Before 9th April
The report normally starts on the first day, but this was different. The first unfortunate happening was a recurrence of a serious knee injury suffered by Matthew Moore which meant that he had to miss the trip. The second was the discovery on Sunday afternoon that one members passport ran out whilst we were away. This necessitated a trip to London Passport Office, the rearranging of flights and a financial lay out! The third problem was that only Peter of the leaders was home and all the others’ mobile phones were either immobile or switched off. The Stanstead group were in for a surprise in the morning.
Monday April 9th
The Manchester group of five players plus Peter Purland assembled without a problem and had a smooth flight to Prague. Meanwhile, at Stanstaed, the news of the passport was filtering through. Victor Cross nobly agreed to wait for Naomi whilst Ian Cowen and Nancy Mortimer took the other 17 players. An early casualty was Daniel Halls Easter egg, sacrificed on the altar of foot and mouth. A smooth transfer and a helpful guide ensured that the party made the 1305 train for Warsaw which left at 1320! It proceeded to lose time all the way so that we arrived 45 minutes late in Ostrava and so missed our connection. The station at Frydek was deserted, the phone number we had was unobtainable and it was raining heavily!! Things were eventually sorted out thanks to a taxi driver, two hotel receptionists, a phone directory and a Czech phrase book. Thus we went for our meal and settled into the Hotel Pashkov. A pleasant hotel although being on the 11th floor led to lift problems.
The party consisted of the aforementioned leaders plus 23 players Poppy Aarons, Edmund Birkhamshaw, Daniel Diamond, Adam and Tom Eckersley-Waite, David and Thomas Eggleston, Anthony Farrell, Jessie Gilbert, Alex Gilmore, Daniel Hall, Tom Harbour, Philip Hayward, Sarah Hegarty, James Heppell, Naomi Miller, Claire Morris, James Peet, Theo Penty, Paul Plant, Elizabeth Roberts, Maor Shine and Stewart Trent. Just as we were settling down, Victor and Naomi arrived having just caught the last train to Frydek-Mistek. Thus we settled down happily for our first night.
Tuesday 10th April
A purely social day. Our first visit was to a swimming pool in Roznov pod Radhostem where most of our players had great fun on the slide. Then it was on to the Wallachian Open Air Museum where we had an English speaking guide who showed us round the wooden village. We then had lunch in the museum restaurant before going into Roznov town square for shopping. The fussy eaters were able to stock up on junk food and many presents were brought. Then it was back to the hotel for a reasonably quiet evening. Some chess preparation was done, some football was played and a familiarisation walk undertaken before final briefing and bed.
Wednesday 11th April
Our second social day and the start of the chess. We had a lie in 9oclock breakfast! Then it was off to the Tatra Motor Museum at Katowice where we had an excellent guided tour. A short coach ride followed by a strenuous walk got us to Stromberk Tower a 1902 reconstruction of a thirteenth century castle. A short history lesson followed with Adam nearly consigned to an oubliette. Lunch was at the castle restaurant, then we drove back to our hotel for a break. Suitable refreshed, we walked to the playing venue to register and play a match against Frydek-Mistek. This consisted of two 30 minute games. The first was against a purely Frydek-Mistek team which was won 18-5. Round two was against Czechs, Estonians and Belorussians and we won 19-4. After this it was back to the restaurant and an early night.
Thursday 12th April
The start of the tournament and also of early rising! 7.15am reveille, painful for the players, followed by breakfast, opening ceremony and a 9am start. The first round was one of our best ever with 17 wins, 2 draws and only 4 losses. Pride of place went to Edmund who had the better of a draw against the number 2 seed. How will the ratings treat us in the afternoon? Inclement weather led to the postponement of soccer so shopping was the order of the day. Round two was also very pleasing with only 4 losses again although this time there were 8 draws. Our best result this time came from Tom Harbour who draw with the top seed. This left Daniel Diamond, David Eggleston, Daniel Hall, Jessie Gilbert and Poppy Aarons on full points. Evening meal was followed by a (relatively) quiet evening.
Friday 13th April
Vegetarian day! Perhaps this accounted for some of our results. Both Daniels drew and David lost. This left just Jessie and Poppy on full points with Naomi and James joining the two Daniels on 2.5. Maor gave the number 2 seed a fine game before losing. Overall our total slipped to 52%. A lunch time game of soccer seemed to revive our spirits and the afternoon started well. Naomi played and beat Poppy to take the lead in her section. Dan Hall drew well with the top seed and we ended the day up on our target. The evening saw an inter-room Who wants to be a millionaire? which was won, narrowly, by Daniel Diamond and Tom Eckersley-Waite.
Saturday 14th April
A very good morning round saw only one loss against foreign opposition. Jessie retained her 100% record, Naomi continued to lead her section and Daniel Diamond and Adam Eckersley-Waite reached 4 points. The afternoon saw our quickest win with Alex Gilmore winning in four moves. Jessie took a draw but retained her lead whilst Naomi also leads her section. Daniel and Thomas Eggleston joined the two Poles in the lead on 5 points. Leading in three of our four sections after 6 rounds cannot be bad! The evening saw the usual show with folk dancing and break dancing both of a high standard. There was then four simuls and some other games. In our simul against IM Sergej Berezjak, 2380, Sarah and David won whilst Elizabeth drew.
Sunday 15th April
It is nice to see the St George on board one in three sections and on two, three and four in the U14s. Will we stay here? In a sense the answer was yes as both girls draw to retain their leads whilst the two boys lost but were replaced by another two of ours. A very good round 13.5 points plus a bye. An inter team soccer competition was the lunch time activity, Sarahs team winning with her scoring the winning goal. Equal opportunities! We then returned to prepare for the afternoon round. The U14 boys suffered this afternoon with 6 losses although the U12 boys got 3 wins and 2 draws. In the girls Naomi surrendered her lead to Poppy whilst Jessie and Sarah draw allowing Jessie to retain her 0.5 point lead and guarantee herself a medal. We had Thomas 3rd in the U14 boys with Tom, Stewart, Daniel and Adam also in the top ten. The U12 boys had Anthony, James and Daniel in the top ten whilst we led both U14 and U12 girls sections. We could be in the medals tomorrow. The evening activity was exchange chess with Daniel and Tom repeating their millionaire success.
Monday 16th April
The last round! 6.30 am rising was greeted with muted enthusiasm by the players. A quick win for Naomi guaranteed her a medal whilst Daniel and Tom drew extinguishing Toms medal hopes. A draw for Poppy guaranteed us one medal in the section but two other results will decide colour and the possibility of a second medal. Thomas and Stewart both drew to get Thomas a Bronze whilst, predictably, Jessie drew with Claire to win her section. Unfortunately, the U12 girls results went against us leaving Naomi with a silver and Poppy 4th. Still, one medal of each colour cannot be bad. We were also second in the team competition so we went home with a cake!
The rest of the day was social. We started with soccer, which included an international against Belorus. Ian is now an international referee! Next we went to Mistek square for a town trail, won this time by Dan Hall, Tom Harbour, James Peet and Philip. A quick change saw us out for our end of tour meal final bill £95 for three courses and a drink for 27. We then moved on to the bowling alley. We had nine teams of three (including staff) all having two games. After a thrilling finish, the winners were Tom Harbour, Alex and Peter. The individual prize being won by Maor. Then it was back to the hotel for final packing.
Tuesday 17th April
The final day. 6.30am rise followed by breakfast, walk to the station and local train to Ostrava. We then caught the IC express to Prague note for future, booking seats is essential. Arrival was only 10 minutes late and we then went on a quick and wet tour of Prague walking from the Castle to the old town square. Some rapid souvenir buying ended the tour and we adjourned to the airport for a long wait for the planes. There were no in-flight problems and the team dispersed at their respective airports after a highly successful trip.