Chess in Amsterdam
Amsterdam’s fascination with the greatest of all board games came alive in 1935 when Max Euwe (born on the outskirts of Amsterdam) became world champion, defeating Alexander Alekhine, undoubtedly one of the greatest players of all time. An equivalent achievement would have been if Tim Henman had won Wimbledon beating Pete Sampras in the final.
To this day Max Euwe is commemorated in Amsterdam: a square (complete with giant chess board) is named after him, as is a chess museum. There is also the Association Max Euwe (based in Monaco), which exists to sponsor high quality chess events.
So it was that on a recent visit to Amsterdam I found a chess tournament sponsored by that Association taking place in my hotel. This was an unexpected bonus to the weekend but provided me with hours of pleasure watching the competition unfold.
The event was a match pitting “Experience” (players 40 and over) against “Rising Stars” (players 27 or younger). The youngest player in the event was the Indian Grand Master Parimarjan Negi, aged 14. The oldest player was Ljubomir Ljubojevic at 56. He had been a hugely successful and glamorous figure in the days when I was passionate about the game, reaching third place in the world rankings and knocking at the door of the world championship. He was noted then for his adventurous swash-buckling style over the board. These days he is semi-retired and sadly a lot of the fire has gone from his game.
The games were played in the modern tournament style using the "Fischer Clock" so that every game was completed within one session (no adjournments). This led to some exciting struggles and often rapid fire play as the time limits approached.
Here is a game I particularly enjoyed between the 53 year old Alexander Beliavsky playing white against the 20 year old Dutch player Daniel Stellwagen. At move 40 Beliavsky thought he had secured the draw, but it turned out on closer inspection that he had miscounted the repetitions. By the end he was running out of checks and Black’s pawn was bound to queen.
1. d4 d5; 2. c4 c6; 3. Nf3 Nf6; 4. Nc3 e6; 5. Bg5 dxc4; 6. e4 b5; 7. e5 h6; 8. Bh4 g5; 9. Nxg5 hxg5; 10. Bxg5 Nbd7; 11. exf6 Qa5; 12. g3 b4; 13. Ne4 Ba6; 14. Qf3 O-O-O; 15. Be3 c5; 16. Bg2 cxd4; 17. Bxd4 Ne5; 18. Bxe5 Qxe5; 19. O-O Rd3; 20. Qg4 Bh6; 21. Rad1 Rhd8; 22. Rxd3 cxd3; 23. f4 Qd4; 24. Rf2 Bf8; 25. Qf3 Bc5; 26. Nxc5 Qxc5; 27. Kh1 d2; 28. Rf1 Rd5; 29. Rd1 Qc1; 30. h4 Bd3; 31. Kh2 Bc2; 32. Qf1 Qxd1; 33. Qc4 Kd8; 34. Qxb4 Qe2; 35. Qb8 Kd7; 36. Qxa7 Kc8; 37. Qa8 Kc7; 38. Qa7 Kc6; 39. Qa8 Kc7; 40. Qa7 Kc6; 41. Qa8 Kb5; 42. Qb7 Ka5; 43. Qc7 Kb4; 44. Qb6 Qb5; 45. Qa7 Qc5; 46. Qb7 Kc4. 0-1
Full coverage of the match can be found at:-
http://nhchess2007.nl/
To this day Max Euwe is commemorated in Amsterdam: a square (complete with giant chess board) is named after him, as is a chess museum. There is also the Association Max Euwe (based in Monaco), which exists to sponsor high quality chess events.
So it was that on a recent visit to Amsterdam I found a chess tournament sponsored by that Association taking place in my hotel. This was an unexpected bonus to the weekend but provided me with hours of pleasure watching the competition unfold.
The event was a match pitting “Experience” (players 40 and over) against “Rising Stars” (players 27 or younger). The youngest player in the event was the Indian Grand Master Parimarjan Negi, aged 14. The oldest player was Ljubomir Ljubojevic at 56. He had been a hugely successful and glamorous figure in the days when I was passionate about the game, reaching third place in the world rankings and knocking at the door of the world championship. He was noted then for his adventurous swash-buckling style over the board. These days he is semi-retired and sadly a lot of the fire has gone from his game.
The games were played in the modern tournament style using the "Fischer Clock" so that every game was completed within one session (no adjournments). This led to some exciting struggles and often rapid fire play as the time limits approached.
Here is a game I particularly enjoyed between the 53 year old Alexander Beliavsky playing white against the 20 year old Dutch player Daniel Stellwagen. At move 40 Beliavsky thought he had secured the draw, but it turned out on closer inspection that he had miscounted the repetitions. By the end he was running out of checks and Black’s pawn was bound to queen.
1. d4 d5; 2. c4 c6; 3. Nf3 Nf6; 4. Nc3 e6; 5. Bg5 dxc4; 6. e4 b5; 7. e5 h6; 8. Bh4 g5; 9. Nxg5 hxg5; 10. Bxg5 Nbd7; 11. exf6 Qa5; 12. g3 b4; 13. Ne4 Ba6; 14. Qf3 O-O-O; 15. Be3 c5; 16. Bg2 cxd4; 17. Bxd4 Ne5; 18. Bxe5 Qxe5; 19. O-O Rd3; 20. Qg4 Bh6; 21. Rad1 Rhd8; 22. Rxd3 cxd3; 23. f4 Qd4; 24. Rf2 Bf8; 25. Qf3 Bc5; 26. Nxc5 Qxc5; 27. Kh1 d2; 28. Rf1 Rd5; 29. Rd1 Qc1; 30. h4 Bd3; 31. Kh2 Bc2; 32. Qf1 Qxd1; 33. Qc4 Kd8; 34. Qxb4 Qe2; 35. Qb8 Kd7; 36. Qxa7 Kc8; 37. Qa8 Kc7; 38. Qa7 Kc6; 39. Qa8 Kc7; 40. Qa7 Kc6; 41. Qa8 Kb5; 42. Qb7 Ka5; 43. Qc7 Kb4; 44. Qb6 Qb5; 45. Qa7 Qc5; 46. Qb7 Kc4. 0-1
Full coverage of the match can be found at:-
http://nhchess2007.nl/
posted by Alnwickian at 1:05 pm
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