England’s chess children claimed a record 14-medal haul last weekend when the island of Rhodes hosted the European Schools age group championships followed by the Fide World Rapid and World Blitz youth championships. Seven golds, one silver and six bronzes put England second in the overall medal table, one gold behind Turkey but one ahead of Ukraine.
The result owes something to Netflix’s Beth Harmon in The Queen’s Gambit, to the inspiration of Magnus Carlsen as an active and personable world champion, but also to the pandemic when schools were closed and chess websites offered unlimited free play at fast time rates. Young talents could hone their skills over several months with thousands of speed games.
