We have a great couple of champions! Erwin l’Ami played a fantastic tournament – his best in more than twenty years. After his 6 out of 6 start – he won his first three matches with a clean sweep – he slowed down for a bit with two draws versus Robby Kevlishvili. Today, the point was already shared after some fifteen minutes. In the rapid playoff that followed immediately afterward, Erwin struck home with 2-0. It wasn’t easy since he had been under pressure for long in the first rapid game. With a well-aimed counter, however, he turned the game around. In the return, Robby tried to force things with the King’s Indian, but Erwin handled it well and won convincingly.

Anne Haast fought for her last chance today in the final match. She was attacking Machteld van Foreest’s Sicilian, but the fifteen-year-old held her own in the time scramble and ended up with an extra pawn in the endgame. Despite tough resistance by Anne, she couldn’t save the game. So now with Machteld van Foreest we have the youngest Dutch Women’s Chess Champion ever! Eline Roebers came second after a final win over Maaike Keetman. Robin Duson lost the second match game against Anna-Maja Kazarian today, but both refrained from a tiebreak, and since Robin had gained more points in the round-robin part (2 out of 5 versus Anna-Maja 1½), she came fifth.

The Open tournament was won by another 15-year-old: Junior World Champion U16 Pranav Anand from India. He emerged the sole winner after a nine-round neck-and-neck race with the German grandmaster Hagen Poetsch. Both entered the final round with the same amount of points, but then Poetsch didn’t manage more than a draw against Rick Lahaye, while Anand defeated Valentin Buckels. Thus, Anand ended on 7½ out of 9 and Poetsch on 7. The best Dutch players were four players who shared third place: Rick Lahaye, Nico Zwirs, Arthur de Winter (14) and Ruud van Meegen.

The Compact Group A was won by Mees van Osch with 4½ points out of 5 games.