Antalya – an invitation to Chess Part II

Turkish Youth Championship in Antalya – Part II

Report by Frederic Friedel

Between 28 January and 3 February the Turkish Youth Championship was held in Antalya, a grand festival with 1,273 children participating. There were 284 girls and 889 boys in the event, in age groups between 8-18. Included were journalists, parents, trainers and some 2,000 visitors. We reported on the opening of this remarkable event. Here are pictorial impressions of well over a thousand children captivated by chess.

On the day before the first round the Limra Hotel Resort in Kemer slowly filled with children, parents and trainers. Soon there was not a corner of the hotel that is not taken over by the royal game.

Boys form their little groups to practice or to discuss opening ideas

Young ladies planning a strategy for their first round games

Even the youngest join the analysis sessions

Struggling to find the truth in a complicated position

Young Turkish talents practicing, under the watchful eyes of GM Adrian Mikhalchishin (background left), the head Turkish trainer, and FM Özgür Solakoglu, TCF Board Member and international arbiter.

On the day of round one players and parents stream to the tournament halls

The hall before the start of the round...

...is soon filled with hundreds of chess playing children

The battle in full swing, pieces are whipped off the board

It is exhilarating to see how many girls are among the tournament participants

In the evening I am introduced to a number of Turkish chess talents. One was very special: Burcu Şaşmazel, a 12-year-old damsel from Izmir. The first name is pronounced "Burju", the second is Shash-mazel (the Turkish letter “ş” is pronounced “sh”). She is the girl who canvassed in front of the FIDE Presidential board for the World Youth Championship 2009 to take place in Antalya (pictures are to be found towards the end of our previous report).

With her trainer and members of the Turkish Chess Federation watching I gave Burcu my traditional talent test – one which many of today's top players have had to face in their early years.

This girl can concentrate. She solved the first part of the problem without moving any of the pieces in just a few minutes, and then went to work on part two, in the noisy, bustling recreation area of the hotel.

After 21 minutes Burcu had worked out the entire solution to the study

A fascinating young lady, who's other interest include mathematics and chemistry. Mainly mathematics. She also has a telescope and reads about astronomy. When I told her about my computer-controlled Maksutov which will find and track any star you key in, she said: "If I had a telescope like that I would go out every single night to study the skys!"

Here are the results of the age groups, provided by the Turkish Chess Federation.

2007 Turkish Youth Championship Standings (10 Rounds Swiss)

The prize winners on the stage. You may spot our friend Burcu, who won the second prize in her age group

Kübra Öztürk handing out the prizes to the winners. Kübra is 15 and one of Turkey's biggest talents, having won the Gold medal winner at the European U16 Championship. She did not play in the Turkish Youth Championship, probably because she is too strong for the field.

The audienc at the closing ceremony pack the hall

The sponsor of this remarkable event is İş Bankasi (İş Bank, pronounced "ish bank"), which is supporting chess activities in Turkey on a massive scale. The Turkish Chess Federation receives substantial subsidies from the bank on a monthly basis for its chess activities, which includes supplying 100,000 chess books for the Chess in Schools project of the TCF.

• Our previous report on the chess week in Antalya