UK’s Youth Team Narrowly Lose to Czechia

In round four of the European Youth Go Team Championship the UK’s youth team narrowly lost to Czechia 2-3. As expected, Tom and Roella lost on boards 1 and 3, although they put up a good fight against much stronger opponents. Oscar managed a good win on evenly matched board 2 and Edmund cruised to victory on board 4. This left us needing a win on board 5 where we had chances with our player on paper only one grade weaker. Anthony played well and looked to be heading for a win but the greater experience of his opponent paid off in the endgame and so we lost the match overall, but gained some valuable tie break points from our wins.

This puts us in 11th place out of the 13 teams. There is one round left to play on 31st January in which we receive a bye. We have the chance to play a friendly match against the German B team instead.

This means we are likely to finish either 9th or 10th overall which is a respectable finish for us given the strengths of some of the teams.

Well done to all the players who have turned out for the team. Player of the tournament award must go to Edmund for his winning streak on one of the U12 boards.

With many of our players still eligible for the U12 or U16 age groups next year, and with some up and coming U16s, we are strongly placed to improve on our performance next year.

Alison Bexfield UK Youth Squad Manager