Dutch Treat
by Hans Ree

ANTWERP

At the central station of the Belgian city of Antwerp I meet
Sokolov and Nikolic, two Bosnian grandmasters who live in the
Dutch town Leiderdorp. They had been on the same train as I. "Are
you here as a journalist or as a player?" Sokolov asks. As a player.
"So this time you'll have to suffer. Good."

Yes, once a year, at least, one has to suffer playing chess, not to
become a jellyfish. We are here for the Lost Boys tournament.
Sokolov will play with seven others in the Crown group, Nikolic in
the open group, like me. It is the fifth year that this tournament has
been held; I am playing here for the first time. It is reputed to be a
nice tournament with a pleasant social life and that will turn out to
be true.

In the tournament hall I recognize one of the arbiters. When was it
that I played him? Havana Olympiad, 1966. I won, that I
remember, but about how the game went I have no idea. He does.
"It was a Ruy Lopez. I was a little bit worse all the time and then
we adjourned. Our team had an appointment at our consulate
which could not be canceled, so there was very little time for
analysis. Then next day I lost quickly." I tell him my memory is
not as it was. He smiles. In some way we are even now. I won, his
memory is working fine. And I realize that he is still a chessplayer,
though he has changed into the role of an arbiter. 

Do chessplayers exist who lose a game without being handicapped
by an appointment at the consulate, or by being ill or having dined
too heavily the day before? Chessplayers who lose just because
their opponent was better? They exist, but they are a rare find. 

I am addressed by a Belgian who plays in one of the lower groups. In
his village he organises a simul every year and he intends to invite
me. "You are still alive. Donner suddenly fell ill and died, we were
too late for him. We had Jannes van der Wal though, two years
ago, just in time." Van der Wal was a Dutch world champion in
draughts who had near-master strength in chess and died at a
young age.

I agree with the Belgian organizer that one should grab one's
chance when it is still there, but it appears that I will have to wait
some time for my invitation, for next time the simul will be given
by Loek van Wely. What's that, are they in a hurry for him? It
seems not necessary for this young man in fine health. But that is
not the point, the village club wants some variety, one year
someone from the past, another year someone from now.

At the Eiermarkt (Eggsmarket), just in front of the hotel, Piket,
Ljubojevic and Van Wijgerden are involved in a jumping contest.
Piket can be called a man from now, but Ljubojevic and Van
Wijgerden are already more or less from the past, for Ljubojevic is
not as strong as he used to be and Van Wijgerden, an international
master, has not played for many years and is here only to comment
on the games for the spectators. Ljubojevic wins with at least a
street stone difference and that is a fine feat, because Van
Wijgerden had the reputation of being very athletic, able to climb a
wall like a monkey. Ljubo is proud of his achievement and with
good reason.

Yes, it is good to be among the chessplayers again and to be sunk
into the chessboard for ten days. In the mornings I prepare my
openings, like in old times, but now my preparation amounts to
realizing that so much has happened that I have not kept up with,
that I had better avoid the variation that is under scrutiny. Good
that I have only little time for preparation, otherwise no opening
variation at all would be left to play. At the time of writing my
suffering has been limited to the irritation about a draw that should
have been a win. The real agony, about a loss, I have avoided
during the first half of the tournament, but it will come, surely.
Long live chess!

White: Piket Black: Sokolov, Crown Group 1. d2-d4 Ng8-f6 2.
c2-c4 e7-e6 3. Ng1-f3 Bf8-b4+ 4. Bc1-d2 c7-c5 5. Bd2xb4 c5xb4
6. g2-g3 0-0 7. Bf1-g2 Nb8-c6 8. 0-0 d7-d6 9. Nb1-d2 Qd8-b6 10.
e2-e3 Bc8-d7 11. h2-h3 Ra8-c8 12. g3-g4 White does not intend to
play g5 in the near future, but black prevents the move anyway, to
have it out of his mind. 12...h7-h6 But in doing so he weakens his
kingside, which will cost him dearly later. 13. Qd1-e2 a7-a5 14.
Rf1-c1 Nc6-e7 15. a2-a3 b4xa3 It seems inconsistent to play a5
first and then to open the b-file which is weakened by this move.
16. b2xa3 Qb6-a6 17. Ra1-b1 Ne7-g6 Probably 17...b5 was best,
though white keeps a tiny advantage with 18. Bf1. 18. Rc1-c2
Bd7-c6 19. Rc2-b2 d6-d5 After this things are getting serious for
black. 20. g4-g5 h6xg5 21. Rb2-b6 Qa6-a8 22. Nf3xg5 d5xc4 23.
Bg2xc6 Rc8xc6 24. Rb6xc6 b7xc6 25. Qe2xc4 Rf8-c8 26. Nd2-f3
Nf6-d5 According to Piket the pawn sacrifice 26...c5 was black's
best chance. 27. Nf3-e5 Now after 27...Nxe5 28. dxe5 white would
have a very dangerous attack. Black opts for a desperate counter
attack. 27...Ng6-h4 28. Ng5xf7 c6-c5 29. Nf7-d6 Nc8-d8 29...Nxe3
would threaten mate, but come to nothing after 30. Qxe6+
followed by 31. Rb7 30. d4xc5 Nd5xe3 31. Qc4xe6+ Kg8-h7 32.
c5-c6 Rd8-b8 33. Rb1-e1 Ne3-g2 34. Nd6-f7 (See Diagram)
34...g7-g6 A nice mate with two knights would follow after
34...Nf4 or 34...Nxe1: 35. Ng5+ Kh8 36. Nef7+ Kg8 37. Nh6+
Kh8 38. Qg8+ Rxg8 39. Nhf7 mate. 35. Nf7-g5+ Kh7-g7 36.
Qe6-e7+ Kg7-h6 37. Ne5-g4+ Kh6-h5 38. Qe7-h7+ Kh5xg5 39.
Qh7-h6+ Black resigned. 

And here is a spectacular struggle from the open. White: Bosboom
Black: Kiril Georgiev 1. d2-d4 Ng8-f6 2. c2-c4 c7-c5 3. d4-d5
b7-b5 4. c4xb5 a7-a6 5. Nb1-c3 a6xb5 6. e2-e4 b5-b4 7. Nc3-b5
d7-d6 8. Bc1-f4 Nf6xe4 9. Bf1-d3 g7-g5 10. Bf4-e3 Ne4-f6 11.
Be3xg5 Bf8-g7 12. Ng1-e2 Nb8-d7 13. Ne2-g3 Nd7-e5 14. 0-0
Qd8-b6 15. Rf1-e1 The beginning of a great adventure with
uncalculable consequences. The safe move would have been 15. a4
15...c5-c4 16. Bd3xc4 Ne5xc4 One piece sacrificed, another one is
attacked, but never mind, onwards for the attack: 17. Ng3-h5 0-0
18. Nh5xg7 Kg8xg7 19. Ne1xe7 Nf6-g8 20. Nb5-c7 This way the
seemingly stranded knight threatens to take part in the attack by
21. Ne8+. 20...Ng8xe7 21. Nc7xa8 Qb6-a7 22. Qd1-h5 (See
Diagram) Now by 22...Ng8 black could have forced his opponent
to give a perpetual with 23. Bh6+ Nxh6 24. Qg5+. But also black's
blood must have been boiling at this stage and a draw was
probably far from his mind. 22...Nc4-e5 23. Bg5-h6+ Kg7-g8 24.
Bh6xf8 Kg8xf8 25. Qh5-h6+ Kf8-g8 26. Qh6xd6 Ne5-g4 27.
Na8-b6 Bc8-f5 28. h2-h3 Ng4xf2 29. Kg1xf2 Ne7xd5 30. Qd6xd5
Qa7xb6+ White has won back everything he sacificed with heavy
interest. Now it is black who has some attack against the king, but
it is not sufficient. 31. Kf2-f1 Bf5-c8 32. Qd5-g5+ Kg8-f8 33.
Ra1-d1 Bc8-a6+ 34. Kf1-e1 Qb6-e6+ 35. Ke1-d2 Qe6-d6+ 36.
Kd2-c1 Ba6-d3 37. Qg5-e3 Qd6-c6+ 38. Kc1-d2 Bd3-g6 39.
Kd2-e1 Qc6xg2 40. Rd1-d8+ Kf8-g7 41. Qe3-d4+ f7-f6 42.
Rd8-d7+ Black resigned.

For lovers of curiosities here is the accident that happened to Loek
van Wely in the second round of the Crown Group. White: Ye
Rongguang Black: Van Wely 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5 Bg7 4.
Nbd2 0-0 5. e3 d6 6. Bf1-c4 c7-c5 7. c3 b6?? Belgian chessplayers
were able to tell that by coincidence the same mistake had been
made a few months earlier during a simul of Karpov in Brussels by
Hugo van Gompel, the pensioned ex-chief of the Brussels fire
brigade. Both Karpov and Ye saw what was wrong with the move,
they played 8. Bxf6 Bxf6 9. Bd5 and won quickly.

What can one say? I myself once blundered a piece against
Petrosian on the sixth move, and even that is not a world record.
The Crown Group was finally won by Veselin Topalov with 5,5
out of 7, four wins, three draws, a fine score. The indomitable
Victor Kortchnoi took second place, half a point behind, and at the
closing ceremony he got an applause as if he had become world
champion. The Open was won with 7,5 out of 9 by Mikhail
Gurevich, now a Belgian citizen, who started with 6 out of 6 and
could freewheel after that. I shared tenth place with 6 points and to
my surpise I won a decent prize of more than $600. The agony of
losing had been with me, but all in all the pleasure was much
greater.

This column first appeared in the Dutch newspaper
NRC-Handelsblad August 9, 1997. Copyright 1997 Hans Ree, All
Rights Reserved. 