Not a GM, not an IM, but FM Tim Grutter is the leader of the Amsterdam Chess Open's A group after Round 4. The member of Kennemer Combinatie chess club is the only player still on a 100 percent score. Four players are half a point behind Grutter: IM Rao Sharan, FM Midas Ratsma, IM Khoi Pham and CM Christopher Brookes.
Round 3
Because of his draw in the second round, top seed Van den Doel didn't play on the first board anymore. There, we saw the attractive game between Rao Sharan (2401) and Ilija Stanojevic (2193) in which both sides missed a win.
Black played the typical attacking setup that we know especially with reversed colours from the King's Indian Attack. Bobby Fischer (who played it with both colours!) is still inspiring new generations with this system.
Sharan-Stajenovic
ACO (03), 2024
21...g4!
Of course.
22.Bxf6 Qxf6 23.hxg4 h3!? 24.gxh3?
A mishap. One of the ways to win this was with 24.gxf5 Qxf5 25.g3.
24...Qh4!
25.Kg2?!
Accepting is often best: 25.gxf5 Qxh3 26.fxg6! (playing for a win with 26.Bf1? is a bad idea: 26...Qg4+ 27.Kh1 (27.Bg2 Nh4 28.f4 exf3) 27...Nh4 28.f4 Nf3 29.Rg2 Qh5+ 30.Rh2 Nxh2 31.Qxh2 Qxd1) 26...Be5 27.gxf7+ Kxf7 28.Bh5+! Qxh5 29.Kf1 and now Black should force a draw with 29...Qh1+ 30.Ke2 Qh5+.
25...Nf4+!
Black seems to be in his element!
26.exf4 e3 27.Bd3
27...Bxg4!
This is fun.
28.hxg4 Qxg4+ 29.Kf1 Qh3+ 30.Ke1
30...exf2+?
With less than a minute on the clock, Black misses the win: 30...Qg2! after which 31.Be4 is the only way to prevent a quick checkmate but that's losing too.
31.Kxf2 Qh2+ 32.Kf1 Qh1+ 33.Kf2 Qh2+ 34.Kf1 Qh1+ 35.Kf2 Qh2+ ½–½
The German Kai-Christian Bruns (2067) took the spotlights once again in this third round by winning his game against Onno Elgersma (2311) with the black pieces. A sharp middlegame led to an endgame with opposite-coloured bishops and rooks in which Black had the better chances. The game was more or less decided when Elgersma unnecessarily dropped his important d-pawn:
31.Kf2?
White misses 31.Re7 Kd6 32.Rb7 after which it should be a draw.
31...Bxd3
This is probably lost already and Black won it without many issues.
Round 4
Only two players were on 3/3 and logically played on first board. Grutter was fully ready for Esper van Baar's 6...Be7 sideline in the Open Ruy Lopez and in fact the players followed the top game Vachier-Lagrave vs. Caruana, Bucharest 2024 for no fewer than 12 moves. Soon after, Van Baar started to play inaccurately and soon found himself in (positional) trouble.
Grutter-Van Baar
ACO (04), 2024
12...Kf8
12...g6 13.Nc3 a3 14.b3 Bb4 15.Na4 0-0 was Vachier Lagrave,M (2732)-Caruana,F (2805)/Bucharest 2024.
13.Qf2 Bh4 14.g3 Bf6 15.Re1 Qd7 16.Nc3 Kg8 17.b3
17...c5?!
Not the best idea. 17...axb3 18.axb3 Bh3! followed by 19...h5! would have been good for Black.
18.Be3 a3?!
18...axb3 19.axb3 Bh3 was still better.
19.Na4!
White is taking over.
19...cxd4 20.Bxd4 Bxd4 21.Qxd4 Qc6 22.Nc5 h5 23.Re5 g6?
Weakening the dark squares even more. 23...Rc8 24.b4 Bg4 25.Rae1 Rh6 was the best try. 24.Rae1 Bf5
25.Nxa6! Black is lost, but managed to prolong the fight until move 42.
Mikko Rondo is the only player on 4/4 in group B. The C group has two leaders: Amrit Shakya and Sinan Erisen, both on 4/4 as well. The D group still has three players who won all four games: Ozkal Sonmez, Sam Ritchie and Leonard Schneider.
As mentioned in the previous report, we're keeping a special eye on the members of chess club Caïssa Amsterdam, a partner of our tournament. The highest ranked player in the A group is FM Arno Bezemer, who started with two byes (and got half points for those) and then won two games in a row against lower rated players. With 3.5/4, Pieter Fritschy is still in contention for winning the B group. Martin Blom has 2.5/4 in group C, just like Hugo Sommer in D.