Threeway tie in Dutch Open in Dieren

8/4/2007 – The Dutch Open at Dieren ran from July 23 to August 2. After a tough battle the event ended in a threefold tie between GMs L'Ami and Van den Doel, with 2600+ performances, and IM Deep Sengupta (2500 performance), all of whom scored 7/9 points. Seven more players finished half a point behind. Report with games and spectacular photographic impressions by Fred Lucas.

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Threeway tie in Dutch Open

The Dutch Open at Dieren ran from July 23 to August 2. In our previous report, after five rounds, the lead was held by Dimitry Reinderrman, but he was defeated in round six by rating-favourite Erwin L'Ami, after which his challenge faded. L'Ami then battled out the lead with fellow Dutch GM, Erik Van den Doel, and Indian IM Deep Sengupta. The three eventually tied for first-third places on 7/9, ahead of a substantial group half a point behind.

Place Name Rating Nation Pts TPR
1-3 GM van den Doel, Erik 2587 NED 7.0 2620
1-3 GM L'Ami, Erwin 2598 NED 7.0 2612
1-3 IM Sengupta, Deep 2435 IND 7.0 2493
4-10 GM Ikonnikov, Vyacheslav 2558 RUS 6.5 2569
4-10 IM Brandenburg, Daan 2434 NED 6.5 2628
4-10 GM Gofstein, Zvulon 2541 ISR 6.5 2575
4-10 IM Siebrecht, Sebastian 2439 GER 6.5 2439
4-10 GM Barua, Dibyendu 2462 IND 6.5 2524
4-10 IM Saravanan, Venkatachalam  2355 IND 6.5 2491
4-10 GM Ernst, Sipke 2555 NED 6.5 2482

L'Ami's shared first represented an impressive comeback from his shock first-round defeat against Christoph Kleijn, with the Grandmaster from Woerden notching six wins and two draws from his remaining eight games. Van den Doel, who nowadays plays most of his chess on the Dutch weekend circuit, was also impressive, winning six of his first seven games, before coasting in with two draws. The Indian IM, Deep Sengupta, played a weaker field than his two fellow winners (see the performance scores in the table above), but as a wise man once pointed out, you can only beat what is put in front of you, and Sengupta did that most efficiently.

Of the 4th-10th placed group, special mention must be made of Daan Brandenburg. The 20-year old IM made his first grandmaster norm, going  through unbeaten, inflicting the only defeat on Van den Doel and gaining some 28 rating points in the process. It could have been even better, had he not missed a tactical trick against L'Ami in the final round, which would have won material and potentially given him outright first place, but he can be very well satisfied with his week's efforts. One must also mention the performance of Petra Schuurman, whose five points earned her the prize for the highest score by a lady, as well as a place in the 2008 Dutch Ladies' Championship.

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Picture Gallery from Dieren

By Fred Lucas


The tournament winner (on tiebreak): GM Erik van den Doel


Erwin L'Ami, rating favourite in this tournament


GM Friso Nijboer, rated 2568, ended with 5.5 points on place 15


So what are you going to play, Friso?


WIM Marlies Bensdrop, 22, rated 2238, scored 5.0 points


Twin sister WMF Laura Bensdrop, 2119, scored 4.0 points


GM Ernst Sipke, 28, half a point behind the leaders


GM karel van der Weide, 2502, scored 6.0 points and ended 11th


Indian FM Srinath Narayanan, 14, rated 2218


Pauline van Nies, 18, rated 2162, scored 4.0 points


Chess in Dieren – the Dutch Open


Pondering a position


An unidentified participant of the Dutch Open


A young chess player at the start of a game


Youth and chess – captured in this lovely image

"My relation with chess is simple," says Fred Lucas. "I'm a photographer who is very fond of the game, loves the atmosphere at tournaments – it's if you can really feel all the ideas coming up on all those boards – and I love to make pictures, especially with available light. What I like most when photographing chess players is to get their emotions that are otherwise hard to see, because life immediately proceeds to the next moment. Before the start of a game most players are busy with themselves, concentrating and some give you the impression that they really don't want to pay attention to anything else than the game to come."

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