Harm Wiersma, Holland - European Champion 1999!

Update: Hoogezand-Sappemeer, the Netherlands:

Harm Wiersma captured the 1999 European Championship with 23/30, drawing with Raoul Bubbi in the final round. His nearest rival, Ton Sijbrands, who led throughout most of the event, could not make up the slender one point lead, and split with Getmanski. This allowed Valneris to move into a share of second place with a win over bottom marker Kaido Leesman.

For brilliant coverage of this event, visit The Dutch Dam Federation. This excellent site has round by round reports, game scores and animated boards for play-through.

Photographs of the tournament can be found at http://www.roeterdink.demon.nl/dez/
another excellent site, where we borrowed the cover photo of the winner.

Final results:

                         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6    AW Pt 

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 1. Harm Wiersma         • 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 2    15-23 



 2. Guntis Valneris      1 • 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2    15-22 



    Ton Sijbrands        1 1 • 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 1    15-22 



 4. Edward Boezjinski    1 1 0 • 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 1 2 2    15-21 



    Anatoli Gantwarg     0 1 1 1 • 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2    15-21 



 6. Alexander Getmanski  0 1 1 1 1 • 1 0 1 2 0 1 2 2 1 2    15-16 



 7. Alexander Georgiev   0 0 0 0 1 1 • 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 2 1    15-15 



    Igor Kirzner         0 0 0 0 1 2 1 • 1 0 2 1 1 2 2 2    15-15 



    Rob Clerc            1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 • 1 1 2 1 2 1 1    15-15 



10. Arnaud Cordier       0 1 0 1 0 0 1 2 1 • 1 2 0 1 1 2    15-13 



    Raoul Bubbi          1 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 1 1 • 1 1 1 1 2    15-13 



12. Ronald Schalley      1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 • 1 1 2 2    15-11 



13. Eldar Aliev          0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 1 1 • 1 0 1    15-10 



14. Pjotr Chmiel         1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 • 1 1    15- 9 



15. Max Shavel           0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 2 1 • 1    15- 8 



16. Kaido Leesmann       0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 •    15- 6 



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Earlier reports:

After 14 of the 15 rounds, Harm Wiersma has made a late kick and finally gone into clear first place, just one point ahead of rival and compatriot Ton Sijbrands. Wiersma has 22/28, and both Dutchmen are undefeated.

The top five finishers automatically qualify for next year's world championship in Riga, and with a round to spare these berths are already booked. Guntis Valneris is also undefeated on 20 points, and holds a one point lead over Anatoly Gantwarg and Eduard Boezinski. This group has opened a wide gap over the rest of the field, and with Igor Kirzner in 6th place with 15 points, the qualification race is over.

After 12 rounds the Dutch duo of Sijbrands and Wiersma have managed to put a little bit of space between themselves and a pack of rivals. They now have a total of 18/24, and both remain undefeated. Boezinski and Gantwarg are just a point back, and Valneris is also within striking distance on 16. The top five finishers are directly seeded to the world championship in Riga 2000.

How strong is the event? Boezinski is the only one of the leaders who is not an ex-world champion!

Boezinski continued to mount the most serious challenge to his famous Dutch rivals, and stayed in front with another win in round eight. European championship specialist Sijbrands kept pace on 12/16, but Wiersma could only draw and dropped back to third place. Georgiev finally won a game, but is mired back in the field.

The see-saw at the top continued in round nine, as the two leaders had to be content with draws while Wiersma vaulted back into a share of first. The race is tremendously close, with Gantwarg, Valneris and Getmanski just a point behind the pace-setting trio, on 13/18.

***

After six rounds Lithuanian GM Edward Boezinski caught up with veteran Sijbrands on 9/12, and Boezinski has more wins. Sijbrands remains the favourite at this stage, since has both beaten Boezinski and has faced the stronger field so far.

The race for first became even hotter after the seventh round, when Dutch rival harm Wiersma clawed his way up to 10\14, and a share of first place. Wiersma and Sijbrands remain undefeated. Defending Champion Alexander Georgiev is having a dismal event, not having won a game yet.

***

Top rated Ton Sijbrands of the Netherlands moved out into the early lead, with two wins and a draw from the first three rounds (5/6). Not only is this good for a point lead, he has faced players who show signs of good form. His victims have been Lithuanian GM Edward Boezinski (spelled rather differently at the European Draughts site) and top Frenchman Arnaud Cordier, who otherwise have perfect scores.  

Defending champion Alexander Georgiev of Russia has started slowly with two draws, and appears to have one match postponed.

The results table is regularly updated at: http://www.edc.org.pl/euroch.htm

The World International Draughts (10x10) Federation (FMJD) announce:

Ton Sijbrands and Harm Wiersma both will take part in this unique tournament. They did not compete each other since the World championship of Toulon in 1992. And the last time they met in the Netherlands in a tournament goes back to 1973.

This happening will take place in the Town Hall of Hoogezand-Sappemeer from 6-23 September 1999. The tournament - in which Alexander Georgiev will defend his title - is of category O, the highest FMJD ranking.

List of Participants: 

Nr Prename Surname Federation Title Ranking 
1 Ton Sijbrands Neth GMI 2454 
2 Harm Wiersma Neth GMI 2404 
3 Alexander Georgiev Russia GMI 2389 
4 Rob Clerc Neth GMI 2388 
5 Anatoli Gantwarg Belarussia GMI 2381 
6 Igor Kirzner Ukrain MI 2346 
7 Alexander Getmanski Russia GMI 2345 
8 Edward Boezinski Lithuania GMI 2341 
9 Arnaud Cordier France MI 2335 
10 Raoul Bubbi Italy 2274 
11 Kaido Leesmann Estonia MI 2258 
12 Max Shavel Israel MI 2245 
13 Ronald Schalley Belgium 2216 
14 Eldar Aleiv Azerbaidzjan 2213 
15 Martin Stec Poland 2114 
16 Stanislav Nozârev Moldavia 2100