Rounds 5-6: Luis Engel Wins 3rd ACO Convincingly
- Peter Doggers
- 43 minutes ago
- 4 min read
With a resounding victory in the final round, Luis Engel won the third edition of the Amsterdam Chess Open. The 23-year-old grandmaster from Hamburg took home the €2,000 first prize.
Engel, the 2019 European Under-18 Champion, was the only player with 4/4. He remained the sole leader after round five, which saw draws on the top three boards. After the penultimate round, there was a group of no fewer than ten players who, with a half point less, could still hope for tournament victory: IM Ataberk Eren, GM Alexander Bagrationi, IM Tim Grutter, Rick Lahaye, FM Enis Zuferi, FM Yasin Sari, FM Murad Abdulla, FM Petr Walek, FM Oleksandr Dovgaliuk, and Sidney Panjer.
The GM duel in round five between Bagrationi and Engel wasn't much to write home about, and a draw was agreed on move 21. A little while later, Grutter also left the playing hall with a half point, and he wasn't displeased; he said he was actually surprised that Walek accepted his draw offer in a slightly better position.
The draw on board three came after considerably more action. In fact, both players were winning at some point.
Abdulla-Sari
ACO (5), 2025
Something like 25.Nf1 is equal, but White took too much risk with 25.Qxd5?! and then came 25...Bxg3! of course. 26.Qxc4 Rc6 27.Qa4 Nh4+ 28.Kh3? (Better would have been 28.Kf1, and now 28...Qd7! 29.Bxh6! is the beginning of computer madness: 29...Rxe1+ 30.Rxe1 gxh6 31.Ne4 Be5 and it continues.)
28...Rce6? Instead of winning, Black is now lost. Strong was 28...Rxe3! 29.Rxe3 (for example, after 29.fxe3, 29...f5! is very annoying) 29...Bxf2 30.Re5 (30.Rd3 Qf4) 30...Rxc3+! with a winning attack. 29.fxg3 Rxe3 30.Qxe8+! Rxe8 31.Rxe8+ Kh7 32.gxh4
Black couldn't complain after getting away with a draw here...
The most interesting game was between IM Ataberk Eren (2417) and Lando Kort (2219) from Germany.
Eren-Kort
ACO (5), 2025
In this Najdorf position, White decided to simply continue developing: 14.Bc4! bxc3 15.Bxf7+ Kf8 16.Bg6 cxb2 17.Ne6+ Kg8
Now the subtle checkmate threat with 18.Bf5! was stronger than the played 18.Nxd8 bxa1Q 19.Qxa1 Rxd8 20.Qa2+?! (20.Qc3!) 20...d5 21.Bf5 Kf8 22.Ke2?
Here Black would have been well-placed to win with the equally subtle 22...a5! (threatening a bishop check), but after 22...Nxe4?! 23.Bxe4 dxe4 24.Qe6 Nf6? (24...Bc8)
...White won after all with 25.Rxg7! Kxg7 26.Qxe7+ Kg6 27.Qxb7 and 1-0 on move 34.
With this spectacular victory, Eren was "rewarded" with getting the black pieces on board one against Engel in the final round. Things went well for a while, and the engine even claimed a tiny advantage for Black, but two seemingly logical moves suddenly allowed a dangerous attack on the kingside.
Engel-Eren
ACO (6), 2025
As mentioned, the opening wasn’t the problem for Eren. 18...Ba6 19.Bxa6 Nc5! 20.Qe3 Nxa6 is a bit more pleasant for Black, but there came 18...Bd7 19.Ng4! Rfc8 20.Qg3!
Suddenly, Black was in trouble. 20...Kh8 21.Bd3 Qd8 22.Rf3 Qg8? The only move was 22...h6, but after 23.Raf1 followed by f4–f5, White's attack continued. 23.Qh4!
It's already over. 23...Bb5 24.Nf6! gxf6 25.Rg3 1-0 and tournament victory was secured.
IM Tim Grutter, last year's winner, had to settle for a tie for second place this time. It could have been even worse, as his Ukrainian opponent had just leveled the position and was close to a draw when he blundered heavily.
Grutter-Dovgaliuk
ACO (6), 2025
27...Nd4+?? 28.Rxd4 1-0
The winner of two years ago also tied for second place. IM Rick Lahaye must have been a bit shocked when he checked the game with the engine, because at one point, White could have achieved a positionally attractive position. Sometimes you have to calculate the move you really want to make, but which seems impossible, until it works.
Adulla-Lahaye
ACO (6), 2025
Of course, you'd love to play 22.c4 here... and it turns out to be possible! Black has to remove the queen, after which White is better off, because you cannot capture: 24...Rxc4 (24...Nxc4 25.a4!) 25.Rxc4 Nxc4 (25...Qxc4 26.Rc1 is an important point) 26.Bf1 0–0 27.Qd4 Rc8 28.Rc1 and the piece drops. Instead, 22.g5 Qa4 25.Rc1 Rc3 happened and it was Black who got his dream position with a knight against a bad bishop and eventually won on move 57.
Below Grutter and Layahe, who tied for second place with 5/6, came a group of nine players who finished with 4.5/6, and below that, another group of twelve players with 4/6. One of them was SGA player FM Bonno Pel, who won the SGA trophy and will play in a qualifying tournament for the 2026 Dutch Championships.
Group B1 was won by Joaquin Aarts with 5.5/6, and in B2, 5.5 points were enough for first place, going to Yari Coucke. We also saw 5.5/6 for Timardi Verhoeff in Group C1 and WFM Thai Ngoc Tuong Minh in C2. Poland's Maksim Bulva was the only player of the more than six hundred participants to win all their games in Group D1. Finally, Selim Ferhad Hamidov won D2 with 5.5/6.
We look back on a successful tournament with a large and impressive field of participants, representing no fewer than 46 countries. Next year will be the fourth edition!
