And one of them is even coming home to Kenilworth! Regrettably not with me; and regrettably not from FIDE, but you can't have everything. But Andy did indeed win a gold medal through his sterling contribution to the England 3 team, who annexed the Stewart Reuben created prize for the British Isles team finishing the most places above its seeding position. And if you don't believe me...…
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| Andy (left) looking rather sheepish as Stewart Reuben tells the mystified audience that he has won his own competition! |
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| Triumph! The England 3 65+ team out-perform 11 others to win a very small cup. (Andy's Gold Medal probably available for viewing by prior arrangement and subject to security checks.) |
Apologies for the rather poor quality of the photos of this momentous event but (a) I have a very cheap phone and (b) I was a long way from the stage!
Andy's team secured this esoteric cup by winning their final match 3-1 against Wales, with yet another excellent win for Andy over ex-Welsh champion, FM Iolo Jones (who I should have beaten earlier in the event).
Neither I nor my team could manage a final round victory, but I and we did the next best thing by drawing against number 9 seeds Austria, who out-graded us on every board - just the 230 in my case! - and who had beaten England 1 a few rounds before. I drew against FM Adolf Herzog. He started with a blitzkrieg attack that suggested he was going for total war and not intending to take any prisoners. However, I successfully withstood the onslaught and then threatened to open up a second front. However, I then switched back to the kingside for a final push for victory, but Black took advantage of my extreme time shortage to construct a bunker-like defence which I could not invade. Still, I was happy with my 2199 TPR and a 15 point rating gain.
But all this is by way of a prelude to the main news of the day, which was the silver medals won by the England 1 team - in the real competition, not a Mickey Mouse Cup. A 3-1 triumph in the last round over the all-IM team of St Petersburg put them just one point behind perennial winners Russia, and ahead of France and Israel on tie break.
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| The silver medal winning England team - (l to r) Dignitary; IM Robert Bellin; IM Nigel Povah (captain); Ian Snape; and FM Tony Stebbings (Board 5 John Quinn absent) |
That's quite enough for today, but when I am back home tomorrow (or soon after) I will provide a wrap-up of other news. And I have plenty of photos left! Like this one, which is specially provided for our Classicist/Greek Specialist, Mike Donnelly.
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| The acropolis at Rhodes - not quite up to Athens standards! Still, it will be nice when it's finished! |
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