Pavel Eljanov wins HZ University of Applied Science Tournament in Zeeland

Pavel Eljanov wins on tiebreak

As every year, the 27^th edition of the Zeeland Open took place in the first week of August in the coastal town of Vlissingen, on the peninsula. The main sponsor and venue is, as always, the Zeeland University of Applied Sciences, abbreviated as HZ, which forms part of the name of this popular holiday open held in the southernmost and sunniest coastal region of the Netherlands.

Before the start of the tournament, on Friday evening, the colour allocation for the top board in the first round of the Open was drawn. At 20:00, Pavel Eljanov then gave a simultaneous exhibition. This tradition has been maintained for many years: the top seed – usually a strong grandmaster selected and invited by the organisers – gives a simul. The grandmaster played on 24 boards in the auditorium of the Zeeland University of Applied Sciences, conceding only 4 draws. The simul ended around 23:30.

On Saturday afternoon, registration began at 15:00, with familiar faces appearing early and punctually, as many of the players in Vlissingen are regular participants at the Open.

Shortly after 18:00, a number of welcome speeches were delivered, including one by tournament director Hans Groffen, a long-standing member of the organising team. The mayor of Vlissingen also offered a few kind words before the chief arbiter, IA Bart De Vogelaere, addressed the 243 participants on the tournament regulations. The event began promptly at 18:30, with the ceremonial first move made by the mayor on Eljanov’s board.

After round 5, no fewer than seven players were tied for the lead on 4½ points.

Round 6 saw draws on boards two and three. Pavel Eljanov, playing on board 1 against IM Arthur De Winter, secured a win to take sole lead in the standings.

In round 7, the tournament favourite (against local GM Koen Leenhouts from the Zeeland region) also won, keeping his lead. On boards two and three, GMs Erwin L’Ami and Thomas Beerdsen also won, staying within striking distance. GM Daniel Hausrath likewise scored a victory, reaching the same number of points and remaining close to the top of the table.

The eighth and penultimate round brought the “pairing of the tournament” (a potential decider) as the top two seeds met directly. GM Erwin L’Ami, half a point behind, had white against GM Pavel Eljanov and played for a win.

Eljanov also approached the game in an open and aggressive manner, leading to a sharp battle. In the end, the Dutch grandmaster prevailed, and the tiebreak criterion of “direct encounter” (in case of equal points with Eljanov) was now in his favour. The young Dutch GM Thomas Beerdsen, playing with white on board two against GM Daniel Hausrath, also won and thus drew level with Erwin L’Ami.

Thomas Beerdsen

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From a German perspective, it was both interesting and pleasing to see the very young and friendly FM Emil Frederick Schuricht score a victory over the young Indian grandmaster Vuppala Prraneeth on board 5.

The final round was played on the morning of Saturday, 9 August, starting at 11:30. Due to a large city festival taking place that day in the heart of Vlissingen, with numerous road closures in the city centre, GM Erwin L’Ami’s journey from his hotel to the university (around 3 km in a straight line) was delayed. After informing the tournament director in advance, he arrived at the top board against GM Thomas Beerdsen with a delay of 10 minutes. Playing black, GM L’Ami accepted his opponent’s draw offer after nine moves – following a well-known Spanish drawing variation – and likely hoped for a favourable tiebreak. On the neighbouring board, GM Eljanov sensed his chance, facing the young German FM Schuricht in what seemed a relatively easy pairing, and eventually won despite being exchange down, thanks to a decisive passed pawn in the centre.

On board three, IM Eelke De Boer also won his game against IM Arthur De Winter, resulting in no fewer than four players tied on 7½/9 in the final standings. The prize money was shared according to the Hort system. However, the question of whose name would be engraved on the challenge trophy remained open due to the various tiebreak criteria (1.direct encounter, 2.number of wins, 3.Buchholz tie-break variable).

Since the direct encounter criterion did not apply to the four players at the top, Eljanov and De Boer, each with seven wins, ranked ahead of L’Ami and Beerdsen (six wins each). Thanks to a slightly better Buchholz score, GM Eljanov – despite his loss to L’Ami in round 8 – emerged as the winner of this year’s Zeeland Open.

Final standings

243 players…

Games

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Among the 44 German participants, three young FMs achieved the best results, ahead of GM Daniel Hausrath. IM Georg Seul, after unsatisfactory results in the final third of the event, partly against nominally weaker opponents, unfortunately withdrew after round 8.

Georg Seul

Overall, as in previous years, the tournament was well-balanced, especially in the middle range, with many players rated between 1800 and 2000. The average rating was 1927, with an average age of 41 years.

Unlike in previous years, no norms were achieved this time. The young German FMs dropped points too early and faced “too few title-holders” as opponents to reach an IM norm. After several defeats for potential norm candidates in round 8, there was nothing left for the arbiters to calculate before and during round 9. The only possible norm awarded may have been an IA arbiter norm to FIDE Arbiter Kareem Tawfiq.

From a German viewpoint, it is worth noting that the young FM Emil Frederick Schuricht not only claimed a GM scalp but also got to play against both tournament favourites, GM Eljanov and GM L’Ami – thus facing the strongest opposition in the event – but unfortunately still had too few titled opponents and insufficient performance for an IM norm. Perhaps next time!

The basic concept of the tournament remained the same (nine rounds over eight days, the option of a half-point bye on Sunday – the only double-round day – with games played in the evenings, etc.).

New features included a slightly increased prize fund (cash prizes) and numerous new book prizes sponsored by the publishing house Thinkers Publishing. From round 2 onwards, before each round, the youngest winner of the previous round was presented with a book prize. Thus, in each round, at least one child received a chess book. In addition, any player who defeated a nominally stronger opponent (highest Elo difference) received a book prize (“David versus Goliath prize”). A very nice idea, one I have never seen before at a chess open.

Also worth highlighting is the diligent photography work of the tournament photographer Tina Rouwendal, who took and processed numerous wonderful pictures. All photos can be viewed via a Flickr link on the tournament website and they are available for download.

Furthermore, after each round, very good tournament reports were published on the website, and now all games from boards 1–40 of the tournament are available for download.

The playing conditions in the auditorium of the university were once again ideal, and the organisation of this pleasant annual holiday open was exemplary.

The next edition of the HZ Open will presumably take place in the first week of August 2026.