The audience was lucky on this sunny Sunday afternoon. Not only did they get two match games that were rich in content, but at the top board of the Open there were fireworks as well. Demre Kerigan, a Turkish chess player who has been playing in the Netherlands for years, wasn’t afraid of the attacking prowess of the open champion of 2015, Abhijeet Gupta. He took up the gauntlet in a sharp Sämisch Variation of the King’s Indian.
Gupta - Kerigan
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 c6 6.Be3 Nbd7 7.Qd2 a6 8.0–0–0 Qa5 9.Kb1 b5 10.g4 0–0
Here Kerigan was reasonably optimistic, and Gupta wasn’t entirely confident either, because on h2-h4 Black always has ...h7-h5. ‘So I decided to eliminate his attacking bishop.’
11.Bh6 Bxh6 12.Qxh6 bxc4!
Black strikes back in the centre.
13.h4 Rb8 14.Nge2 c5 15.Qd2
A telltale sign, as Jop Delemarre said in the commentary room. He was pleased with his former pupil’s play.
15...cxd4 16.Nxd4 Ne5 17.Ka1 Bd7 18.h5
18...Qb6?
Losing a tempo. Better was, here or on the next move, ...Qc5, also with the intention of playing ...Nd3. Now White gets the upper hand again.
19.g5
But not this way! Stronger was 19.hxg6 fxg6 20.g5 Nd3 21.Bxd3 cxd3 22.gxf6 Qxd4 23.fxe7 Rxf3 with a sharp position, where Black is not without chances.
19...Nxh5 20.Nd5 Qc5
Black could still permit himself 20...Qd8! here, with the point 21.f4 e6!, a motif also seen in certain lines of the Dragon. After 22.Rxh5 exd5! 23.Rh1 Ng4 Black is doing fine.
21.Nxe7+ Kh8 22.Nd5 Be6 23.Nf6
23...Nd3?
Babu Lalith had followed the game, and he thought that Black should have tried 23...c3! here, for example: 24.Qxc3 (24.bxc3? Bxa2!!) 24...Qxc3 25.bxc3 Nxf6 26.gxf6 h5 and Black is a tad better.
24.Nxe6 fxe6 25.Bxd3
The problem for Black is that White now quickly obtains an attack along the c- and h-file and the seventh rank.
25...Nxf6 26.Bxc4 Qxc4 27.gxf6 Rxf6 28.Rc1 Qb5 29.Rc7 Rxf3 30.Rhxh7+ Kg8
31.Rh8+! 1–0
Abhijeet Gupta. Photo: Lennart Ootes
On bord 2, Fred Slingerland did even better. In a Siciliaan he thwarted all Chanda Sandipan’s aspirations, and liquidated into a drawn rook ending, which he did not spoil.
Babu Lalith went in for a (doubtlessly) theoretical line against Stefan Colijn. The latter won a pawn with black, but his pieces could not move a muscle, and the Indian had little trouble hauling in the point.
Mees van Osch was doing well against Jan Werle. The grandmaster was pushed back to the first ranks, but of course he buckled up and then the first flaws of White’s concept started appearing.
Van Osch - Werle
White is already on a slippery slope here, but with his next moves he opens the gates widely:
34.Qxa5? Qe3+ 35.Kh1
35...Bc6+!!
Quite elegant. On 36.Bxc6, 36...Qc1+ leads to mate.
36.Rxc6 Qf3+ 37.Kg1 Qd1+ 38.Kf2 Re2#
Jan Werle. Photo: Lennart Ootes
There were a few more upsets today. Valentin Buckels held Sipke Ernst to a draw – okay, the young German has already made some miles in our tournaments. But that the young Liam Vrolijk overcame grandmaster Das Debashis tactically in a difficult game was a bigger surprise. There was also a Dutch grandmaster who bit the dust: Harmen Jonkman went down in a major-piece ending versus Denis Mager due to several weaknesses. Richard Vedder, on the other hand, fought back after a few disastrous chess months with a draw against IM Nitin.
Migchiel de Jong recovered in characteristic style from yesterday’s half-disappointment: he went straight for Jorgen Henseler’s throat.
De Jong - Henseler
De Jong will never dodge such a challenge – sacrificing a piece for three pawns.
14.Nxb4! dxc4 15.Nxc6 Qb6 16.Nxe7+ Kh8 17.Bg4!? f5
Here Black could have tried 17...Bb7, the move De Jong may have hoped to have prevented: 18.Bxd7 Qd8 is better for Black than what happens in the game.
18.Bf3 Bb7 19.a5 Qb5 20.a6 Lxf3 21.Qxf3 Nc7 22.e6!
Now Black has to return the piece – also for three pawns. But his remaining pieces are wandering aimlessly around the board.
22...Nxe6 23.Rxe6 Qxb2 24.Rae1 Qxd4 25.Rd6 Qc3 26.Qxc3 Bxc3
The Te1 is hanging, but there is also something else hanging by a thread: on h8.
27.Rxd7! 1–0
We conclude with a nice final combination by the youngest of the thirteen participants from India (aged 13):
Schoehuijs - Sharma
17...Nxe2! 18.Nxe2
18.Kxe2 Qd3+ is also over and out.
18...Rxd2 19.Bf3 Qd3
And White resigned, as he will lose more material.
Photo: Lennart Ootes
Lola den Dunnen. Photo: Lennart Ootes
Kidambi Sundararajan. Photo: Lennart Ootes
