Rank & File

2015 World Youth
The highs and lows of a 10 year old initiation to the international chess scene:
Gabriel Eidelman (Open U10) at the World Youth in Halkidiki, Greece
By Claire Benoit, mom
Twelve days of complete immersion
in the chess universe from morning
to night with kids from all over the
world sharing the passion, in a 5 star
resort in Greece doesn’t get much better
than that!
From Gabriel:
“From the moment I arrived in
Greece, I was very happy 1: Because
I had qualified for the tournament
and 2: Because the hotel/playing hall
looked great. Their food at the Sithonia
was amazing, especially breakfast.
One of the official coaches, IM
Andranik Matikozyan, happens to
have been my teacher for many years,
so it was awesome to have him there
and I made many new friends. Being
focused on chess all day long was the
ultimate, so all in all, it was great!”
table, a big field, perfect for playing
soccer, there was a daily soccer game
before lunch (Gabriel opted out of
this one to prepare for his games),
many pools and the beach (for the
braves who were not intimidated by
the cold), bike rentals, a golf course
(some parents went for rounds during
the games!), a spa, stores, a great
marina with a café/bar, also awesome
for parents to hangout during the
games. Gabriel enjoyed playing pingpong
when we first arrived, before it
got too crowded, where he befriended
the “Monacans” as he called them,
(Monegasques from Monaco) with
whom he could practice his French,
and was enjoying beating them all!
We encountered them throughout the
tournament and had a nice connection!
There was even a casino which
Tuesday October 20th.
Just took off from Newark, our first
stop from Los Angeles, heading to Munich
and then Thessaloniki, Greece,
I’m staring at the sunset, reflecting
on the amazing power of focus, from
the universe of a chess board with its
infinite possibilities leading to traveling
the world . . .
Lot’s of emotions. All the thoughts,
dreams about this trip materializing.
So many years of talking about
it. This morning came, a date that
seemed so far away, just arrived in a
blink of an eye. So much preparation,
chess lessons, practice, tournament
playing. Setting up all the logistics,
meeting with all of Gabriel’s teachers
at school to get the homework. A
roller coaster of feelings, on one hand
a sense of adventure, going on a trip,
but wait, this is not a vacation, it is
my little warrior going to fight, anticipating
to be at the top of his game,
putting to use all the countless hours
of studying, going into the battlefield
with all his might.
Tim Deng, Gabriel Eidelman, Annie Wang and Queena Deng
The World Youth is admittedly a
huge tournament with a lot of intensity
and emotional involvement, 11
games takes a lot of stamina, yet one
game a day on a span of 12 days including
a day off is luxurious!
The hotel, The Porto Carras Grand
Resort in Halkidiki Greece was an
ideal venue for this kind of event! The
two hotels, the Sithonia and Meliton
were filled to capacity only with the
chess tournament crowd, considering
it was off tourists season. It felt very
safe, family friendly, there were many
activities on site such as a ping-pong
seemed to be the coaches late night
hangout (oops, am I not supposed to
mention that?!).
As a bonus we apparently had “ May”
weather which was exceptional at
that time of the year.
Gabriel and I started the trip and my
husband and daughter met us a few
days before the end of the tournament,
we splurged in a few post tournament
stops to Athens, Rome and
Venice since we were in the area!!
Here’s an overview of our experience.
cb
I’m a chess mom and to quote Magnus
Carlsen’s dad, I’m a servant!
Happily so that is, I love every aspect
of this mission, this one being particularly
precious, and I am super proud
of my little guy. I have tremendous
respect for the fact that he set himself
a goal a few years ago, went for it,
worked super hard and made it happen.
Standing at 10 years old having
accomplished that is significant. Of
course Gabriel’s in for the win. He’s
hungry for a medal. Will he get there,
we’ll see!
He had a nice warm-up recently
with his USA Team’s (with Anthony
Ge, Robert Shlyakhtenko and Raphael
Manahan) victory (6-2) against the
Hungarian Team online on chess.com,
event being part of the Global Chess
24 Rank & File Dec 2015-Jan-Feb 2016
www.scchess.com