Passionate Sipke Ernst wins ROC Aventus

He came to win, saw he was winning and he won. Sunday night Sipke Ernst was the deserved winner of the ROC Aventus Weekender?Ǭ†in Apeldoorn. It was convincing chess that brought him in sole first position with 5 points out of 5 games, with team member Sebastian Siebrecht and Edwin van Haastert (LSG)?Ǭ†right behind him with a half point less. In the last round Ernst decided to go for a quick draw against Van Haastert and Siebrecht, with White,?Ǭ†couldn't beat Ruud Janssen, who was back in the top of the tournament after having lost surprisingly in the second round.



Sipke Ernst finished his game a while ago and he's watching how Ruud Janssen, with a few minutes left on the clock,?Ǭ†keeps the draw against Sebastian Siebrecht (click on photo for bigger version).?Ǭ†?Ǭ†

Top results: 1 Ernst (5,5), 2-3 Siebrecht, Van Haastert (5), 4-6 Janssen, V.d. Oudeweetering, Freeke (4,5).

(Here the full final standings.)

Not only seven IM's appeared in Apeldoorn; among the players there was a Danish player and even someone from Sierra Leone. A dark stature and strong as a bear, listening to the name Ansumana Kamara, who appeared to be the president of the federation over there. He was on sort of a study-tour; he had already played in Oberwart and now in Apeldoorn, in his own words mainly to get some experience in organizing tournaments! Marlies Bensdorp-Ansumana Kamara?Ǭ†from round 1?Ǭ†(click on photo for bigger version).

The sympathetic Dane Rise Madsen had his own special story. 24 years old,?Ǭ†bus driver in Roskilde and never been outside Denmark before, he spontaneously decided on Wednesday to take the ten hour trip to Apeldoorn by train. He scored a modest 3,5 points in the B-group.

One of the?Ǭ†best games was Sipke Ernst-Merijn van Delft. Especially Black played quite creatively and attractively, but right when it became truely exciting, he blundered material.?Ǭ†(Hopefully I can show you this game with analysis soon.) That's why Rob Hartoch, present as commentator on Sunday, justly presented the beauty price to little Thomas. (click on photo for bigger version)?Ǭ†

I can recommend Apeldoorn, lads. A good tournament where almost all the top players go out at night. Despite this, the next (early) morning everybody's in fighting spirit again at the board. The best danser turned out to be the tall Siebrecht. You wouldn't tell, but IM Hoffman drinks as a German should. And of?Ǭ†the ladies Bensdorp only Laura went into town, Marlies didn't. Guess who had a better tournament.

Eternally unsurpassed is of course Karel van Delft:?Ǭ†organisor, host, photographer, media man,?Ǭ†man-who-does-it-all.?Ǭ†His speeches during the rounds were unforgettable. For example:

"Can I have FIFTEEN SECONDS of your attention please. Soon the sixth round will start. After that the prize giving, but first we will clean up here. Especially the prize winners wil join with that, because then it'll go quickly because it's in their interest. Don't forget to take another beer after the game because we have plenty of crates. And after that I will kick everbody out of here."

Well, now we're talking!

>> replay Freeke-Janssen (1-0) and Ernst-Van Delft (1-0)

Epilogue by rapanui:

Finally, what struck me was the huge number of professional complainers. Been working all week (Doggers), exams (Van Weersel), a bit ill (Visser), tired (Wesselink), bad experience with weekenders (Van Haastert),?Ǭ†exhausted (Moll), too much distracted (Van Delft), and much more.?Ǭ†The right state of mind for this kind of tournaments was expressed as follows: "I will sleep big time, and I will win this tournament big time!" (Ernst, after the first round).