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 t 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 n 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.