The day of the double round

Today was the day of the double round at the Scheldemond Tournament. Players are allowed to take one bye during either of the two rounds, and I have to admit that in all three of my appearances here, I've gladly made use of that option. Playing both rounds in one day is simply a bit too much for me personally.

Yesterday I had the luxury of soaking up the real tournament atmosphere. Of course, that shouldn't be taken too literally when it comes to a chess tournament held in a gymnasium during warm weather—but still. First, I picked up Grandmasters Fernandez, Chanda, and Sadhwani from their hotel. After spending ten minutes chatting with the latter two on the pavement (no, they hardly dare play tournaments in India anymore because there are so many underrated players, and yes, a 2700 Elo rating is an absolute necessity for a professional chess player), I decided to call the organizers to see whether anyone knew what had happened to Fernandez. Unfortunately, the hotel doesn't have a reception desk that's staffed during the day.

To answer part of a question from yesterday's report: the cost of the hotel rooms where players used to stay has now quadrupled. Fortunately, thanks to tournament jack-of-all-trades and "Zealander from the Day Before Yesterday" René Tiggelman, we managed to get in touch with Fernandez. A little later he emerged, and shortly afterwards we arrived at the venue, where I was able to write a report at a small table in the entrance hall, regularly interrupted by conversations with fellow chess enthusiasts. I can't think of a better or more enjoyable way to follow a chess tournament.

Today was very different. From home, I could only follow the top ten boards on Lichess. Less enjoyable, perhaps, but probably a bit more efficient.

Round 2

No more smothered mates this time; the rating differences were becoming smaller. On most boards, however, the higher-rated player still scored a fairly routine victory.

Slava Ikonnikov scored a straightforward win in Round 2
(photo: Tina Rouwendal).

For the first time, though, one of the tournament favourites found himself in real danger of losing. The youngest of the two Beukema brothers, Constantijn, pushed Max Warmerdam to the very edge of defeat.

The game began as a Closed Sicilian, and initially everything seemed to be going according to plan for Warmerdam with the black pieces, gradually obtaining a slight advantage. But in the diagram below he had just made an unfortunate mistake.

C. Beukema – Warmerdam after 17...Bf6?

Judging by the clock times, White played his 17th move with only three seconds remaining. Black, who still had half an hour on the clock, may deliberately have replied rather quickly in an attempt to keep White under severe time pressure.

Warmerdam may have overlooked that after 18.Bxf6 Rxf6 19.Qe8+, the knight on c6 is lost. The consequences are serious. Beukema indeed played 18.Bxf6, after which Warmerdam sought salvation with 18...hxg5.

That should not have been enough after the strong 19.fxg5! gxf6 20.Bxc6.

Beukema – Warmerdam analysis after 20.Bxc6

White now wins after 20...Qxc6 21.Qg6+ Kh8 22.Rf4, but even after 20...Rb8 there is the attractive continuation 21.Rxf5! exf5 22.Bd5+ Rf7 23.g6, also winning.

Beukema – Warmerdam analysis after 23.g6

Beautiful and winning variations—but Beukema also had to contend with the clock. With only six seconds remaining, he played 19.Be5?, after which Warmerdam replied 19...Nxe5, suddenly regaining control and eventually winning the game.

Max Warmerdam escaped with a full point in Round 2
(photo: Tina Rouwendal).

The same cannot be said of fellow grandmaster Sandipan Chanda. Against Ron Hoffman he also survived a difficult position, but then spent another thirty moves unsuccessfully trying to win what was in fact a drawn rook ending.

Rogier van Egmond also came close to an upset.

Van Egmond – S. Beukema

Earlier in the game, Beukema had enjoyed a pleasant advantage, but stubborn defence allowed Van Egmond to reach this endgame, where simply doing nothing—shuffling the rook along the b-file and the king back and forth on the kingside—would have secured a well-deserved draw. Unfortunately, Van Egmond instead played 44.Rd7?, allowing Black's b-pawn to break through after the sobering reply 44...Kc8. So, within the Beukema family, the balance between luck and misfortune was restored somewhat during this round.

Round 3

For the professional players—and, in my opinion, the true diehards—the second game of the day began.

On the top three boards it was one-way traffic, with Sadhwani, L'Ami and Fernandez all recording convincing victories once again. Only now did I notice that Fernandez had chosen to play in Vlissingen instead of the British Championship, which is being held at the same time. Judging by the field there, he would have been the third seed and a genuine title contender. The fact that the winner of this tournament two years ago chose to return here is a fine compliment to our event.

The remaining games on the top boards took considerably longer to finish, although in general they also ended in fairly straightforward wins for the favourites. The exceptions were Max Warmerdam and his girlfriend Laura Unuk.

On board nine, Unuk got into trouble against Joachim Waffenschmidt.

Waffenschmidt – Unuk after 19.a3

Black has a problem: if the bishop leaves the a3-f8 diagonal, Bd6 wins. Unuk may have been counting on 19...e5, but this runs into a tactical problem because the f-pawn is pinned, allowing 20.Bxh6! since after 20...gxh6 21.Qg6+ wins.

Waffenschmidt – Unuk after 20.Bxh6!

Fortunately for Unuk, she could still save herself with 20...e4. The fact that 21.Nh4 would still give White a large advantage after 21...Bxc3 22.Ng6! is much harder for a human player to spot, and it was indeed missed, allowing Unuk to fight her way back into the game.

She did so very well at first, and in the following position Black could have finished matters decisively with 35...Nxg3!. After White recaptures on g3, 36...Rxg3+! follows, leading quickly to mate.

Waffenschmidt – Unuk after 35.Bh5?

Instead, Laura played 35...d2??. She then failed to find the best moves several more times in severe time trouble, and it was Waffenschmidt who eventually claimed the full point.

Max Warmerdam's opponent, Erwin Kalle, also put up stubborn resistance for a long time. In the following position an important decision had to be made.

Warmerdam – Kalle after 34.Ra1

It is far from obvious that the correct move is 34...Be7!. The point is that Black can defend the a5-pawn later with Bd8 if necessary. After the played move 34...Bf8, this is no longer possible, and after 35.cxb5 cxb5 36.c5 the a5-pawn fell. From that moment on, Max never let his advantage slip.

Report by Jos van der Kaap