McShane wins Third Remco Heite

The Third Remco Heite, "the tournament with the horse", took place from November 26-28 in the Hotel Wolvega Van der Valk in Wolvega, The Netherlands. Originally the intention that the winner should get a horse as a prize, but it turned out that you are not allowed to give someone a horse as a gift in Holland, which is why the winner of the first edition in 2006, Loek van Wely, was not able to take possession of his new pet. The next winner (in 2008), Bartlomiej Macieja, donated it to a local charity for handicapped children, which worked with horses. Now this has become a tradition – that the winner receives, next to his first prize sum, the amount of money it would take to buy a horse, and passes this on to the same charity.

Wolvega has one of the best-known horse race tracks in Holland, and a local transport company, Koster Euro, one of the many sponsors of the Remco Heite tournament, owns a giant wooden horse, shown in the picture by René Olthof above. It is the subject of this promotional video (in Dutch).

You do, of course, recognise the purpose of such a horse, which is to hide the warriors of the Argives, bearing death and fate to the Trojans.

This year's Remco Heite tournament was decided in the very last round, in which English GM Luke McShane defeated Loek van Wely with the black pieces to take clear first, with 3.5/5 points.

Van Wely,Loek (2666) - McShane,Luke J (2645) [E91]
3rd Remco Heite GM Wolvega NED (5), 28.11.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 c5 7.0-0 Re8 8.Re1 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Nc6 10.Nc2 b6 11.Bg5 Bb7 12.Qd2 Nd7 13.Bf1 Rc8 14.h3 Qc7 15.Nd5 Qb8 16.Rab1 a6 17.b3 Ba8 18.a4 e6 19.Nc3 Nce5 20.Bh6 Bh8 21.Be3 Nf6 22.Bg5 Ned7 23.Bf4 Nh5 24.Bh2 Ne5 25.Nb4 Bb7 26.Rbd1 Red8 27.Nd3 Nd7 28.Nc1 Ne5 29.Nd3 Nc6 30.Rc1 Bg7 31.Qa2 Qa8 32.Red1 Nd4 33.Re1 Nf6 34.e5 dxe5 35.Nxe5 Nd7 36.Rcd1 Nxe5 37.Bxe5 Bxe5 38.Rxe5 b5 39.axb5 axb5 40.Qxa8 Bxa8 41.Rb1 bxc4 42.bxc4 Kg7 43.Ra5 Bc6 44.Ra7 g5 45.Nb5 Nf5 46.Be2 Kg6 47.Ra3 Rd2 48.Bf1 Rcd8 49.Ra6 Ne7 50.g3 h5 51.Bg2 Bxg2 52.Kxg2 Rc2 53.Nd6 Nc8 54.Nxc8 Rxc8 55.Rb7 Rc5 56.Rb5 R5xc4 57.Raa5 f6 58.Rb6 Re4 59.Ra1 Ree2 60.Rf1 e5 61.Rbb1 e4 62.Rbe1 e3 63.Rxe2 Rxe2 64.g4 hxg4 65.hxg4 f5 66.Kf3

McShane has been putting pressure on his Dutch opponent for the latter half of the game, achieving a winning double rook endgame in the process. Now he issues the final coup de grâce: 66...Rxf2+ 67.Rxf2 exf2 68.gxf5+ Kxf5 69.Kxf2 Kf4 0-1.

A very commendable second place was scored by 16-year-old Anish Giri, who is
slowly consolidating his position as the strongest player in Holland.

Equal on points but beaten by Anish on tiebreaks was Erwin L'Ami

Photos by Lenus van den Broek and René Olthof