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The Café Batavia is close to central station of Amsterdam, right in the middle of the city. And the Batavia café is the venue for an attractive chess tournament the first edition of which was played in 2009. Chief organizer of the tournament is IM Merijn van Delft who is supported by Peter Tames, the owner of the Cafe Batavia. In the eighth edition of the tournament, which took place from 18th to 28th February 2016, ten players - a good mix of talent and experience - took part to play a nine-game round robin.
Among the more experienced players were GM Sabino Brunello from Italy, GM Friso Nijbour from the Netherlands and Danish GM Lars Schandorff. Anne Haast and Lucas van Foreest were two representatives of the young Dutch talents. However, the three grandmasters more than hold their own against the younger generation and took the first three places.
Café Batavia
The tournament started
Tournament winner Lars Schandorff
Lars Schandorff won four games and drew five to share first place with Friso Nijbour.
Here is Schandorff's win against Thomas Willemze. After Black had equalized he became a bit careless and gradually lost the thread.
For Anne Haast, the only woman in the field, things did not go too well.
(The picture in the background shows Alina l'Ami)
Having fun with beer, blitz, banter, and analysis
Dutch coffeehouse culture
Sabino Brunello dominated the blitz tournament and won with a two-point margin
The participants: Sabino Brunelli, Lars Schandorff, Friso Nijboer, Moulthun Ly, Arthur Pijpers, Stef Soors, Danny de Ruiter, Thomas Willemze, Lucas van Foreest, Anne Haast
Lars Schandorff explores Amsterdam
Photos: Bas Beekhuizen, Harry Gielen, and Lennart Ootes
