BATTLE OF THE GIANTS 2009

“RAIN FOR REIGNING CHAMPIONS”

Sixteen intrepid Sussex Junior chess players congregated at Gatwick Airport on Friday 27th November, ready for Battle against eight teams from five countries: England, Holland, France, Germany & Russia!

Sussex were the reigning champions, fortunately we did not have to pay excess baggage whilst returning the enormous trophy…..

We were very kindly met at Schipol Airport and driven to the Tulip Inn, Leiderdorp, where the tournament would take place.  After a good nights sleep and a hearty breakfast our first pairing was the Dutch team, VAS Amsterdam.  We had a fantastic start with a 13 - 3 victory.  Second round was another Dutch team Zuckertort – another good round 10.5 – 5.5.  By this point most parents thought their children were doing well enough, resulting in a parental exodus to soak up the cultural offerings in both Amsterdam and local town Leiden.  By the time we had returned, the children had played their third round against German team, Stadt Auswahl Dortmund.  Resulting in 12 – 4 scoreline.

At the end of day one, we had won our group convincingly.  Parents retired to the bar to celebrate.  Meanwhile the children participated in an extremely fun and well-organised evening of chess entertainment.

The Russians – possibly with the expectation of playing Sussex the next day, retreated to the training room with a list of our players, in order to prepare with a Grandmaster.

Sunday morning saw not only more rain, but the start of the fourth round against host, SV Leiderdorp.  We sustained a narrow victory, 8.5 – 7.5, with the inevitable round against the Russians to follow….  There was a tense atmosphere whilst the players played their final round against St Petersburg, with the slow drip, drip of results coming out of the playing hall, alongside varying reports of progress still being made.  Although we always managed to stay at least one point ahead as the results came in, the final 10 – 6 result to Sussex was a delight to hear.  Sussex had retained the title! 

We were then treated to a fantastic prize giving ceremony, and awarded not only a trophy but €400 prize money, and the sight of Jonathan Tuck with a small crown on his head.

Players were George Salimbeni, Grant Bucher, David Grant, Rhys Cumming, Chris Yates, Amy Hoare, Ram Mohan, Shyam Mohan, Robert Fitzgerald, Felix Haxby, Sambhav Aggarwal, Toby Harris, Otto Pyper, Billy Twigge Molecey, Cosima Keen, David Liu

Thank you to Grant who captained the team and to Shyam, Sambhav and David who scored maximum 5 points and to Jonathan for guidance and encouragement for the games. 

Thanks also to our hosts; organiser Kees Hortensius of SV Leiderdorp, the Dutch sponsor Games Factory Online who made the tournament possible, and the very hospitable venue the Tulip Inn, Leiderdorp.

Report by Isabel Keen.

Captain's Report:

The final weekend in November saw a 16-man Sussex Junior squad head to the Netherlands for the Battle of the Giants. This tournament takes place every 2 years, and features 8 strong junior teams from around Europe, competing over 4 age groups (U20, U14, U12, U10), each of 4 players. This year’s tournament saw the return of Dutch teams VAS Amsterdam, Zukertort and Schaakmaat, along with hosts Leiderdorp; Dortmund of Germany and Le Perchay from France had also competed before, but the real concern surrounded the only new team, an undoubtedly-strong outfit from St Petersburg, Russia.

Friday afternoon brought a dubious beginning to the weekend, as I managed to arrive at the wrong terminal of Gatwick airport! I eventually found the rest of the team and we made our way to the plane, but the confusion didn’t end there: upon touching down in Holland, we spent quite some time milling around Amsterdam airport, mainly because our “guide” didn’t seem to know where he was going! We eventually hunted down the cars that had been waiting for us, and a short time later arrived at the Tulip Inn, Leiderdorp. Even after a strange start to the weekend, there was a general optimism among the camp as we made our way to our rooms and settled down for the night.

There were a few bleary eyes as the team surfaced on Saturday morning for breakfast, but any apprehension or tiredness evaporated as we cruised to a 13-3 win against VAS Amsterdam in our first match. I was particularly pleased with the faultless nature of my win, but only so much can go wrong when your opponent doesn’t turn up... After a delicious buffet lunch, it was time for our second match of the day, this time against Zukertort. Although this match was closer, finishing 10.5-5.5 in our favour, we were posed little trouble and comfortably qualified for the top group on Sunday. The only task that remained was to see off Dortmund in the final group game, in order to ensure we entered the final day with points on the board, which we dutifully managed 12-4. Saturday evening consisted of another tasty meal courtesy of our hosts, followed by a tournament of different chess variants. These included exchange chess, pairs chess (with partners making alternate moves), and the bizarre “Gongschaak”, with a cymbal to alert the players to random rule changes every couple of minutes! Although the evening activities provided great entertainment, there were definitely some nerves in the air going into the final day.

The first match on Sunday was effectively a semi-final against the hosts, Leiderdorp. The fact that we beat the Dutch team in the final a couple of years ago ensured that they would be highly motivated for the rematch, but even though they put up a strong fight (particularly on the top boards), our younger players performed admirably and ensured us victory by the narrowest of margins, 8.5-7.5. This win set the stage for the tournament’s final, between ourselves and the St Petersburg team: although the early stages of the match were tightly contested , a sequence of several straight wins took us over the line, and eventually we ran out 10-6 winners. My opponent for this match was 12-year old Anna Styzakhina, sure to be a star of the future; I managed to pull out some of my better chess, took a solid draw and escaped with my dignity intact!

The atmosphere after the final was simply fantastic: although this was the 3rd time I’d captained the team to Battle of the Giants, this was definitely the most memorable. I’d particularly like to congratulate the younger players in the team, who performed brilliantly, especially when the older players struggled a little! Many thanks to Jonathan as well for his inspirational team talks, which really kept everyone going after some tough matches. With renewed optimism, I instantly checked the football scores when I arrived back in England, and what did I see? Arsenal 0-3 Chelsea. But I guess you can’t have everything...

By Grant Bucher

Battle of the Giants Website.