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The 4^th ENCI Limburg Open took place in Maastricht from 21 to 24 May.  Almost three hundred players took part, divided into three Sections according to rating.  The top Section was a FIDE-rated seven-round swiss tournament with one hundred participants.  Seven Grandmasters took part, including four (Miroshnichenko, Fedorchuk, Gharamian and Berg) who are rated over 2600.

The two winners, each managing five wins and two draws, were Tigran Ghramian from France and Evgenij Miroshnichenko from Ukraine.  Gharamian took the title by virtue of his better Buchholz tie-break score.  Both players managed Tournament Performance Ratings of over 2800.  Gharamian had a particularly crushing win against the third-placed player Friso Nijboer (the game is reproduced below).

Tom Wiley and Frank Hoffmeister were the two entrants from Europchess.  We both took a half-point bye in Round 1, in order to avoid getting stuck in the Friday afternoon traffic coming out of Brussels.  We travelled together on Saturday morning; the journey took just over an hour, making this one of the more easily accessible tournaments in the calendar for Brussels-based players.

Frank finished with four points out of seven, and a Tournament Performance Rating of 2275.  His best win, against the Dutch WIM Lisa Schut, is given below with notes by Frank.  Another noteworthy result was his draw with Black against the 2008 Belgian champion IM Bruno Laurent. In contrast, another leading Belgian IM Bart Michiels beat him in 60 moves, making use of the bishop pair in an otherwise equal endgame.

Tom finished with four and a half points out of seven, and a Tournament Performance Rating of 2356.  He scored convincing wins against lower rated-players, but lost with Black against GM Andrei Shchekachev after an interesting struggle in a Hedgehog position. His fastest win (given below with notes by Tom) was in the last round against the Dutch player Arno Henzen.

See the final results on the official website: http://www.limburgopen.nl/uitslagen/groepa/index.html

Here are some interesting games:

PGN viewer by ChessTempo.com

Top rankings after 5 rounds:

1. Pere Moles Palleja  4.5

2-5.   Frank Hoffmeister, Marc Vallett, Christophe Keller, Timothy Binham 4.0

Ronde 7 (9-06-2010)(Appariements)

1  0 Marc Vallet           ( 3) ( 5.0)  -   Timothy Binham        ( 1) ( 4.5)
2  0 Jeno Czuczai          ( 8) ( 5.0)  -   Pere Moles Palleja    ( 7) ( 4.5)P
3  0 Frank Hoffmeister     ( 6) ( 4.5)  -   Georgi Tomov          ( 2) ( 4.5)
4  0 Johannes Bertram      (11) ( 4.0)  -   Christophe Keller     ( 5) ( 4.0)
5  0 Jose Maria Ramos Flori(12) ( 4.0)  -   Paavo Palk            ( 9) ( 4.0)
6  0 Barend Verachtert     (29) ( 3.5)  -   Rustu Yucel           ( 4) ( 3.5)
7  0 Ronny Bonne           (10) ( 3.5)  -   Kristian Frederiksen  (20) ( 3.5)P
8  0 Mattias Johansson     (15) ( 3.5)  -   Dominique Dupuis      (13) ( 3.5)
9  0 Serge Le Gal          (16) ( 3.0)  -   Paolo Garzotti        (28) ( 3.5)
10  0 Georges Vassilakis    (14) ( 3.0)  -   Luis Carlos Busquets P(24) ( 3.0)
11  0 Gunnar Holm-Jacobsen  (36) ( 3.0)  -   Jens Frederiksen      (18) ( 3.0)P
12  0 Jesper Abrahamsen     (22) ( 3.0)  -   Henrique Henriques    (21) ( 3.0)P
13  0 Vladymyr Dedobbeleer  (30) ( 2.5)  -   Nikolaj Mladenov      (19) ( 2.5)
14  0 Alessandro D’Alfonso  (42) ( 2.5)  -   Sergio Serrano Samper (23) ( 2.0)
15  0 Milan Pein            (31) ( 2.0)  -   Edit Kollo            (17) ( 2.0)
16  0 Kancz Csaba           (25) ( 2.0)  -   Enrique Beltran Poveda(35) ( 2.0)
17  0 Emanuel Jankowski     (38) ( 2.0)  -   Alex Amelotti         (26) ( 2.0)P
18  0 Bruno Gatta           (27) ( 2.0)  -   Andre Bouquet         (39) ( 2.0)
19  0 Paris Sansoglou       (34) ( 1.0)  -   Jeremy Rand           (33) ( 2.0)
20  0 Eric Taintenier       (40) ( 1.0)  -   Pavel Cernoch         (32) ( 1.0)

Postponed games :
2  0 Jeno Czuczai          ( 8) ( 5.0)  -   Pere Moles Palleja    ( 7) ( 4.5)
7  0 Ronny Bonne           (10) ( 3.5)  -   Kristian Frederiksen  (20) ( 3.5)
11  0 Gunnar Holm-Jacobsen  (36) ( 3.0)  -   Jens Frederiksen      (18) ( 3.0)
12  0 Jesper Abrahamsen     (22) ( 3.0)  -   Henrique Henriques    (21) ( 3.0)
17  0 Emanuel Jankowski     (38) ( 2.0)  -   Alex Amelotti         (26) ( 2.0)

  1  0 Pere Moles Palleja    ( 7) ( 4.5)  -   Marc Vallet           ( 3) ( 4.0)P
  2  0 Timothy Binham        ( 1) ( 4.0)  -   Frank Hoffmeister     ( 6) ( 4.0)
  3  0 Christophe Keller     ( 5) ( 4.0)  -   Jeno Czuczai          ( 8) ( 4.0)
  4  0 Rustu Yucel           ( 4) ( 3.5)  -   Georgi Tomov          ( 2) ( 3.5)P
  5  0 Paavo Palk            ( 9) ( 3.0)  -   Georges Vassilakis    (14) ( 3.0)
  6  0 Mattias Johansson     (15) ( 3.0)  -   Ronny Bonne           (10) ( 3.0)P
  7  0 Johannes Bertram      (11) ( 3.0)  -   Serge Le Gal          (16) ( 3.0)
  8  0 Jens Frederiksen      (18) ( 3.0)  -   Jose Maria Ramos Flori(12) ( 3.0)P
  9  0 Dominique Dupuis      (13) ( 2.5)  -   Gunnar Holm-Jacobsen  (36) ( 3.0)
 10  0 Nikolaj Mladenov      (19) ( 2.5)  -   Barend Verachtert     (29) ( 2.5)
 11  0 Kristian Frederiksen  (20) ( 2.5)  -   Vladymyr Dedobbeleer  (30) ( 2.5)
 12  0 Paolo Garzotti        (28) ( 2.5)  -   Alessandro D'Alfonso  (42) ( 2.5)P
 13  0 Henrique Henriques    (21) ( 2.0)  -   Milan Pein            (31) ( 2.0)
 14  0 Jeremy Rand           (33) ( 2.0)  -   Jesper Abrahamsen     (22) ( 2.0)p
 15  0 Enrique Beltran Poveda(35) ( 2.0)  -   Luis Carlos Busquets P(24) ( 2.0)
 16  0 Edit Kollo            (17) ( 1.5)  -   Bruno Gatta           (27) ( 1.5)
 17  0 Sergio Serrano Samper (23) ( 1.5)  -   Emanuel Jankowski     (38) ( 1.5)
 18  0 Paris Sansoglou       (34) ( 1.0)  -   Kancz Csaba           (25) ( 1.0)
 19  0 Alex Amelotti         (26) ( 1.0)  -   Eric Taintenier       (40) ( 1.0)
 20  0 Andre Bouquet         (39) ( 1.0)  -   Franklin Booker       (41) ( 0.0)
 21  0 Pavel Cernoch         (32) ( 1.0) Bye

   Tit Nom                     Cote  Cat No    No ID FIDE  F/M DateNaiss  ClNr  Club    Pts    Perf  Rés   Cum   Buch  B M   S B 
  1    Pere Moles Palleja     (2166) 0                  0   M                0          4.5/5  2401  ---   ---   ---   ---  0.00
  2    Frank Hoffmeister      (2192) 0                  0   M                0          4.0/5  2292  ---  14.0   ---   ---  0.00
  3    Marc Vallet            (2209) 0                  0   M                0          4.0/5  2299  ---  13.0   ---   ---  0.00
  4    Christophe Keller      (2194) 0                  0   M                0          4.0/5  2197  ---  12.0   ---   ---  0.00
  5    Timothy Binham         (2323) 0                  0   M                0          4.0/5  2284  ---  11.0   ---   ---  0.00
  6    Rustu Yucel            (2200) 0                  0   M                0          3.5/5  2185  ---  11.5   ---   ---  0.00
  7    Georgi Tomov           (2284) 0                  0   M                0          3.5/5  2139  ---   9.5   ---   ---  0.00
  8    Ronny Bonne            (2046) 0                  0   M                0          3.0/5  2197  ---  12.0   ---   ---  0.00
  9    Jeno Czuczai           (2131) 0                  0   M                0          3.0/4  2118  ---  11.0  14.5   ---  0.00
 10    Paavo Palk             (2090) 0                  0   M                0          3.0/5  2019  ---  11.0  14.0   ---  0.00
 11    Johannes Bertram       (2017) 0                  0   M                0          3.0/4  2109  ---  11.0  13.5   ---  0.00
 12    Jose Maria Ramos Flori (2012) 0                  0   M                0          3.0/5  2076  ---  10.0  14.0   ---  0.00
 13    Serge Le Gal           (1900) 0                  0   M                0          3.0/5  1983  ---  10.0  12.5   ---  0.00
 14    Mattias Johansson      (1900) 0                  0   M                0          3.0/5  1894  ---   9.0   ---   ---  0.00
 15    Georges Vassilakis     (1930) 0                  0   M                0          3.0/5  1927  ---   8.0   ---   ---  0.00
 16    Dominique Dupuis       (1947) 0                  0   M                0          2.5/5  1863  ---   8.5   ---   ---  0.00
 17    Kristian Frederiksen   (1800) 0                  0   M                0          2.5/5  1866  ---   7.5  14.0   ---  0.00
 18    Nikolaj Mladenov       (1800) 0                  0   M                0          2.5/5  1693  ---   7.5  11.5   ---  0.00
 19    Barend Verachtert      (1650) 0                  0   M                0          2.5/5  1796  ---   7.5  11.0   ---  0.00
 20    Paolo Garzotti         (1668) 0                  0   M                0          2.5/5  1696  ---   7.0   ---   ---  0.00
 21    Vladymyr Dedobbeleer   (1629) 0                  0   M                0          2.5/5  1722  ---   6.5   ---   ---  0.00
 22    Alessandro D'Alfonso   (1200) 0                  0   M                0          2.5/5  1511  ---   5.0   ---   ---  0.00
 23    Enrique Beltran Poveda (1500) 0                  0   M                0          2.0/5  1728  ---   7.5  13.0   ---  0.00
 24    Jens Frederiksen       (1839) 0                  0   M                0          2.0/4  1703  ---   7.5  12.0   ---  0.00
 25    Gunnar Holm-Jacobsen   (1500) 0                  0   M                0          2.0/4  1819  ---   7.0   ---   ---  0.00
 26    Henrique Henriques     (1800) 0                  0   M                0          2.0/4  1814  ---   6.0   ---   ---  0.00
 27    Jesper Abrahamsen      (1750) 0                  0   M                0          2.0/5  1769  ---   5.0  12.0   ---  0.00
 28    Milan Pein             (1619) 0                  0   M                0          2.0/5  1713  ---   5.0  11.5   ---  0.00
 29    Luis Carlos Busquets P (1700) 0                  0   M                0          2.0/5  1635  ---   5.0  10.5   ---  0.00
 30    Jeremy Rand            (1600) 0                  0   M                0          2.0/4  1700  ---   5.0   8.0   ---  0.00
 31    Emanuel Jankowski      (1400) 0                  0   M                0          1.5/5  1523  ---   5.5   ---   ---  0.00
 32    Sergio Serrano Samper  (1725) 0                  0   M                0          1.5/5  1637  ---   4.5  12.0   7.0  0.00
 33    Bruno Gatta            (1700) 0                  0   M                0          1.5/5  1623  ---   4.5  12.0   6.0  0.00
 34    Edit Kollo             (1861) 0                  0   M                0          1.5/5  1472  ---   4.5   9.0   ---  0.00
 35    Andre Bouquet          (1320) 0                  0   M                0          1.0/5  1291  ---   3.0   ---   ---  0.00
 36    Eric Taintenier        (1300) 0                  0   M                0          1.0/4  1428  ---   2.0  11.5   ---  0.00
 37    Alex Amelotti          (1700) 0                  0   M                0          1.0/5  1440  ---   2.0  11.0   ---  0.00
 38    Kancz Csaba            (1700) 0                  0   M                0          1.0/1  2085  ---   1.0  13.5   ---  0.00
 39    Alain Piquin           (1400) 0                  0   M                0          1.0/5  1010  ---   1.0   8.5   ---  0.00
 40    Paris Sansoglou        (1500) 0                  0   M                0          1.0/4  1371  ---   1.0   6.5   ---  0.00
 41    Franklin Booker        (1300) 0                  0   M                0          0.0/0     0  ---   ---  12.5   ---  0.00
 42    Pavel Cernoch          (1602) 0                  0   M                0          0.0/5   986  ---   ---  10.5   ---  0.00
Haut de page

  1  0 Kristian Frederiksen  (20) ( 2.5) 0-1  Timothy Binham        ( 1) ( 4.0)
  2  0 Georgi Tomov          ( 2) ( 3.5) 1-0  Henrique Henriques    (21) ( 2.0)
  3  0 Jesper Abrahamsen     (22) ( 2.0) 0-1  Marc Vallet           ( 3) ( 4.0)
  4  0 Rustu Yucel           ( 4) ( 3.5) 1-0  Sergio Serrano Samper (23) ( 1.5)
  5  0 Luis Carlos Busquets P(24) ( 2.0) 0-1  Christophe Keller     ( 5) ( 4.0)
  6  0 Frank Hoffmeister     ( 6) ( 4.0) 1-0  Alex Amelotti         (26) ( 1.0)
  7  0 Bruno Gatta           (27) ( 1.5) 0-1  Pere Moles Palleja    ( 7) ( 4.5)
  8  0 Jeno Czuczai          ( 8) ( 3.0) 1-0ffPaolo Garzotti        (28) ( 2.5)
  9  0 Barend Verachtert     (29) ( 2.5) 0-1  Paavo Palk            ( 9) ( 3.0)
 10  0 Ronny Bonne           (10) ( 3.0) 1-0  Vladymyr Dedobbeleer  (30) ( 2.5)
 11  0 Milan Pein            (31) ( 2.0) 0-1  Johannes Bertram      (11) ( 3.0)
 12  0 Jose Maria Ramos Flori(12) ( 3.0) 1-0  Pavel Cernoch         (32) ( 0.0)
 13  0 Jeremy Rand           (33) ( 2.0) 0-1  Dominique Dupuis      (13) ( 2.5)
 14  0 Georges Vassilakis    (14) ( 3.0) 0-1  Enrique Beltran Poveda(35) ( 2.0)
 15  0 Gunnar Holm-Jacobsen  (36) ( 2.0) 0-1  Mattias Johansson     (15) ( 3.0)
 16  0 Serge Le Gal          (16) ( 3.0) 1-0  Alain Piquin          (37) ( 1.0)
 17  0 Emanuel Jankowski     (38) ( 1.5) ½-½  Edit Kollo            (17) ( 1.5)
 18  0 Jens Frederiksen      (18) ( 2.0) 1-0  Andre Bouquet         (39) ( 1.0)
 19  0 Alessandro D'Alfonso  (42) ( 2.5) 0-1  Nikolaj Mladenov      (19) ( 2.5)
    Eric Taintenier       ( 40)( 1.0) Absent      
    Franklin Booker       ( 41)( 0.0) Absent      
    Kancz Csaba           ( 25)( 1.0) Absent      
    Paris Sansoglou       ( 34)( 1.0) Absent      

  1  0 Timothy Binham        ( 1) ( 4.0) 0-1  Ronny Bonne           (10) ( 3.0)
  2  0 Johannes Bertram      (11) ( 3.0) 1-0  Georgi Tomov          ( 2) ( 3.5)
  3  0 Marc Vallet           ( 3) ( 4.0) 1-0  Jose Maria Ramos Flori(12) ( 3.0)
  4  0 Dominique Dupuis      (13) ( 2.5) 0-1  Rustu Yucel           ( 4) ( 3.5)
  5  0 Christophe Keller     ( 5) ( 4.0) 1-0  Serge Le Gal          (16) ( 3.0)
  6  0 Mattias Johansson     (15) ( 3.0) 0-1  Frank Hoffmeister     ( 6) ( 4.0)
  7  0 Pere Moles Palleja    ( 7) ( 4.5) 1-0  Jens Frederiksen      (18) ( 2.0)
  8  0 Nikolaj Mladenov      (19) ( 2.5) 0-1  Jeno Czuczai          ( 8) ( 3.0)
  9  0 Paavo Palk            ( 9) ( 3.0) 1-0  Enrique Beltran Poveda(35) ( 2.0)
 10  0 Edit Kollo            (17) ( 1.5) 0-1  Georges Vassilakis    (14) ( 3.0)
 11  0 Henrique Henriques    (21) ( 2.0) 1-0  Emanuel Jankowski     (38) ( 1.5)
 12  0 Milan Pein            (31) ( 2.0) 0-1  Kristian Frederiksen  (20) ( 2.5)
 13  0 Pavel Cernoch         (32) ( 0.0) 0-1  Jesper Abrahamsen     (22) ( 2.0)
 14  0 Sergio Serrano Samper (23) ( 1.5) 1-0  Jeremy Rand           (33) ( 2.0)
 15  0 Alain Piquin          (37) ( 1.0) 0-1  Luis Carlos Busquets P(24) ( 2.0)
 16  0 Alex Amelotti         (26) ( 1.0) 0-1  Gunnar Holm-Jacobsen  (36) ( 2.0)
 17  0 Paris Sansoglou       (34) ( 1.0) 0-1  Bruno Gatta           (27) ( 1.5)
 18  0 Andre Bouquet         (39) ( 1.0) ½-½  Paolo Garzotti        (28) ( 2.5)
 19  0 Eric Taintenier       (40) ( 1.0) 0-1  Barend Verachtert     (29) ( 2.5)
 20  0 Vladymyr Dedobbeleer  (30) ( 2.5) 1-0  Alessandro D'Alfonso  (42) ( 2.5)
    Franklin Booker       ( 41)( 0.0) Absent      
    Kancz Csaba           ( 25)( 1.0) Absent      

  1  0 Jeno Czuczai          ( 8) ( 3.0) 0-1  Marc Vallet           ( 3) ( 4.0)
  2  0 Rustu Yucel           ( 4) ( 3.5) ½-½  Pere Moles Palleja    ( 7) ( 4.5)
  3  0 Ronny Bonne           (10) ( 3.0) 1-0  Christophe Keller     ( 5) ( 4.0)
  4  0 Frank Hoffmeister     ( 6) ( 4.0) 1-0  Paavo Palk            ( 9) ( 3.0)
  5  0 Jose Maria Ramos Flori(12) ( 3.0) 1-0  Johannes Bertram      (11) ( 3.0)
  6  0 Jesper Abrahamsen     (22) ( 2.0) 0-1  Timothy Binham        ( 1) ( 4.0)
  7  0 Georgi Tomov          ( 2) ( 3.5) ½-½  Kristian Frederiksen  (20) ( 2.5)
  8  0 Bruno Gatta           (27) ( 1.5) 0-1  Dominique Dupuis      (13) ( 2.5)
  9  0 Georges Vassilakis    (14) ( 3.0) 1-0  Henrique Henriques    (21) ( 2.0)
 10  0 Luis Carlos Busquets P(24) ( 2.0) 0-1  Mattias Johansson     (15) ( 3.0)
 11  0 Serge Le Gal          (16) ( 3.0) 1-0  Sergio Serrano Samper (23) ( 1.5)
 12  0 Jens Frederiksen      (18) ( 2.0) ½-½  Vladymyr Dedobbeleer  (30) ( 2.5)
 13  0 Enrique Beltran Poveda(35) ( 2.0) ½-½  Nikolaj Mladenov      (19) ( 2.5)
 14  0 Gunnar Holm-Jacobsen  (36) ( 2.0) 1-0  Edit Kollo            (17) ( 1.5)
 15  0 Barend Verachtert     (29) ( 2.5) 1-0  Alex Amelotti         (26) ( 1.0)
 16  0 Emanuel Jankowski     (38) ( 1.5) 1-0  Andre Bouquet         (39) ( 1.0)
 17  0 Paolo Garzotti        (28) ( 2.5) 1-0  Eric Taintenier       (40) ( 1.0)
 18  0 Paris Sansoglou       (34) ( 1.0) 0-1  Milan Pein            (31) ( 2.0)
 19  0 Alessandro D'Alfonso  (42) ( 2.5) 1-0  Pavel Cernoch         (32) ( 0.0)
 20  0 Jeremy Rand           (33) ( 2.0) 1-0  Alain Piquin          (37) ( 1.0)
    Franklin Booker       ( 41)( 0.0) Absent      
    Kancz Csaba           ( 25)( 1.0) Absent      

  1  0 Marc Vallet           ( 3) ( 4.0) 0-1  Frank Hoffmeister     ( 6) ( 4.0)
  2  0 Pere Moles Palleja    ( 7) ( 4.5) 1-0  Ronny Bonne           (10) ( 3.0)
  3  0 Timothy Binham        ( 1) ( 4.0) 1-0  Rustu Yucel           ( 4) ( 3.5)
  4  0 Christophe Keller     ( 5) ( 4.0) 1-0  Georges Vassilakis    (14) ( 3.0)
  5  0 Dominique Dupuis      (13) ( 2.5) 0-1  Jeno Czuczai          ( 8) ( 3.0)
  6  0 Paavo Palk            ( 9) ( 3.0) 1-0  Gunnar Holm-Jacobsen  (36) ( 2.0)
  7  0 Johannes Bertram      (11) ( 3.0) 1-0  Barend Verachtert     (29) ( 2.5)
  8  0 Mattias Johansson     (15) ( 3.0) 0-1  Jose Maria Ramos Flori(12) ( 3.0)
  9  0 Nikolaj Mladenov      (19) ( 2.5) 0-1  Serge Le Gal          (16) ( 3.0)
 10  0 Vladymyr Dedobbeleer  (30) ( 2.5) 0-1  Georgi Tomov          ( 2) ( 3.5)
 11  0 Enrique Beltran Poveda(35) ( 2.0) ½-½  Jens Frederiksen      (18) ( 2.0)
 12  0 Kristian Frederiksen  (20) ( 2.5) 1-0  Emanuel Jankowski     (38) ( 1.5)
 13  0 Paolo Garzotti        (28) ( 2.5) 1-0  Jesper Abrahamsen     (22) ( 2.0)
 14  0 Henrique Henriques    (21) ( 2.0) 1-0  Luis Carlos Busquets P(24) ( 2.0)
 15  0 Sergio Serrano Samper (23) ( 1.5) 0-1  Milan Pein            (31) ( 2.0)
 16  0 Jeremy Rand           (33) ( 2.0) 1-0  Bruno Gatta           (27) ( 1.5)
 17  0 Andre Bouquet         (39) ( 1.0) ½-½  Alessandro D'Alfonso  (42) ( 2.5)
 18  0 Edit Kollo            (17) ( 1.5) 1-0  Pavel Cernoch         (32) ( 0.0)
 19  0 Alex Amelotti         (26) ( 1.0) 1-0  Alain Piquin          (37) ( 1.0)
 20  0 Eric Taintenier       (40) ( 1.0) 1-0  Paris Sansoglou       (34) ( 1.0)
    Franklin Booker       ( 41)( 0.0) Absent      
    Kancz Csaba           ( 25)( 1.0) Absent      

  1  0 Frank Hoffmeister     ( 6) ( 4.0) 0-1  Pere Moles Palleja    ( 7) ( 4.5)
  2  0 Serge Le Gal          (16) ( 3.0) 0-1  Timothy Binham        ( 1) ( 4.0)
  3  0 Ronny Bonne           (10) ( 3.0) 0-1  Marc Vallet           ( 3) ( 4.0)
  4  0 Jose Maria Ramos Flori(12) ( 3.0) 0-1  Christophe Keller     ( 5) ( 4.0)
  5  0 Jeno Czuczai          ( 8) ( 3.0)  -   Johannes Bertram      (11) ( 3.0)
  6  0 Georgi Tomov          ( 2) ( 3.5) 1-0  Paavo Palk            ( 9) ( 3.0)
  7  0 Rustu Yucel           ( 4) ( 3.5) 1-0  Paolo Garzotti        (28) ( 2.5)
  8  0 Georges Vassilakis    (14) ( 3.0) 1-0  Kristian Frederiksen  (20) ( 2.5)
  9  0 Barend Verachtert     (29) ( 2.5) ½-½  Dominique Dupuis      (13) ( 2.5)
 10  0 Milan Pein            (31) ( 2.0) 0-1  Mattias Johansson     (15) ( 3.0)
 11  0 Jens Frederiksen      (18) ( 2.0)  -   Jeremy Rand           (33) ( 2.0)
 12  0 Gunnar Holm-Jacobsen  (36) ( 2.0)  -   Henrique Henriques    (21) ( 2.0)
 13  0 Vladymyr Dedobbeleer  (30) ( 2.5) 1-0  Enrique Beltran Poveda(35) ( 2.0)
 14  0 Alessandro D'Alfonso  (42) ( 2.5) 1-0  Edit Kollo            (17) ( 1.5)
 15  0 Emanuel Jankowski     (38) ( 1.5) 0-1  Nikolaj Mladenov      (19) ( 2.5)
 16  0 Jesper Abrahamsen     (22) ( 2.0) 1-0  Alex Amelotti         (26) ( 1.0)
 17  0 Bruno Gatta           (27) ( 1.5) ½-½  Sergio Serrano Samper (23) ( 1.5)
 18  0 Luis Carlos Busquets P(24) ( 2.0) 1-0  Andre Bouquet         (39) ( 1.0)
 19  0 Kancz Csaba           (25) ( 1.0) 1-0  Eric Taintenier       (40) ( 1.0)
 20  0 Pavel Cernoch         (32) ( 0.0) 0-1  Paris Sansoglou       (34) ( 1.0)
 21  0 Alain Piquin          (37) ( 1.0) Bye
    Franklin Booker       ( 41)( 0.0) Absent      

Tom had White, and his opponent played the Albin Counter-gambit (1 d4 d5  2 c4 e5 !?).  As compensation for his pawn, Black gained a strong knight on d4.  On move 14 Black made the strange decision to retreat this knight, instead of supporting it further by castling queen-side.  After this mistake, Black’s compensation for the pawn disappeared.  Soon after, he fell into a pin on the e-file that cost him a whole piece.  The game was effectively over by move twenty, but Black struggled on for a further twenty moves before resigning.

Frank on board 2 had black and won space early in the opening. The opponent was playing passively which allowed Frank to exercise pressure on a backward pawn. With a little combination he first pocketed the poor e2 pawn followed by his colleague on c2. On move 37 white resigned.

Jeno played with White against De Vrieze ( 1798) on table 3 and chose this time the Sokolsky opening (1. b4, f5, 2. Bb2, Kf6, 3. a4, e6 4.b5, Be7 5. e3 b7 etc). Jeno very quickly reached a very good positional standing and gained a pawn in the 11th move, visibly his chess-men were very active on the chess-board. After three hours, Jeno started an elegant final attack on Balck’s King side, which resulted in gaining another pawn, but due to the time-control Jeno over-looked even a one-move victory. Finally Black could find the way of giving Jeno permanent checks, and that is why the party had to end in a draw, which made Jeno sad since this was the second time (likewise at the 10 round), when Jeno missed the chance of an absolute winning position.

After the opening, Mattias, with the black pieces, benefited from the disorganisation of the white pieces and won a pawn. White then sacrificed the exchange to start an attack on black’s king. The attack, however, fell through and white resigned when black could simplify to won endgame.

Jozsef played white on board 1 against a team of youngsters. His opponent, Manolis Grigoriu (1506) was trained by Europchess players. To 1.e4 he replied c5, but Jozsef decided to avoid any main line by playing 2.b3 and forced black to think on his own from the first moves. It proved to be a good strategy as black was struggling to find good moves in the opening and white achieved better development. After one more weak move by the opponent Jozsef created weaknesses in black’s pawn structure and prevented him from castling as well. Black tried to get a bit of relief by a temporary knight sacrifice, but it proved to be wrong and Jozsef kept the extra piece. Then the opponent looked very disappointed and he made some more weak moves that resulted in a loss of further pieces. He did it in order to create a mating threat that was easy to parry. Within a few moves white secured his king’s position and then black resigned.

José María played with Black on board 2 against Christos Moratidis (1277) and he played his usual Sicilian Defence.  White played the opening in a not very orthodox way and without much ambition.  The game was always under control, with a little positional advantage for Black.  However, when time control problems arrived for José María, White started a desperate attack, which was played with good an exact determination.  Instead of continue playing actively, José María decided to defend his position but he did not found the best moves.  Finally he resigned and congratulated his young opponent, who left the playing hall very happy for his victory.

Kristian playing on third board for once had the white pieces. That didn’t help much, though, as he continued his bad habit during the last couple of months of getting himself into all sorts of trouble by choosing rather feeble opening moves in an attempt to take into account the famous “specifics” of the position. This time he deemed it right to “punish” his young opponent for a knight move to the edge of the board. In fact, the move was reasonable. The upshot of this so called punishment was a terrible discoordination of the white forces, which Black could have exploited by blowing up the white centre tactically. Black didn’t seize the opportunity, however, but instead chose to undermine the white centre in classical fashion by attacking it from the front. This was also a good plan, since it gave him a mobile central pawn majority which in connection with his bishop pair spelled a very hard time for White. Suddenly, however, Black blundered tactically in deciding how to keep his pawn centre together. Now the tables were turned completely; White won a pawn, the queens came off the board and White’s pieces came to life. Black’s moral suffered a hard blow from this turn of events and a couple of moves later, he lost yet another pawn due to a tactical oversight. Soon, Black had to decide whether to go into a rook or a pawn ending two pawns down. He chose the latter, regained one pawn but found his king locked up on the queenside, whereas all White had to do now, was to create a passed pawn on the kingside. Seing this, Black resigned the game,  making the score 2-0 in favour of Europchess and thus securing our team promotion to fourth division!!

In the last round the somewhat rare Albin countergambit appeared on the board for the second time when Milan played it on the 4th board against his young adversaire Daniil Bogdanov. Another version of the same opening was on the very first board played by Tom (as White) and you can see the difference just after 6 moves if White knows some theory:

Tom plays a good variation of the Albin with White

… and if he does not:

Milan plays the Albin with Black. Funnily enough this position looks like an inverse French Advance variation!

Fortunately in both cases we were sitting at the “right side” of the board and both Tom and Milan won their game without problems.

Europchess 1

Europchess 2

Europchess 3

Playing hall

Jenő Czuczai

Tom Wiley

In Division 4 C, Europchess 1 met CREB 2 which was identified as our main contender at the beginning of the season. However, given the advance in match points secured over the previous rounds, the present match was not decisive for the title anymore. Nevertheless,  Europchess lined up a strong team of Tom Wiley, Frank Hoffmeister, Jenő Czuczai and Serge Le Gal. In the first period of play, Tom and Frank both appeared to gain an advantage. Tom had Black in a Nimzo-Indian defence. His opponent played the 4 g3 variation and, as often happens, he conceded doubled isolated c-pawns in return for pressure on the h1-a8 diagonal and on the b-file. Tom straightforwardedly developed his pieces, and it became clear that the White weaknesses were more serious than those of Black. Frank (with White) played a London System, White developed his pieces to obvious but effective squares and started to probe slight weaknesses on the Black queen-side. Jenő had the Black pieces and played the French Defence. His opponent played the Exchange variation and was clearly hoping to simplify to a draw. Serge, with White, played an English Opening. He started very early on to advance his pawns on the queen-side, but Black developed counterplay against the White pawn on c4. Eventually Black won this pawn and Serge was on the defensive.

Serge defended coolly and, when pieces were exchanged, gradually accumulated advantages to compensate for the missing pawn. He advanced his pawns on the king-side to restrict the mobility of the opponent’s king, and gained enough counterplay to draw a knight ending with a pawn less. This was the first game to finish, ending in a draw, so the score was 0.5 – 0.5.  Frank continued to probe his opponent’s weaknesses on the queen-side. He appeared to be on the verge of winning, but in an unfortunate oversight he overlooked a knight retreat that won a rook for two pawns.  After another wrong tactical calculation Frank resigned, so the score became 1.5 – 0.5 in favour of CREB 2. In Tom’s game all the minor pieces were exchanged, followed by the queens.  Because the Black king could come faster to the centre, White’s pawn weaknesses became a decisive disadvantage. Tom obtained a rook ending with connected passed pawns, and won the game, making the score 1.5 – 1.5. Jenő tried his utmost to exploit his slightly better king position in a double rook ending, but his opponent defended accurately and the game was drawn. Hence the final score was 2-2. This was our first match draw, but with 19/20 match points, Europchess 1 remains on the first place in Division 4 C.

Europchess 1

Europchess 2 played CREB 3 and needed to win at least one match point in order to relieve itself from the pressure of relegation in Division 4 F. On board 4, Jens Frederiksen on board 4 gained space advantage and better piece play with White in a Philidor-type defense. He later won a full piece, forcing the resignation of his opponent. A good start with 1-0 after approximately 3 hours. Playing his pet English with c4 and e4, Nicolas Rauta organised a pawn-storm against Black. However, his opponent kept cool, and as no decisive advantage occured on the board, a draw was agreed. Raymond Van Melsen defended with Black on board 3 and kept the material balance almost the entire game. After mass exchanges, White could however, build a free pawn supported by his King, whereas Raymond’s pawn on the opposite wing was blocked. This detail decided in favor of White, equalising the match for CREB 3 with 1.5-1.5 after 4 1/2 hours. Hence, all eyes were directed on José-Maria Ramos Florido, who defended with Black a Sicilian. White tried a somewhat optimistic pawn sacrifice in a closed set-up, which did not yield the desired attack. From that moment, José-Maria was in the lead. Having passed the time control, he then took control of the central d-file with his queen and two rooks and was able to invade White’s position. With accurate play, he secured a neat win after a long battle: 2.5 -1.5 for Europchess 2. This means that the second team is ’safe’ in the ultimate round and will stay in the fourth division.

Europchess 2

Europchess 3 played against the team of “2 Fous Diogène”. József played black on board one against John Bachir (1500). The opponent played a variation similar to the Anti-Moscow, but he included a useless move in it (a3). Then, when he was already a pawn down he felt obliged to attack and sacrificed a knight on f7 in order to attack the black king. József decided to avoid unnecessary complications and returned the knight but kept the extra pawn. (According to Rybka the knight sacrifice wasn’t correct, black could have defended even without returning it). Then black managed to force exchanges of the attacking pieces and white had to realize that the endgame didn’t offer good chances for him. So he decided to decline the exchange of the queens, but that left open his king and black used the occasion for a counterstrike that ended the game immediately.

Pere (white) was confronted with a passive black scheme with a hole in d5. After manoeuvring with the knights, Pere got a firm control of d5 and a naughty pressure on the blackside with his fianchetted white bishop. Black was obliged to give up the pair of bishops and to allow weakenesses in b7 and d6. After …Reb8?? Bc6, Black soon called it a day.

After ...Reb8? Pere played Bxc6! and won immediately

Milán (white) started to push his central pawns in the early middlegame of a closed Catalan position and soon it was difficult for Black to coordinate his pieces. At some point instead of passively retreating Black has sacrificed a bishop and soon afterwards an exchange. After the smoke cleared Black had only a pawn and no compensation for the lost rook and he resigned a few moves later.

Kristian playing on the 3rd board once again had the black pieces and once again faced a nonrated player. White failed to take advantage of an unprecise move order by Black and instead lost a tempo with his knight on f3. This allowed Black to gain time to develop and to equalise fully. Then White allowed Black to saddle him with a weak e5-pawn which couldn’t be defended and was soon lost. White had no real compensation but tried to get counterplay on Black’s slightly weakened kingside. It all came to nothing, however, since Black was first to attack the white king, which found itself deprived of the right to castle in the midst of a hurricane of black pieces. Having to decide whether to go in for a clearly lost endgame or walking his king straight into mate, White chose the latter, and so the game ended after 17 moves, so 4-0 for Europchess 3!

In the last round Anderlecht 4 still has chances to overtake us, we need one match point to secure the first place in group 5J.

Europchess 3

Playing room @ 2 Fous Diogène

Playing room @ CREB

Post mortem analysis

A lost endgame

In this position White was preparing an attack against the a7 and b7 pawns for a long time. After the last move Qa4 now b7 is hanging and Nd7 is a threat after which Nxb8 and Qxa7 is White’s plan.

What's the bluff?

Observing the opponent’s eye movement I was sure that he’s intending to play Nd7 on the next move so I set up my bluff by playing Rc7?! Seemingly it only defends b7 but it does not prevent Nd7 so White played that after which came Qd5+ and White resigned. When setting up the bluff I also considered that horizontal threats are more difficult to see and also that if White plays the correct Bf4 then Qd5+-Kh2-Rc6-Bxb8-Rxb8-Qxa7-Rcc8-Nd3-Nc6 and Black is still in the game however White should be better. There is always a risk, but it just gives an extra (very human) dimension to the game which I like very much. So my question is: do you bluff in chess? And should you?

This post is intended to be a starting point of an open discussion so your comments are welcome below this post here.

Mattias on board 4 had a rather drawish middlegame position after a queen pawn opening. In the early endgame, Mattias, with the black pieces, won a pawn that became a passer. However, the opponent managed to simplify the position so that black could not convert his material advantage and the players therefore agreed to a draw.Just few minutes later Matthias also agreed to a draw on board 4 in an equal pawn endgame. 1 – 1

For the next result we had to wait 3 more hours. On board one, Frank played a Catalan style opening against Dirk Flamé (1840). After the exchange of a few minor pieces, Black suffered from dark-square weaknesses and closed white bishop. Frank used his better development and forced a cleary better rook/bishop ending. When his King infiltrated Black’s position material loss became unavoidable and a nice combination lead to a won pawn-endgame. 2-1 for Europchess after the time control.

Jenő played with Black on the second table against Mr Lallemand ( 1743) and
already at the beginning could simplify the positions with the Staunton gambit of the Dutch defense. After exchanges of queens and rooks, Jenő with a combination gained two pawns which he could further develop with a masterful endgame for full-fledged victory.  3:1  for Europchess 1.

With this result Europchess 1 is already sure to advance to the 3rd division next year irrespective of the results of the last two rounds.

Kristian was playing for Europchess 3 on board 4 and once again had the black pieces. His opponent arrived 20 minutes late for the game and turned out to be a very young nonrated player. Nevertheless, he had quite some knowledge of theory and bashed out book moves at high speed from the very beginning. At a certain point, White however deviated from the beaten paths, which induced Black to play it Barta-style (!) and deprive himself of the right to castle by taking back with the king on e7 after an exchange on that square of white bishop for black knight. In this particular situation, however, this turned out to be a nearly disastrous decision, since immediately after that White with two strong moves put the finger on the main weakness in the black position: The insecure position of his king in the middle of the board! Black had completely missed this continuation and suddenly was in big trouble. He had to think very hard now to keep his position together. Black was thus kept busy defending, but wasn’t out of the woods yet, when White with an incredible blunder left his queen en prise and soon thereafter had to resign the game (20 moves, one hour of play). A pity for the young boy but good for Europchess 3, that got some early tailwind in this crucial match for first place. 1 – 0

Jozsef played on board 1 of Europchess 3 with white pieces (!!!) against Cédric Moretus (1905). In a side variation of the Sveshnikov Jozsef decided to castle on the long side and launched an attack against the opponent’s king. Black wanted to play safe and declined several times the pawn sacrifices offered by Jozsef – the compensation would have been one or two open lines on the kingside. Black being under pressure wasted some important tempi, so he couldn’t develop his pieces on the queenside and his counterstrike in the centre came too late and with little force. Jozsef opened the h file, his rook entered black’s position and won the important pawn on g6. Then, instead of taking the second pawn he decided to play for more and when he threatened with either checkmate or further material gains, the opponent resigned. 2 – 0

On board 3, José María played with White against Roland Brackx (1627).  José María opened with 1.e4, and his opponent played the French Defence.  Although it was a decisive game, José María played with his usual aggressive style, sacrificing a pawn in the opening in order to create a strong attack.  The Black king had to stay in the centre of the board, and although Black tried to defend his position he had to resign just after 17 moves.  José María used more than 1h30  in order to calculate properly all the sacrifices.  A spectacular victory for José María and a third point for Europchess 3!

José Maria and Roland Brackx had a post-mortem analysis which shows that Black had no chance to escape: 3 – 0

Pere was playing with the Black pieces on board 2 against Olivier Baeten (1909). In a difficult middlegame White doubled his rooks on the c-file and Pere had to play precise moves to hold his position. After long maneuvering they reached an endgame with 2 rooks and 4 pawns on each side and after repetiotion of moves draw was agreed. 3.5 – 0.5

A very important victory against our main competitor for the first place in the 5J group!

Thomas playing with White in Europchess 2 faced Thomas Samray (1983) in the classical variation of the Nimzo-Indian defense. White castled queenside but then decided to avoid an attack on his king by exchanging queens which left him temporarily with a pawn up but a much weaker pawn structure. His opponent was then able to further weaken the pawns on the kingside, but missed the right continuation so that White got hold of the open lines. After the exchange of further pieces, Black made another mistake and had to choose between losing a pawn or exchanging the rooks. He went for the latter and ended up in an unfavourable endgame with knight against bishop in an open position. Even more, White had the more active king which soon grabbed a pawn leaving White with a passed pawn on the a-file and a winning position. From there on, Black defended passively and Thomas won easily. That was an important point which secured a 2 – 2 final result and 1 match point for Europchess 2.

Europchess 1

Europchess 2

Europchess 3

Geraardsbergen was 30 minutes late...

Frank was determined to win the endgame

Long fight on the first two boards but finally we won both games

József

Europchess 1

Europchess 1 played in Zottegem 2 a hardly fought match. On board 4, Vladymyr Dedobbeleer achieved an opening advantage with White against a Dutch formation. Rather than taking Black’s weakened f5-pawn, he went for a tactical assault on the queenside. Black was, however, able to equalise and got back into the game after the exchange of queens. After further simplifications Vladymyr offered a draw before the time control, which his opponent accepted without hesitation. 0,5-0,5 in the fourth hour.

Jenö Czuczai played on board 3 with Black a French defence. Both players castled longside and White started advancing his pawns on the kingside. Jenö fought back with a well orchestrated attack against White’s king. He opened the b-file and put the full battery of rooks on it. When his bishop eliminated the defender of b2 (a knight on d1), Black was on the winning track. White tried to rescue the game with his passed h-pawn, but Jenö kept iron nerves before the time control. A few moves later White resigned with a full piece down. 1,5-0,5 for E 1.

On board 2 Frank played with White a Maroczy Sicilian. Black continued passively, allowing White to start a queenside advance, supported by both rooks. In order not to lose a pawn, Black had to concede the g7-bishop against a c3-knight, which gave Frank a slight advantage. Whith Black getting in time trouble, White increased the pressure, first creating a weak d6-pawn and then winning the queen against a rook. Black resigned around move 45 as well 2,5-0,5 for E 1.

With the Black pieces Tom played a Dutch Defence, Leningrad variation.  As is common in this line, Black accepted a weak square on e6 in return for dynamic chances on the flanks.  White occupied e6 with his knight, and after an exchange of Black’s light-squared bishop for the knight, with a pawn.  With an accurate sequence of moves, White might have used the e6 pawn to support the entry of another knight on d7, winning an exchange.  However, he played his moves in the wrong order and lost the e6 pawn for nothing.  White’s position remained solid, but pieces were gradually exchanged and Tom gained the full point in a rook ending.  This was the last game to finish, making the score 3.5 – 0.5 in favour of Europchess.

With this performance, E 1 remains on top of Division 4 C. A single match point in the three remaining matches will secure the title.

Zottegem 2 ( 462 )   -  Europchess 1 ( 226 ) 0.5 – 3.5

Europchess 1

Europchess 2 could not overcome the first team of Soignies…

Soignies 1 ( 518 )   -  Europchess 2 ( 226 ) 2.5 – 1.5

Europchess 2

Europchess 3

This definitely was not a lucky day! After finding a wrong address on the Internet, Pere was 10 minutes late. That proved to be key. Anyway, after getting a completely won position, but with not much time left before the time control, Pere “discovered” a queen sacrifice that should allow him to deliver mate, instead of playing the obvious winning move what he sadly had also seen. His opponent however just refused twice the queen sacrifice and Pere realised there was no mate at all and the position was not winning any more. Some winning chances remained, but Pere had difficulties to continue playing so, after some moves, he offered a draw after thinking about 20 minutes without finding any winning continuation and beggining to run short of time. He probably was right as, even if the position is tricky, Rybka’s Montecarlo analysis shows that a draw should be the result but black had winning chances if white tries to overpress and Pere was not in best mood to continue playing after the previous terrible mistake.

Kristian on the 3rd board played the black pieces against Bernard Moens (1599). Black achieved no advantage in the opening. Although White didn’t play very ambitiously, he definitely knew standard plans and manoeuvres in the system played, but was content to try and keep Black at bay. Kristian used up a lot of time in an attempt to find a coherent attacking plan that wasn’t too committal, either, but didn’t succeed. He ended up in a position with numerous weaknesses and nothing really to show for it – except for being severely down on the clock. White however wasn’t able to capitalize on his better position and with a series of indecisive moves gave away his advantage. At move 35, with less than 2 minutes left, Black fell victim to some sort of hallucination, thinking that White had left a rook en prise. Of course he hadn’t, and instead it was Black who lost his queen.

Milán on the 4th board playing with white against Ly Piv (1606) chose a quite line in the Grünfeld fianchetto variation. In the opening white has attacked the b7 pawn with Qb3 when black replied Qb6 which defined the character of the game. After the exchange black was left with doubled b-pawns and he could never really make use of the half open a-file. White started to play on the e-file and got some initiative. After the exchange of a rook pair and most minor pieces black got an isolated pawn which was difficult to defend but with accurate play he could have still hold an endgame with R+N against white’s R+B with 5 pawns on each side. Instead black exchanged the rooks and got a passed pawn which finally committed suicide on d2 as it was not possible to defend it anymore. After that the endgame was a classical good bishop against bad knight with one pawn up and after losing two more pawns for nothing black has just resigned.

Namur 7 ( 901 )   -  Europchess 3 ( 226 ) 2 -2

Europchess 3

Pere had a nice attack against the black King

József had the black pieces again

The playing hall in Namur with 72 players

Kristian and Pere are thinking while József is kibitzing

One move before black has offered draw but Pere rejected and played Rf1-g1

Pere has tried everything but it was just a draw

For more information please visit the Corus tournament web site.

Playing hall - empty

Playing hall - full

Group A:

Group A - final result

Alexei Shirov

Vladimir Kramnik

Magnus Carlsen

Fabiano Caruana

Vishwanathan Anand

Sergei Tiviakov

Vassili Ivanchuk

Hikaru Nakamura

Sergei Karjakin

Nigel Short

Lenier Dominguez

Loek Van Wely

Magnus Carlsen

Magnus Carlsen and Jan Smeets

Peter Leko

Group B:

Group B - final result

Pentala Harikrishna

Dimitri Reinderman

Tomi Nyback

Varuzhan Akobian

David Howell

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu

Ni Hua

Arkadij Naiditsch

Wesley So

Negi Parimarjan

Group C:

Group C - final result

Daniele Vocaturo

Robin Swinkels

Zhaoqin Peng - many times Dutch women champion

Sjoerd Plukkel advanced from to amateur groups to play in Group C

Abhijet Gupta

Ray Robson

Soumya Swaminathan

Stefan Kuipers who advanced from the amateur group and scored a nice 6/13 in Group C

Benjamin Bok

Mariya Muzychuk

Nils Grandelius

Kjetil A. Lie

Li Chao winner of Group C by a big margin

Amateur groups:

Young amateur

Amateur player

Patrick Puttemans from Belgium

Young spectator

Sonia Zepeda - sister of Van Wely's girlfriend

99 years old Professor Dr Johan Wilhelm van Hulst. He was still the winner in the special parlamentarians group

Donna Schut - a strong amateur player

Amateur player

Amateur player

Amateur player

Amateur player

On board one of Europchess 1, we had the pleasure to welcome back Timothy Binham from Finland. In a closed Sicilian, he gained an important space advantage with White against Eric van Hauthem who did not dare castling. Tim increased the pressure with active piece play and finally clinched the full point in the 3rd hour (1-0). Jenö Czucai on board 4 had a Stonewall position against Simone Peeters. When Jenö was able to advance his pawn to e4, he got the better play and White gave up an important central pawn. Jenö then exploited skilfully the second White weakness, i.e. a backward pawn on e3 and the game was decided for us (2-0). On board three, Frank faced the rare opening move 1. d4 b5?! from Jean-Marie Piron. He continued calmly and led in development, when his opponent sacrificed a piece for an attack over the h-file against Frank’s castled king. The White King was forced to march to d4, but Frank was vigilant to avoid any mate. When Black blundered a second piece, White had an easy win just before the time control (3-0). This left Tom on board two with Black against Gérard Burnay. While Tom got the better game from the opening, he unfortunately committed a finger slip in the late middle game. This allowed White to simplify the position to a Queen and rook vs. Queen and rook ending with an equal number of pawns. Tom declined a draw offer and played on for several moves, but once it became clear that there were no chances to make progress, he offered a draw himself (3,5-0,5).

Europchess 1

In contrast to the first team, Europchess 2 faced a nominally stronger Epicure 2. Nevertheless, Nicola Rauta and Jens Frederiksen secured well deserved draws on board one and two. On board 3, Kristian Pade Frederiksen played White against Eddy Mattheys. Kristian achieved full equality in a symmetrical fianchetto position. When his opponent tried to complicate the position tactically, Kristian converted the game into an ending with opponent bishops which was a clear draw. As Philippe Mariamé lost on board 4 against Philippe Guisset, Europchess 2 unfortunately lost the two match points with end result of 1,5-2,5.

Europchess 2

Europchess 3 had expected a strong Epicure 3. However, the latter was severely weakened. Board 1 did not show up, preventing József from scoring his long-awaited win with White. On board 2, Eduardo Semanat Planas disposed of Francois Mertens with sharp attacking play. With black Eduardo gave a pawn for the destruction of White’s king position. His fine piece play then subdued White without further ado (2-0). On board 3 Pere Moles Palleja played a calm English type of position. When he opened the f-file and invaded on the queen side, his opponent Steve Laios lost control over the board. Pere finished off the game in convincing style (3-0). Jacques Delvaux on board 4 met Thomas Brinkmann, playing his last game for Europchess for some time. Despite a small inaccuracy in the beginning, Thomas got the better game with Black in a Queen’s pawn opening. He then exploited his better knight against White’s weak bishop and the open e-file. Nicely, this fitted into the overall performance of Europechess 3 at that day (4-0!).

Europchess 3

Thanks to these results, both Europechess 1 and 3 are on good track in their respective divisions. As both CREB 2 and Zottegem 1 lost their matches, Europchess 1 now enjoys a five-point margin at the top. Under normal circumstances, this should secure us the title in Division 4 C. In return, the strongest competitor of Europchess 3, Anderlecht 4, also won, maintaining the fight for the first place in division 5 J. All seems to boil down for a decisive match against them on 28 February. Europchess 2 needs at least two more match points to avoid the relegation from Division 4 F.

Pairings for round 8 on 7 February are as follows:

Zottegem 2 – Europchess 1

Soignies 1 – Europchess 2

Namur 7 – Europchess 3

This is how Thomas won his game with the Black pieces:

PGN viewer by ChessTempo.com

Timothy Binham

Thomas Brinkmann

Steve Laios playing for Epicure

Kristian in Europchess 2 against Eddy Mattheys

Pere is analysing his win post mortem

Philippe Mariamé

Jens Frederiksen in Europchess 2 team

Jenő Czucai on 4th board in Europchess 1

Tom Wiley