SOUTH AFRICAN JUNIOR
CHESS ASSOCIATION
OFFICIAL JUNIOR CHESS BODY OF CHESSA
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Coaches report:
WYCC 2006: Georgia Batumi
Frans-Willem Vermaak
Introduction
I write this report concerning a reasonably successful world youth chess championship. The tournament was a great learning opportunity for many and although there were disappointing moments it also had its wonderful moments. I hope that in future we can shape South Africa’s junior chess to allow us to approach the championships with more aggressive goals and improved confidence.
The tournament
The tournament itself seemed to be adequately organized. One annoying aspect was the bulletins that were distributed. They consisted only of the games that were captured by the players using the Monroi system for notation. The games they contained were also not well categorized and ended up having little use for us during preparation.
Accommodation
Our accommodation was fine except for the mosquitoes and small rooms that made coaching hard. After some explaining the staff also managed to tailor our meals to something more suited to us.
It was rather unfortunate that we were in many ways isolated from most of the players from other countries because of the hotel we stayed in. I believe that meeting and spending time with the other players helps our players form a perspective of the international chess community. It also releases some of the tension that arises in a group spending a lot of time together especially if you take into account the time we spent traveling.Traveling
The traveling was interesting but tedious. It is unfortunate that the team had to spend a very long time on the road before the tournament due to the political problems between Russia and Georgia. This was definitely tiring for a lot of players but there were at least some time to rest before kicking of the tournament.
Discussion of students
Christiaan Bester
Christiaan is still a young player with little experience. It was hard for us to prepare specific openings with him playing on the lower boards of the u/10 section. Once he got his first points on the board things just started looking better as it gave him a clear confidence boost. Christiaan’s result of 4 points is very acceptable. The one concerning thing could be that he only won a single game which is a definitive indication of a lack of self-confidence, a general problem for our whole team.
Marco Pretorius
Marco could definitely have scored more than four points. He did however win some impressive games and lost a few marginally in tough positions. Two of his games were misplacement of pieces in a Sicilian that cost him but when he reached Sicilian positions he understood things turned out very well. One game he just did not respect his king safety and lost miserably. Marco’s problem never was self-confidence and I was pleased by him playing a chess game to win it.
Tasnim Amra
Tasnim could have scored more than three points. A certain help would be for her to receive prolonged coaching privately as she needs to enter middle game structures more suited to her (or just a more in-depth understanding of the ideas in the structures that she does enter). Tasnim also needs to learn to choose more active posts for her pieces as she cramps herself and then gets into difficult positions whereas she does well in less cramped positions. This will go hand in hand with her development of middle game skill and opening repertoire. A great will to fight till the end and no fear of a long game together with great concentration and a beautiful temperament will certainly help her along in her chess career.
Lenke van Aarde
Lenke generally had a good tournament with a very impressive start and a few great games. Lenke has no problem going for the win and the general stigma that seems to loom under the SA players concerning the strength of the tournament did not seem to hold her back. Her good results at the start and defined repertoire also allowed for some very successful preparation. Unfortunately Lenke also had a few very bad moments where she suddenly seems to miss very simple tactics and where she worries about unimportant things. I am still not sure why she could play so beautifully one game and then just let things fall apart the next. I think it is when she is not used to a position that her mind clutters with irrelevant ideas and she blunders. This will probably diminish as she becomes a more established player.
Craig Bornheim
Craig’s result of four points is as he would put it ‘’all right’’. He started with a losing steak and then a little winning streak later on in the tournament. Craig’s bad start unfortunately had a lot of momentum that manifested especially in rounds 5 and 6 where he was not playing up to his normal standard. After he had a long talk with Johannes things got better and he played some high quality games in his typical style. He’s results will definitely improve as he grows psychologically and one great help could be gaining a more in-depth understanding of the middle games that he enters.
Clara Roos
Clara’s tournament was in general satisfactory. Starting out a bit unsure and maybe lacking the idea that she went to world youth to win games. She fixed up her mindset during the tournament though and things started going better. Clara played some good games with a nice rounding in the ending. One aspect she needs to work on is her ability to evaluate positions as she was sometimes playing with a losing mindset although she was not losing or even busy winning.
What could we have improved?
Mental factors
One big problem with a great amount of South African players is the mindset that they adopt at the tournament. This is often one of going to world youth not to lose badly. The thing is that many games players would not evaluate their position correctly and then they would play with the wrong objective. This erroneous evaluation is unfortunately greatly due to psychological reasons and not a lack of chess skill. I think we clearly need to let the players understand that they could go to world youth championships expecting to win games because they are as strong and stronger as some of the participants in the tournament. This could possibly be done by showing them games from the previous years where our players beat players from other countries and by putting guards on our mouths every time we want to tell players how tough it is over there.
Preparation before going
Our preparation before the tournament also needs to be done on a different level. The homework assignments sent to the players had a limited effect and a more interactive level of preparation especially concerning the opening repertoire part of the game should be adopted. This could be done by internet video conferencing possibly organized for a group of children provincially if the kids do not have access to such facilities. A training camp before the tournament is also essential to allow the team to bond and especially gives the coaches and players a chance to make a good decision in terms of who works with whom. There were also a few players that did not do much preparation before the tournament by themselves.
Coaching
As many of the coaches went to a WYCC for the first time much of the coaching was not organized well enough. This needs to be improved upon and we can hopefully learn from our mistakes.
Note of thanks
I would like to thank our national governing chess bodies for giving me the opportunity to attend a tournament like the world youth as a coach. It was a great honour to be part of such a team and to represent my country. It was a beautiful experience and a wonderful learning opportunity.
Frans-Willem Vermaak : __________________________