Anish Giri wins Dutch Championship

While the Dutch women's championship was played as a double round-robin tournament with only four participants, the open group (in which only men participated) was played in a knockout format. Thirteen players were invited or qualified. Anish Giri, Jorden van Foreest and defending champion Erwin l'Ami were seeded for the quarter-finals.

The tournament was held at the Utrecht Football Stadium to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the association. The format followed that of the World Cup. Each match began with two classical games, and if these mini-matches ended in a 1-1 draw, a play-off with shortened time-controls followed.

In the quarter-finals, the top three seeds all won their matches. Max Warmerdam also reached the semi-finals but there lost to Giri. In the second semi-final, Jorden van Foreest defeated Erwin l'Ami.

So the two best Dutch players, Anish Giri and Jorden van Foreest, met in the final.

The two classical games were disappointing. The first game, in which Giri had White, saw an Italian and ended in a draw after 25 moves.

In the second game the players tried the Italian again, though this time Jorden van Foreest had the white pieces. But the result was the same: draw, this time after only 23 moves.

Apparently, both players wanted a tie-break to decide the match.

The first play-off game, in which Giri played with White, saw another Italian and another draw, but lasted much longer than the two classical games. After 77 moves the players agreed to a draw - in a rook ending Jorden van Foreest was a pawn up, but that was not enough to win.

In the second game of the tie-break Jorden van Foreest "surprised" his opponent by going for the Spanish and not the Italian. In an Anti-Berlin with d3 Giri spiced things up by castling queenside. Eventually he reached a won endgame, but then blundered the game away and suddenly had to fight for a draw. But now it was van Foreest's turn to give the win away, and thus this game also ended in a draw.

Jorden Van Foreest

½–½

Anish Giri

NK 2023 tiebreaks lichess.org09.07.2023[Schulz,A]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.0-0 Bd6 7.Nbd2 Be6 8.b3 Nd7 9.Nc4 Bxc4 10.bxc4 Qe7 11.a4 a5 12.Bg5 12.g3 0-0-0 13.Bd2 b6 14.Qe2 Nc5 15.c3 Kb7 16.Be3 Rhe8 17.Rfd1 f6 18.Nd2 Na6 19.Nb3 c5= 1/2-1/2 (40) So,W (2762)-Dominguez Perez,L (2739) Saint Louis 2019 12...f6 13.Bd2 b6 14.Kh1 0-0-0 15.Be3 g6 16.Qe2 Kb7 17.Rfb1 Ra8 18.c3 c5 19.Rb5 Qe6 20.Rab1 Rhe8 21.Nd2 f5 22.f3 c6 23.R5b2 Kc7 24.Bf2 h5 25.h3 Rg8 26.d4 exd4 27.cxd4 cxd4 28.Bxd4 Bb4 29.Qe3 Rge8 30.Qg5 c5 31.Bg1 Kb7 32.Bh2 Rad8

Black has better chances. 33.Qf4 Ka6 34.Bg3 Ne5 35.exf5 Qxf5 36.Qxf5 gxf5 37.Bxe5 Rxe5 After the queen exchange Black is clearly better - the black rooks are much more active than the white rooks. 38.Nf1 f4 39.g4 fxg3 Or 39...Rd4 40.Rc2 Rd3 41.Kg2 Ra3-+ 40.Nxg3 Rd3 41.Kg2 Rc3 42.Ne4 Rxc4-+

43.Rd1 Rd4 44.Rxd4 cxd4 45.Kf2 b5 46.axb5+ Kxb5 47.Ke2 Kc4 Black is one pawn up and has two strong passed pawns and should win without much trouble. 48.Ra2 Kb3 49.Ra1 Bc3 50.Rc1 Intending to play Kd3. Kc4 51.Kd1 a4 52.Kc2 d3+ 53.Kd1

53...Rxe4 54.fxe4 The exchange sacrifice was correct, but Black still has to play precisely. Kd4? Spoiling the game. Correct was 54...a3 55.e5 a2 56.e6 d2 But not 56...a1Q? 57.Rxa1 Bxa1 58.e7 57.Rxc3+ Kxc3 58.e7 Kd3 The most elegant. 59.e8Q a1Q# 55.e5 Bb4 56.e6 a3 57.Rc7

57...Kd5? Another error. After 57...Bc5 58.Rc6 Bb4 59.Ra6 Bc5= White cannot make progress. 58.e7 a2 58...Bxe7 59.Rxe7 a2 60.Ra7+- 59.Ra7? White misses the win: 59.e8Q a1Q+ 60.Rc1 Qa6 60...Qa5 61.Qxh5+ Ke6 62.Qxa5 Bxa5 63.Rc4 Kf6 64.Rg4+- 61.Qxh5+ Kd4 62.Qg4+ Ke3 63.Qxb4+- 59...Bxe7 60.Rxa2 Ke4 61.Ra5 h4 The endgame is now a clear draw, but the players continued for a couple of moves. 62.Ra7 Bg5 63.Rd7 d2 64.Ke2 Bf4 65.Ra7 Bg5 66.Ra4+ Ke5 67.Ra7 Ke4 68.Rd7 Bf4 69.Rg7 Kf5 70.Rg4 Bg5 71.Rg1 Kf6 72.Kf3 Kf5 73.Rf1 Bf4 74.Ra1 Bg5 75.Rb1 Bf4 76.Rb5+ Kf6 77.Rd5 Ke6 78.Ke4 Bg5 79.Rd3 Kf6 80.Kd5 Kf5 81.Rf3+ Bf4 82.Rf1 Kg5 83.Ke4 Bg3 84.Rd1 Be1 85.Ra1 Kf6 86.Rb1 Ke6 87.Kf3 Kd5 88.Ke2 Ke4 89.Rb4+ Kf5 90.Rxh4 Bxh4 91.Kxd2 Ke5 ½–½

Two more tie-break had to be played. After trying the Spanish with White in game two Jorden van Foreest ruefully returned to the Italian in game 3, but without success. Giri won a one-sided game.

Jorden Van Foreest

0–1

Anish Giri

NK 2023 tiebreaks lichess.org09.07.2023[Schulz,A]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Nc3 d6 6.Na4 Bb6 7.a3 h6 8.0-0 0-0 9.h3 Qe8 10.b4 Be6 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.c3 Ne7 13.Ra2 Nh5 14.Nxb6 axb6 15.g3 b5 16.Kg2 b6 17.Nh2 Nf6 18.Be3 Qc6 19.Bd2 d5 20.f3 Rad8 21.Qe2 Rd7 22.Ng4 Ng6 23.Nf2 Rdf7 24.Kh2 Qd7 25.Be3 Nh7 26.Kg2 d4 Or 26...Rxf3 27.Qxf3 Rxf3 28.Kxf3 Nf6-+ immediately. 27.cxd4 exd4 28.Bc1 Rxf3 29.Qxf3 Rxf3 30.Kxf3 Ne5+ 31.Kg2 g5-+

Black is much better: The knight on e5 is a monster. 32.Rc2 Nf8 33.Bb2 Nfg6 34.Rfc1 c6 35.Rf1 h5 36.Bc1 Qe7 37.Bd2 h4 38.Ng4 Nxg4 39.hxg4 Qd6 40.gxh4 gxh4 41.Rf3 c5 42.Bg5 Qe5 43.Bh6 c4 44.Kh3 44.dxc4 Qxe4-+ 44...Qc7 45.Bg5 Ne5 46.Rf6 Qg7 47.Kxh4 Nf7 48.Rxf7 Qxf7 49.dxc4 d3 50.Rc3 Qf2+ 51.Kh5 Qh2+ 52.Bh4 Qe5+ 0–1

A draw in the fourth game made Giri Dutch Champion 2023.

All games

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