Jitse Slump - Martijn van IJzendoorn 0-2 (5-4-2018)

In the second round of the Dutch championship 2018 Van IJzendoorn won a beautiful game against Slump.

1.33-28 17-21 2.31-26 20-25 3.26x17 11x33 4.39x28 16-21

diagram 1

This opening scheme is a bit uncommon. Black voluntarily accepts a corner piece on 25, but compensates for this with a clean development of his right wing.

5.44-39 15-20 6.39-33 10-15 7.37-31 21-26 8.43-39 26x37 9.42x31 5-10 10.41-37 20-24 11.47-42 15-20 12.34-29

diagram 2

19-23

Slump offers his opponent to play a fork lock, but Van IJzendoorn immediately rejects it. Indeed the conditions for a fork lock are far from ideal.

13.28x30 25x23 14.35-30 13-19 15.30-25 20-24 16.49-43 6-11 17.46-41 8-13 18.33-28!?

This move has far reaching consequences. It leaves white with a heavy left wing, and it will not be easy to get any grip on the ideally developed black right wing.

10-15 19.31-27 14-20 20.25x14 9x20 21.36-31 4-9 22.31-26 24-30 23.38-33 30-35 24.50-44 9-14 25.42-38 20-24 26.27-22 18x27 27.32x21 23x32 28.37x28 12-18

diagram 3

White has developed the left wing, but at the cost of two weak pieces on 26 and 21.

29.48-42 24-30!!

With a brilliant move Van IJzendoorn manages to create problems for his opponent. It reminds me a bit of Harm Wiersma when he was reigning the draughts world in the seventies.

30.42-37

Of course not 30.40-34? due to the combination 18-23 31.34x25 23x32 32.38x27 14-20 33.25x23 11-17 34.21x12 7x36 B+

14-20! 31.37-32(?)

This allows black to block the white right wing completely. Probably Slump didn't trust the consequences of 31.40-34 35-40!? 32.34x12 40x49, but after 33.12-8! 3x12 34.21-17 12x21 35.26x6 49-35 36.33-29! 13-19 37.41-36 it seems to be OK for white.

19-24! 32.41-37 13-19! 33.21-16 18-23!

diagram 4

Van IJzendoorn brings the positional threat 23-29 into play, in order to completely obstruct the white right wing.

34.40-34?

Now the circumstances for this move are much worse than a couple of moves ago. The best chance for survival was to hang into the situation with 34.28-22 23-29 35.26-21 3-8 36.21-17 1-6 37.37-31. Then black has several attractive plans, for example 20-25 38.33-28 8-13 39.39-33 30-34 or 8-13 38.22-18 13x22 39.17x28 11-17 40.32-27! 19-23 41.28x19 24x13 42.33x24 20x29 43.39-33, but in all cases there is still a lot to prove.

35-40! 35.34x14 40x49 36.39-34 19x10 37.28x30 11-17

Most likely the white position is lost now.

38.33-28 15-20! 39.32-27? 20-24!

The right choice. It turns out that 17-21 40.26x17 49-40 was also winning, but the endgame after 41.30-25 40x48 42.25x5 48-39 is very difficult to assess correctly.

40.30x19 49-35 41.37-31 35x8 42.34-30 8x35 43.45-40 35x22 44.27x18 10-14 45.38-33 3-9 46.43-38 14-19 47.38-32 19-24 48.33-28 24-30 49.16-11 17x6 50.31-27 30-34 51.28-22 7-12 52.18x7 1x12