Siem Van Dael: Unorthodox openings lead to success

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Unorthodox

With an Elo-rating of 2285 Van Dael was not among the top favourites at the Young Champions Tournament in Uppsala. He started with 2 out of 2 but then lost against IM Milton Pantzar.

But Van Dael recovered quickly and in round four he smashed his opponent out of the opening – despite playing 1.h4.

Van Dael also won in round five, but in this game fortune was very much on his side. Van Dael played with Black against the much higher rated Austrian Felix Blohberger, and was lucky to win a clearly lost position.

Inspired by this win Van Dael scored 2½/3 in rounds six to eight, and in the last round therefore needed only a draw against Jung Min Seo to win the tournament.

Throughout most of the game Seo had a clear advantage but he did not find a way to convert, and after 83 moves, when only the two kings remained on the board, he had to content himself with a draw.

This draw helped Van Dael to win the tournament with a score of 7.0/9. His opening experiments and his unorthodox and creative play had paid off.

The top three IM Milton Pantzar, Siem Van Dael and Jakub Kusa

Final standings

	NAMe	KLUBB	RANKING 1/10	SP	+	=	-	POÄNG	KV.P
1	FM Siem Van Dael	Netherlands	2285	9	6	2	1	7.0	46.50
2	IM Milton Pantzar	Västerås SK	2410	9	5	3	1	6.5	47.00
3	Jakub Kusa	Czech Republic	2233	9	5	3	1	6.5	45.50
4	FM Jung Min Seo	Stockholms SS	2455	9	4	5	0	6.5	42.50
5	IM Felix Blohberger	Austria	2467	9	6	1	2	6.5	40.50
6	FM Isak Storme	SS Manhem	2393	9	5	2	2	6.0	42.00
7	FM Kaan Küçüksarı	Lunds ASK	2384	9	5	2	2	6.0	39.50
8	FM Hampus Sörensen	Team Pelaro Alingsås SS	2393	9	4	3	2	5.5	46.00
9	FM Marek Mica	Czech Republic	2294	9	4	3	2	5.5	36.00
10	CM Adrian Söderström	Fagerviks SK	2168	9	4	2	3	5.0	44.50
11	FM Vignir Vatnar Stefansson	Iceland	2313	9	4	2	3	5.0	42.50
12	WIM Annmarie Muetsch	Germany	2226	9	3	4	2	5.0	41.50
13	Axel Falkevall	Trojanska Hästen	2121	9	4	2	3	5.0	41.00
14	Adam Frank	Czech Republic	2129	9	2	6	1	5.0	38.50
15	WFM Ellen Fredericia Nilssen	Denmark	2209	9	2	6	1	5.0	38.00
16	FM Richard Stalmach	Czech Republic	2296	9	4	2	3	5.0	36.50
17	FM Hilmir Freyr Heimisson	Iceland	2352	9	4	2	3	5.0	35.50
18	Jachym Nemec	Czech Republic	2246	9	3	3	3	4.5	42.50
19	WIM Viktoria Radeva	Bulgaria	2263	9	3	3	3	4.5	42.50
20	Daniel Johnson	SSK Hammarö	2100	9	4	1	4	4.5	40.50
21	CM Ludvig Carlsson	Västerås SK	2281	9	3	3	3	4.5	38.00
22	William Olsson	Örgryte SK	2192	9	3	3	3	4.5	36.50
23	FM Joakim Nilsson	Uppsala SSS	2224	9	4	1	4	4.5	36.00
24	WFM Monika Rozman	Slovenia	2129	9	2	5	2	4.5	34.50
25	FM Arthur Kruckenhauser	Austria	2301	9	2	5	2	4.5	33.50
26	CM Edvin Trost	SK Rockaden, Sthlm	2202	9	3	2	4	4.0	41.00
27	CM Hugo Wernberg	Wasa SK	2211	9	3	2	4	4.0	40.00
28	WIM Zala Urh	Slovenia	2195	9	3	2	4	4.0	39.50
29	WIM Ivana Hrescak	Slovenia	2237	9	3	2	4	4.0	36.50
30	CM Leo Crevatin	SK Rockaden, Sthlm	2181	9	1	6	2	4.0	36.00
31	Pia Marie Ruzic	Slovenia	1929	9	3	2	4	4.0	29.50
32	Vidar Grahn	Trojanska Hästen	1864	9	2	3	4	3.5	29.50
33	Arvin Rasti	Team Pelaro Alingsås SS	2201	9	2	2	5	3.0	40.00
34	Karel Brozka	Czech Republic	2216	9	2	2	5	3.0	35.50
35	Jung Hyun Seo	Trojanska Hästen	1936	9	3	0	6	3.0	35.00
36	Joar Östlund	Wasa SK	2106	9	3	0	6	3.0	34.00
37	Victor Muntean	SSK Hammarö	1968	9	2	1	6	2.5	30.50
38	Warg Skåhlberg Bjerknes-Lima de Fa	Uppsala SSS	1759	9	2	1	6	2.5	28.00
39	Matthäus Buchert	Uppsala SSS	1427	9	2	0	7	2.0	27.50
40	Julia Östensson	Uppsala SSS	1562	9	1	1	7	1.5	27.50

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Johannes Fischer Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".