Round 4: what a fight!

There’s plenty to report about Round 4 of the HZ University of Applied Sciences Chess Tournament. For instance, Grandmasters Erwin l’Ami and Koen Leenhouts had to be content with draws against much lower-rated opponents, while their colleague Slava Ikonnikov, uncharacteristically, let a completely winning endgame slip into a draw. Or take the remarkable display of Indian “Bløf” from Sharma Dushyant, who casually sacrificed a full piece in the opening and never saw it back again. And we haven’t even mentioned the flawless broadcast of Round 4 on Lichess. But truly, there’s only one thing that deserves our full attention: the spectacular fight on board 1 between Eelke de Boer and Pavel Eljanov.

Eelke de Boer coaching the white pieces against Pavel Eljanov

Unfortunately, this site doesn't yet have a viewer that lets you replay the game directly. However, because people from Zeeland are less stingy than the rest of the Netherlands might think, we’re offering not one, but two solutions. Option 1 is to download the game at the bottom of this page or via our Games page (analysis in Dutch, sorry) , where you’ll find many more games as well. Option 2 is to read the report on Schaaksite. Those guys are swimming in money and IT knowledge — so yes, they do have a game viewer (but unfortunately no English pages).

Round 5 brings us the clash on board 1 between Pavel Eljanov and Thomas Beerdsen. Thomas has been cruising through the tournament so far, sitting on 4 out of 4, so this promises to be another exciting game. If you don’t know who Thomas is: if you spot a blond guy walking around in a Feyenoord shirt, there’s a good chance you’ve found him.

If by now you're fluent in Dutch and like chess and apple pie: do take a look at the blog of Zeeland's own chess grandmater Koen Leenhouts

Update: pictures round 4