S L Narayanan clear first at Groningen Chess Festival Open 2024

by Shahid Ahmed - 04/01/2025

GM S L Narayanan scored an unbeaten 7/9 to win Chess Festival Groningen Open A (>2100) 2024. The top seed finished a half point ahead of the competition. Four players - GM Thomas Beerdsen (GER), IM Nick Maatman (NED), IM Manish Anto Cristiano F and IM Theo Stijve (SUI) scored 6.5/9 each. They shared second place. The total prize fund of the festival was €9750, €8000 for Open A. The top three prizes were €2500 + 'The Silver Zwanepol', €1500 and €900 each. The ten-day nine-round Swiss league rating tournament was organized by Stichting Schaakfestival Groningen Sportcentrum RUG & Hanze in Gronigen, Netherlands from 21st to 30th December 2024. Rest day was on 25th December. This is Narayanan's first rating tournament triumph in 2024. Photo: Harry Gielen

Manish Anto Cristiano F shares second place

Top seed of the tournament, GM S L Narayanan was the sole leader 6.5/8, heading into the final round. GM Thomas Beerdsen (NED), IM Nick Maatman (NED) and IM Manish Anto Cristiano F were trailing by a half point 6/8 each. Narayanan drew with Nick to become a clear champion. Manish drew with IM Arthur De Winter (NED) to share second place. WIM Machteld van Foreest (NED) was the sole female player to make a top ten finish. She scored an impressive 6/9 to secure seventh place. Her stellar performance earned her a WGM and an IM-norm.

Champion - GM S L Narayanan 7/9 | Photo: Harry Gielen

L to R: 6th IM Arthur De Winter (NED) 6/9, 7th WIM Machteld van Foreest (NED) 6/9, 1st GM S L Narayanan 7/9, shared 2nd - IM Theo Stijve (SUI) 6.5/9, IM Manish Anto Cristiano F 6.5/9 and GM Thomas Beerdsen (GER) 6.5/9 | Photo: Harry Gielen

Narayanan - Elgersma, Round 6

Position after 26.Ngxf6!

GM S L Narayanan (2647) made a nice knight sacrifice 26.Ngxf6! to expose his opponent FM Onno Elgersma's (NED, 2322) kingside gxf6 27.Nxf6 Nxb1 28.Rc7 Bg7 29.Nxe8 Qxe8 30.Qe1 Bf6 31.Rxb7 and White eventually won the game.

GM S L Narayanan during his final round game | Photo: Harry Gielen

GM S L Narayanan scored an unbeaten 7/9, won the tournament on tie-breaks

Best Women: 2nd WGM Kateryna Dolzhykova (GER) 4.5/9 and 1st WIM Machteld van Foreest (NED) 6/9 | Photo: Harry Gielen

The tournament hall at Sportcentrum RUG & Hanze in Groningen, Netherlands | Photo: Harry Gielen

A total of 65 players including six GMs, ten IMs, a WGM and a WIM participated from 13 countries across the world. The ten-day nine-round Swiss league Rating tournament was organized by Stichting Schaakfestival Groningen at Sportcentrum RUG & Hanze in Groningen, Netherlands from 21st to 30th December 2024. Rest day was on 25th December. The time control for the event was 40 moves in 90 minutes + 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Replay all Open A games

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	Rp	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	1	GM	Narayanan, S L		IND	2647	7	0	51	39,25	2616	9	7	7,18	-0,18	10	-1,8
2	4	GM	Beerdsen, Thomas		NED	2502	6,5	0	52,5	36,25	2552	9	6,5	5,82	0,68	10	6,8
3	10	IM	Maatman, Nick		NED	2375	6,5	0	48	34,00	2539	9	6,5	4,55	1,95	10	19,5
4	23	IM	Manish, Anto Cristiano F		IND	2296	6,5	0	45,5	31,25	2470	9	6,5	4,38	2,12	10	21,2
5	9	IM	Stijve, Theo		SUI	2396	6,5	0	42,5	28,25	2419	8	6	5,54	0,46	20	9,2
6	7	IM	De Winter, Arthur		NED	2446	6	0	51	32,75	2482	9	6	5,55	0,45	10	4,5
7	22	WIM	Van Foreest, Machteld	w	NED	2309	6	0	46	27,00	2493	9	6	3,80	2,20	20	44
8	6	IM	Mitusov, Semen		NOR	2465	6	0	46	26,25	2411	9	6	6,52	-0,52	10	-5,2
9	26	IM	Pham, Khoi		NED	2285	5,5	0	50	29,25	2452	9	5,5	3,49	2,01	20	40,2
10	5	GM	Poetsch, Hagen		GER	2491	5,5	0	49	28,00	2394	9	5,5	6,48	-0,98	10	-9,8

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament details

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