In the Groningen Open, the favourites won on the first three boards. Pranav Anand from India, the player with the highest Elo rating, won a pawn against Dutchman William Shakhverdian, kept up the pressure, and decided the game with an elegant piece sac. Also the German Duitser Hagen Poetsch (vs Carlo Marzano) and the Dutch IM Nico Zwirs (vs Cocoro Matsumura) won with beautiful attacking combinations; both gained a queen vs rook + bishop, which sufficed for the full point.
More surprisingly, Rick Lahaye couldn’t achieve anything against young Roger Labruyère, and also Tim Grutter couldn’t beat Sasa Albers; the former eventually had to resort to a perpetual check combination. Stefan Tabak, too, made a creditable draw against the young German master Valentin Buckels.