ChessKid European Team Festival Region 4: results and impressions

The ChessKid European Team Festival took place on April 30th. In the fifth edition, teams from four countries — Luxembourg, France, Belgium, and Switzerland — played a match with two semifinals and a final round as usual. Each team fielded players from four different age groups (U8, U10, U12, and U14) and were represented by two boys and two girls.

The first semifinal took place between Switzerland and Luxembourg. The final score was 4.0-4.0, but the tie-break among U14 players saw Luxembourg reach the finals. The second semifinal was between France and Belgium, and saw France win decisively with a 6.0-2.0 score.

FunMasterMike and Kevin Bordi provided commentary for the ChessKid European Festival

In the finals between France and Luxembourg, France was able to pull off the win with a convincing final score of 6.5-1.5. Dimitri, representing the U10 board for France, went an impressive 4-0 throughout the event!

Team France: Winners of the ChessKid European Festival, Region 4

After the event, we talked with Julia from Team France, who came very close to being undefeated throughout the tournament, winning every game except for her last one.

I was very happy to participate in an international event and proud to represent France in it. I was a little bit stressed before the tournament because I don't have a lot of experience in playing online. Since the first game started, I really enjoyed! Finally, I was satisfied with my result (3 out of 4) even if the loss in the last game was a little bit painful!

FunMasterMike did a brilliant job on the stream with WGM Tatiana Dornbusch and Kevin Bordi, but Julia's father, chess coach Romuald De Labaca, also had an important part to play as part of the preparation for the match and provided his thoughts on the results.

Game like that always happen! I'm a coach and I've seen this scene many times in my career. I just told my daughter that she played well but still needed to be careful and pay attention to the opponent's threats. You win or you learn! It was a good lesson for the future and I hope Julia will remember this game and avoid repeating the same mistake.

I can say that this tournament is a great event with many members of national teams. The level is quite good, so it is very interesting for kids who are wanting to improve and get experience. Of course, I'm very happy that the French team qualified for the finals! Well done, little champions!

We also spoke to Luxembourg Captain and ChessKid friend Philippe Wesquet, who has organized several world championships in different sports and worked with world champions.

It was a very nice tournament which allowed children from different countries to compete with children of their age at a good level. I enjoyed seeing my team fighting back against Switzerland after going down 1-3, before winning in the tiebreak. The tournament was well-organized, and parents and players got a very nice impression. I think there could be more events of this kind!

ChessKid would like to thank all the country captains, players, as well as the proud parents involved in making this event a big success.

Join us next month as the ChessKid European Team Festival continues! The next match is scheduled to take place on May 21st, and can be viewed on twitch.tv/chesskid and youtube.com/chesskidofficial. Don't miss it!