There is a lot of fighting at the Groningen Chess Festival; even at the highest boards, there
are hardly any draws. Consequently, the number of leaders in the rankings was significantly
reduced today – to four: Valery Kazakouski, Evgeny Romanov, Ori Kobo and Arthur de
Winter.
The only non-grandmaster in this company is De Winter, but it is especially this fifteen-year-
old Dutch player who is giving an outstanding performance so far. Today, he defeated
Thomas Beerdsen in a super-sharp Najdorf Sicilian. Normally, the Dutch grandmaster is able
to find his way in such positions, but he didn’t stand a chance against the extremely well-
prepared De Winter.
The games of the other three leaders were more strategic. Kazakouski defeated Vladislav
Nevednichy deep in a rook endgame, and Ori Kobo did the same against Irina Bulmaga.
Evgeny Romanov had to be very alert on tactical tricks against fourteen-year-old Dengla
Aarav from India but did a good job of it.
This tournament is brimming with promising young talents. For example, the fifteen-year-old
Chinese player Yueheng Jin bested the experienced Dutch master Herman Grooten in a
tactical struggle.