In the Dutch Championship, Erwin l’Ami reigned supreme also today. Instead of going on the defence with his 1-0 lead against Roeland Pruijssers, the GM from Woerden lit up a smoldering fire very slowly, while Pruijssers, in a slightly worse position, had to think of something to be able to try for a win. In short: he couldn’t find it, l’Ami won a pawn, and converted it in the endgame.

The other semifinal match game was riddled with fireworks. Robby Kevlishvili sacrificed a pawn with White, but it was Max Warmerdam who got the attack, and after the time control he could have finished the game with a marvellous combination. However, the reigning Dutch Champion didn’t find it, and was left with a small advantage that didn’t suffice for the full point. This meant another tiebreak, and this one turned into a true battle of attrition. Twice, Warmerdam went all out in the rapid games, and twice Kevlishvili held his own in an impressive way. Warmerdam won the first blitz game with a sudden mate in a position that looked equal. With marvellously opportunistic play, Kevlishvili drew the match even again, and then he also won the first sudden-death game, on time.

At the Women’s Championship, the struggle for the final places was highly exciting as well. Eline Roebers was quite quickly eliminated after a failed Sicilian and a defeat at the hands of Robin Duson. After the time control, it was a race between Anne Haast, who had caught Anna-Maja Kazarian’s king in an almost-mating net, and Maaike Keetman, who was a pawn up in a rook ending against Machteld van Foreest. Haast indeed won, but if Keetman had converted her endgame, the five-time champion would have missed the final after all. But Keetman didn’t succeed, and so Anne Haast plays her first final game against Machteld van Foreest tomorrow, with Black. The other four participants are also playing on, for third and fifth places respectively.

In the Open tournament, Hagen Poetsch took the lead. He beat Nico Zwirs in – again – a very sharp game, while co-leader Pranav Anand couldn’t do more than draw against the Ukraine grandmaster Alexander Kovchan. The best Dutch players in this group are now on 4½ points out of 7 games, one-and-a-half less than Poetsch. They are: Nico Zwirs, Tim Grutter, Nick Maatman and Rick Lahaye.