Café Batavia celebrates 6th International

by Alina l'Ami
2/28/2014 – Café Batavia in Prins Hendrikskade next to the central station in Amsterdam is not your typical chess café. It is a very popular “normal” lively café that hosts various cultural events and where chess players are especially welcome in large part thanks to the owner, Peter Tames, and his enormous love for the royal game. For the sixth year it is hosting an international tournament in the café.

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The 6th Batavia Chess Tournament takes place from Friday, February 21st to Sunday, March 2nd, 2014 in Café Batavia 1920, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The games will start each day at 14:00 hrs. The final round starts at 12.00 hrs. Wednesday, February 26th is a rest day.

Amsterdam is one of a kind

Participants

Ti. Name Rtg
GM Sipke Ernst 2575
GM David Smerdon 2508
IM Twan Burg 2494
GM Simon Williams 2449
IM Sander van Eijk 2438
IM Merijn van Delft 2423
GM Zhaoqin Peng 2398
WGM Alina L'Ami 2398
IM Steven Geirnaert 2391
  Jorden van Foreest 2371

Amsterdam is ...one of a kind! One can never ever get bored here, the city of all possibilities...the touristic guides could explain why and so could the endless numbers of visitors, lured here by the fabulous architecture, the laid back atmosphere or by the...coffee shops?! Coffee is of course served in these places and so are some other less "official" things...which I didn't have the curiosity to try but the smell is bursting from absolutely every corner, at least in the center.

Full of old world charm

You will understand why I took some distance for this shot...on the right side you
can see a public...toilet! It is kind of open if you ask me but certainly it matches
the free spirit of the Dutch inhabitants. And the male tourists are probably happy too.

The famous Dam square

Support for Ukraine: here you can see the Krasnapolsky hotel, which has hosted
many chess events in the past

Tough to turn away this flyer

Amsterdam is congested with tourists, it is just impossible to walk around! I even
have to sit on a queue, to cross a bloody street! And it is just February, not the
most wanted month for a holiday; if you planned to come here in summer time,
maybe you should change your mind, if you are claustrophobic! 


Only in Amsterdam can a church be surrounded by the...famous red-light windows.
One should also mind his steps, you never know what you might stumble on. I almost fell...

And the legendary 'coffee' shops, where the tourists usually
go to do anything but drink coffee

On my way back home! Well, I don't live in this castle but I pass by every evening,
since I am travelling back and forth to Woerden. It takes 40 min by train but what
I thought it might be a rather unpleasant detail, it turned out to be a really nice one!
I just finished a book during my train trips and now I am reading the second...

A cute finish to a first round win:

[Event "Batavia 1920"] [Site "Amsterdam"] [Date "2014.02.21"] [Round "1.2"] [White "Van Delft, Merijn"] [Black "L'Ami, Alina"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2423"] [BlackElo "2398"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "2rr2k1/1Q3pp1/p5qp/4B1b1/6P1/1N2n2P/PPP2R2/1KR5 b - - 0 30"] [PlyCount "9"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] [WhiteClock "0:02:24"] [BlackClock "0:03:00"] 30... Nxc2 $1 {Although this is only playable if Black's next move was seen, the double exclamations really have to be kept for the queen sac, don't you think? - Ed.} 31. Rfxc2 Qxc2+ $3 {Power and simplicity.} 32. Rxc2 Rd1+ 33. Rc1 Rdxc1+ 34. Nxc1 Rxc1# 0-1

Standings after five rounds


Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.


Alina is an International Master and a very enthusiastic person in everything she does. She loves travelling to the world's most remote places in order to play chess tournaments and report about them here on ChessBase! As chance would have it Alina is also an excellent photographer.

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