The air was thick with anticipation. Danger was lurking everywhere. The script was laid out for a David vs Goliath headline, as an average of 130 ELO points separated the antagonists. Philidor 1 is a rugged and experienced team, who is desperately hanging on to fleeting hopes of survival in 1A. We were hoping to put some distance between us and evil Caissa-Eenhoorn who was watching closely for any signs of collapse. The two oldest teams in the Netherlands, mano-a-mano.
1) Rock solid FM Anton lived up to his reputation and quickly neutralized his opponent. A short, bloodless, but satisfying draw.
From Anton: “I decided to play the French Defense. My opponent chose the Exchange Variation, and we ended up exchanging all the pieces.
2) Rafael made quick work of his opponent, this time after exchanging queens on move 4. Rafael don’t care. Only using 12 minutes on his clock, he launched his pieces on the queenside, gaining a pawn and forcing capitulation. This always provides a welcome boost to morale, but for Rafael, it was business as usual.
From Rafael: “In a sideline of the Caro-Kann my opponent didn’t find the right squares for his pieces. With this much pressure and active pieces there are always tricks. Rxd7! and after Bxd7 Nxb6 Rc6 Nxd7 Rxd7 Bb5 the exchange is won back with interest in the form of the b6 pawn.”
3) On my end, I was boldly expecting disaster as I had barely slept the night before. Facing IM Migchiel de Jong on board 3, I fortunately got the kind of game that I like: piece play and chances for a kingside attack. The position was defensible, but black had to be very precise. Instead, I was able to reach a favorable pawn-up endgame and finished up nicely. After a wobbly start to the season, my play is picking up heavy steam. There was one scary moment for me:
White is clearly better here. 23.Rxf5 is the good and obvious move but I was tempted by another line: 23.c5! (clearing c4 for the bishop) 23…h6 24.Rg6! (I almost played 23.Rxg7?? Nxg7 24.Rg1, forgetting that 24…Rxc5!! Turns thing around for black) 24…Bd5 25.Ba6! (weird move as I’m playing in the seemingly wrong side of the board) 25…Rb8 26.c6! bxc6 (on 25…Bxc6 26.Bc4 is a nice retreat) 27.d7 Nf6 28.Rdg1 (Ramon mentioned 28.Bxf6 after the game which would have led to same result but it didn’t even cross my mind) 28…Kf7 29.Rxg7 Ke6 30.Bxf6 resigns as Rxf6 31.Bc8 wins
4) Things were looking up everywhere. Friso was championing a nice initiative and reaped the rewards after a little tactical melee. Forgive me the boring cliché, but it’s a real privilege to stand alongside and learn from his experience. And quite funny / instructive to have him decapitate our analyses after our games! From Friso: “I was out of book after 4 moves. I did not want to play the best and decided to go for a reasonable, that turned out to be a wise decision for my opponent started to make mistakes. Soon after I could already break the position and have a winning position”
5) Daan got a nice edge, snatched a pawn, and conducted the train to its irrevocable destination without too much worry. Powerful. That basically ensured match victory and allowed some breathing space.
From Daan: “I played a solid game with Black, and put both his rook and bishop at the right places, leading to a winning endgame.”
6) For those who aren’t watching, Victor is BACK. Someone poked his ego some time ago, and now he’s making the whole planet pay for it, as shown by 2 victories in SGA and 2 victories in internal competition. He was facing surging Jan Boersma with black and accepted a draw before things got too messy. I still don’t know what game he’s playing and I don’t think he knows either, to be honest.
Victor “Known for (ed.: raping) misplaying the opening, I often assume I’m worse.
Not knowing where to put my pieces, I felt my opponent had positionally tricked me.
Without ever playing a piece in front of my pawns and an ugly f6, how can I not be worse, right? I got confronted with an unexpected draw offer, which I accepted with mixed emotions. ‘I never understand your games’ the captain told me. Well.. this time I didn’t either, because apparently my position was just fine the entire game.”
7) Tex was getting slightly bullied by an underrated opponent. As happens too often, the heir to the throne got premature ideas of treasure, forgetting that the king was still alive and kicking. Tex neutralized the initiative and turned things around when the prince got too greedy.
From Tex: “After being slightly worse in the early middlegame, I managed to get an advantage. In this position I wanted to stop c5. The best way to do that was to play 25.c5! myself. However, I played 25.b4 and black played 25…c5 anyway. After 26.Bxb7 Qxb7 27.bxc5 Qf3 28.Qd1 Qxd1+ would have led to a (probably) drawn rook endgame, but my opponent chose 28…Qh3. After 29.f3 I managed to win. Thanks to our nice opponents from Leeuwarden for hosting us and I wish them the best of luck in the last two matches.”
8) Take is playing wonderfully these days. After a strong Tata Steel and a convincing brutal win at SGA 48h prior, he played in his usual methodic steamroller way towards a very smooth victory.
From Take: “I played a nice positional game. After Nd6, it was just a matter of converting. Black has no hope of building a fortress, the queen will eventually get in and wreak havoc on all sides of the board.”
9) Ramon did his best to get a result. He maneuvered carefully on both sides of the board and his initiative gained some traction. Opponents usually sink in these circumstances. On that day, captain Jan Hania said “No”. A friendly handshake was exchanged amid tense tribulations.
From Ramon: “I was slightly better after the opening, but played an inaccurate move in the early middlegame. My opponent defended well. White had enough activity to prevent black from becoming active, but not enough to do something himself without allowing counterplay. Just before move 40 a draw was agreed..”
10) Hilke was the last to finish. He played solidly and reliably against Amir Nicolai. Both guys were waltzing with gloves on, waiting for the explosion to occur. It never did, and the game drifted towards a draw. Always (too) critical of his own play, Hilke was disappointed to have foregone an exchange sacrifice. With a TPR of 2390, I will argue that he’s doing a great job.
From Hilke: “Normally I save my time for the most crucial stages of the game, but this time we both spend it shuffling around pieces in the opening. Until white launched an attack on the white king with 17.g4?! With a bit more chess swagger from our commander in chief I would started sacrificing material without hesitation, and I would have been right, most of it works. Ne4 f3 Qe7 is crushing. After fg4 hg4 Ne4 f3 Be3 is still very strong.”
Hilke: “Keeping the b-pawn with b4 would also been very promising, but I gave it back and let white try a bit in the endgame.”
We finished up in a nice pub with good food, cheap wine, and casual jokes. Dessert was served as 2 packs of gummy bears in Victor’s car. Good times.
Individual results:
by Marc Ghannoum