Chess Mag - 21 6 10 28/08/2012 12:45 Page 24 E T with 17 A3 Followed by B4

Dutch Summer Tournaments_Chess mag - 21_6_10 28/08/2012 12:45 Page 24 e t with 17 a3 followed by b4. 17...h6 i s

HE DUTCH CHESS summer b e

18 ¥h3 £d8 19 ¤e4 ¤g6 20 ¥c1 f5 w

vacation started with a strong n 21 £h5 ¤ce7 22 ¤d2 Actually, Stewart e m

weekender in Haarlem and an open a n r

thought this position was the most u o t

in Leiden. Perhaps surprisingly, not too n

interesting moment in his Haarlem e

many British chess tourists frequent the g n i

T games. Black to play and win! s s i Dutch scene these days though it l V

: o certainly has got a lot to offer. The most t o h regular English visitors to Dutch chess P happen to belong to one chess family: the Haslingers. GM Stewart Haslinger, a mathematician who is working towards his PhD, spends much of his holidays in Dutch opens, occasionally accompanied by his brother Gareth and more often by his father Mike (and mother Sandy).

HAARLEM English GM Stewart Haslinger is a regular visitor to tournaments in the Netherlands. One of the Haslinger family’s favourite He was joint winner in Haarlem this summer. events is the highly popular and strong Nova College Open in Haarlem. As well as this, the BDO grandmaster 22...£e8!! The threat is 23...¤f4! chess community was known mainly for tournament is hosted in the city every 24 £xe8 ¤xh3 mate! Surprisingly, White summer in August and the national youth the Daniel Noteboom tournament held is helpless against this quiet threat! each February, which is still the country’s championships have been held in Nova 23 £e2 Or 23 f3 ¤f4 24 £xe8 ¤xh3+ College in recent years. second oldest chess event after the 25 ¢g2 ¦axe8 26 ¢xh3 ¤c6 with the world-renowned Wijk aan Zee festival. knight double threat to attack the d3 Last year’s edition of the tournament saw pawn is decisive 23...¤f4! 24 gxf4 £g6+ This year’s tournament attracted 157 a convincing victory for another well- 25 ¥g4 ¦ae8 26 f3 fxg4 27 fxg4 ¤d5 known English grandmaster residing in players. The 86 players in the top group For the price of a single pawn, Black s the Netherlands. Matthew Sadler ’ included 12 GMs , seven IMs and one invasion is unstoppable. 28 ¤e4 ¤c3 WIM. 44-year-old German GM Igor intended to defend his title this year but 29 £g2 ¤xe4 30 f5 £c6 31 dxe4 ¦xe4 had to withdraw at the last moment for Khenkin was the top seed and a natural 32 a3 ¦f4 Stewart the mathematician personal reasons. favourite together with the rising young chooses a solid winning option. While GMs Parimarjan Negi of India and David Even so still a fine line-up was put there was nothing wrong with either Howell of England, as well as the Polish together by chief organiser Harry Wierda, 32...d3 or 32...¦fe8 to bring about an GM Bartosz Socko and the veteran with six GMs, five IMs and one WGM immediate resignation, he could have Bosnian GM Predrag Nikolic, winner of headed by Dutchman Erwin L’Ami pleased the spectators with 32...¦xg4! 2010 edition. It was Howell’s second (2607). He eventually tied for the top 33 £xg4 £h1+ 34 ¢f2 £xh2+ 35 ¢e1 appearance in Leiden. Last year he 33 £xc6 ¦xg4+ honours with the youngest Dutch GM ¦e8+ 36 ¢d1 h5!, etc. shared second place behind Tiviakov and 34 ¢f2 ¥xc6 35 ¢e1 ¦e8+ 36 ¢d1 ¦g2 Robin van Kampen (18) and Stewart he was naturally hoping for more this time. Haslinger. The English GM drew with 37 f6 gxf6 38 ¦xf6 ¥d7 39 ¦f1 ¥g4+ 0 -1 L’Ami and was even less kind to his wife Until round eight it was mainly a race WGM Alina L’Ami Motoc but considered The three winners emerged unbeaten, as between Howell and Negi, both unbeaten on his second round game, or rather a did Dutch IM Chiel van Oosterom and the 6/7. The Englishman beat GMs Lalith and certain moment in it as his most creative Swedish legend GM Ulf Anderson, who Horvath, among others, while the Indian’s in the entire event. drew his last four games, though not victims included GMs Vorobiov and Socko. without lengthy fights. Haarlem 2012 Here is David Howell’s victory against the J.Vlaming - S.Haslinger Haarlem Final Standings (6-8 July): 1-3 Hungarian GM: English Opening 1 c4 e6 2 g3 d5 3 b3 ¥e7 4 ¥b2 ¥f6 GM E.L’Ami (NED), GM S.Haslinger, GM R.van Kampen (NED) 5/6 , 4-6 IM C.Van Leiden 2012 5 ¤c3 ¥xc3!? Quite an original way to Oosterom (NED), GM H.Jonkman (NED), C.Horvath - D.Howell neutralise White ’s long diagonal... 6 ¥xc3 Queen’s Indian Defence d4 7 ¥b2 c5 8 ¤f3 ¤c6 9 ¥g2 ¤ge7 GM G.Castaneda (PER) 4½, etc. 1 d4 ¤f6 2 c4 e6 3 ¤f3 b6 4 g3 c6 10 0-0 e5 11 d3 £c7 12 e3 0 -0 13 exd4 5 ¥g2 ¥e7 6 0-0 0 -0 7 b3 ¥b7 8 ¤c3 d5 exd4 14 ¥a3?! b6 15 ¥c1 ¥b7 16 ¥f4 LEIDEN 9 ¥b2 ¤a6 10 e3 ¦c8 11 £e2 £c7 £d7 17 ¤g5?! 12 ¦fd1 £b8!? Fishing in troubled water. Prior to this rapidly growing open This typical manoeuvre It would have been more sensible to try tournament, started by journalist and looks especially interesting here. The to challenge the solid black pawn chain organiser Jan Bey in 2007, the local queen is heading to the far corner to

24 September 2012 Dutch Summer Tournaments_Chess mag - 21_6_10 28/08/2012 12:45 Page 25 e

t 30 gxf6 with the lethal threat 31 £f5+. i s b

e 29...¦ae8? Losing by force. 29...£e8! w

e was way more stubborn: 30 ¦h6 ¦f7 d i e L

: 31 £f5+ ¢e7 32 gxf6+ ¢d8 33 ¦a1! c6 o t o

h 34 g4! ¢c7 35 g5 £d7 and, though White P is clearly better, Black can still fight on. 30 ¦h6 ¦f7 31 ¦xf6+ ¦xf6 32 gxf6 With three pawns for the piece, White can comfortably bring his rook round to finish the job. 32...£a8 Or 32...¥c8 33 ¦e3 £d7 34 £f5+ ¢f7 35 £h5+ ¢e6 36 ¦g3 ¦f8 37 ¦g6 and wins 33 £f5+ ¢f7 34 ¦e3 £d8 35 ¦g3 ¦h8 35...£xf6 36 £h7+ ¢e6 37 ¦g6 is hardly an improvement 36 ¦g7+ ¢f8 37 £g6 £e8 38 f7 1-0

It is not every day that an experienced GM is led to the scaffold by an untitled player.

Leiden 2012 David Howell on his way to victory in Leiden K.Sunderarajan - V.Zakhartsov

control a loaded diagonal which means to The game between the two leaders in 13 e4 ¤c7 14 ¤e5 £a8 be cleared. the eighth round decided the tournament 15 ¤d3 c5 16 exd5 Perhaps a better top honours. Negi heroically defended way to handle the big centre would have an inferior position for as long as 85 been 16 e5 ¤d7 17 dxc5 dxc4 18 ¥xb7 moves and in a position where he was £xb7 19 bxc4 ¤xc5 20 ¤xc5 ¥xc5 still showing resistance in a probably 21 ¤e4, where White still maintains a lost queen ending, he suddenly 16...cxd4 slight spacial advantage. blundered his queen to a skewer which 17 ¤e4 exd5 18 ¤xf6+ ¥xf6 19 c5? left David Howell a whole point clear of Trying to keep the diagonal locked turns the field with a round to go. In the last out to be the wrong plan. The correct round David comfortably drew as Black idea is 19 ¤f4 dxc4 20 ¥xb7 £xb7 with Nikolic (leaving them both the only 19...¤b5! 20 ¤f4 21 ¤h5, with equality. unbeaten participants in the A group) 20...¦xc5 Naturally not 20 cxb6? ¤c3. while Negi beat 17-year-old Benjamin 21 ¤h5 £d8 22 ¤xf6+ £xf6 23 ¦e1?! Bok who had needed just a draw for a 49...¤f5! 50 ¦xc6? The only defence 23 £f3 was necessary. From now on, GM norm. was 50 ¦h2 but, after 50...¦b1+ 51 ¢f2 Black dominates the battle. 23...¥c8 ¢g6, White ’s collapse is just a matter of 24 ¦ac1 ¤c3 25 £e7 £xe7 26 ¦xe7 Leiden 2012 time. 50...¤g3 51 ¦d6 51 ¦e4 was the ¥e6 27 ¥f1 ¦a8 28 b4 ¦c6 29 b5 ¦cc8 P.Negi - B.Bok only way to avoid mate, but not the 30 ¦c2 ¦e8?! 30...¦c5! was probably defeat. 51...¦b1+ 52 ¢h2 ¦h1+ 53 ¢g2 stronger, with the witty idea 31 ¥a3 ¦c4! ¤e3+ 54 ¢f2 ¦f1 mate – an unusual followed by ¦a4. 31 ¦xe8+ ¦xe8 32 ¦d2 mate picture. ¥f5 33 ¢g2 ¦e1! 34 ¦xd4 ¤d1 Leiden Final Standings (6-15 July): 1 GM D.Howell (ENG) 7½/9, 2 GM P.Negi (IND) 7, 3-8 GM B.Socko (POL), GM Nikolic (BIH), GM E.Vorobiov (RUS), GM A.Prasad (IND), GM Cs. Horvath (HUN), GM B. Lalith (IND) 6½, 9-15. IM JW De Jong, IM B.Bok, GM I.Khenkin (GER), FM S.Rijnaarts, GM V. Zakhartsov, V.Zakhartsov (both RUS) , GM J. van der Wiel 6.

23...¥c8! was necessary, to get rid of the AMSTERDAM mighty knight. 24 £d2!! A beautiful example of avoiding an ‘automatic ’ The largest summer event in the recapture. A knight sacrifice is Netherlands was the Science Park 35 ¥a3? The decisive error. The threatened. 24...f6 24...¦e6 was better Amsterdam tournament. The Dutch alternative was 35 ¥c1 ¤xf2 36 ¦xd5 but the rook will get in the way of the capital has more than two dozen clubs ¥e4+ 37 ¢xf2 ¦xf1+ 38 ¢xf1 ¥xd5 39 ¢f2 bishop and allow time for 25 axb3 ¥c8 and certainly deserves a major ¥xa2 40 ¥f4 ¥c4 41 ¥b8 a5 42 bxa6 ¥xa6 26 g5!. 25 ¤xg7! ¢xg7 26 £xh6+ ¢f7 competition; nevertheless its organisers 43 ¥c7 b5 44 ¢e3 b4, though Black 27 £h7+ ¢e6 28 g5! ¦f8 29 axb3? have had to struggle time and again with retains good winning chances. 35...¥e4+ White ’s turn to go wrong. It was a lot a rather limited budget and were even 36 ¢g1 ¤c3 37 ¦d2 Or 37 f3 ¤xb5 better to avoid this recapture altogether forced to abandon the entire idea for and proceed with the attack: 29 ¦h6! £e8 38 ¦d2 ¥xf3, etc. 37...¤b1 0 -1 some years during the past decade.

www.chess.co.uk 25 Dutch Summer Tournaments_Chess mag - 21_6_10 28/08/2012 12:45 Page 26

35 ¤g3 £e5 followed by the unavoidable 36...£a1. 33...¦g8+ 34 ¢h1 ¥g5 35 f4 £d5+ 36 f3 ¥h4 37 ¦d1 £a2 38 ¦d2 £b1+ 39 ¢h2 £f1 The black pieces have all reached their ideal posts. However, all vulnerable squares seem to be adequately covered by the white pieces, while his passed pawns are ready to march. A new player in this charged scene is promptly called for. 40 b5 e t i s b e w

m a d r e t s m A

P C A

: o t o h P

Le Quang Liem playing in the ‘adjournment tournament ’ in Amsterdam

Last year the tournament found a new and The safest way to proceed, carefully and highly suitable venue – the Sportcentrum comfortably studied by the world -class 40...¢g6!! An astounding royal entry, Universum of the Science Park in the very Slovenian female player away from the creating an anticipatory battery. 40...f6!? ticking clock. I had already seen Anna east of the city, accommodating more than doesn ’t quite work: 41 b6 e5 42 fxe5 fxe5 300 players in seven different sections. being shown fairly tough endgame 43 b7 ¥g3+ 44 ¤xg3 ¦xg3 45 ¢xg3 f4+ This lively festival was crowned by a studies and solving them without sight of 46 ¢h4 fxe3 47 b8£ exd2 48 £b7+ ¢g6 single-round top GM tournament the board. This one, however, is not such 49 £c6+ ¢f5 50 £e4+ ¢f6 51 £c6+= 49 ¢xd2 ¢e5! organized by the Association of Chess a tough nut to crack. 41 ¤g3 The sting lies in the following Professionals – the ACP Golden Classic. Caution! Watch out for the opposition! continuation: 41 ¦g2+ ¢xh5 42 ¦xg8 £e2+ The organisers introduced a special 49...¢d5?? is met by 50 ¢e3! ¢e5 51 c4 43 £xe2 dxe2 44 ¦g1 e1£ 45 ¦xe1 ¥xe1 a6 52 a4 a5 53 f4+ gxf4+ 54 ¢f3 wins. “novelty” event using the traditional time 46 b6 ¥f2 47 b7 ¥a7 wins. 41...¥xg3+ 0 1 50 ¢e3 b5! - control of 40 moves in 2½ hours followed The only move: 50...a6 51 c4 42 ¢xg3 ¢h5+ 43 ¢h2 ¢h4! 44 £f2+ by adjournments. The adjournment b5 52 cxb5 axb5 53 a3 ¢e6 54 ¢e4, etc. £xf2+ 45 ¦xf2 ¦c8! winning. 51 ¢f3 envelopes was a regular features of the White a pawn up can make no first half of my chess career but have not progress: 51 a3 a6! 52 f3 a5 53 ¢d3 ¢d5=. 51...¢d5 ½ Realising his The Crown Group was dominated in been seen in an official competitive arena ½- impressive fashion by the popular for many years and naturally provoked a opponent had done her homework flawlessly, the Vietnamese number one Ukrainian genius Vasily Ivanchuk, scoring public discussion. The games were not four wins and two draws. rated so the players could concentrate decided to call it a day. fully on the quality of their games rather ACP Golden Classic Final Standings Le Quang Liem managed to demonstrate than worrying about the implications for (14-22 July): 1 Vasily Ivanchuk 5/6, 2 Gata his renowned creative skills in the the next rating list. Kamsky 4½, 3 Emil Sutovsky 3½, 4-5 Le following position: Quang Liem, Anna Muzychuk 3, 6 Krishnan Just four of the 21 games reached Sasikiran 1½, 7 Baadur Jobava ½. adjournment sessions. Here is one of them: ACP Golden Classic 2012 K.Sasikiran - Le Quang Liem ACP Golden Classic 2012 DUTCH CHAMPIONSHIPS Le Quang Liem - A.Muzychuk The Amsterdam tournament also hosted the individual national championships for the first time. Eight grandmasters competed in the men’s group, where the 2011 champion, 18-year-old Anish Giri, defended his title successfully and effortlessly. There was plenty of fighting chess and the following curious miniature.

Dutch Championship 2012 S.Ernst - J.Smeets Semi-Slav 1 c4 c6 2 ¤f3 d5 3 e3 ¤f6 4 ¤c3 e6 5 b3 ¥d6 6 ¥b2 ¤bd7 7 d4 0 -0 8 ¥d3 ¦e8 30...¦d3! 31 ¦xd3 cxd3 32 £e3 ¥xf3! 9 £c2 e5 10 cxd5 cxd5 11 dxe5 ¤xe5 12 ¤xe5 ¥xe5 13 ¤b5?! How many times 33 gxf3 Forcing open the g -file since 48 ¦d2 48...¦xd2+! The sealed move. 33 £xf3 is met by 33...d2 34 ¦d1 ¦c1 were we told to castle first? 13...d4! 14 0-0

26 September 2012 Dutch Summer Tournaments_Chess mag - 21_6_10 28/08/2012 12:45 Page 27

14 0-0-0? is more tricky, but loses to already beating Smeets, lost his last two with normal moves. The computer seems 14...¥g4! 15 f3 ¦c8 16 ¥c4 ¥d7! 17 ¥xd4 games against Bakre and Greenfeld. to agree! For example: 15...gxh6 16 £xh6 14...dxe3 15 ¦ad1 a6 18 ¥xe5 axb5, etc. English FM Peter Sowray scored 5½. ¤h7 17 ¦a3!? ¦e8 18 ¤d5 ¥xd5 19 exd5 £b6 16 ¥xe5 ¦xe5 17 ¥c4? £xd5 20 ¤h4 ¢h8 21 ¤f5 ¥f8 22 £h5 15 ¦fd1 VLISSINGEN with sufficient compensation. Preparing to activate the rook with a 15...¦ac8 Our last stop is the 16th edition of the HZ queen or knight retreat to e1. (Hogeschool Zeeland) Tournament in 16 ¤e1! A multi -purpose move, Vlissingen – a seaside chess tournament defending c2, enabling 17 f3 and whose main sponsor is the University of relocating the knight which has no future 16...¦fd8 17 f3 ¤c5? Applied Sciences. All 248 participants on f3. A thematic (from 15 countries this year) play in one breakthrough on the most secured group, which allows a player of any square was better here: 17...d5!? 18 exd5 standard a fair chance to meet a titled ¤f8 19 dxe6 ¦xd2 20 exf7+ ¢xf7 opponent, and games are played in the 21 ¥xd2 ¤e6 22 ¦a4 with play for both 18 ¤d5 ¥xd5 19 exd5 ¦f8 20 b4 evening, allowing local participants to do sides. ¤cd7 21 c4 ¤h7 their day job, and at the same making it possible for visiting players to spend their days on the beach. White is already in trouble but the text makes things worse. 17 ¤d6!? ¥g4 Local GM Dimitri Reinderman led the 18 ¤c4 ¥xd1 19 £xd1 £c7 20 ¤xe5 and field after the seventh round on 6½ and comfortably drew his last two games to he can fight on. 17...¤e4! 0 -1 Now it ’s all over: 18 fxe3 £xe3+ 19 ¢h1 ¤g3+ share the top honours. That helped the 20 hxg3 ¦h5 mate. Israeli rising star Gil Popilski to catch up following an impressive finish beating GMs Ganguly and Esen and drawing Dutch Championship (14-22 July): 1 with GM Haslinger, who shared third Anish Giri 6/7, 2-3 Ivan Sokolov, Erwin place, as did English FM Sowray. L’Ami 5, 4 Robin van Kampen 3½, 5 Jan Smeets 2½, 6-8 Dimitri Reinderman, HZ Vlissingen Scores (4-11 August): 1- Sipke Ernst, Robin Swinkels 2. The 2 Dimitri Reinderman (NED), IM Gil women’s section, with only four players Popilski (ISR) 7½/9, 3-9 GM Maxim (double round) saw an end to the long 22 c5! Employing a well -known tactical Turov (RUS), GM Stewart Haslinger motif to start a dangerous attack against streak of successive titles won by GM (ENG), GM Dronavalli Harika (IND), GM Black s queenside. 22...¥g5 23 c6 bxc6 Zhaoqin Peng, with the championship Illya Nyzhnyk (UKR), FM Quinten ’ going to WGM Tea Lanchava. Or 23...¤b8 24 ¦ac1 £e7 25 b5 axb5 Ducarmon (NED), FM Peter Sowray 26 ¥xb5 and White has a clear (ENG), FM Floris van Assendelft (NED) 24 ¥xa6 ¦a8 25 ¥f1?! The main open section attracted 75 advantage. A 7. Two of the favourites among the 11 sudden confusion. Not surprising as the competitors, including six GMs. American invited GMs, leading GMs Ganguly and IM Robert Andrew Hungaski and Israeli game was very tense and critical to the Sandipan, were out of form and had to result of the tournament! 25 dxc6 was GM Alon Greenfeld shared the top settle for 6 points. honours. Stewart Haslinger, enjoyed a correct and now 25...¥xe3+ 26 £xe3 ¦xa6 27 cxd7 ¤f6 28 b5! wins. good start but finished poorly. He lost to The young Israeli co-winner IM Gil 25...¥xe3+ 26 £xe3 cxd5 Not 26...c5 Ukrainian GM Sergeev in round seven Popilski is just a few rating points away 27 £c3! £b7 28 b5 and White is doing and, surprisingly, to the local FM Plukkel from a GM title. He has kindly annotated well. 27 ¦xd5 ¤hf6 28 ¦d2 d5 Missing (who scored an IM norm) in the last his instructive victory in the last round round, finding just a bit of comfort beating against a Turkish GM. an opportunity to obtain strong counter - yours truly in the eighth round. With 5½ play by 28...¦fb8! 29 ¦c2 £d8 30 £d2 d5, though White is still better. 29 ¦c2 points he was finished 12th in the final NOTES BY POPILSKI standings, while father Mike settled for £d6? Now Black ’s position deteriorates 4½ points in the ‘C’ section. Vlissingen HZ Open 2012 surprisingly quickly. 29...£b8 30 b5 d4 G.Popilski - B.Esen 31 £b3 d3! 32 ¤xd3 ¦xa5 33 ¦xa5 DIEREN Sicilian Defence £b6+ 34 ¤c5 £xa5 35 ¤xd7 ¤xd7 1 e4 c5 2 ¤f3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 ¤xd4 ¤f6 36 £e3 is better for White. 30 b5 White 5 ¤c3 a6 6 ¥e3 e5 7 ¤f3 £c7 8 ¥e2 For those who wished to sample the uses the black queen ’s vulnerable 30...d4 entire Dutch circuit, the traditional Dutch ¥e7 9 a4 0 -0 10 0-0 ¥e6 11 ¤g5 ¥d7 position to gain space and time. 31 £a3 £e6 32 ¦c6 £f5 33 b6 e4 34 b7 Open in Dieren (24 July - 2 August) was 12 £d2? The queen doesn ’t actually their next stop. Despite budgetary belong here and only interferes with the ¦ad8 35 a6 ¤e5 36 ¦d6 exf3 37 ¤xf3 difficulties, the format of four groups and bishop on e3 and the knight after it d3 38 ¦xd8 ¦xd8 39 £a5 ¤xf3+ the prize fund were maintained. However, returns to f3. 12 a5 ¤c6 13 ¥b6 £c8 40 gxf3 £g6+ 41 ¢h1 ¦e8 42 ¦e1 1-0 with just 12 foreign players the top group 14 ¤f3 seems better. 12...h6 13 ¤f3 ¥e6 14 a5 ¤bd7 was way weaker than usual. The top 14...£c6! was a lot stronger, As I am writing these lines, the Dutch seed GM Jan Smeets lived up to to exploit the lack of coordination in international circuit is still on with the expectations, scoring 7/9 ahead of GMs White ’s forces following the unfortunate strong Roosendaal Open and another Alon Greenfeld (ISR) and Tejas Bakre choice on move 12. I intended to Haarlem festival in the pipeline. A small (IND) on 6½ each. Russian GM continue with 15 ¥xh6!?, deciding that I country with a never-ending chess party Vyacheslav Ikonnikov, who led the field would be able to force a draw, which is just across the channel: don’t miss it next after seven rounds with 6 points, having better than just having a worse position summer!