Belgian championship, Ghent
05-07-1997 > 13-07-1997
| Experts | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | Tot | ||||
| 1 | FM | Vetemaa, Jüri | EST | 2325 | – | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 5½ |
| 2 | IM | Cekro, Ekrem | BIH | 2385 | ½ | – | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5½ |
| 3 | FM | Geenen, Marc | BEL | 2325 | ½ | ½ | – | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 5 |
| 4 | FM | Goormachtigh, Johan | BEL | 2305 | ½ | ½ | 0 | – | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 5 | FM | Mohandesi, Shahin | IRI | 2315 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | – | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4½ |
| 6 | Van der Stricht, Geert | BEL | 2270 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | – | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 4 | |
| 7 | Thirion, Marcel | BEL | 2200 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | – | 0 | 0 | ½ | 4 | |
| 8 | FM | Meulders, Richard | BEL | 2295 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | – | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 9 | Faybish, Nimrod | BEL | 2190 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | ½ | 4 | |
| 10 | FM | Vandevoort, Pascal | BEL | 2315 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | – | 3½ |
A series: 1-4. Vanderwaeren, Lacrosse, Van Beers & Maes 6/9 5. Kocur 4½ 6-9. Winants, Laurent, Nieto & Bräuer 3½ 10. Hautot 2½
Ladies: 1. Mičić 8/9 2. Vereecke 6 3. Neels 5½ 4-5. Van Vooren & Van der Zwalmen 5 6-7. Van Steenwinckel & Brion 4 8. De Vlieger 3½ 9. Van Hecke 2½ 10. Drebusch 1½
Open: 1. Schalkx 7½/9 2-4. Abolianin, Van Mechelen & Danneel 7 5-6. Galle & Kegels 6½ 7-17. Lecluyse, Sauvage, Van de Velde, Lenaertkowski, Zouaghi, Froeyman, Van Coppenolle, Du Pont, Cloes, Bauwe & Rotsaert 6 … 90
For the longest time, I despaired of ever finding the crosstable, until I put three different articles by three different people next to each other. The most important part was that [3] gives the final standings with Sonneborn-Berger scores. Together with small bits of information like “Vetemaa drew 7 times” and “Faybish beat Meulders” which I found scattered all over [1]-[3], this allowed for a reconstruction of the crosstable of the experts’ section.
The tournament was a very close affair, apparently at least partly due to many short draws by Vetemaa and Geenen. With one round to go, Cekro, Goormachtigh, and Vetemaa were leading with 5/8. Neither of the two foreigners managed to win, but they ended up sharing first place anyway after Goormachtigh overplayed his hand in a good position against Geenen. There was supposed to be a play-off match, but I have not been able to find any trace of such a match. In 1995, too, a tie-breaking match was supposed to be played but never organised.
In the A series, there was a four-way tie for first place. These four players also were supposed to play for a place in next year’s experts’ section. Vanderwaeren was the only of the four that ended up playing. Presumably, he either won a play-off tournament or the other players did not want to play. In the ladies’ section, Mičić was a class too strong for the other participants. In open section, Schalkx took clear first with half a point lead on a.o. rating favourite Abolianin.
Wanted
- Almost all games.
- The crosstables from the minor sections.
- Some confirmation for the above reconstruction would be welcome.
Sources
- Le pion f No.89
- Schaaknieuws Vol.11 No.15
- Vlaanderen Schaakt No.18
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