The second SV Werder Bremen Chess Football Tournament

The second SV Werder Bremen Chess Football Tournament

By Eva Maria Zickelbein

On May 20th the second edition of the SV Werder Bremen Chess Football Tournament took place in their own Werder sports center, an event our team from Hamburg has been looking forward to for quite some time.

All the players gathering in the Werder sports center: downstairs a handball field with enough space for the spectators and gastronomic service, upstairs their own chess department, additional training and conference rooms and a build-in appartment for the hausmeister. Something we could only dream of in Hamburg!

The outdoor art shows sports successes by SV Werder Bremen, obviously including Otto Rehagel!

At the first edition last year the home team convincingly won the tournament ahead of the Deep Chess team from the Ruhrgebiet and the Hamburger Schachklub. They were clearly superior in the football tournament and could even afford to be fourth in the chess tournament, and still top the overall standings. Our Hamburg team won the chess department, with only a small margin ahead of Deep Chess, but only reached a fourth place in the football part. For a whole year we have been eager to get revenge and as soon as the invitation for the second edition of the tournament arrived, we started selecting HSK players that are good at both disciplines.

HSK coach Merijn van Delft started building a team months before the actual tournament. Most prominent player was GM Loek van Wely, who participated as a guest player for HSK, with decent football skills and some chess skills as well. With Niclas Huschenbeth we had a second grandmaster, who regularly joins the Hamburg group of chessplayers that meets up for a round of football in Björn Lengwenus' schoolhall at the Fraenkelstraße. Our main football trump was Benjamin Zickelbein, who's active as a player/trainer for football club SC Sternschanze. German U20 team champions Felix Meißner and Paul Doberitz are football and chess allrounders. Last but not least our goalkeeper Raimund Klein who has his roots in Bremen, but lives in Hamburg.

The football tournament started 9:30 a.m. sharp and the defending champions from Werder Bremen were struggling right in the first match against Delmenhorst, that ended 0-0. Some of their best players were missed quite a bit, because of holidays or injuries. Next was the first game of HSK against Bremen-West, which was a rather clear affair: Benjamin Zickelbein scored a hattrick and Niclas Huschenbeth the 4:0.

Niclas Huschenbeth going for the 4-0

Loek van Wely controling the ball versus Bremen-West

In the breaks heated football discussions took place. Benjamin Zickelbein, Felix Meißner,
Loek van Wely and Niclas Huschbeth watching the other teams and discussing the tactics.

The Werder substitutes with Werder TV in the background!

Franz Bräuer from Jena with good kicking technique against Delmenhorst. Thüringer won the match 1:0.

The next game had our special attention: The Fuß Brothers from Jena made a very professional impression in their yellow outfit and the Deep Chess team we of course knew from their strong performance last year. Just like the first game, this match ended in 0:0 though, the Fuß Brothers with a very disciplined defense and Deep Chess with desperate attacking tries.

At this point we realised that we had a fair chance to win the football tournament. With quite some respect for our opponents we entered our second match against Deep Chess and indeed we were drifting in the beginning and could have easily been 0:2 behind. Deep Chess didn't make use of their excellent chances though, a problem they kept throughout the tournament. Goals of Felix Meißner, Loek van Wely and Niclas Huschenbeth brought us a 3:0 victory. Following a clear 5:1 win versus Delmenhorst (Paul Doberitz and Niclas Huschenbeth both two goals and Benjamin Zickelbein one goal) we were facing Fuß Brothers Jena. Their tactic was clear right from the start: preventing goals!

The Hamburg team desperately looking for a weak spot in the Fuß Brothers defense

The corner by Niclas Huschenbeth was an easy catch for the goalkeeper

The game was pretty much one way traffic, but the ball simply never hit the net! And to be fair, we should mention the counter attack that finished with a shot on the cross bar. The 0:0 was a fair result and so we were leading the football standings before our last game against our friends from Werder.

Merijn van Delft kicking, but the Werder defense is in control

A tough fight for every ball: Joachim Asendorf and Benjamin Zickelbein. Right behind
them: Gennadij Fish. On the right side Loek van Wely is already returning to the defense.

Technically very skilled: Felix Meißer (against Per Mertesacker!?) dribbling. In fact
Felix was unstoppable in the chess tournament as well with a perfect 10/10 score!

Paul Doberitz' shot was parried by the Bremen goalkeeper

The Hamburg team had a solid goalkeeper as well: Raimund Klein catching the ball
in front of Gennadij Fish. Loek van Wely was actually a bit late...

For a long time the game was fairly balanced, until Benjamin Zickelbein scored the
only goal with a phenomenal long distance shot!

After the football tournament, a relaxing shower and a good lunch prepared everyone for the second challenge of the day: the double round blitz tournament on six boards per team.

After the change of outfits, all teams were facing eachother again in the same order
as in the football tournament. Two games were played against the same opponent:
one with white and one with black.

Rather quickly it became clear that HSK was almost unbeatable: with Loek van Wely and Niclas Huschenbeth on the top boards and Merijn van Delft on the third board, followed by German U20 team champions Felix Meißner und Paul Doberitz the team had a rather powerful line-up. Only against Deep Chess it was a close match once with 3.5:2.5, including a draw by Sarah Hoolt versus Niclas Huschenbeth!

Sarah Hoolt from Deep Chess being interviewed by Werder TV

Delmenhorst against HSK: on board five Raimund Klein and on board six an unfortunately
seldom view: Benjamin – Mink – Zickelbein.

Last round: Werder Bremen versus HSK. In front: Niclas Huschenbeth against Joachim
Asendorf – here unfortunate, since he spoiled a winning position against the young Hamburg grandmaster.

Grandmaster amongst themselves: Gennadij Fish took the only point from Loek van Wely

The battle for second place became an exciting affair: Deep Chess needed HSK to beat Werder in the last round and had to win themselves against the dangerous Delmenhorster team. Deep Chess indeed managed to beat Delmenhorst twice with the smallest possible 3:5-2:5 margin and thus got second place (both in football and in chess), just like last year. The Fuss Brothers Jena were on fourth place in the chess tournament, but their football results gave them third place in the combined standings.

The winning team HSK: Benjamin Zickelbein, Niclas Huschenbeth, Felix Meißner,
Merijn van Delft, Paul Doberitz, Loek van Wely – in front: Raimund Klein and Eva Maria Zickelbein

Photos by Eva Maria Zickelbein, Sven Mühlenhaus, Andree Schondorf

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