Chess boy climbs world ranking at youth contest

A PUPIL at Gillotts School in Henley has returned from Prague where he competed in the under-14 Fide European Youth Championships.

Theo Khoury, 14, competed with 140 of the best under-14 chess players from across Europe. He entered the competition ranked 39 in the world for his age group and afterwards rose to 31st place.

He said: “It was a pretty good tournament, I have to say. Some games were easier than I thought, but some really did push me.”

Players were awarded one point for a win, half a point for a draw and zero points for a loss.

Theo won four games, drew three, and lost two, finishing the competition on a total score of five and a half out of nine. The winner was Czech player Vaclav Finek, who finished on eight points.

It was Theo’s second European championship, after competing in the under-12 competition in Georgia in 2022.

Theo, who lives in Henley with parents Jessamine and Wadih, and brother Alexandre, said he was proud of reaching the 2200 Fide rating during the competition, earning him the title of candidate master.

This is the first of the chess titles awarded by the chess governing body and granted to players based on performance and rank, with the title awarded to the most skilled players being grandmaster.

During the championship, Theo would prepare for games by having a Skype call with coach John Emms, a grandmaster who has been mentoring Theo for two and a half years. He coaches Theo through the Accelerator chess programme, which is a pathway set up to support promising young players.

Theo said: “A lot of the preparation at this level is finding out what the players like to play at the beginning of the game, to be able to recognise it and see if there’s a strategy to find our own opening.”

He currently practises chess for between 25 and 30 hours a week but at the moment has been able to cope with his school work. In September he started in Year 10.

Mrs Khoury said: “I think Theo is balancing it quite well. This year he was chosen as key stage three student of the year.

“There’s a lot of collaboration, research on opponents and then you just do what you usually do at the time in tournaments. You try to do the best you can and, yes, prepare well and work a bit.”

She said that Theo has to ensure he stays mentally fit as games can last several hours. In Prague, Theo’s longest game was four and a half hours.

Mrs Khoury said: “The thing that was explained by another player is that you have to manage your concentration. It is a skill finding when you have to use your powers of concentration, finding the moves that are key in the game.”

She travels to all of Theo’s competitions and admits that she finds it difficult to watch some of the games. “It depends on what’s at stake,” Mrs Khoury said. “Sometimes I’m very relaxed and sometimes you’re very nervous and trying to follow the matches and some days you don’t.

“Some parents, they don't want to look at the matches at all. Some parents want to look at them all the time and just follow it minute by minute. If there is a lot at stake, it can be very nerve-wracking on our side.”

Theo’s interest in chess started when he was eight years old and found a book about chess at his grandparent’s house. He became fascinated and found a website that offered tutorials and games and learned the rules of the game.

On a trip to Paris to visit his uncle at age nine, his uncle invited his friend, grandmaster Marie Sebag, over and the two-time French women’s champion gave Theo a game and encouraged him to join a chess club.

After a year of playing chess at The Maidenhead Junior Chess Club, he entered the British under-nine chess championship and won and was then encouraged to keep playing.