The Groningen Chess Festival has not been a successful event for me. The start was very promising with 4 out of 4, but after the rest day on the 25th of December, I more or less gassed out and managed to score only 1,5 out of 5.
Still, it is always great to play this tournament because it has a long tradition and is well organized. Moreover, the Christmas holidays make for a great atmosphere and the ‘Afterchess’-events, usually, every evening in the famous cafe Hooghoudt are a great addition.
The Afterchess included a Blitz tournament on the 23rd of December, followed by a Fischer-random tournament a couple of days later, both with small money prizes. Also, the other evenings saw interesting alternatives like the popular ‘hands and brains’ and a mellow version of bughouse. It should be mentioned that these after chess events are dangerous to anyone who wants to seriously compete for the first prize in the main tournament since the beers at the cafe are really very good!
This makes it very difficult (if not entirely impossible!) to leave in time for some much-needed sleep as so to be 100% fresh for the next round game in the tournament.
Despite a poor result, there were a couple of games that I played which I enjoyed a lot. My tournament started with two very shaky games and frankly, I had already come to terms that I would lose my game against Mighiel de Jong, as his attack seemed absolutely crushing. My opponent didn’t continue his strong play and after 40 moves I suddenly had a winning endgame on the board. Apparently, good fortune does not always favor the bold. In the next round I won a good game with Mikhail Ulybin:
So chess wise the tournament was slightly disappointing for me, but for the rest, it was a great end of the year. The tournament was won by Dutch IM (most likely soon GM) Liam Vrolijk, who edged out Hagen Poetch from Germany on tie-breaks; congratulations to both! I wish all readers the best for the next decade and who knows we will meet on the chessboard soon again!
p.s. This typical Dutch treat was served during the final round. Probably deadlier than smoking and drinking combined but definitely delicious!