Round 6: only one leader
After his game in round 5 against Pavel Eljanov, Thomas Beerdsen was briefly interviewed by the PZC. Thomas appears to be a modest young man, as bold statements were nowhere to be found. On his chances in the tournament: “Yes, I’d like to win the tournament, but there are players who are better.” On his playing style: “These days, I try to play a bit more safely than I used to.” That last part, Thomas, might be a bit much. A cautious draw in just 17 moves against Vuppala Prraneeth isn’t exactly going to bring the Zeeland crowd to its feet.
It wasn’t even the shortest draw of the round, as Daniel Hausrath and Slava Ikonnikov called it quits after only 11 moves. Meanwhile, in the game between Erwin l’Ami and Arkadii Kliashtornyi, the queens had already been exchanged, and in the match between Arthur de Winter and Pavel Eljanov, sparks didn’t fly immediately either. So little action—I was beginning to fear I'd have to fill the report with a bizarre story about 18 missing Egyptian chess players. Fortunately, the wind shifted, so I might save that tale for another time.
Erwin Kalle - Jasel Lopez
Erwin Kalle has had a strong start to the tournament and could have moved into a shared second place in the standings if he had seized his chance here. IM Jasel Lopez had just played 13... b6? After the game, Jasel said he had no intention of playing this move at all, but his hand suddenly grabbed the pawn on b7 and placed it on b6. He got lucky—Erwin didn’t notice anything and played the “logical move” 14. Rfd1. For youth coaches using the Steps Method: this seems like a nice puzzle with the theme of a double attack. I’d place it somewhere between Step 4 and Step 5.
After 14. e5!, White suddenly threatens 15. Qe4, attacking h7, d4, and a8. After 14... d5 or 14... Bb7, White can continue with 15. Bxh7+ Kxh7 16. Qd3+, again a double attack. White ends up at least a pawn up with a good position. After 14. Rfd1, it turned into an exciting game, in which Jasel ultimately got the upper hand.
L'Ami - Kliashtornyi
Despite the early queen exchange, Erwin l’Ami’s game also started to get interesting. Determined not to end up in another passive position, L’Ami began pushing pawns early. In the diagram position, he found a clever way to break into the Black position with his rook:
27. Ng5+! Ke7 28. Nh7! Bxh7 29. Rg7+
The black h-pawn disappeared from the board shortly thereafter, and Erwin won the game smoothly. The alternative line was:
27. Ng5+ Kg7 28. Ne6+ Rxe6 29. Rfg1,
which also leads to a devastating attack for White.
Now for the battle on board 1. An Open Sicilian—but without the wild king attacks on both flanks. It turned into more of a positional struggle, in which Arthur de Winter held his own for a long time against his much higher-rated opponent. Around move 25, a draw seemed certain.
De Winter - Eljanov
Who wouldn’t play 26. Rdd7 here? After all, 26... a2 27. Rxf7+ leads to an unavoidable perpetual check. A strong Zeeland player suggested Black might still be able to play for a win with 26... Kg7. We’ll cover his name with a cloak of charity. He had only taken a quick glance, had just played an intense game himself, and his thoughts were already on his shopping list for tomorrow’s dinner. He later realized that after 26... Kg7 27. Rxf7+ Kg6 28. Ke2! a2 29. e5!, Black is in serious trouble.
Black can try the emergency brake with 29... Rf8 30. Rxf8 Rxf8 31. Ra7, but even that doesn’t save the game. Want to know why the mysterious 28. Ke2! deserves an exclamation mark? Because after the immediate 28. e5 Rf8 29. Rxf8 Rxf8 30. Ra7 g4!, White’s advantage is far less.
Anyway, back to “who wouldn’t play 26. Rdd7?” Well, Arthur de Winter, who chose 26. Rb3?!. Not losing, but definitely making life harder for himself.
De Winter - Eljanov
Almost 10 moves later. The position is just balanced, but only if White now plays 36. Rb2 Rxg2 37. Raxa2 Rxa2 38. Rxa2 h3 39. Ra8!!
Why not 39. Ra1? Because then 39... h2 40. Rh1 Kg5 41. c5 Kh4 42. c6 Kh3 43. c7 Rg8—and White loses.
But with 39. Ra8, White wins thanks to the tempo gained by threatening to get behind the passed pawn. After 39... Kg7, the black king is just a step too far from both the h-pawn and White's c-pawn.
It would have worked out perfectly for White:
40. Ra1 Kf6 41. Rh1 h2 42. c5 Ke7 43. e5 Kd7 44. f4 Kc6 45. Ke3 Kxc5 46. Kf3 Rxc3 47. Kg3 Kd4 48. Rxh2 Rxh2 49. Kxh2
But in the game (please scroll back to the diagram), Arthur unfortunately played his trump card too early:
36. c5?? Rxg2 37. c6 Ra3+ 38. c3 Ke7 39. Rb7+ Kd6 40. Rxf7 Kxc6 41. Rh7 Rb2
This was the painful end for the young Dutch IM.
Eljanov now leads solo with 4.5 out of 5. Right behind him is a group of no fewer than 12 players with just half a point less. Tonight on board 1: Pavel Eljanov with White against Zeeland’s very own grandmaster Koen Leenhouts. Fun fact: in his blog after round 5, Koen wrote that he wasn’t particularly impressed by Eljanov’s play…