By Anonymous
You can’t argue with mathematics. Points count. Add enough of them and you get a victory. VAS1 knows something about this. We’ve lost a fair measure of tight matches these last few years. So, taking the role of accountants, we were told by our suave team captain that 5.5 would be enough to secure a win. This is the kind of precious info that is really useful in the home stretch.
We were facing the tuff and gritty Caissa Eenhoorn team. A bunch of cool dudes who seem to love chess, even inventing gambits and publishing books. They have a photographer who follows the team, and their match reports are always substantially better than ours (the present one excepted). They even have live boards. Next level organization.
Let’s not delve on details. VAS1 won the stressful nervy affair by the shortest of margins. Ultimately, Marc played hero and ensured the result by drawing Peter Doggers with the black pieces (had he lost, VAS1 would not have won the match, let me remind you). The game was an epic and titanesque battle which followed the opening played between Nepomniatchi and Caruana at the candidates. When the sweaty handshake occurred, there were still over 50 people left in the playing hall, all silent and in disbelief with that they just witnessed. Shockingly, it was the only game that reached a 100% accuracy from both players, a testimony to the playing acumen exhibited. To top this off, it was later revealed that both protagonists were incapacitated (Peter with the flu, Marc with a rambunctious newborn at home). We all carried Marc on our shoulders and feasted at the nearby burger joint (delicious by the way).
Despite appearances, it wouldn’t be fair to only single out Marc. Others probably also contributed; journalistic integrity forces me to name a few. I could mention Friso Nijboer who sacked a piece with black on move 9 (!) and finished off his strong opponent with great flair. Rafael took care of Caissa’s number 1 after a slightly dubious pawn offer; unfazed, Rafael followed this with fantastic energy and delivered a brutal mate in 1 in an endgame, under the laughs of his opponent. Hilke came back to the chessboard after a short hiatus and played another one of his seemingly effortless clean games. And Tex, the Dutch Clutch, went back and forth against Visser, finally taking over the initiative after the 1st time control and nurturing his advantage in the endgame. But I’ll let the players express themselves:
Tex: “I would like to thank my opponent Henk Jan Visser for a marvelous fight. He understood the opening better than me (apparently he recently played this opening in a game against VAS-member IM Khoi Pham, who explained some nuances to Henk Jan, thanks Khoi), in the middle game it went up and down, and in the ending I was pushing. He defended well, I missed some wins, but after 89 moves and 5,5 hours of play I managed to bring home the game.”
Daan: “I was confronted with a typical exchange sacrifice. My opponent continued positionally, not giving away any counter play. When the game opened up, I did not get another chance.”
Friso:” Devious opening preparation against Daan Zult appeared at the board. Converting the advantage was still tricky, and after … Rh4 I was finally out of the book. The nice thing was that everybody thought I played like a patzer.”
Ramon:” I was white against Martijn Monteban. A rematch from our game last season where I secured a draw after defending a very interesting rook endgame for hours. I was very motivated to turn the tables and try to turn the screws on MM for some hours this time. After a treacherously quiet opening I tried to press against my opponent, but Monteban found all the right plans and moves and easily nullified the tiny initiative white had, leading to a repetition just after move 40 in a Queen’s ending with symmetrical pawn structure where there was nothing left to play for”
Victor: “I messed up the opening, but managed to hold without realizing it. The position remained very complicated, and towards the end of the first time control, things took a turn for the worse.
Marc: “It was just another day at the office. I gave it my 110% and was happy to contribute to the success of the team. I wouldn’t have done it without the teachings of past champions. I’d like to dedicate this to my GF and my daughter who were extremely supportive at every step of the way.”
Niels: “The burgers were quite delicious.”
We have no comments from others, but I urge you to look at the games, including the one from Anton, who was gifted a generous draw offer from his opponent. I know of only 1 person in the history of chess able to defend this kind of position, and he was playing on the black side that day.
GAMES: https://lichess.org/broadcast/knsb-competitie-caissa-eenhoorn-20252026/ronde-3/AQ1s43Lh/Itl7xTbT
Next stop: Wageningen in 3 weeks. We all were praying for a chance to face legend Jan Timman, but, sadly, it appears he’s retired from chess.