David Howell dominates in Leiden
7/29/2015 – Just before the start of the British Championship GM David Howell proved to be in splendid form. He smoothly won an open in Leiden in the Netherlands that took place from 18th to 26th July with 8.5/9. With this result Howell for the first time in his career has more than 2700 elo in the live rating list. But at the start of the tournament he really had to sweat.
David Howell receives the winner's check
Howell dominated the tournament from beginning to end. He started by winning his first five games and then slowed down with a draw against GM Evgeny Postny from Israel. However, after this draw he played with renewed energy and in round six he countered the entertaining gambit play of Indian IM Arghyadip Das with a surprising bishop sacrifice and a fine tactical display.
In round eight he continued in similar style and after one slight inaccuracy by his opponent Boris Chatalbashev he overran the Bulgarian GM with a vigorous attack:
With this victory Howell had won the tournament with one round to spare. But he finished with a technical defensive win against Marian Petrov in round nine.
Final results
| Rank | Name | Score | Fed. | M/F | Rating | TPR | W-We | BH | SB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM Howell, David W L | 8.5 | ENG | M | 2698 | 2895 | +1.42 | 51.5 | 48.0 |
| 2 | GM Postny, Evgeny | 7.0 | ISR | M | 2642 | 2675 | +0.57 | 52.5 | 39.75 |
| 3 | GM Nikolic, Predrag | 6.5 | BIH | M | 2601 | 2621 | +0.50 | 53.0 | 35.0 |
| 4 | GM Chatalbashev, Boris | 6.0 | BUL | M | 2516 | 2543 | +0.48 | 52.5 | 31.75 |
| 5 | GM Tiviakov, Sergei | 6.0 | NED | M | 2639 | 2512 | -1.03 | 51.0 | 32.25 |
| 6 | GM Milov, Leonid | 6.0 | GER | M | 2462 | 2491 | +0.60 | 51.0 | 29.5 |
| 7 | IM De Jong, Jan-Willem | 6.0 | NED | M | 2448 | 2478 | +0.53 | 50.0 | 31.5 |
| 8 | IM Das, Arghyadip | 6.0 | IND | M | 2457 | 2526 | +0.97 | 49.5 | 30.0 |
| 9 | Pijpers, Arthur | 6.0 | NED | M | 2433 | 2431 | +0.16 | 45.5 | 28.25 |
| 10 | GM Petrov, Marian | 5.5 | BUL | M | 2487 | 2383 | -0.82 | 47.0 | 25.75 |
| 11 | Van Overdam, Julian | 5.5 | NED | M | 2367 | 2351 | -0.02 | 46.5 | 26.25 |
| 12 | FM Erwich, Frank | 5.5 | NED | M | 2361 | 2319 | -0.17 | 45.5 | 25.5 |
| 13 | Johansson, Gunnar | 5.5 | SWE | M | 2223 | 2236 | +0.23 | 39.0 | 21.25 |
| 14 | Wallgren, Ulf | 5.5 | SWE | M | 2141 | 2160 | +0.31 | 36.0 | 20.75 |
| 15 | Oosterom, Erik | 5.5 | NED | M | 2043 | 2221 | +1.95 | 35.0 | 18.25 |
| 16 | Van der Marel, Bert | 5.0 | NED | M | 2161 | 2411 | +2.55 | 50.0 | 24.0 |
| 17 | IM Van Delft, Merijn | 5.0 | NED | M | 2428 | 2241 | -1.81 | 44.5 | 23.75 |
| 18 | FM Gindi, Shachar | 5.0 | ISR | M | 2336 | 2256 | -0.74 | 44.0 | 20.0 |
| 19 | Wilschut, Peter | 5.0 | NED | M | 2238 | 2205 | -0.37 | 41.5 | 22.0 |
| 20 | Van der Raaf, Erik | 5.0 | NED | M | 2110 | 2164 | +0.36 | 41.5 | 20.0 |
| 21 | IM Palit, Somak | 5.0 | IND | M | 2360 | 2201 | -1.53 | 41.0 | 20.75 |
| 22 | FM Heemskerk, Wim | 5.0 | NED | M | 2175 | 2199 | +0.28 | 41.0 | 20.0 |
| 23 | Den Hartog, Marijn | 5.0 | NED | M | 2088 | 2137 | +0.36 | 40.0 | 21.0 |
| 24 | Halfhide, Sebastian | 5.0 | NED | M | 2091 | 2234 | +1.51 | 40.0 | 19.0 |
| 25 | Polak, Alexander | 5.0 | NED | M | 2114 | 2153 | +0.44 | 37.5 | 16.75 |
| 26 | FM Happel, Henk | 5.0 | NED | M | 2107 | 2144 | +0.27 | 34.5 | 16.25 |
...
Games
However, not everything in Leiden was easy for Howell. As part of the opening ceremony Howell and Loek van Wely played a blitz match while simulating bike-riding. On top of that they had to answer questions by Dutch GM John van der Wiel. Loek van Wely, who is notorious for his physical fitness, was much better at this kind of multi-tasking than the eventual tournament winner.
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