Chess Scotland
Juniors
designed by kids,
for kids!
European
Youth Team Championships 2006
Balatonlelle, Hungary
Back L-R, Andrew Green, Jacob Aagaard (coach), Ivan Stokes, Calum
MacQueen
Front L-R, Amy Officer, Robbie Coleman, Rhian
Hughes
It
was never going to be easy! Looking at
the opposition before we left we knew we would be fighting for points. But our intrepid band of chess players
never gave up and won some good games along the way. The event was the European Youth Team
Championships which took place in the town of Balatonlelle which is on the shore of Lake Balaton in Hungary.
 the hotel and playing venue
 
The lake Amy, Claire and the
Irish in the lake
The
boys decided to do it with attitude and donned suits (Calum
in a kilt) for the first and last rounds.
Did it help their play?? We
don’t know! But it certainly got them
a big clap! (and some funny looks!)
Whilst the girls decided to
dress for the heat and rely on their natural beauty :-P
There
were some serious moments
and there were some…not so
serious moments……
 
And
Jacob shaved his head after the Scottish boys lost to the Irish at beach
football!!!
 << scary
isn’t it???
Rhian
learned some vital new skills………
   
……she’s
now a seasoned bungee bouncer!
While
the boys were climbing up their section, the girls were making ourselves at
home on board 6 until……we won a game and in round 5 we moved up to board
4!!! Such an achievement we recorded
the moment for posterity!!
We’re not on the bottom board!!!!!!!!!
Scottish
Chess Magazine has a brilliant article by Robbie Coleman – well worth a
read! He has written about the more
technical aspects of the tournament and included some games and more photos.
If
you want to look up how we did go to http://web.axelero.hu/passant/sakkversenyek/u18etc/index.html
Highlights
of the championship
·
Rhian won a game against Serbia
B (1957)
·
Robbie and I drew with Russians!!
·
The boys played live on board 2!
·
Calum’s
kilt!!!!!!
·
The shades…
·
Jacob’s new hairdo
·
The Irish boys!!!!!
·
The pizza place (lifesaver!!!)
·
Ivan’s draw against the Finland board 2 – amazing!
Thank-you
to everyone who made this trip possible especially our coach, Jacob and our
manager, Donna. It really was a great
experience and it gave us opportunities to play players we wouldn’t normally
come up against. I’m sure we all took
valuable lessons away with us. I would
definitely love to play in this tournament again!
By
Amy Officer 
|
