Krasenkow at 6/6 in Vlissingen

Polish grandmaster Michal Krasenkow belongs to the growing number of strong players who feel at home in the Dutch seacoast town of Vlissingen. In 2006 he won the Open with a score of 8 out of 9, and this year he's got another marvellous start, winning all of his games in the first six rounds! Many other IMs and GMs had to deal with strong amateur opposition.

The 15th Hogeschool Zeeland Open in Vlissingen, The Netherlands is a 9-round FIDE rated Swiss, with a rate of play of 40 moves in 2 hours, followed by 30 minutes to end the game. The first prize is € 2000.





The city of Vlissingen (Flushing) is located in the southwestern Netherlands (Zeeland province) on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Vlissingen has been an important harbour for centuries. It was granted city rights in 1315. In the 17th century Vlissingen was a main harbour for ships of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). It is also known as the birthplace of Admiral Michiel de Ruyter.



This year the tournament boasts 12 GMs and 13 IMs and it's the strongest edition ever. The biggest attraction is veteran Alexander Beliavsky, who decided to "prepare" in Vlissingen for this year's NH Chess Tournament, where he will be playing in the Experience team. Besides Michal Krasenkow, who won the tournament in 2006 scoring 8/9, some other strong players seem to feel at home in Vlissingen. Arthur Kogan returned after participating in the first few editions, while it's difficult to point out which edition Vyacheslav Ikonnikov didn't play.

The tournament has seen many big upsets. Already in the second round GM Friso Nijboer dropped half a point, against 16-year-old Anne Haast. Yorick ten Hagen also managed to draw his game against GM Wouter Spoelman. The biggest surprise was GM Yuri Vovk's loss against Henk van Gool - the grandmaster miscalculated in an endgame with queens and bishops.

Then, in the third round, Alexander Beliavsky lost his first game, with Black against Patrick Zelbel. Who? Well, Zelbel is youth champion in Germany and a name to keep in mind, as he's got the King's Gambit on his opening repertoire! And it was this romantic opening that helped him to defeat the famous Ukrainian! It wasn't the only upsed as Simon Provoost managed to beat GM Ikonnikov in an excellent game.



In round 4 Krasenkow was put to the test by German IM Henrichs, who stayed in the game for a long time but then blundered in a highly complicated position. After beating a GM, Dutch amateur Provoost had a good follow-up by drawing the strong Indian IM Adhiban.

Nijboer dropped his second half point in round 5, against Cor van Dongen, and the same happened to Beliavsky, who drew against Indian FM Rajesh. The biggest upsets (yes, more to come!) were GMs Sipke Ernst and Wouter Spoelman losing to IMs Manuel Bosboom en Bernd Kohlweyer respectively.

Yesterday Krasenkow added yet another win to his already impressive score, beating Van den Doel with the black pieces in a Berlin Wall - an opening "Doel" has played quite a lot himself. Bosboom and Hoffmann took a quick draw on board 2. Some semi-upsets on lower boards where GMs Kogan, Nijboer and and Andrey Vovk drew their games.

Hogeschool Zeeland Open (Vlissingen) 2009 | Round 6 Standings

Round 7 top pairings:

1. Krasenkow-Adhiban 2. Hoffmann-Khairullin 3. Y.Vovk-Ikonnikov 4. Nijboer-Bosboom 5. Rubio Mejia-Beliavsky

Selection of games rounds 1-6

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Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN