The 9th "Xingqiu Cup" Draughts China Open Tournament

RESULTS AND GAMES
https://results.fmjd.org/tournaments/2024/f_1558/index.html

PHOTOS:
https://m.alltuu.com/album/2462766408/?menu=live

NEWS

Martijn van IJzendoorn and You Zhang wins the 9th "Xingqiu Cup" Draughts China Open Tournament 2024
( by Siep Buurke, 17-11-2024 )
Martijn van IJzendoorn won this seven star tournament for the second time in a row.
However, this win in the tournament came as a surprise. Both Martijn and the Latvian player Guntis Valneris overtook the three leaders by winning.
Martijn van IJzendoorn won from Zjang You, a strong player in this tournament who lost her leading position. She was still the best female contestant.
Shvartsman and world champion Iiuri Anikeev played a quick draw against each other. Both players had to wait and see how the other results would turn out and whether the Solkov system would work in their favor. The odds went wrong for both players. Maybe some miscalculation on the part of both players. Now they only finished third (Shvartsman) and fourth. It was exciting for a long time to see for whom the Solkov system would work best. In the hall of the playing venue it was already clear that this would be between van IJzendoorn and Valneris.
Both Valneris and van IJzendoorn had a solid victory.
The tournament was a great success. The sponsors were so happy with the tournament that they announced that they would make it a 9-star tournament next year. A tournament with prize money that has not been there in recent years. The World Championship Rapid is also held during the tournament in 2025. It makes this tournament the most attractive tournament if you don´t count the World Championship held in june in Cameroon.
In any case, the Dutch national anthem was played again, where players, organisers and visitors in the tournament espected the day before that the Israeli or Ukrainian national anthem would be played.

Rounds 7 and 8.
( by Siep Buurke, 16-11-2024 )

After the seventh round, the Israeli player Alexander Shvartsman came in the lead. As indicated in yesterday's report, it was likely that he had the chance to take the lead. He took this with both hands. Polish player Marta Bankovska joined the group of chasers by winning against Kuang Chenyi. Zhang You also joined the pursuers by winning against compatriot Zhang Zjian. The other front runners didn't make a profit. Emre Hageman came a long way, but the four to one he had on the board against Farhad Huseynov did not succeed for a win. In the eighth round, decisions came. Anikeev won as expected from the Polish Marta Bankovska. Yet she still offered strong resistance, but made a crucial mistake in the end. There are now three front runners. Besides Iyrii Anikeev and Alexander Shvartsman the Chinese player Zjang You. She convincingly crushed the Dutch grandmaster Hein Meijer. Martijn van IJzendoorn, the reigning champion of this tournament disappointed with his fifth consecutive draw. Guntis Valneris did not win either, nor did he win the last five
games. Shvarzman and Valneris made no effort to win in their game, saving themselves for the last round.
Of the chasers with eleven points, there are now only six. They too can still take the title in the last round of tomorrow. Wang Chenfan, Farhard Huseynov and Tomy Mbongo joined these pursuers.
Shvartsman and Anikeev were expected from the three front runners. However, the Chinese player Zjang You is a surprise. In the final Shvartsman plays Anikeev and Zjang You against Martijn van IJzendoorn.
The tournament could have a surprising end. The Chinese players are doing very well in this tournament.

Round 5 and 6
( by Siep Buurke, 15-11-2024 )
In the morning round there were only draws on the top boards. Surprising was the draw of the Chinese player Gangsuhe Saiya against world champion Iurii Anikeev. Her position stood under pressure, but she managed to keep the draw through a nice big exchange. Another Chinese player Chen Shaomake, joined the top five, so that after five rounds six players lead with seven out of five. Chen won over his compatriot Liu, Pei. There are fourteen players who had a point less than the front runners.
So the tournament still has many candidates for the title. Li Aoyun acompliched to keep Tomy Mbongo at a draw with tough play. In the sixth round a lot of matches ended again in a draw. That's why the lead group expanded once more. Wang Chenfan was the only one who joined the front runners from the following group. Despite the many draws the players fought fiercely. The Dutchman Hein Meijer managed to hold a draw against Alexander Shvartsman in a nice way. Afterwards he hopped happily singing through the corridors of the hotel. Li Aoyun also managed to find the path to a draw in a neat manner against the Frenchman Tomy Mbongo, who had no luck today. From tomorrow there may be a separation in the tournament. Then again two rounds are played. Fatigue can then strike, resulting in more mistakes and therefore more decisions.
The Israeli Shvartsman will attempt to beat Wang Chenfang and become leader in the tournament. Valneris plays against Anikeev and Van IJzendoorn against Meijer. Then it has to be seen whether Meijer is as strong as he was today. In any case, there are beautiful matches played in this
tournament. The decision about the victory in the tournament could well be on the last day. The players are are all hard to beat.



Round four
( by Siep Buurke, 13-11-2024 )

The three leaders after the third round did not win in the fourth round of The 9th "Xingqiu Cup" in Lishui. The game between Van IJzendoorn and Valneris ended after 55-moves in a draw. Van IJzendoorn did have some pressure on the black position, with a ten tempi lead, but the advantage for IJzendoorn turned out to be snow in the summer. Also frontrunner Hein Meijer did not win. He also came under pressure. His opponent, the Frenchman Tomy Mbongo, had the advantage on his side. The breakthrough he pulled out was just not enough for him to win. Tomy comes from Cameroon and is very excited that the Worldchampionship will be played in his country of birth next year. The grandmasters Alexander Shvartsman and Iuryii Anikeev won, so they could join the front runners. The Israeli Schwarzman won in a very nice way by an exceptional beautiful combination. With these results, five people now lead, namely Anikeev, Shvartsman,Van IJzendoorn, Valneris and Meijer. Only Meijer is a surprise in this company. Tomorrow is the Blitz World Championship. All the top players play tomorrow, so nobody has an advantage. After this exhausting event, two rounds have to be played on Friday and Saturday in the follow/up. In that sense, this is a grueling tournament where a lot of the endurance of the players is demanded. It is unusial that of the nine rounds eight are played in four days. In the Blitz World Championship, Alexander Shvartsman is the brazen favourite, the man to beat, he has won ten of the 17-championships that have been played in history. With his well-known dry humor, he declared to be disappointed that he had not won seven times. With his 57 years, Shvartsman is an exception when it comes to making quick decisions. Martijn van IJzendoorn in particular can be expected to stop the Israeli

The second day of the tournament
( by Siep Buurke, 13-11-2024 )
In the third round, there are only three players left who have won all their games. The Dutchmen Martijn van IJzendoorn and Hein Meijer and the Latvian Guntis Valneris are closely followed by a group of ten players. In the afternoon round last year's champion Martijn van IJzendoorn plays against Guntis Valneris in this championship. Valneris managed to outsmart Dutch grandmaster Ron Heusdens nicely positionally. The Dutchman hopes to place himself through this tournament for the World Cup 2025 in Cameroon. There are nine rounds to be played in total, so much has not been decided yet.

Second round
( by Siep Buurke, 12-11-2024 )
In the second round of the Lisui open there were some surprising results. World champion Iurii Anikeev faced his compatriot Juyliia Marenkova. He came no further than a draw. Countrymen don't spare each other. Juyliia managed to keep the defense closed. A number of young Chinese players came to a surprising result or maybe not. Chen, Shaomake held Alexander Shvartsman at a draw, 25/year-old Gangsuhe, Saiya Tomy Mbongo and Liu, Haoyan Emre Hageman. The Israeli Scvartsman was very upset about this loss of a point. In the next round, the top players will not yet meet. It is a tough tournament with up to four days that have two rounds to be played.

First day of the tournament.
( by Siep Buurke, 11-11-2024 )
In Lisui started the 7-star tournament  "Xingqiu Cup" Draughts China Open Tournament for the 9th time. The location is the hotel where the players stay Gu Yan Hua Xiang. The accommodation is very suitable for this tournament. The players lack nothing. On social media there were
impressive videos in which a number of top players of the tournament introduced themselves. In addition, at the entrance to the playing area and in the hotel there are flags and many beautiful images of the tournament. It is an example for other tournaments. Of the players who participate the candidates for the first place are in particular± the world champion Yoeri Anikeev, next month he defends his title against Jan Groenendijk in Wageningen, he is a favorite for winning this tournament, but also former/world champions like the Israeli Alexander Shvartsman and the Latvian player Guntis Valneris have a good chance and of course the number three of the world the Dutchman Martijn Van IJzendoorn. We will see if the Chinese players will provide a surprise.
China will become a strong draughts country. In the World Youth Championship, Mongolia was the best country. This promises something for the future. Maybe in a few years there will be a champion from Asia for the first time. Given the results in the youth world championship this
is very possible. China already has a world champion in Blitz Y. Zjang.
This tournament also helds the World Championship blitz which will be played on thursday. In the general group Alexander Shvartsman is 10 times champion. He'll want to repeat this again. In the first round all the topplayers won their game. There are 81 players in the tournament.

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