Report final round

Good morning!

As we're about to start the final round in less than half an hour, it's appropriate to tell you something about norm chances. There isn't very much to say though: German youth player Luis Engel can obtain an IM norm if he beats Orest Gritsak today, with white. And Maurice Schippers is already entitled to apply for the FM title as he has crossed the 2300 mark in this tournament.

Two hours earlier than the previous rounds the final round just started, in the presence of special guest Jan Timman. He is now giving a clock simul in the foyer of the town hall against the 5 winners of the contest in which chess players had to answer a number of tough questions about our national chess legend.

Remarkable: we don't have a dress code for the finals in the Marriage Room, but still all 4 players appeared in a 'hoodie' today.

Dmitrij Kollars with his coach, Jonathan Carlstedt

Ever wondered what happens in the Dragon if Black just keeps pushing his a-pawn, and White just keeps pushing the h-pawn? We're seeing it in the game O'Gorman-Paszewski today.

18. Rh3?!

A strange attacking move. You would expect the immediate 18.Rxh7 when everything seems to end in a draw: 18...fxg6 (or 18...Lxe5) 19.Rdh1 Bxe5 20.Rh8+ Bxh8 21.Rxh8+ Kxh8 22.Qh6+.

18...h6?!

Black is winning after 18...axb3 19.Rxh7 bxa2 20.Nxa2 fxg6 21.Rdh1 Bxe5 22.Rh8+ Bxh8 23. Rxh8+ Kf7!. But maybe that's just my engine.

19.Rxh6

Now 19...axb3 doesn't work due to 20.Rdh1 fxg6 21.Rxg6 and White wins in the attack. However Black plays:

19...fxg6 20.Rxh7

And now he can take the rook on h7 since the king has an escape route via f7. The Polish FM is thinking about it...

Siem van Dael looks winning already against local hero Sander Taams, who is fearlessly playing a sharp Najdorf against the theoretically well-versed youngster. After 20.The1, 21.e6 was a lethal threat, and taking that pawn is not a real remedy...

Siem van Dael

A fairly short draw in the consolation final between Dinara Saduakassova and Thomas Beerdsen, so we have at least one playoff again, later today!

Roeland Pruijssers has built a massive pile up on the black g7-pawn. Kollars has now played 24...g5, which boils down to a desperate and hopeless pawn sacrifice. He could have played 23...g5 one move earlier, with better chances to hold.

Pruijssers and Kollars at the start of their game, with arbiter Huub Blom.

Roeland Pruijssers won the Open by beating 18-year-old Dmitrij Kollars in the final. More on that game later! First the consolation final between Dinara Saduakassova and Thomas Beerdsen.

The 19-year-old Dutchman was attacking in a tricky first game but Saduakassova again defended quite adroitly and won. In the second game she won an exchange but Beerdsen acquired a few strong pawns for it. The crucial moment came on move 38:

Saduakassova-Beerdsen

Here Black could have won by 38...Rc2+ and 39...Rc1. After 38...Rb4+? the game petered out to a draw, which meant third place for the young lady from Kazachstan.

Jan Timman played a clock simul this afternoon against five opponents. He won three games and drew twice.

Half points were gained by Henk Eleveld...

... and Henk van Putten.

Yannick Husers was flagged (!) and Wilko van der Gracht and local player Carolien Slingerland lost their games regularly.

Right after the game the winner of the Open, Roeland Pruijssers, gave the following lines and impressions:

Pruijssers-Kollars

16.Nhf5!?

'Dmitrij had a tough day yesterday so I decided to complicate a little', Pruijssers said. 'I could have played Be3 here or earlier.'

16...Rad8

This is the problem: White has to give the pawn on d3.

17.Be3!?

Pruijssers considered for a long time the sac 17.Bxh6 gxh6 18.Qc1 Re6 and now 19.Qxh6? runs into 19...Bxf2+! 20.Kxf2 Ng4+. But right after the game Pruijssers found 19.d4! exd4 and now 20.Qxh6 Ne8 21.Qg5+ Kf8 (21...Rg6? 22.Rxe8+ Rxe8 23.Nh6+) 22.Qh4 Kg8 leads to a repetition.

17...Bxe3

'I thought I might be worse after 17...Qxd3 18.Qf3 Bxe3 19.Rxe3 Qd5', Pruijssers said. 'But actually it's not so clear after 20.Nh5!.'

18.Rxe3 Kh7 19.Nh5 Nxh5 20.Qxh5 Qe6 21.Rg3 Rg8 22.Re1 Rde8 23.Re4

23...Qf6?

As we wrote before, here it was time for 23...g5, e.g. 24.Rf3 Qg6 and nothing is decided yet.

24.Reg4 g5 25.Rxg5 Rxg5 26.Rxg5 Rf8 27.Rg7+ Kh8 28.Rg4 Kh7 29.Rh4 Qg6 30.Qf3 1-0

So that meant 8 out of 9 in this tournament for Pruijssers, who rode the almost 10 kilometers from Westerbergen to the tournament hall on his bicycle every day - perhaps an idea for future tournament winners?

The winner of the Open, with a clean sweep in the final.

Stefan Kuipers has won the 'remainder' of the Open with a 7 out of 9 score. He was leading the field after his win yesterday, so Xu Xiangyi had to go all out for a win today. He lost a pawn, then worked on an initiative, but Kuipers managed to solve his problems and offered a draw. 'Of course he refused, and after that he want to far and lost the thread of the game', Kuipers said.

A very nice performance by the Dutchman, who also won the Leiden Open earlier this year.

Davorin Kuljasovic, Sipke Ernst and Tania Sachdev won their games, and ended the tournament on 6½ points.

Luis Engel just missed an IM norm by drawing against Orest Gritsak, which is not a bad thing in itself of course.

Stefan Kuipers

Robby Kevlishvili gave a nice demonstration of 'condition chess' today. The event, where the clock is put on some distance from the board so you have to run after every move, wasn't held on the Hoogeveen streets due to the weather, but in the foyer of the town hall after Jan Timman had finished his clock simul there.

Kevlishvili started by beating Loek van Wely twice ('he runs faster and plays better too', the tournament director had to admit) and after that crushed everyone in sight, except for Thomas Beerdsen who scraped a draw.

Robby Kevlishvili (left) playing Siem van Dael.