We're happy to announce that we'll have a match between Dennis de Vreugt and Eelke de Boer during this years edition of the Chess Festival Groningen. Dennis is a Grandmaster and a double European Youth Champion. Eelke is one of the many great chess talents from Groningen, who missed the European youth crown by a whisker this year. Surely he'll want to show that he can match Dennis. Two two will battle it out in 4 classical games from 27 - 30 December.

The Groninger Student Chess Championship is meant for pub, home and internet chess players whom aren't subscribed at an official chess club. First prize of €150 is guaranteed and entry is free. 

Above the organizers Arjan and Koen and last years deserved winner Arno Holtrop with his price, worth 75 beers. The battle between associations was won by FMF and HCSA. Who'll beat them this year? All information can be viewed via 'Student Chess.'

Groningen Talking Chess Championship
Wednesday, December 13, 8pm
Two games, 15 min per person per game
Live Commentary

Proeflokaal Hooghoudt, Gedempte Zuiderdiep 61
Free entry and 1 free drink

Jorden van Foreest                                                          Sipke Ernst

The days are getting shorter and with some imagination you can hear the Christmas bells chiming... the Chess Festival in Groningen is getting near! And what could be a better way of spending these dark days than to play some nice games of chess? You have a choice of playing in one of the open groups (nine rounds), a four person round robin (three), or a Compact group (five). And if you are a student at the RUG and a beginning chess player, you can participate for free in the Student Tournament.

As always, this year's tournament will be held from the 22th till the 30th of December. This time the full tournament will be played in the familiar playing hall of the ACLO at Zernike Campus. At the ACLO we're hoping to welcome once more a horde of enthousiastic chess players from all over the globe. Not convinced yet? We have to offer: live commentary, daily reports, chess merch stands, Christmas blitz, After Chess in chess café Proeflokaal Hooghoudt, and most importantly an excellent atmosphere. Be there!

Chess fever is slowely setting in, entry to the tournament will be opened in October.

Jinshi Bai winst the Chess Festival Groningen 2016, shared with Sergey Tiviakov. More will follow..

Group A

Tiviakov started the round half a point ahead of the field. As he was having white versus Gleizerov he had a nice opportunity to go into the last with a lead. Everything seemed to go according to plan. He Played a Tarrasch against the French and allowed Qxb2. Urban wisdom dictates: "never take on b2 even if it is good". Erik Hoeksema changed this to: "Always take on b2, even if it is bad!" The queen was trapped and white captured black's good bishop. White got the opportunity with 19.Rb3 to trap the queen completely and liquidate into a winning position. Sergei would probably not have that much difficulties converting that position.

Result needed for a norm

Group A

Jinshi Bai - Sergei Tiviakov was a rather uneventful game, you could say Bai took a 'bye', with his futile attempts to seek little pluses in a Catalan opening. Tivakov was never in danger, which means he stays in the lead of the tournament.

The Chigaev - Karthikeyan game was a long one. White accumulated some pluses, nothing fancy though. In the endgame, with pressure rising, the young talented Indian wasn’t able to hold a position with unequal bishops as White's king found a way into his position using the weakened white squares on the kingside. A pity for Karthikeyan, but a nice win for Chigaev!

A group

Today in round 6, the Groninger Sergey Tiviakov could take the sole lead if he’d beat Maksim Chigaev with the white pieces. We know Sergey likes to obtain a small plus and very gradually improve his position. Does this mean it is wise to ignore your instincts (if we are to believe commentator Grisja Kodentsov) and play a boring opening, trade queens, and even part with the bishop pair? The game answers this question.

December the 26th is in the UK known as Boxing Day, which would be an apt way to describe this round's fighting chess. 

The main attention was of course drawn to the top board, where Chigaev and Liu battled it out. The opening started similar to Popov - Liu from the third round, but this time a Nimzo-Indian structure appeared. Chigaev lured Liu into playing 15.cxd4 by retreating his bishop. After this the white bishop pair proved to be very dangerous. He won back his pawn with interest, and quickly demolished Black's king.

The Sports Centre will be open from 11:00 on monday the 26th.

The commentary sessions (dutch) for round 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 will start at 14:00. 

Liu Guanchu vs. Mikhail Ulybin (courtesy Jan van Os)

Group A

In what was the last round to be played at the first playing venue, the Postillion Hotel in Haren, many attractive games full of fighting chess were seen (note: the rest of the tournament will be played at the familiar Sportcentrum RUG & Hanze). Ulybin - Zwirs became a wild tactical battle in a King's Indian, where White soon got the upper hand because of his active minor pieces. Ulybin found all the forcing lines, starting with a queen sacrifice to gain material. Black had no chance and quickly saw all his other pieces disappear from the board.

Afek - Hilwerda

Today's big question was whether Jonas Hilwerda could come back from being one game down against Yochanan Afek. With the white pieces in the first game of the second day he went for it. In a Sicilian a queen swap led to an early endgame and by pushing his c-pawn forward instead of opening lines against the black king, Afek got an advantage. Jonas defended well, and after an inaccuracy by black he managed to win a pawn reaching a won rook endgame in the process. But time wasn't on his side. The young player missed a mate in two and had to expect defeat as he saw his last seconds tick away. Then Afek showed his sportsmanship by offering a draw, which was of course gladly accepted.

After a slight delay due to a small hiccup in the pairings, tournament director Koen Lambrechts opened the first round with a short speech. The opening phase of the round didn't give any quick results and after just over an hour the first results slowly came in. So far no upsets were recorded, but that would change as the afternoon progressed.