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Dutch Treat Hans Ree
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Strange Happenings at the Dutch Championship This year's Dutch championship, won by Jan Smeets, was announced by the Dutch chess federation as the strongest ever. Though this was not quite true, it was a fine championship, with an attractive mixture of youngsters and old hands. Not really old, but let's say mature; Loek van Wely, six times Dutch champion, was born in 1972. There were three players who are only fifteen-years old: Anish Giri, Dutch champion in 2009; Benjamin Bok; and Robin van Kampen. Giri cannot be called a promising youngster anymore. As the highest rated fifteen-year old player in the world, his promise is already well-fulfilled. Of the other two teenagers the Dutch have great hopes. It seemed a defiant gesture to have the championship at the same time as the FIFA World Cup soccer championship, which guaranteed that in the Netherlands there would be no television coverage at all, and only minimal coverage in the newspapers. Let the masses watch football, while the elite plays chess. But that wasn't really the federation's attitude, as they bowed to soccer by postponing the next-to-last round by two hours, so that everyone could watch the soccer match between the Netherlands and Japan. For Jan Timman, always a firm upholder of the dignity of the game, this deviance from the normal schedule was one of many reasons why he didn't participate in this championship.
The dignity of chess was under heavy fire during this championship. In the second round, Loek van Wely was absent, as he had received permission to postpone his game to a free day, in order to participate for his club SG Porz in the German team blitz championship that was being played in Bavaria, about 400 miles away from Eindhoven, where the Dutch championship was held. Van Wely helped his team to the blitz championship with a fine score of 23 out of 25 on second board, and then hurried back to the Netherlands, which left him little time to prepare for his next-round game. It showed. As white against Wouter Spoelman, another Dutch youngster, Van Wely, usually well-prepared, was lost after twenty-one moves, moves that had already all been played at the Olympiad of 2008. Losing a game in this way happens to amateurs, or to strong professional players who interrupt a serious championship to play a strenuous blitz tournament in another country. Van Wely, Loek (2653) – Spoelman, Wouter (2580)
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bg4 5.Nc3 e6 6.h3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 Nbd7 8.Bd3 Bb4 9.Bd2 0-0 10.a3 Ba5 11.0-0 Te8 12.cxd5 exd5 13.b4 Bc7 14.b5 Nf8 15.bxc6 bxc6 Spoelman had this position earlier in Cybrowski-Spoelman, Eppingen 2010, where Black was fine after 16.e4 Ne6. 16.Rfc1 Ne6 17.h4 After 17.Na4 Ng5 18.Qf5 Nfe4 19.Be1 h5, White's queen would be in trouble. One variation, hardly to be taken seriously, is then 20.Rxc6 g6 21.Rxg6+ fxg6 22.Qxg6+ Kh8 23.Qxh5+ Nh7, when White's four pawns do not compensate for the rook. 17...c5 Van Wely too had some earlier experience with this line. In Van Wely-Potkin, Dagomys 2008, White had a small advantage after 17...Rb8 18.Bf5. 18.dxc5 d4 19.Ne4 After 19.exd4 Nxd4 20.Qd1 Nb3 21.Qxb3 Qxd3, Black has good compensation for the sacrificed pawn. 19...dxe3 20.Nxf6+ gxf6
21.Qxe3 The decisive mistake. White could save himself with 21.Bc3 Qxd3 22.Qxf6 exf2+ 23.Kh1 followed by a perpetual check, as in a game Papin-Vysochin, Lipetsk 2008. After the game, Loek said that at this point he had wondered what Black's intention could be, as it seemed to him that Black was lost. 21...Ng5 Here is the answer. White has to give up material. 22.Rd1 In Iotov-San Segundo Camillo, Olympiad Dresden 2008, White played 22.Bxh7+ Kxh7 23.Qb3, which after 23...Rb8 24.Bb4 Ne6 offered even less chances than Van Wely's choice. 22...Rxe3 23.Bxe3 Ne6 24.Bxh7+ Kxh7 25.Rxd8 Rxd8 With only two pawns for his piece, White is lost. 26.Kf1 Kg6 27.Ke2 Nd4+ 28.Bxd4 Rxd4 29.Rb1 Rxh4 30.Rb7 Be5 31.g3 To harass Black's bishop with f2-f4, but it doesn't work. 31...Ra4 32.Kd3 Rxa3+ 33.Kc4 Rf3 0-1 Curiouser and curiouser became the championship when at the start of the next round a scientific team applied all kinds of measuring instruments to Van Wely's body to monitor his emotions during his game against Benjamin Bok. In itself this might be interesting. Several decades ago there was a scientific congress in Germany, Chess and Medicine, where they did all kinds of similar experiments. In one game, Spassky against Pfleger, Pfleger played under the influence of beta blockers, which are supposed to calm you. Indeed it worked. As Pfleger related in an article, he experienced no stress and blundered calmly and serenely right after the opening, without any of the unpleasant feelings that would normally accompany such a blunder. I would like to know if one could spot a bad move by the body reactions of the chess player. In many cases the body notices important things earlier than the brain, so one might imagine the body noticing a blunder while the brain is still blissfully unaware of it. If so, players might do well to train themselves to tune in to their heartbeat, blood pressure or the electrical resistance of their skin. Probably these things have been well-studied in the past by psychologists of the Soviet chess federation. A national championship, however, is not the right place for such experiments and though I do not want to tread on Geurt Gijssen's territory, I think that FIDE rules were violated here, as in fact Van Wely provided a running commentary on the state of his body and mind during the game. My view on the FIDE rules is that communication between players and public is simply not allowed Not only the external circumstances, but also the game between Bok and Van Wely itself turned out to be bizarre. After sixteen moves, a three-fold repetition had occurred. Time to claim a draw, by either player, one might think. But no, they went on till move thirty-seven, thereby repeating the position thirteen times. On the way, Bok had offered a draw several times, but Van Wely declined, not because there was any possibility for him to escape from the repetition, but because he was angry at young Benjamin Bok for playing for a draw as white. He wanted to force him to claim the draw, which eventually happened. A few rounds of normal chess followed and then in the seventh round there was the fainting incident.
Early during the game Giri-Nijboer, Giri noticed that there was blood on his hands and then he almost fainted with fright when it seemed that there was also blood from his ear. Put horizontally with his head on a cushion Giri received medical attention and it turned out that he had only cut his finger at the sharp lid of a soft-drink bottle and then inadvertently touched his ear. In the meantime a first-aid team had arrived. It was slightly misinformed and turned its attention to Nijboer, thinking that he was the man who had fainted or almost fainted. Nijboer protested that there was nothing wrong with him, but the team insisted on a thorough check-up, just to be sure. It took some time before they realized that they had the wrong man. Then Giri and Nijboer found it wise to agree on an early draw. As far as I know – I was on holiday and followed the championship from afar – no weird incidents occurred during the final two rounds.
Through most of the tournament it had been a race for first place between Jan Smeets and Anish Giri, a race that was decided in the penultimate round, when Van Wely beat Giri. At the start of the last round Smeets was a full point ahead of Giri and Sipke Ernst and the championship was quickly decided when Van Kampen-Smeets went 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 draw. Smeets scored 6½ out of 9 with strong and solid play, never being in serious danger. Giri, who beat Dimitri Reinderman in the last round, finished second, a half-point behind Smeets. It had truly been an eventful championship. Comment on this month's column via our Contact Page! Pertinent responses will be posted below daily. Readers' Responses Eric from the USA - Regarding the Van Kampen-Smeets draw: Why were these players not immediately forfeited for agreeing to a draw before a real sporting contest had started - i.e., result-fixing? This is the real outrage. GM Smeets's title is tainted by this sort of play - locally, we would not permit amateurs to agree to such draws (i.e., 0F-0F would be the clear result). |
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