International Round Up 20/04/10

[LozCooper]

International Round Up 20/04/10

10th Wellington College International 14-18 April
http://intranet.wellingtoncollege.org.u ... ?id=187636

This event was a nine round, twelve player FIDE rated swiss event. Tony Kosten won the event with 7/9 ahead of Simon Williams who scored 6.5. The other English scores were as follows: Keith Arkell & Yang-Fan Zhou scored 5, Alexander Galliano 4, Glenn Charleshouse 3.5, Felix Ynojosa 3, Jack Rudd & David Grant 2.

10th Thailand Open, Bangkok 14-20 April
http://bangkokchess.com/?page_id=409
http://www.chess-results.com/tnr32758.a ... -1&wi=1000

England’s number two Nigel Short was top seed whilst Simon Ansell, Ian Thompson, Malcolm Armstrong and Maria Yurenok also played in the open.

Maria Yurenok’s performance was 2261 against an average opponent of 2217 and she gained 45 rating points. Unfortunately for Maria, she faced insufficient titled players and wasn’t able to make a norm. In fact, her last round opponent defaulted (to protect his rating?) which meant she finished on 5.5. The details of her performance are here: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr32758.a ... 000&snr=73

Nigel Short finished in 2nd place on 7.5/9, half a point behind the winner which was GM Sune Berg Hansen from Denmark. Simon Ansell finished on 6, Ian Thompson 5 and Malcolm Armstrong 4.

http://www.chess-results.com/tnr32788.a ... -1&wi=1000

Andrew Horton-Kitchlew won the Challenger event with 6.5/7. Other English scores were as follows: Mark Ruston 5, David Huggins 4.5, David Cork, Peter Darby, Stephen Curry 3.5, Nigel Johnson 3 David Gates 2.5.

1er LUCOPEN Lille
http://lilleedn.free.fr/LUCopen2010/Lil ... finale.htm

Eleven year old Isaac Sanders scored 5/9 performing at 2079.

First Saturday Chess Tournament Budapest
http://www.freeweb.hu/firstsaturday/1004/im.htm

Sam Franklin and Mark Lyell played in the IM Tournament in Budapest. Sam finished on 4/10 and Mark on 3.5.

Future events:

2010 World Universities' Chess Championship 4-12 September Zurich
http://www.buca.org.uk/news/2010-world- ... ampionship

If any eligible students are interested in playing in the event above please contact Alex Holowczak at [email protected] for further details.

In addition to the individual websites the latest international chess news can be found at the following link:
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic806.html

I encourage players to send me details of events they or others are playing in abroad and I will do my best to include them in my round-up.

Lawrence Cooper
Director of International Chess
English Chess Federation 20/04/10

[Ian Thompson]

10th Thailand Open, Bangkok 14-20 April
http://bangkokchess.com/?page_id=409

England’s number two Nigel Short was top seed whilst Simon Ansell, Ian Thompson, Malcolm Armstrong and Maria Yurenok also played in the open.

I encourage players to send me details of events they or others are playing in abroad and I will do my best to include them in my round-up.

There were several English players playing in the Thailand Open Challengers (http://www.chess-results.com/tnr32788.a ... -1&wi=1000). One of them won it.

[LozCooper]

Thanks Ian,

I'll add it to the report above. I knew they were playing but hadn't managed to find the link.

Best wishes,
Lawrence

[Leonard Barden]

International Round Up 20/04/10


1er LUCOPEN Lille
http://lilleedn.free.fr/LUCopen2010/Lil ... finale.htm

Eleven year old Isaac Sanders scored 5/9 performing at 2079.

Lawrence Cooper
Director of International Chess
English Chess Federation 20/04/10

This excellent performance deserves to be specially highlighted, especially so since Sanders last weekend won the Golders Green Open with a 225 performance, according to Adam Raoof.

He is already England's top rated U12, and a glance at his Fide chart shows he is rapidly improving.

However under our beautiful everything-depends-on a five-round-Swiss regulation we currently have for junior selection, Sanders only finished third in the trial and so presumably will not be selected for the World or European Youth....

[Ben Purton]

Surely with a name like isaac , hes one of my lot, which makes him from 1/2 the world championship gene pool

Go Isaac!

[Matthew Turner]

I notice Isaac has not competed at any of the Grand Prix tournaments (which determine selection to the Euro Youth). That, combined with Mr. Sanders comments here, suggests to me that they are really not that bothered about selection. An increasing number of the better players are realising that the World and European Youth Championships are just expensive money making rackets and there are much better chess opportunities out there.

[Paul Sanders]

I notice Isaac has not competed at any of the Grand Prix tournaments (which determine selection to the Euro Youth). That, combined with Mr. Sanders comments here, suggests to me that they are really not that bothered about selection. An increasing number of the better players are realising that the World and European Youth Championships are just expensive money making rackets and there are much better chess opportunities out there.

Matthew - we are bothered. There are lots of very good opportunities it is true, but it is a great honour to represent your country, and an even greater honour to win something as a representative. Isaac played in the 2008 WYCC in Vietnam, having won an 'additional player' place through an open Grand Prix. It was obvious from that experience that Isaac was at least a year behind the best in his age group, and would have to work hard to catch up.

We found that the 2009 selection process was quite damaging to Isaac's chess, playing the same half dozen English U12s in various locations around the country. He failed to win a place, and lost ground to his international peers, which was demoralising for all concerned. It was also expensive in time and money, which could and should have been better spent on coaching and playing the kind of tournaments that would prepare him for international competition, should he have the chance.

Isaac played the World Selection tournament this year, which was probably unwise as the whole experience was very unpleasant for many reasons. Other than that we have been trying to give him as much experience as we can at the highest level available. He loves his chess and it is great for me as a parent to seem him enjoying something and doing well. But for Isaac, and I would not presume to speak for anyone else, doing well at chess and getting selected by the ECF seem to be mutually exclusive options.

As it is parents who almost exclusively fund junior chess in England I could never see the reason for quite such stringent rationing of places. We would welcome an ECF junior squad that Isaac could belong to, a multi-stage national junior championships, and more opportunities to represent England in Fide junior tournaments. Perhaps, as cash seems so short, the first duty of Junior Director could be to raise some. A committee of other ECF directors would be just as effective at delivering a selection policy; if multiple routes to selection were simultaneously available it would quickly become obvious which produced better results.

[Matthew Turner]

Paul,
I am sorry if what I said came across in the wrong way, I agree with almost all of what you have said. I do, however, think there is a conflict between

1. "it is a great honour to represent your country"

and

2. "if multiple routes to selection were simultaneously available "

If we had multiple players representing England in each age group then surely it will become less special. I think before long it could become whoever could afford to go. The majority of people do not seem to favour this, although I don't think there is necessarily any objection to this approach.

Finally I would be very interested to know your reasoning behind "Isaac played the World Selection tournament this year, which was probably unwise as the whole experience was very unpleasant for many reasons". Elsewhere on this forum I suggested ways that the event could be improved and needed to be improved. Are you thinking along the same lines as me?

[John Upham]

If only Peter Purland was to take any interest in this thread.


I wonder if any persons would care to step up to the mark as Director of Junior Chess and Education at this years AGM?

[Paul Sanders]

Paul,
I am sorry if what I said came across in the wrong way, I agree with almost all of what you have said. I do, however, think there is a conflict between

1. "it is a great honour to represent your country"

and

2. "if multiple routes to selection were simultaneously available "

If we had multiple players representing England in each age group then surely it will become less special. I think before long it could become whoever could afford to go. The majority of people do not seem to favour this, although I don't think there is necessarily any objection to this approach.

It already effectively is 'whoever can afford to go'. The selection procedure is expensive, and cash support for actual out of pocket expenses is almost non-existant. The answer to this is surely to raise money, rather than reduce opportunities. A responsible selection committee of ECF directors would probably feel that they should try to maximise England's chances of doing well, but without a comparison between different selection routes it is impossible to know how the selection procedure effects success in the tournaments.

Improvement is also cumulative, in our experience. Of course you should be required to justify your place each year, but the best players seem to be the ones that get continuous support. That is our focus for Isaac now.

Finally I would be very interested to know your reasoning behind "Isaac played the World Selection tournament this year, which was probably unwise as the whole experience was very unpleasant for many reasons". Elsewhere on this forum I suggested ways that the event could be improved and needed to be improved. Are you thinking along the same lines as me?

The conditions in Leicester were clearly inadequate, and it as about as far away from an actual World Youth as you can get as a format. But that has been very well discussed elsewhere, and at least the rules were published. The standard we are aspiring to however is international. Selection is difficult clearly, but in Isaac's age group there are a handful of children who have shown that they deserve a chance to test themselves against the best in the world. I continue to fail to understand why ECF policy should be to prevent them rather than help them.

[Ben Purton]

Mr Sanders, if you sent your boy to World juniors , would you rather pay £600 for a coach, do you think that is value, just interested as this is a major cost and was previously discussed on this forum. I personally think you can further a kids chess much more with £600 around the tournament than within it.


Cheers!

[Paul Sanders]

Mr Sanders, if you sent your boy to World juniors , would you rather pay £600 for a coach, do you think that is value, just interested as this is a major cost and was previously discussed on this forum. I personally think you can further a kids chess much more with £600 around the tournament than within it.

It would be quite challenging to play such a huge and tough tournament without professional support. Andrew Martin was Isaac's assigned coach at the WYCC 2008 and was worth every penny and more of £600.

No amount of coaching at the tournament makes up for lack of coaching and experience for the other 50 weeks of the year however. I am consoling myself with the knowledge that playing tennis for instance at the top level is many times more expensive than chess.

[David Sedgwick]

I do, however, think there is a conflict between

1. "it is a great honour to represent your country"

and

2. "if multiple routes to selection were simultaneously available "

If we had multiple players representing England in each age group then surely it will become less special.

I think that depends on the nature of the event and how the situation is handled.

I've reported elsewhere on the Forum that the British team (John Nunn, Jonathan Mestel, Colin McNab and David Friedgood) woth the recent European Solving Championship, with John Nunn winning the individual competition.

I also took part and finished last. I don't think that rendered it any the less special for them.

[Alex Holowczak]

Having read Mr. Sanders' comments, I think it is time for the Junior Grand Prix to be scrapped. The process is long and expensive for the parents. Few of the strong players are supporting it by entering, particularly in older sections, where there are other academic priorities. It's questionable whether it's of benefit to the players development.

It comes as no surprise to me that parents aren't prepared to traipse all over the country to play in it. A one-off trial is a far more attractive way of doing it; all the people who won are the ones you'd expect to win. Of course, it needs the right conditions.

From the news on the ECF website: "With the clearing of the ash cloud comes Peter Purland"

Sounds like he's just walked through the door on Stars in Their Eyes...

[LozCooper]

Having read Mr. Sanders' comments, I think it is time for the Junior Grand Prix to be scrapped. The process is long and expensive for the parents. Few of the strong players are supporting it by entering, particularly in older sections, where there are other academic priorities. It's questionable whether it's of benefit to the players development.

It comes as no surprise to me that parents aren't prepared to traipse all over the country to play in it. A one-off trial is a far more attractive way of doing it; all the people who won are the ones you'd expect to win. Of course, it needs the right conditions.

From the news on the ECF website: "With the clearing of the ash cloud comes Peter Purland"

Sounds like he's just walked through the door on Stars in Their Eyes...

For all the constructive feedback on this and other threads the situation remains that a Director is in post who firmly believes in his system and will continue to use it. For it to be possible for a change to occur it is up to someone to stand in the election and then it will be up to Council and anyone who has a vote to use it. If he is again elected unopposed then it will be business as usual.