European Youth

[Calum MacQueen]

Yup, Carl did indeed win that one genuinely. Sub 15 moves apparently. Good to see Hamish getting on the board and Murad obviously winning again .

Liam went down sadly.

[robin moore]

Calum,

If it carries on like this we may have to bring in the the Brechin-Tate football in the dark method as a standard!

[Clement Sreeves]

Great win for Andrew against a 2299! Kai has also bounced straight back with a second successive win, while Anna and Ian have picked up draws. Another very good day so far!

[Hugh Brechin]

Another cracking day here - Murad moves onto a terrific 3/4 with another good win. Carl did indeed win in under 15 moves, which was extremely impressive and takes him to a plus score. Kai comfortably outplayed another opponent, while Andrew did very well indeed against his highly-rated opponent to notch up his second win on the trot. Hamish built up a comfortable positional advantage before his opponent blundered, while Ali hung on grimly before seizing the chance to turn the tables and win. Solid draws from Anna and Ian, so this round I'm fairly sure sets a new high score for us.

We obviously compete better when the weather's warm - yesterday and today have been very hot indeed, with temperatures well over 30C.

[Mike Scott]

Happy days! Well done to everyone.

[Clement Sreeves]

I really enjoyed Hamish's game today

[pgn][Event "European Youth Chess Championship B18"]
[Site "Prague, Top Hotel Prague"]
[Date "2012.08.20"]
[Round "4.42"]
[White "Olson, Hamish"]
[Black "Alfimov, Igor"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2055"]
[BlackElo "1969"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2012.08.17"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. O-O Bd7 6. c4 g6 7. d4 Bg7 8. d5
Nce7 9. Bxd7+ Qxd7 10. Nc3 h6 11. Ne1 f5 12. f3 f4 13. Nd3 Nf6 14. c5 Kf7 15.
Qb3 Nh5 16. Na4 Rab8 17. cxd6 cxd6 18. Nb6 Qd8 19. Bd2 Nc8 20. Nxc8 Qxc8 21.
Rac1 Qd7 22. Qb6 Rhc8 23. Bb4 Bf8 24. b3 Nf6 25. Nxe5+ dxe5 26. Bxf8 Ne8 27.
Ba3 Rxc1 28. Rxc1 Rc8 29. Qe6+ 1-0[/pgn]

[Andrew McClement]

I had the pleasure of watching Hamish's game today - he played thematically, his queenside play coming long before black's attack, and found a very nice tactic to win. I thought Carl won very nicely with Qe4!

I believe my game is worthy of posting here as it is a very interesting game, with plenty of errors on both sides. The annotations are my own.

[pgn][Event "EYCC"]
[Site "Czech Republic"]
[Date "2012.08.20"]
[Round "4.30"]
[White "McClement, Andrew"]
[Black "Emiroglu, Cankut"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B35"]
[WhiteElo "2088"]
[BlackElo "2299"]
[Annotator "McClement, Andrew"]
[PlyCount "125"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8.
Bb3 a5 9. f3 d5 10. Bxd5 Nxd5 11. exd5 Nb4 12. Nde2 Bf5 13. Rc1 {All theory up
to here. I believe with best play white will get an advantage, but my
opponent chooses to deviate from the well-trodden path.} Ra6 $5 (13... b5 14.
a3 Nxc2+ 15. Rxc2 Bxc2 16. Qxc2 b4 17. Na4 Qxd5 18. Nb6 Qe6 19. Kf2 $14) 14. a3
{I played this unthinkingly, not seeing his idea. I believed he would be
forced into taking on c2, when I would already be better. However, it seems
to be pretty good.} Rd6 {My opponent played this very quickly, as though I had
fallen into a trap.} 15. Bc5 $5 (15. axb4 $1 {This looked dubious, but
actually turns out very well.} axb4 16. Bd4 $1 {I saw this far, but thought I
would lose d5 and black might equalise.} (16. Ne4 Rxd5 17. Nd2 Bxb2 18. Rb1 Bc3
{is one line where white gets killed.}) 16... bxc3 17. Nxc3 Be6 (17... Bxd4 18.
Qxd4 e5 19. Qc5 b6 20. Qc4 b5 21. Qxb5 Rb6 22. Qc5 Rxb2 23. O-O $16) 18. Bxg7
Kxg7 19. Qd4+ f6 20. Rd1 Bxd5 21. Nxd5 e6 22. Nc7 $3 Rxd4 23. Nxe6+ $16) 15...
Nxd5 (15... Na2 $5 16. Bxd6 Nxc1 17. Bc5 Nxe2 18. Qxe2 Qc8 19. Qe3 $14) 16.
Bxd6 Ne3 17. Qd2 Nc4 18. Qf4 $1 {This keeps the queen out of harms way and
forces} Nxd6 19. b3 $1 {Securing the b pawn and dominating the knight.} Qb6 $6
{Preventing castling, but...} 20. Nd5 $1 $18 Qc5 21. Nxe7+ Kh8 22. b4 $1 axb4
23. axb4 $1 Qb6 24. Rd1 $1 Nb5 25. Nd5 $6 (25. Nxf5 $1 gxf5 26. Qxf5 {Black
has nothing here.}) 25... Qe6 26. Kf2 $2 (26. Qe3 $1 Bxc2 27. Rd2 Bf5 28. Qxe6
Bxe6 29. Kf2 $18) 26... Bxc2 27. Rd2 Bb3 $1 28. Ne3 Re8 29. Qe4 $1 $18 Qxe4 30.
fxe4 Bh6 $5 31. Rb1 $6 (31. Rd3 $1 Be6 32. Rhd1 {would have gained an
important tempo.}) 31... Be6 32. Rbd1 Bg5 33. Rd3 Ra8 34. Kf3 Ra2 35. Nf4 $5 {
This forces the exchange of one knight for bishop.} Bxf4 $1 (35... Bc8 36. Rd8+
Bxd8 37. Rxd8+ Kg7 38. Rxc8 $18) 36. Kxf4 Rb2 {Now he wins b2 and the endgame
is tricky.} 37. Rd8+ Kg7 38. Rb8 {I had thought I was winning b7, but he found}
Nc3 $1 $16 39. Re1 (39. Rd3 $1 Ne2+ 40. Ke5 $1 (40. Kf3 Ng1+ 41. Kg3 Ne2+ 42.
Kf3 Ng1+ 43. Kf4 Ne2+ 44. Ke5 $1) 40... Rxb4 41. Nd5 $16) 39... Rxb4 40. Nc2 $1
{The only route to an advantage.} Nd5+ $4 {My opponent offered a draw here
(having reached move 40 when we were allowed to offer draws) thinking that he
could hold.} 41. Ke5 $1 {Now two pieces are attacked.} Nf6 42. Nxb4 $1 Nd7+ 43.
Kd6 Nxb8 44. Kc7 $1 {This forces a winning endgame.} Na6+ 45. Nxa6 bxa6 46. Rc1
$1 {Threatening to win a6.} Kf6 47. Rc5 $1 {Cutting the king off. Kd6 was
also good.} Bg4 48. Kd6 $1 Be2 49. e5+ $1 Kg7 (49... Kg5 50. e6+ $18) 50. Rc7
Kg8 51. e6 $1 fxe6 52. Kxe6 h5 53. Kf6 Bd3 54. Rd7 Bf5 55. Rd6 $1 {Only this
way to win a6.} Kh7 (55... a5 56. Ra6) 56. Rxa6 Bd3 57. Ra7+ Kh6 58. Ra8 Kh7
59. Kg5 $1 {Now I will force him to the back rank.} Be4 60. Ra7+ Kg8 61. g3 Kf8
62. Kf6 Ke8 63. Rg7 $18 (63. Rg7 Bf5 64. Rxg6 Bxg6 65. Kxg6) 1-0[/pgn]

I have been wondering - has any Scottish player in the last ten years got 3/4 at the Euros or the Worlds? Even if they have, Murad's achievement is something he can be truly proud of - though continuing in this form would be even better!

I think the last two days have made up for the first two rounds where we were all under the cosh. Mind you, this was the second highest rated player I have ever beaten, so there are no easy points.

P.S. I forgot about the way the program translates the evaluation symbols - apologies. I put the game into Chessbase first and then just copied it in.

[Andrew McHarg]

Well done Andrew, a fantastic win against a very strong player!

[David G Congalton]

From what I can see the best performance at the European Youth in recent times (since 2006) was by Andrew McClement with 5 1/2 out of 9 in the 2009 under 14 section. Andrew had two draws followed by a loss and a win in the first four rounds, so was on the same number of points as he is this year.

Thanks to Clement and Andrew for posting the games. I played through both but most of it was beyond me. I enjoyed the outcome of both though.

Good luck to everyone tomorrow. For those who are maybe struggling a little can I just point out that after five rounds last year Murad had scored one point. He kept trying though and ended up with 3 1/2 points. It looks like he is putting the experience he gained last year to good use this year. Nearly all of those who played last year are doing as well, if not better this year. So don't be disheartened. You'll gain a lot from the next 5 rounds if you keep playing as well as you can.

Murad's 3 out of 4 is fantastic and there's no reason why he can't continue to score impressively. He's the pick of the bunch at the moment but Carl's rating performance isn't far behind and Andrew's 2291 is impressive. Add to that the fact that Hamish and Ali aren't too far off the 2000 mark and Kai's 1664 is quite healthy. It's not looking too bad.

[robin moore]

David makes an important point that I had touched on previously regarding Murad from 2011. He was over confident when he arrived and was swept off his feet in the first few rounds before he was able to settle down properly and work his way back to scoring points in the second half. He has used that experience to realise what is needed at this level, worked hard, and has a much better controlled all round game now. There are plenty of points still to play for in the games remaining. Some of the players who haven't got off to a great start are very capable of picking up good points as this event progresses. Don't think too far ahead, simply focus on one game at a time,

Robin.