Tournament director Jeroen Bottema thanked all players for their contribution to this 29th Hoogeveen Chess Tournament and first presented the prizes in the Amateur Afternoon Group. The prize for best youth player (under 18) went to Theo Kudernac, the best woman was Leonie Spaans from Hoogeveen, and Dylan Roersma won the rating prize. There was loud cheering from local fans for the winner of this group, local hero Christiaan Mol.
The first eight prize winners were:
- Christiaan Mol
- Jan Boersma
- Edwin Zuiderweg
- Theo Kudernac
- Thomas Pincket
- Richard Buurstra
- Arent Luimes
- Peter de Korver
Bottema thanked the tournament’s main sponsors, the municipality of Hoogeveen and the province of Drenthe, as well as the staff who had made the tournament a success. “Almost all of us have been ill during the tournament,” he said, “but together we have still brought it to a good conclusion.” This was due in no small part to Dian Verpaalen, who could be deployed anywhere and always stepped in where needed. Bottema gave her a special bouquet of flowers in recognition. It symbolised an edition of the Hoogeveen Chess Tournament that many will remember for years to come.
From the Open group, Bottema first called Noah Ritzerveld forward because he had won the youth prize, but also because he had played such an important role in the course of the tournament. “You were the crowd-pleaser,” Bottema said, “and that also brought us a great deal of media attention.” As an additional prize, Noah received a book about Miguel Najdorf, the namesake of the opening against which he had played so strongly with White.
The prize for the best female player in the Open went to fifteen-year-old Tamae Severina Jakubse from the Czech Republic (4½/9).
The top ten in the Open finished as follows:
- AL Muthaiah
- Thomas Beerdsen
- Noah Ritzerveld
- Eelke de Boer
- Bram ten Dam
- Oscar Zecha
- Raphael Felix
- Tommy Grooten
- Ragavan Tanish
- Ivo Maris
