Van der Sterren almost equalised against Peng with … Bb4 and … a5 in a Queen’s Indian opening. But 16. … e4 turned out to be an ill-fated move. Van der Sterren had missed White’s reply 17. Nf4, and then played the decidedly wrong 17. …f6. After this Black’s position was beyond repair. Peng was happy with her revenge after having been reproached in round 2 for taking a draw too quickly.

In the second game in group 1, a King’s Indian, between Cramling and Olafsson, it looked as if Cramling had the initiative on both wings. Olafsson defended himself resourcefully and even reached an endgame with a pawn up. But Cramling had active play and didn’t allow any winning attempt the game ending in a draw.

In group 2 Conquest played 4. … Nge7 in the Spanish, currently a popular variation. Van Kampen was able to rely on his preparation with Grandmaster Sokolov. As he was sure Conquest would surprise him anyway he hadn’t prepared anything in particular, preferring a good night’s sleep instead. In the middle game Van Kampen got the edge and Conquest consumed a lot of time on the clock to work up some counterplay. Van Kampen thought for a long time he had everything under control but got worried when he couldn’t play 23. g4 because of 23. … Be2. When Conquest played 30. … Qa1. 31. Qb1, Qa4 instead of the better 30. … Nb5 Van Kampen dealt the decisive blow with 32. Nc6 winning at least the exchange. Conquest resigned after reaching the time control, disappointed that his original play had yielded so few points.

In the other game Arakhamia-Grant gave it a go with black. She offered Socko an exciting game with 1.d4, Nf6, 2.c4, c5. When Socko avoided this with 3. e3, Black easily obtained an equal position. After 20 moves the major pieces were exchanged and a drawn end game was all that was left.  After about ten further moves it was indeed agreed drawn.

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Final Ranking

Closing event

Paul van der Sterren was determined to win today. After a Bogo-Indian opening he got the better structure, Pia Cramling ending up with an isolated pawn on d5. Around move 20, Van der Sterren successfully avoided a repetition of moves. When Cramling played the tactical mistake 24…Bf5 her position collapsed. In the commentary room, Van der Sterren said he was delighted with his win: ‘The last game of chess I won was over one year ago! And I had to wait eight years for that to happen.’

For a long time, the battle between Zhaoqin Peng and Ólafsson remained balanced. In time trouble, Peng blundered with 31…Bc6 which cost a pawn without compensation. Had she only played 31…Qd6, the position would have remained fully equal. Ólafsson, a seasoned player, did not allow the win to escape him. Peng attributed her mistake to a lack of night’s rest and the hard-fought draw with Cramling in round 4. Peng: ’I play for the points, Cramling for the game of chess. She just keeps on playing.’

Against the Sicilian opening of Robin van Kampen, Arakhamia replied with the solid 3.Bb5+ after which she tried to simplify the position. Van Kampen did his best to keep the game going and even got the better position at some point. Just before the time control he finally won a pawn but the resulting rook ending turned out to be draw.

Finally, English Conquest chose to play the English opening against Soćko. Around move 20 Soćko, playing black, was clearly better but could not find the right follow-up: after 27…f4 it was Conquest who gained a pawn. However, in time trouble he missed a simple win; with 34.Ne6 he could have struck a decisive blow. Three moves later he blundered with 37.Qe2 after which he had to resign.

View all games of round 5

Just as in round 1, Van der Sterren and Olafsson had a Nimzo-Indian position on the board, Van der Sterren having the white pieces this time. With 7. … b6 Olafsson played a variation ‘from the last century’, popularized by Paul Keres in the fifties. Van der sterren was very disappointed that his memory failed him: ‘In the old days I could remember all those variations without effort!’ In an attempt to comfort him, Olafsson put it to him that junior player Robin van Kampen probably didn’t know the system at all!

Van der Sterren sacrificed a pawn for the initiative, but Ólafsson counter-attacked well. After 21. … Nc5 the black night had to be exchanged in order to prevent it dominating the white position from d3. After that Olafsson took all venom out of the position by playing 24. …f6. Van der Sterren thought he could make him nervous with 25. Dd7, but Olafsson didn’t budge and replied a tempo. After a forced exchange, the game ended in a repetition of moves. Commentator Arno Bezemer applauded team mate Van der Sterren, who joined the commentary to explain his game to the audience. ‘ Olafsson scored 3 out of 3 in earlier games with this variation. So you did very well to draw!’

In group 2 the games were more lively. Van Kampen surprised Socko in a Sicilian Dragon electing to play 9.g4, a variation he hadn’t played before. Soćko’s reply wasn’t adequate. She tried to get back in the main variation through a change of moves, but Van Kampen had anticipated that. He played the exceedingly strong 13. a3 and gained two pawns in the first twenty moves with half an hour’s advantage on the clock. Winning this was relatively easy. A disappointed Socko was impressed by Van Kampen’s opening knowledge: ‘I could have tried the French, but he’s very well prepared against that as well.’ 

Conquest had a better position against Arakhamia-Grant after the pawn attack 13. … f5 and 17. … d5, but the white position was not an easy nut to crack. When Arakhamia played Bf2, allowing 24. … e4! instead of the stronger Re1, a relieved Conquest decided the game with an exchange sacrifice and an attack on the king.

View the games of round 4

View the games

Van Kampen, who had played with the black pieces in the first two rounds and came close to winning against Conquest and Soćko, was eager to win his first game with white against Arakhamia-Grant. She chose a solid Philidor opening, but the strange rook manoeuvre Re8-e5-g5 gave white a pleasant game. Van Kampen won a pawn and converted his advantage convincingly in his nice attacking style. He actually was the only man that won a game against a woman today, because in the other games the stronger sex showed their strength.

In the game Cramling-Van der Sterren, the position seemed to be quite dull after 16 moves, but like her compatriot Ulf Andersson, Pia Cramling likes these positions and carefully improved her position.

Van der Sterren told us after the game that he had underestimated 31. Nc6+! Cramling won a pawn, snatched another one and Van der Sterren resigned.

Girl power in the game Peng-Olafsson as well: in a Kings Indian, both players played for a win, but the audience in the packed commentary room was a bit disappointed when Olafsson offered a repetition of moves. Peng, however, decided to play on and had to calculate when to play the decisive break-through move c4-c5. After she finally found the right moment, on move 43, Olafsson had to resign only a few moves later.

In the longest game of the day, Monica Socko had the upper hand against Stuart Conquest. Soćko scored a fine 5,5/9 in the good team championship in Greece last week for her country Poland and seems to be in good form. In a long and complicated endgame she converted her advantage into a full point. Conquest told us that he played the Dutch opening, to honor the hosts. It is not always a good idea to be polite, obviously.

On the rest day, we will see the postponed games Conquest – Arakhamia from round 1 and Olafsson – Cramling from round 2. The games will start at 13.00. Unfortunately we will not be able to broadcast the games live due to technical limitations in the library. However, the games will be published on the website. On the site you will find report, pictures and other information, e.g. pictures of the fun chess afternoon with Jennifer Shahade.

On Friday, the 4th round will start at 13.00.

(Eric van Reem)

Still, only three games were played today. Friðrik Ólafsson already had some problems with his stomach on Monday and he even had to see a doctor on Tuesday. He could not play his game against Cramling today, so this game will be played on the rest day on Thursday, together with Conquest and Arakhamia who still play their first round game.

Let’s take a quick look at the games. Conquest played a typical “English” opening, after 1.d4 d5 he played the move 2.Bg5. A lot of English grandmasters in the eighties and nineties played this highly popular move. If you want to learn something about this opening or 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5, check some older games of Hodgson, Adams, Short, Hebden or Norwood. In this game Conquest played the new move 10.Qa4 and Van Kampen had to solve some small problems.

After 24…Nc5?! Conquest missed 25. Rxc5 Bxc5 26.Bxd8 Bxd4 27.Be7 with a better position for white. Both players were in time trouble though, and the young Dutchman could not convert his advantage. He missed the tactical blow 33…Nf4! which would have given him some chances in the endgame. The game ended in a draw after 35 moves.

The game Van der Sterren – Peng also ended in a draw. In an English opening, Van der Sterren had a slightly better position, but after 18…a5 black could easily equalize. After 29 moves Van der Sterren offered a draw in a position which was “clearly better for black”, according to kiebitzer GM Dimitri Reinderman in the commentary room.

Monika Soćko won a nice game against Kati Arakhamia-Grant. The Scottish champion mishandled the opening completely but somehow managed to get an acceptable position. However, in severe time trouble she lost an important pawn on e6 and the position went downhill pretty fast. Soćko had no problem to score the full point.

Busy Wednesday

On Wednesday we will see the next games and let’s hope that all players are healthy and well. In group 1 we will see Cramling – van der Sterren and Peng – Ólafsson. In group 2 Van Kampen – Arakhamia and Soćko – Conquest will be played. The games start at 13.00, live games on www.euwetoernooi.nl

On Wednesday afternoon 16 November, 14:00-17:30, on the children’s floor of the Public Central library we are organising an afternoon for all children who like chess or would like to know more about it. Jennifer Shahade arrived in Amsterdam today, and she will give a simul tomorrow. The film “Long live the Queen” will be screened and in the evening there is a lecture by Dr. Jos Uiterwijk. Uiterwijk delivers a lecture on digital developments since Euwe’s time as part of the “Digital Month” series organized by the Amsterdam public library.

Lots of fascinating chess stuff coming up on Wednesday! (Eric van Reem)

Paul van der Sterren escaped in his first tournament game since 10 (!) years. The semi-retired Dutchman played his last tournament game in the Dutch Championship back in 2001. In the game against 76-year old Fridrik Olafsson from Iceland he had some problems to solve on the black side of a Nimzo-Indian.

Instead of trying 19.Qa6 Nd6 20.d5! exd5 21.Nxd5 Nxd5 22.Rxd5 Bxg5 23. Rxe8+ Qxe8 24.hxg5 Qe7 25.Qd3 with a good position for white, Olafsson played 19.Ne5 and after  19…Nd5 20.Bxe7 he offered an early draw. Van der Sterren was happy with the result: “playing a draw is a perfect way to enjoy a chess game”. If my opponent and I play a nice game and a draw is within reach, why should I not offer or accept a draw?”

The game between Zhaoqin Peng and Pia Cramling was balanced and the logical result was a draw. Peng was unhappy with 32. Qd3 because she missed the strong move 33…e5! but she could keep the balance. Robin van Kampen celebrated his 17th birthday today and seemed to have very good position against Monika Soćko, but he could not find a way to win. “Well, I never play very well on my birthday”, the youngest Dutch grandmaster smiled. Tournament director Monique van de Griendt had a small present for Van Kampen: am Amsterdam travel guide. Robin was happy with the gift: “This is great, I always get lost in Amsterdam”.

Look at the games of the first round.

On Tuesday, we hopefully will see four games, if Stuart Conquest makes it to Amsterdam. The second round starts at 13.00. You can follow the games live on this website. In the evening, at 20.00 GM Hans Ree wil hold a lecture (in Dutch) about Max Euwe.

Some short information about the playing venue: The Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam (Public Library Amsterdam) is a collective name for all public libraries in Amsterdam.  The largest of these libraries, the Centrale Bibliotheek , moved to the Prinsengracht  in 1977 and 30 years later, on 7 July 2007 (070707), to the Oosterdokseiland just east of Amsterdam Centraal station. It is the largest public library in Europe. The complex has a floor surface of 28,500 m² spread out over 10 floors, 1200 seats, of which 600 with Internet-connected computers.  The building was designed by Jo Coenen, the former state architect. (14th November, Eric van Reem)

Here is a pretty finish in the game Jan Timman-Fred van Gunst:

Timman played 24.Bxc6 and Black answered with the nice move 24…Qxh3+. “I was happy with the draw after 25. gxh3 Bxc6”, van Gunst smiled after the game. But Timman wanted to win and played 25. Kg1. After 25…Bxc6 Timman obviously thought that his next move would win the game: 26. Qd4+ because after 26…Rg7 27. Qxg7! black can resign. However, after the pretty blow 26…Re5! it was Timman who had to resign.

The oldest player in the simul, 88 (!) year old Rien Quakkelaar told us after the game that he played in a simul against Euwe back in 1946. He won! He also played another world champion Botwinnik in a simul but he lost that one. The Timman simul was a nice kick-off of the events coming up this week in Amsterdam and there were a lot of non-chess playing spectators who were fascinated by the event. Good promotion of the game!

After the simul the drawing of lots took place. In group 1 we will see the following games on Monday: Peng-Cramling and Olafsson-van der Sterren.
In group 2 we have the games Socko-van Kampen and Conquest- Arakhamia.

After the ceremony, Paul van der Sterren presented his massive biography in the Dutch language “Zwart op wit”. New in Chess publisher Allard Hoogland handed over the first copy of the book.

Grandmaster Jan Timman has opened the event on 13th November by holding a simul performance. Additionally, there will be lectures in the evening throughout the week. On Wednesday afternoon there will be a fun children’s chess session with Jennifer Shahade and a viewing of “Long Live the Queen”, a chess film directed by Euwe’s granddaughter Esme Lammers. Look for the full program. Take also a look at ranking of the matches.

The Max Euwe Chess Tournament looks back on a wealth of chess history but also has a firm view to the future, as is reflected in the participants. The round robins and other events will connect us with important men and women from the chess world and with these great talents we shall celebrate the life of chess promoter Euwe.

Opening and Simul Jan Timman