 28th.
On the social side we went in to assembly and were  introduced to the school. The players then went into Maths, IT and a social learn Polish type lesson. Ian and Glynis went on to be judges at a lower school English competition. All taken very seriously. 19 kids taking part reading English tongue twisters slowly, quickly and then in translation. After lunch at school. we met the Deputy Town Mayor in Chambers. She was lovely and friendly. We had a walk around old Chrzanow, into St.Nicholas church and town Square. Then it was back to school for traditional Chrzanow v England match.30 minutes on clock. We lost 4/6 but Michael beat the Headmaster!! The results of the match and blitz are above. Eventually we got back to hotel for spag bol which was enjoyed by all. After a short meeting and relax time the players were in bed at 10. 
Friday saw a visit to the salt mine in Bochnia (see photo above). The mine dates from 12th or 13th century and is the oldest in Poland and one of the oldest in the world. Some of the disused caverns have been converted to a so called underground city and used as a visitor attraction. 
There was, of course, a chess competition tonight but the full results have got lost somewhere. However, we do have a summary below.
5     Alex Hedger 4th, Remy Rushbrooke 5th
4.5  Michael Ifalore,Jacob Yoon Edward Gray.
4    Joshua Beukes, Zevon Ruston
3    Oliver Thornley, Fedor Turetskiy.
2.5  Bobby Doherty.
Saturday saw the first five rounds of the Trzebinia Rapid Play tournament. There were not as many players as in previous years and after the first 5 rounds our scores were as follows 
3.5 Michael and Jacob
3 Remy
2.5 Joshua, Edward, Alec and Oliver
​2 Bobby, Fedor and Zevon

There has been a slight problem. Ian has emailed me the final results and some pictures (above). Michael is second and Remy third so we have two prize winners. I am struggling to download the results picture so canot be sure how the final scores ended up. No doubt they are having the "end of tour party" hence lack of communication. Still problems with technology but have had "words" from Glynis. End of tour meal was very good and almost everyone exceeded grading expectations. The party got on well together so all is well. Due back Gatwick 1420.

                                                                            YATELEY MANOR CLOSED   

This annual event took place at the end of January and I would like to thank the headmaster for allowing us to use the school, Andrew Martin and Amy Grieve for their local help and Chris Howell and Mike Forster for running the event. They report that it was a good event and everything ran smoothly. It is certainly one of, if not the, strongest event for these age groups in the country and I would like to congratulate the following on their success.
U16 1st= Koby Kalavanan, Jacob Boswell, Michael Ifalore.4
U14 1st Alex Golding 5; 2nd= Victor Stoyanov, Aditya Munshi, Calum Salmons, Batuhan Kaya, Aditya Verma.3.5
U12 1st Remy Rushbrooke 4.5; 2nd Christopher Tombolis 4; 3rd Charlie Metcalfe 3.5
Second squad norms were gained by Peter Koiza, Sarah Weersing, Ben Cox, Ross Tselos, Jaden Jermy, Viktor Jamroz, Nakul Nataraj, Mate Ther and Polina Shchepinova.
We congratulate these players and hope they enjoy their time in the squad and benefit from the trips that are on offer,

                                                                              QUADRANGULAR
Our annual Quadrangular match; Wales, Scotland, North and Midlands took place at Liverpool College on 3-4 December. Sadly yet again the Midlands team was short although this year it was being coordinated by a local organiser. All 6 of the trial players who had provisionally said they were available did not play and it really makes one wonder if it is worth having a Midlands team. This would be very sad are there are flourishing teams from SE, SW and North. We have had a promise that things will be better next year so let us hope so! Anyhow, on with the chess.
Round one saw Scotland v North with scores of, U16 2-4, U14 7-3 and U12 8-2. In the Wales v Midlands it was 4.5-1.5, 10-0, and 7-3. Round Two pitched Scotland v Midlands with scores of 4.5 – 0.5  (one dd), 10 - 0 6.5 – 3.5 and Wales v North 3 - 3, 5 – 5, 5.5 – 4.5. The latter was a really close match. So at the end of Day one Scotland led both U12 and U14 by 2 points whilst at U16 1 point covered Wales (leading), North and Scotland .
The final day saw North v an even more depleted Midlands. North won 6-0, 9.5-0.5 and 7.5-1.5 plus 1 dd. The other match could have decided all three sections but at U16 level North’s 6-0 win gave them the title. In the Scotland v Wales match the scores were U16 2-4, U14 6.5 – 3.5, U12 6-4. It has, again, been a very closely fought tournament between North, Scotland and Wales with Scotland coming out on top followed by Wales and North. The date or next year will be December 2\3 so please keep your diaries free.

 Under 16   
North      13   1st
Scotland 8.5  3rd
Midlands 2     4th
Wales    11.5 2nd
 Under 14      

North       17.5  3rd
Scotland  23.5  1st
Midlands   0.5   4th
Wales     18.5   2nd
 Under 12      

North       14    3rd
Scotland  20.5 1st
Midlands    8    4th
Wales     16.5  2nd

 

                                                                                               NEW MEMBERS
We are coming to the time of year when qualifying tournaments are being played. The first one is the British Rapidplay which is held in November  in Leeds. This is  the only one where players can qualify by beating adults and a surprising number actually attain the necessary 6.5 points.
This year Bobby Doherty, Zac Potel and Param Vyas all gained second norms whilst , Ben Cox, Toby Cox Ben Raine and Aditya Tangirala gained their first norms.

                                                                                    ​Three images of the group in
                      Group eating!                                     Susie receiving team trophy from Rudi                  Amardip receiving individual trophy from Rudi

                                                                                         FLANDERS 2016

The annual Flanders Match took place over the first weekend of September when a group of 19 players (Amardip Ahluwalia. Jonathan Britnell, Giovanni Currah, Dhruv Easwar, Elias Gelain-Sohn, Armaan Gogia, Aman and Avi Gogna, Ben Headlong, Alec Hedger, Chirag Hosdurga, Xavier Laurillard, Oliver, Manchester, Thomas Ng, Remy Rushbrooke, Noah Shapiro, Fedor Turetskiy, Nicholas Vallis and Susie Wang) met Balvinder Ahluwalia and Peter Purland at St Pancras International. The outward journey was only 10 minutes late and we were met by Jan and taken by Metro to Heysel where cars took us to the club house. The long play match was its usual exciting event. Flanders led 10.5-9.5 at the break but Balvinder must have invoked the "Churchill Spirit" as we won the second round 11.5-8.5 and thus the match by 21-19. Poor Rudi was shell shocked! It is always harder for our top players and Remy was the only top 10 player to get two. Also on two were Noah, Oliver, Xavier and Giovanni,.We then went off to our billets and met again at 1000 in the morning when, I am pleased to say, glowing reports were received about the kids. Sunday saw the usual Blitz and this year we got 5 rounds in. The winner was Sterre on 5 and Daria on 4.5 (both Flanders) but Amardip, Chirag and Armaan all got 4. This left Amardip as our best scorer (5 along with some others but the higher board gets the award) and we had a prize giving and received our packed lunchesbefore retracing our steps to Brussels Midi and the Eurostar home. This was spot on time as were all the parents and so ended a successful trip. One thing I would specially like to mention is the fact that some of our quieter players really did "come out of their shells" and I hope this has given them confidence for the future. We have confirmed the first weekend in September 2017 for the next saga in this series.

TRIPS 2017. IF YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED AN EMAIL PLEASE CONTACT ME. PETE

                                                                                  Gibraltar 2016
At  a reasonable time in the morning, 18 players, Imogen Camp, Jason Covey, Joseph Dalton, Matthew Forster, Cassie Graham, George Harman, Chirag Hosdurga, George Ivanov, Nugith Jayawarna, Gurveen Kapoor, Batuhan Kaya, Shobhin Manocha, Kishan Modi, Shyam Modi, Aditya Munshi, Gwilym Price, Pramoth Ragavan and Nicolai Woltery met Glynis Purland and Ian Burford at BA check in at Heathrow. There were some problems over cases - I fear that parents are going to have to learn to read regulations or pay more for trips as hold luggage is getting very expensive. Oliver Howell was meeting us in Gibraltar whilst William Lovell was delayed on his holiday and was flying out Friday. Once in the air the journey went smoothly and arrival was on time. They were brought to the hotel by minibus and were able to attend the reception before the first chess event which was the blitz, We had joint winners, Aditya being the best U12 whilst the Spanish had the best U16. 13 players were third equal and this included Joseph, Nugith, Gwilym and Nicolai. The Onslow brothers were also in this group although this year they had travelled independently.  The Friday morning saw round one of the main tournament with round two following after lunch. The scores at the end of day one are:- U12s Aditya and Gurveen 2, Jason, Chirag and Nicolai 1. U14s Joseph and George Ivanov 2, Matthew 1.5, Nugith, Gwilym, Cassie, Ollie, Imogen, Pramoth, Jagdish. George H, Kishan 1, Batuhan, 0.5, Shobhin 0. Tonight we have Master Classes with David Howell and Jovanka Houska taking those for the English speakers. The squad are lucky to have two such well known players coaching them. The sessions went very well with squad members at both. I was with Jovanka and we spent the evening looking at some very interesting puzzles. The dictum "If you see a good more check for a better one first" was very much in vogue! Saturday we have one round then either a Rock Tour or Bowling followed in the evening by a simultaneous against the professionals. Our scores after round three were as follows U12; Aditya, Gurveen 3, Jason and Nicolai 2, Chirag 1, U14; Josepn 3, George Ivanov 2.5, Cassie, Imogen, Gwilym, Nugith, Jagdish, Kishan 2, Matthew, Pramoth, William 1.5, Shobhin, Oliver, George H, 1, Batuhan 0.5.In the afternoon we split between 10 pin bowling or the Rock Tour.  Glynis and I had some players on our buses whilst Ian took the bowling. We visited Europa Point and had a stop there. We then went up to St Michael's Cave where the sheer scale of it amazed my group. On the way out we got some photos with the apes (and I have promised not to entitle one "Guess the Ape!" We had a short stop at the Apes Den but only our oldest resident, Mercedes, was there she is 29. Then it was back to the Hotel having a quick look at the frontier en route and prepare ourselves for the simultaneous. We had 104 players (parents and siblings were included) playingStuart, David, Jovanka, Juan and Pia workin in tandem and of the squad party Imogen was our only winner but draws were achieved by Gwilym, Joseph, Kishan, Nicolai, Nugith, Oliver, Pramoth and Shobhin. It was both enjoyable and successful. Sunday is a double round day and by 1000 we were all sitting down ready for the off. By the end of the round we had U12s: Aditya, Gurveen, Jason and Nicolai on 3, Chirag on 2. U14s Joseph on 3.5, Cassie. Matthew and Nugith on 3, George I, Jagdish and William 2.5, Gwilym, Ollie, Shyam, Imogen, George H on 2, Pramoth and Kaya 0n 1.5 and Shobhin on 1. The afternoon passed smoothly and, at U12 level we had Aditya and Nicolai on 4 and Chirag, Gurveen and Jason on 3. Providing Adiya and Nicolai play for a result (the computer has paired them) the winner will get a major prize and anyone on 4 Should get something barring a lot of draws on the 4 score level. At U16 we have Joseph and Nugith on 4, Matthew, Kishan George I, Cassie and Imogen on 3, Gwilym, and William on 2.5, Ollie, Shyam, Shobhin, George H on 2 Pramoth and Batuhan on 1.5 and George I still playing. After dinner we are having our Master Classes again and then, perhaps, a little preparation for the final round tomorrow. At present we have 3 squad members 2= including David Liu who is here with his whole family. It is almost certain that at least one squad member will get a major prize (David is playing Joseph and Nugith is floating down) and four should get a minor prizes. The Master Classes went well again and David and Jovanka spent an extra hour with some of our players. The final round saw all to play for. Adiya and Nicolai ground out a long draw (it was the last game to finish) and this put them 5th=, Jason and Chirag ended up on 4 and 9th= with Gurveen on 3. At U16 Nugith came second on 5, Joseph (and David) 3= on 4.5, whilst Cassie shared the girls prize on 3.5.
Our other scores were Gwilym, George I, and Kishan on 3.5, Ollie, Matthew, Imogen and Shyam on 3, William on 2.5, Shobhin, Pramoth, George H and Kaya on 2. Now it is off on a Dolphin Safari! Sadly one of our number was taken off by his father whilst another is not destined to be a seaman but the other 18 enjoyed the experience and saw planty of Dolphins. Then it was prepare for the Gala dinner. Half of the group, Nugith, Joseph, Gwilym, George I, Kishen, Cassie, Aditya, Nicolai, Chirag and Jason won cash prizes so a far amount of money is heading back to England. 

                                                                             British Championships Bournemouth 2016

The annual event took place in the Pavilion Complex in Bournemouth at the end of July/ beginning of August. Sadly this could be the last time the U15 and  U13 events are held and, although the numbers especially in the U15s are low I shall still be sorry to see both of them go. We also had a change of plan this year with U10, U12, U14 and U16 on week one and squad players did well in the three older events. At U16 level Elliot Cocks was champion  with Ilya Misyura joint 2nd. At U14 level the championship was shared by Koby Kalavannan, a regular winner in the past, and Juju Samworth-Calvier who only got in the squad in January this year. Girls Champion was Laura Davison. The U12s was another hard fought event with the title being shared by Aditya Munshi and Ranesh Ragavan.with Thivya Rahulan girls champion. A total of 12 squad players were in the Championship and 5 others player in non junior events.combined with 42 in the junior events to give a total 50 playing in the first week. A further 27 played in the second week so about half of our active members visited Bournemouth.
We had one player, Michael isafore, gaining a place in the squad whilst Edward Gray, Bobby Doherty, Nikolai Woltery, Viktor Stoyanov, Tai Remus Elliot and John Wall all gained first norms. We wish them well in the future.
The second week was also very successful and I would like to thank Syringa Camp, Russell Doddingto, Mike Forster and Dvaid Welch for their help with the juniors during the two weeks. Dhruv Easwar was the U11 Champion, Amardip Ahluwalia won the U13 Champioship with Thivyaa Rahulan as Girls Champion whilst Nugith Jayawarna and Koby Kalavannan shared the U15 title. Both John Wall and Viktor Stoyanov gained their second half norm in successive weeks and we welcome them in to the squad whilst Tim Lewis Polina Shchepinova and Raphael Balouka Myers all gained first norms. 
We can now look forward to Llandudno 2017 when I return to my birthplace!

         The two teams at Aughton St Michaels                     New friendships already made                         Saxons defeating Riverside teachers
              Boards 6,5,4,3 Saxony v Wirral                          Boards 2 and 1 Wirral v Saxony                           Boards 7 and 8 Saxony v Wirral
          Manchester v Saxony boards one to 4                Saxony v Manchester boards 4 and 5                    Saxony v Manchester boards 7 and 8
     Annegret and Cedric locked in Combat Bolton                     Exploring Flint Castle                             Debbie (Riverside) and Hendrik (Saxony)                     Saxon team on the Mersey Ferry                 We visited the Museum of Science and Industry            The last photo outside my house

                                                                              VISIT OF SAXONS TO ENGLAND 2016
​For full results see results page.
8 players and two leaders arrived at Manchester Airport on time on Thursday morning 30th June. I met them with our church minibus – the first time I have driven it with anyone under 50 in it! As the day was good we decided to go to Flint Castle so the Saxon players could get some culture and also have a play. This was followed by fish and chips at a local café and a visit to Anfield. We then had the obligatory supermarket visit (Saxons are no different to English!) and went on to my house where we unpacked (except the 3 females who were staying with Ian and Glynis.) We all enjoyed a pizza meal before the ladies left and the “men” settled down to watch soccer. In fact it was so boring that no one bothered about extra time. The following morning after breakfast we met at Seacombe Ferry and went on the “Ferry ‘cross the Mersey”. The U Boat was closed so we spent an hour at Spaceport instead. In fact Hendrik, the German leader, was the only one who had been there before. Then it was down to the serious stuff. We spent the afternoon as guests of Riverside School, Wallasey and after being fed (fish and chips) we had a Saxons v Riverside soccer match (won 6-3 by Riverside) but then the Saxons took on all comers at chess and beat them all. They then played a Wirral team and beat them 15.5 – 0.5 before returning to my house for tea. They were not all forced to watch Welsh Wizardry (although most did) and then retired. Saturday saw the match v an England team. Sadly we had a large number of cry offs but those who came did really well. The first round ended 4-4 and after the first 4 games of round two it was 2-2. However the next two games were Saxon wins and a draw in the penultimate game gave the Saxons victory. This was confirmed by a win in the final game giving a score of 9.5-6.5 for the Saxons. We adjourned to Ian’s for  a KFC before going home to watch the football.The Saxons were pleased and relieved by the result and, eventually retired to bed. On Sunday we left home, met Glynis and the girls at The Rocket and drove to Manchester. They spent the morning looking round the Museum of Science and Industry before having lunch there and starting the match. It was a 3.5 hour single round match against what looked like a strong Manchester team. However, the success of the soccer team seemed to have galvanised the chess players.​and they played their best chess of the visit to win 6.5 - 1.5. We then moved to Salford Crescent McDonald’s where the kids at least enjoyed their meals – I do sound old! We then went to the Ukranian Club in Bolton where we had a rapid play. There were 15 of the players there but, although two clubs were invited no one else turned up.  We had four rounds and Jamie Horton was our only 100% player. We then said our goodbyes and headed  for home arriving at 2200 and going straight to bed.​ We packed in the morning and I dropped them off at Hamilton Square after an excellent 5 days.

​​

                                                                  JUNIOR SQUAD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2016
These were held over the weekend 2/3 April at Wokefield Park Berkshire. The venue proved very good with a helpful staff, good catering and plenty for the players to do between rounds both inside and outside. They were even encouraged to play football outside! We have had lots of good comeback from competitors and their families. We had 4 sections of which three are Squad Championships. 
At U16 level we had 18 players and after three rounds James Kearney was lone leader on 3 with 6 players on 2. The U14s had 33 players and in round 4 Ethan Bains Gillespie met Dominic Miller as the only two 100% players. 3 players are on 2.5. The U12s was the largest section with 53 players but after 3 rounds only Ben Headlong and Rajeiv Ratnesan were on maximum points. 6 players were on 2.5. The U10s is for aspiring squad players but was certainly no less hard fought. Of 45 games played on Saturday only one was drawn! This left the top 4 seeds all on 3.Adam John, Ezra Brass, Dhruv Radhakrishnan and Jeff Tomy. There could be a lot of exciting chess Sunday.
Of the 9 players on 3 going in to round four only Dominic Miller (U14s) was a winner. This left the top pairings as U16; James Kearney (3.5) v Partha Mulay (2.5) and Gwilym Price (2.5) v Anshu Ramaiya (3). U14s; Dominic Miller (4) v Amardip Ahluwalia (3.5) and 6 players on 3. U12s saw Rajeiv Ratnesan v Ross Tselos (both 3.5) and Cheuk Nam Wong (3) v Ben Headlong (3.5). There were a further 12 on 3. At U10 level Ezra Brass v Dhruv Radhakrishnan and Jeff Tomy v Adam John were the top pairings (all 3.5) and there were 6 players on three.
The first section to finish was the U10s' We had one definite result on board two with Adam John winning and so becoming champion. Ezra Brass, Oliver Faulkner, Dhruv Radhakrishnan and Nishchal Thatte shared second place whilst Yabo Choong, Boris Stoyanov and Daniel Yu shared the grading prize.
The Under 14s was won outright by Dominic |Miller with 4.5. Ethan Bains-Gillespie and Amardip  Ahluwalia shared second prize and Peter Isaksen, George Ivanov and Riyaan Yesudian shared 4th place. George Neale won the grading prize.
In the U12s top board was a draw so the way was open for Ben Headlong to come through and take first place - which he did! 4 players shared second place, Ranesh and Rajeiv Ratnesan, Ross Tselos and Armaan Gogia. Grading prizes were won by Edward Gray, Bathuran Kaya, Vidura Mandis and Charlie Metcalfe.
The u14s was the last to finish and this was won by James Kearney with Anshu Ramaiya and Rohan Yesudian runners up and Elliot Cocks, Thomas Finn, Partha Mulay and Karthik Velayudham sharing fourth place.

                                                                                   Frydek Mistek 2016
A party of 15 players, Amardip Ahluwalia, Robert Ashworth, Thomas Carroll, Freddie Coleman, George Harman, Nikhil Kadambadi, Gurveen Kapoor, Charlie and Thomas McLaren, Alfie Onslow, Oliver Thornley, Luke Vallis, Mikey Watson and Riyaan and Rohan Yesudian met Vice well on their way to gaining ratingstor Cross and Dave  Welch at Stansted Airport. Security was tighter but the flight still ran to time and Vasek (plus bus) met us at Ostrava Airport. We went to Frydek where the hotel is in the old Mexican -Texas style (to quote Victor). The first evening was settling in and Wednesday is a social day with a visit to a blast furnace, shopping and swimming.
The tournament started.  on Thursday with two rounds and by the end of the day we had Alfie, Amardip and Riyaan on 2, Luke and Nikhil on 1.5, Charlie, Freddie, George, Oliver and Thomas M on 1 and Gurveen, Mikey, Robert, Rohan and Thomas C on 0.5. Round three saw wins for Freddie, Gurveen, Luke, Robert and both Thomas' whilst Oliver and Riyaan claimed draws. We did even better in the afternoon getting a total of 9.5 points to easily top 50% for the day. Our current scores are Luke 3.5; Alfie and Amardip 3; Freddie, Nikhil and Riyaan 2.5; Charlie, George, Robert and both Thomas' 2; Gurveen, Mikey, Oliver and Rohan 1.5. There is only one round tomorrow and in the afternoon, there are simultaneous displays and various other chess based games and activities. At the end of round 5 Amardip was our leading player on 4 followed by Alfie and Luke on 3.5; Charlie, Freddie, George, Robert and Thomas C on 3; Mikey, Nikhil, Riyaan and Robert 2.5; Gurveen and Thomas M 2; Oliver 1.5. Hopefully the players will all have a restful and enjoyable afternoon and evening and arrive Sunday morning refreshed for the fray!  Steady progress has been maintained with a further 9 points added to the total. Amardip remains our top scorer with 4.5 followed by Alfie, Charlie, Luke and Robert on 4. Freddie, Rohan and Thomas C are on 3.5; George, Mikey, Riyaan and Thomas M on 3; Gurveen, Nikhil and Oliver on 2.5. The afternoon saw a further 8 points gained and Amardip 2nd on 5.5 and Alfie 8th on 5. Both are in with chances of a prize tomorrow and we wish them the best of luck. The whole squad is doing well and our other scores are Charlie and Rohan 4.5; Luke, Robert and Thomas C 4; Freddie, Gurveen, Nikhil. Oliver, Riyaan and Thomas M 3.5, Mikey and George 3. Hopefully plenty of preparation will be done tonight and we look forward to the final battles tomorrow. We managed exactly 50% in the final round and Amardip retained second place with the top four boards all drawing. Our 3 unrated players are well on their way to gaining ratings and of our 12 rated players 9 have improved their ratings by 3 figures! The final results (with placings in brackets - all continental tournaments tie break all positions). Charlie 5.5 (10), Alfie 5 (11), Thomas C 5 (15), Rohan 5 (16), Luke 4.5 (19), Gurveen 4.5 (23), Freddie 4 (25), Nikhil 4 (26), Mikey 4 (29), Robert 4 (31), George 4 (35), Riyaan 3.5 (37), Thomas M 3.5 (39), Oliver 3.5 (40). There were a total of 58 players in the section. 
The programme now is social, bowling this afternoon then, probably a car museum ion the final morning and perhaps some last minute shopping on the way back to the airport. Arrival at Stansted is 1910 (7.10pm) Tuesday 29th. Please do be on time to collect your son.

as some of you might have guessed we had email problems. Victor worked hard, sometimes until after midnight, to get emails to me. I did not recieve one! I used a Czech website with help from a friend. After all his hard work it is only right to publish the full account. Here goes!

Tuesday 22/3
Despite the Brussels situation and the French air traffic controllers' strike we arrived safely and on time in Ostrava. There was an obvious increased security presence at Stanstead but our progress was unimpeded. Vasek met us with a coach at the airport and took us to our hotel. The style reminds me of where Pat Garrett shot Billy the Kid, with Spanish / Mexican decorations all around. We had one of our usual team meetings in our biggest room which happens to be the bridal suite! Tomorrow is a blast furnace, shopping and swimming.
Wednesday 23/3/16
Last night we enjoyed a meal at at fast food restaurant in the new shopping mall. The majority of us ordered chicken and chips, at 7p.m. At 8p.m. We were still eating when the lights around were dimmed and the centre closed the entrances. The team had eaten all the chips and more had to be put on for the management. After a meeting we retired to bed looking forward to a full day on Wednesday.
There was plenty of choice in the hotel breakfast and we met the coach to go to a new attraction for the Squad. The blast furnace at Vitkovice. We were treated to a three hour tour of a combined coal mine and iron works, all above ground, including ascending the observation tower 72m above the ground. We also went inside the blast furnace. Yes it had cooled down nicely since ceasing production ten years ago. We learned a lot and followed in the footsteps of Usain Bolt who was a previous visitor during an Ostrava Diamond League meet.
Lunch in a nearby cafe, chicken and chips again, was followed by an afternoon in which we were let loose in an enclosed shopping park. The only surprise was that Victor resisted the urge to buy more cycling equipment.
Swimming was the last major item on our itinerary and we enjoyed an hour and a half at the Olesna Dam aquapark near Frydek-Mistek. The two flumes were hardly underused and the time flew by.
We returned to the National House, the tournament venue and restaurant to pay our entry fees and eat our evening meal.
After a short geography lesson and supermarket raid it was back to the hotel and a meeting which turned tourists back into chess players. We had acclimatised, soaked up some industrial history and science and now it was down to the serious business of accumulating points for the Squad over the chess board.
Thursday 24/3/16
Breakfast again at 8:00 followed by a refreshing walk over the bridge and through the park. The chess opening ceremony began with stirring music and was conducted in several languages. Sponsors logos adorned the backdrop, with flags and trophies all around. Soon the formalities were over and the chess began. Team and individual targets were given out at lunchtime and after lunch at the chess we played round 2 at 15:00. As managers we very much enjoyed analysing games with the team and as more of the Squad gathered round it became a very high powered brainstorming session! Ten of our players were drawn to play their team-mates and only five played foreigners.
After two rounds we have scored 16.5 points and after the team target has been adjusted to allow for the clashes we are about half a point ahead of the predicted score. A very good first quarter of the event. We have been challenged to play football against the Belarus team as usual so we need to get some practice. Other chess organisers we know have greeted us warmly and friendships renewed. We postponed our walk to Frydek square for a good reason: some of our round three games were so long we were the last team to eat and didn't have time afterwards. We had a short meeting at the hotel, a little free time and then some much needed sleep. Victor's "Game of the week was played today by Riyaan Yesudian. Enjoy the Benoni!
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nf3 g6 7.Nd2 Bg7 8.e4 O-O 9.Be2 Na6 10.O-O Nc7 11.f4 Rb8 12.a4 Re8 13.Kh1 Bd7 14.Re1 h5 15.h3 Ng4 16.Qc2 Qh4 17.Nf3 Qg3 18.hxg4 hxg4 19.Be3 gxf3 20.Bxf3 b5 21.axb5 Nxb5 22.Qd2 Nd4 23.Rxa7 Rxb2 24.Qxb2 Qxe1+ 25.Bg1 Nxf3 26.gxf3 Bd4 27.Qh2 Kg7 0-1
Friday 25/3/16
Today began with an eight o'clock breakfast as usual. I was still playing over the last few moves of Riyaan's Benoni win yesterday and mentally admiring their destructive beauty. When he showed us yesterday evening we had all clapped spontaneously. Pairings are now available on the web so players at breakfast were comparing their knowledge of our opponents and discussing variations.
We had been challenged yesterday by the Belarus team to a game of football so we stopped briefly on the way to the chess to look at the football "stadium".
At the board we found the going tougher than yesterday but showed our usual tenacity in defence to score seven points, leaving us -0.46 behind the adjusted target. After lunch a small detachment accompanied my on a football hunt. The older well established shops were closing for easter but the new malls were fully operational. We eventually made a shrewd purchase and returned for the afternoon round. We played some of our best fighting chess in round four and scored 9.5, our highest yet. We had scored 16.5 on each day so far, showing great consistency. We were now 0.9 ahead of our target after allowimg for clashes between ourselves.
On the way back we had a 7/8 a side match by streetlights and moonlight to prepare us for the Belarus match.
At the meeting we discussed the grandmaster simul and eleven people expressed a wish to take part. We had been given only six places so a raffle will be held tomrrow to decide.
After the meeting we had a little free time before own rooms and bedtime. To date none of our players has been brave enough to enter the chess themed drawing competition. Maybe tomorrow.....
Saturday 26/3/16
Today began with breakfast at 8:00 as usual followed by the only game of the day at 9:00. We had another solid round and scored 8.5 points putting us 1.375 ahead of our target when adjusted for all-squad clashes.
After lunch we split up into those lucky enough to win one of our allocated places in the simuls against the titled players and those who didn't and went to play football in the park. We had our best ever return in the simuls with 5 wins out of 7 against the local IM or GM Stohl.
The winners were Thomas  Carroll, Rohan Yesudian, Nikhil Kadambadi, Mikey Watson and Freddie Coleman.
After a short break we attended the performance which consisted of dancing, Taeqwando, a trapeze artist and tbe two rook mascots of the event dancing and teasing the tombola winmers.
After dinner at the National House we went on a short walk to Frydek Square and saw Frydek Castle, the statues of St.Folrian and St.John of Nepomuc, various churches, a school and the town hall.
Sunday 27/3/16
We were well aware that the clocks would go forward on Sunday so we had a short meeting and went to bed half an hour earlier than usual.
We were relieved to see everyone at breakfast on time. The clocks had gone forward and one room seemed to be working in two different time zones simultaneously. We played well and with great determination in the morning round scoring nine points. This put us 2.35 points ahead of the adjusted target. In the afternoon we had nine players with flags on their board, a record for this year. We scored eight points for a daily total of 17, our best of the event. With one round to go we are 2.09 ahead of schedule. Several individual targets have been reached with one round to go. I am sure football at lunchtime helped get some fresh air into our lungs ready for the afternoon. The match with the Belarus team looks in jeopardy as I have been unable to find their organiser for two days. In the team competition our three teams are separated by only one point and rivalry on another front has been provoked. We discussed the team competition at our team meeting , along with the status of our targets. We were slightly earlier to bed tonight because the round starts at 8:00 tomorrow morning.
Monday 28/3/16
For a team that had just put the clocks forward an hour, today began too soon with breakfast at seven. The last round began at eight and we still needed 6.5 points to reach our target. We had one on the stage (Amardip) in second place and playing for a main prize. Seven players were in positions to have flags on their boards and there were two all England games. The last round was hard fought with many long games and at the end we had scored 7.5 points. To the great delight of the team, when the allowance for Squad v.Squad games is taken into account we finished 1.45 points ahead of target. Amardip played well under the pressure of a live game on the stage and managed to protect his second place.
The prize giving with the two rooks in costume cavorting around was as usual entertaining. We saw Amardip collect a diploma and select from the available prizes for his second place. Gurveen won a raffle prize as did Nikhil but we were uncompetitive in the Miss Frydek-Mistek competition.
A quick change of clothing followed and after a game of football in the park we walked to the Riviera bowling alley which we have used before and met Vasek and his wife of four days, Kate. You now get three hours for the price of two so you can guess hold long we stayed. It was good to meet Vasek's family again and catch up with what they had been up to since last year.
We had no regular plan for eating tonight so we patronized McDonalds next to our hotel. At our daily meeting we celebrated our success in the achievement of our various targets and reviewed our  process for packing up. Bed followed soon after and a lie-in tomorrow beckoned , at least for short while.
Tuesday 29/3/16
An eight o'clock breakfast was a luxury today on a trip where every day seemed to be in a different time zone. By 09:45 we were leaving the hotel with rooms checked and heading for the bus station, trundling our cases behind us. Most cases had gained weight since the outward flight due to the increased chocolate content. We arrived at the Tatra car museum for our 11:00 tour with an english speaking guide, the same one as last year. She took us round and told us about the history and design of the exhibits. Then we were allowed to explore the inside of the Tatra round the world vehicle. She must have been confident that if it could survive 37 months of arduous conditions, it would probably survive an encounter with the Squad. There then followed an intensive course in car maintenance from Dave and Victor using the exhibits as props.
Just outside there was an Albert supermarket and we made a quick raid to get food to eat later on the journey. Then we boarded the bus for a restaurant lunch in Stramberk. The tower there is up a steep slope with a commanding view of the countryside so it was an opportunity not to be missed, despite the tower itself being closed until April. At the best vantage point there was a quick geography lesson from Victor, including of all things the Gloucester cheese rolling championships! I am pleased to report the steps on the way down are much improved since our last visit which I am sure will please any Welsh readers.
The coach then took us to the airport for our return flight. We were the only plane to take off for three hours so the departure lounge was hardly crowded and we progressed easily through the various stages. The flight back was pretty smooth, as was passport control and baggage reclaim. Soon we had given out reports, said our thanks and goodbyes and reunited the players with their parents. Thanks to the players for their efforts and their team spirit and to David Welch for everything he did to make the trip such a success.
Victor Cross
30.3.16

PLEASE NOTE. SQUAD SUBS ARE DUE.YOU SHOULD ALL RECEIVE A LETTER IN EARLY MARCH

     Below is our team after the first match                   Some of Thursday's prize winners                  More prize winners!!    from left Remy, Federico 
                                                                              including Calum S, James and Lucy                                       and Calum S

    Lara and Yaqub are  among the prize winners           The "horrid white stuff" but it is pretty!        Federico, Callum, James, Elizabeth, Jake, Remy,         The whole group at the end of the tournament                                                                              Jackson. Our prize winners in Trzebinia 16

                                                                 Trip to Chrzanow and Trzebinia

At the usual early hour Lucy Bennet-Stevens; Calum Brewer; Ben Dible; Daniel Finn; Thomas Finn; Jake Holton; Oliver Howell; Dylan Hung; Peter Isaksen; Elizabeth Ivanov; James Kearney; Lara Mallin; Oscar Pollack; Federico Rocco; Remy Rushbrooke; Yaqub Saeed; Calum Salmons; Juju Samworth-Calvier and Jackson Wen met Glynis Purland and Ian Burford at Gatwick foor the Easyjet flight to Krakow. The flight was slightly delayed over German airspace and on landing the group went to their B&B and also the local Tesco to stock up. (English chess players are, in the main, not adventurous foodwise!). After lunch at the school we had a two round match against Chrzanow County. There were a lot of close games and they had strong players on the top boards but our strength in depth counted and we won 24-14. Individual scores were:- 2 - Lucy, Oliver, Dylan, James. Lara, Federico, Remy and Juju. 1.5 - Elizabeth. 1 - Calum B, Daniel, Thomas, Peter, Yaqub and Calum S. 0.5 - Jake 0- Ben, Oscar and Jackson. You will see a photo after the match. Please note - if by any chance you do not notice your child in this (or any other) photo it does not mean they are in hospital, kidnapped or anything sinister. Glynis is not a professional photographer! And sorry to sound pedantic but yes it has caused unnecessary panic before!
Thursday was an excellent day.. All the players joined in lessons with Polish kids. They had maths, geography and an hours Drama lesson. Both Polish and English enjoyed. themselves a lot. In the afternoon we visited the Civic Hall and met the  Mayor who loved our gift (a signed drawing of Birkenhead Town Hall from the squad. We then played an 11 round 3mn+1 tournament. along with 65 Polish children. We won loads of trophies and prizes!!! (but I do not have details for certain so will append them later. Our totals were as follows:- 7.5 Calum B; 7 James and Federico; 6.5 Lucy and Calum S;          6 Dylan, Oscar and Remy 5.5 Daniel, Thomas, Peter and Yaqub; 5 Jake, Oliver, Elizabeth, Lara, Juju and Jackson; 4.5 Ben.
Friday was our social day. We went to Bochnia ( which I think are salt mines) and it was excellent especially for the kids. All found it very enjoyable. We then went on to Krakow but the weather was terrible so we had a late lunch in Gallery. We  walked to the Cloth Hall (which usually has lots of chess sets for sale) and had 45minutes there. We heard the bugler, who plays every day in memory of the  bugler shot by the Mongols as he warned the town of their prescence, The weather was too bad for him to be even out of the window !!!! He actually plays from the top of Mariakirche. To quote Glynis "horrid white stuff came down and stuck so we took 2 hours to get back from Krakow!!!" This evening the kids are preparing for the big tournament tomorrow.
Saturday saw the start of the tournament and was a day of mixed fortunes for us. No one in C, D or E are on 5!!!! (Not sure what these are - ed) We could win all 3 sections but.......!!!!! 
We had snowballing after the chess followed by swimming. The slide proved very popular. We then had a gorgeous meal of spag boll/ mushroom enchilladas in our B & B. Everything including 2nds polished off. This is excellent for an English group. Now the scores
4 - Callum B, James, Federico, Remy. 3 - Lucy, Thomas, Jake, Oscar, Callum S, Jackson. 2.5 - Oliver, Elizabeth, Yaqub. 2 - Daniel, Peter. 1.5 - Lara, Juju. 1 - Ben. 0 - Dylan.
The final day was "fabulous" to quote Glyn. We have done very well and I append the results below. There is a picture of the prize winners which, apart from the top three also include Elizabeth, Jake and Jackson in group E and Remy in group C. No doubt there will be some celebrations tonight and tomorrow they are travelling home and due to arrive Gatwick 1420 (2.20pm).
Group C 33 players(Under 12 I think) Remy10th 5pts: Group D 27 players (Under 14?) Federico 2nd 7 pts, Yaqub 12th-5; Oliver 13th-5; Oscar 14th-4.5; Lucy 15th-4.5; Juju 16th -4.5; Peter 19th-4; Lara 21-4; Daniel 22-4; Callum 24-3.5; Ben 26-2 Group E 16 players (U16?) Callum 1st-6.5; James 2nd-6; Jake 5th-5.5; Jackson 6th 5.5; Elizabeth 8th-5; Thomas 11th-4.5; Dylan 14th-2.5.

                                                                 London Junior Championships
​Squad players did well in the London Junior Championships in December and the following are to be congratulated on winning their sections. U16 Pranav Chauhan, U14 Dominic Miller & Ilya Misura, U12 Jason Covey & Anita Somton. (Am I allowed to add a Welshman Chirag Guha was also joint champion?)

We are hosting a web page for the NYCA. Please go to "more" and NYCA. Many squad members play in their competitions and so we are very happy to help out.   Pete

                                                                            NEW MEMBERS
The Yateley Manor tournament proved a happy hunting ground for aspiring squad members. In the U16s Cassie Graham and Jacob Watson both qualified, at U14 Juju Samworth-Calvier was successful whilst in the youngest tournament Nadia Jaufarally gained her second norm. Well done to all four players.
At the London Junior in December Thomas Carroll (U14), Adam Bennett, Batuan Kaya, Kishan Modi and Anita Somton (U12) all qualified for the squad. We congratulate them and hope they enjoy their time in the squad and benefit from our trips.
We would like to congratulate the following players who gained their second norms in the British Rapidplay at Leeds this weekend (31/10-1/11)
Lucy Bennet-Stevens, Gurveen Kapoor and Arushi Ramaiya.
Half norms were gained by Adam Bennett, Thomas Carroll, Juju Samworth-Calvier and Jacob Watson.

The NCJS is a Registered Charity No 1084293. The trustees are A Webster, P Purland and S Howell The squad exists to help encourage junior chess by providing trips and tournaments for promising juniors All players have a chance of qualifying