Belgian Youth Championship

The last Belgian Youth Chess Championship just completed for the third times in Oostende in the hotel complex “De Kinkhoorn” (http://www.dekinkhoorn.be/index.asp).

The playing time was 90 minutes and 30 second for a move. There were many other activities during the tournament: SuperChess (http://www.superchess.nl/), Simultaneous exhibition, Blitz, Exchange Blitz or Blitz in four or Tandem Chess, Problem Solving, etc.).

The first day, IM Bart Michiels (2436, 21y) played a simultaneous exhibition against Belgian celebrities like DJ Zaki, press journalist and author Jan van den Berghe, theater actor Bob De Moor, actor Daan Hugaert (Romain Van Deun in série Witse), actor Marc Stroobants (Rudy Dams in serie Witse) et musical actor Daisy Thys (Daisy in “Thuis”). He scored 21/24.
FM Thibault Maenhout (18y, 2287) played also a simultaneous and scored 20/21.

There were more than 300 players in the championship from 5 years old until 20 years old. The objectives were the titles and the qualification for the world and European youth chess championships, but also another tournament like European Union championship.

There were many sponsors for the tournament. The bigger was CVWarehouse but also IRS waterdicht, Option, ThyssenKrupp, Archery Dynamics, Bic, chessconsult, De Lijn, Fabricom GTI Suez, Fun, Maenhout NV, Novotea, Océ, Jeugdschaak.be, SIP-WELL and De Kinkhoorn.

There was a closed group named Elite with 10 players. Nils Nijs (2150) won the titel with 7/9 and a performance of 2378. In this group, there was only one walloon (French speaking side of Belgium) player: Jimmy Lafosse (1963). He scored half of the points and a performance of 2178, all of the other players had 200 points more than his Elo.

The categories under 20 year and under 18 year were in the same tournament. The best Elo, Dimitri Allaert (2099) won the category -20 year with 6.5/9 (5 draws) but cannot win
the tournament. Arno Bomans (1966) won the tournament and also the category -18 year above Adrian Roos (2096).

Tanguy Ringoir (2266) won very easy his category -14 year with 9/9. He can certainly play the Elite tournament but he want to be sure to be qualified for the world championship.

There were 30 players in the SuperChess and Sven Carlier won with 5.5/6.

The Blitz was with 96 players and FM Tom Piceu (2374) won with 8/9 above Robin Leenaerts (2256) with the same points.

The exchange chess with 71 teams was won by the pair Roy Schoemans (2181) and IM Mher Hovhanisian (2444) with 8/9.

The problem resolving was won by Dieter De Ridder (1778) in -20 years and Vadim Jamar (1150) in -12 years.

Next year, the Belgian Youth Championship will be play in the french side, the stad of Houffalize not far from Namur.

You can find all standings here :

http://www.echecs-photos.be/Junior2008/Classements/BJK%202008%20CJB%202008%20Elite.html
http://www.echecs-photos.be/Junior2008/Classements/BJK%202008%20CJB%202008%20-20%20-18.html
http://www.echecs-photos.be/Junior2008/Classements/BJK%202008%20CJB%202008%20-16.html
http://www.echecs-photos.be/Junior2008/Classements/BJK%202008%20CJB%202008%20-14.html
http://www.echecs-photos.be/Junior2008/Classements/BJK%202008%20CJB%202008%20-12.html
http://www.echecs-photos.be/Junior2008/Classements/BJK%202008%20CJB%202008%20-10.html
http://www.echecs-photos.be/Junior2008/Classements/BJK%202008%20CJB%202008%20-8.html

Elite :

1 Nijs Nils (2150) 7.0/9 2 Sarrau Jelle (2197) 5.5/9 3 Vanderhallen Nicolas (2250) 5.5/9

-20/-18years :
1 Bomans Arno (1966N) 7.5/9 (first -18 year) 2 Roos Adrian (2096N) 7.0/9 3 Allaert Dimitri (2099N) 6.5/9 (first -20 year)

-16 years :
1 De Schampheleire Glen (1971N) 8.0/9 2 Larmuseau Michiel (2025N) 8.0/9 3 Schaeken Yordi (1927N) 6.5/9

-14 years :
1 Ringoir Tanguy (2266N) 9.0/9 2 Vandenberghe Jason (1791N) 7.0/9 3 Saligo Pieter (1947N) 15679 7.0/9

-12 years :
1 Beukema Stefan (1955N) 8.0/9 2 Cox Jan ( 0 ) 7.5/9 3 Lagaert Lisa (1550N) 6.5/9

– 10 years :
1 Lenaerts Lennert (1304N) 8.5/9 2 Decrop Hendrik (1299N) 7.5/9 3 Tuerlinckx Ben ( 0 ) 6.5/9

-8 years :
1 Hoop Rupert ( 0 ) 8.0/9
2 De Block Fabio ( 0 ) 8.0/9
3 Beukema Jasper ( 0 ) 7.0/9

You can find two videos on my site with one very beautifully made by the organization.
The is also 5 gallery with a lot of pictures.

Best Regards,
Fabrice