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.
Links
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."
Links
|
