Rounds 1-2: Bakija defeats Van Wely
Nearly six hundred players started the fourth edition of the Amsterdam Chess Open on Friday morning, minus those who had taken a bye in the first round due to work or school, for example. It is being held in the Apollohal this year, which is a truly spacious venue. A few hundred more participants would easily fit, but as it stands, everyone has plenty of room (and on good chairs, too!).
Round 1
The first round produced several surprises, which in itself is not surprising. The biggest surprise took place on Board 1, where Grandmaster Loek van Wely faced Alan Bakija, a player from Krimpen aan de IJssel and a participant in the 2024 European Youth Championship Under-18.
Van Wely has won the battle on the queenside and, according to the computer, is in a completely winning position. In practice, however, it turns out not to be easy to defend such a position. A king move would have been good here, especially 33... Kh8! 34. Nxh5 Nc4 35. Rxd3 Nxe5 36. Rxe5 Bxd3 37. Qxd3 Qxc3 and Black wins.
33... exf5? 34. Nxf5+! gxf5 35. Ng3
Now Black needs to be careful. 35...Kg8! was the best defense, but the game move is also still possible.
35... Qc5+ 36. Kh1
36...Rh8?
36... Rc6! 37. Nxf5+ Kg6! 38. Ng3 (38. Bf1 +=) 38... Bc8! and in this position anything can still happen but the computer judgment is 0.00.
37. Nxf5+ Kg8
37... Kg6 38. e6! is the reason the rook must be on c6.
38.Nh6+ Rxh6 39. gxh6 Qc4 40. Bh3! Qxh4 41. Rg1+ Kh8
Here White has only one way to win. It was undoubtedly also the first move Bakiya looked at.
42. Qxf7! Qe4+
42... Qxh3+ 43. Rh2 and Black has no good check left.
43.Rdg2 Qh7 44. Qxh7+ Kxh7 45. Rg7+ Kh8 46. Bf5 1-0
Undefensible mate on h7, so Black resigned.
The two other grandmasters, Lodici and Warmerdam, both won smoothly. Nico Zwirs also seemed set to win easily against Guido van Hesselingen (the 2025 Dutch youth champion), but a massive blackout proved his undoing.
After 27...Qf7! 28.Rf1 (28.Qe2 Qb3! is also hopeless) 28...Bxf2+ 29.Rcxf2 Qxf2+ 30. Rxf2 Rd1+ it is mate on the bottom rank. Zwirs spotted another bottom-rank trick: 27...Qxa5?? This wins in all variations, except 28.Qc4+ Kh8 29.Rxa5 and Black resigned. Bitter.
The Job Emans - Onno Elgersma game ended with a nice petite combinaison .
46...Qa1! 47.Qc7 Na 47.Rxa1 Bxa1 promotion is unavoidable. 47...Qxd1 0-1
There were also surprising results on boards 11 and 12. In Polak-Martin, Black had enough compensation for a pawn in a position with heavy pieces, but lost a second pawn with 37...Rd1?, after which Alexander Polak played it out well. Boyd Leenen was surprised by David Jongste with 27...Rf5! and suddenly the position was completely over.
Round 2
Alan Bakija defeated a higher-ranked opponent in the second round as well. This time, however, it was his opponent who attacked and sacrificed. After Elgersma missed a good opportunity on move 18, the following position appeared on the board.
White does not have enough for the sacrificed piece and therefore just tried 23. Qg7+ Rxg7 24. hxg7+ Kg8 25. Reh1. After 25...Ne5 he can regain the queen, but remains a
Piece down. Also 26. Bxe5 dxe5 27. Rg3 Ng4 28. Bh7+ Kxg7 29. Rxg4+ Bg5+ didn't help, 0-1 .
The participant list does not mention the participants' origins, but they undoubtedly come from far and wide. For instance, Maaike Keetman (Dutch Women's Champion in 2024) lives in Croatia with her husband. This weekend she is staying with her parents in Heiloo, which allows her to participate in the ACO. And successfully so, as after a quick victory in the first round, she defeated Liafbern Riemersma in the second round. Things went wrong for the Amsterdam IM starting from the diagram position.
16. Qc2?! 16.Bf4 is still equal.
16... Rfc8 17. Qb2?! Nd5 Already threatening nasty things with Nc3 and/or Bf6.
18. Bxd5 exd5 19.Be3? Again 19.Lf4 is better.
19... Bh3!
Threatens to capture on f1, but especially 20...Qe4 with a material win. Things are quickly getting out of hand for White.
20. Bf4 Bf6 21. Qd2 Bxf1 22. Bxb8 Bh3 23. Qf4 Qxa2 24.Nd2 g5 25. Qxf6 Qxb1+ 0-1
With checkmate behind the pawns on the next move.
Among the one-pointers, grandmasters Warmerdam and Lodici were among those who also won. In total, we enter the third round with eight leaders. Without Keetman, though: she wants to sleep in and has therefore taken a bye.
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