10 howling wolves in pursuit of Jelle Wiersma
Yesterday, in round 3, dark horse Willem Schaap managed to take advantage of an overly adventurous move by his opponent Marten Walinga to take the lead. Today, in round 4, he lost that position by making a risky move of his own. His opponent, Jelle Wiersma, immediately turned up the pressure, forcing his opponent into a vulnerable position in which he could execute a carefully prepared deep combination. After some futile resistance, Willem Schaap tapped out.
But there were more treats to come in this round. Dicky van der Meer (playing one of the favourites, Teake Kooistra) missed a beautiful winning combination, which happened to be the only playable move. In front of a stunned audience, his position slowly but surely went downhill. In contrast, Fedde Kramer and Hein de Vries played an absolutely even game, neither making a single mistake until Hein de Vries thought he could safely set up a shot to king's row. Fedde Kramer, however, made an unexpected sacrifice and then took his opponent in an iron grip from which there was no escape. Similarly, Folkert Groenveld cunningly prepared and executed a perfect combination against Lukasz Kosobudzki. With Ties Slagter and Marten Walinga drawing, Auke Zijlstra beating Aleksej Domchev and Petra Duskova beating Malte Schulz, there are still no less than ten players in the hunt for Jelle Wiersma, who could be knocked back to fifth place before the end of the day.
Round 4 results
Wiersma - Schaap 1-0
Marten Walinga - Ties Slagter kamp
Groenveld - Kosobudzki 1-0
Kramer - de Vries 1-0
Kooistra - van der Meer 1-0
Schulz - Dušková 0-1
Zijlstra - Domchev 1-0
Richardson - Walinga 1-0
Standings after round 4
Jelle Wiersma 3.5 pts.
Willem Schaap, Folkert Groenveld 3 pts.
Marten Walinga, Taeke Kooistra, Fedde Kramer, Ties Slagter 2.5 pts.
Hein de Vries, Lukasz Kosobudzki, Auke Zijlstra, Petra Dusková 2 pts.
Dicky van der Meer, Porter Richardson 1.5 pts.
Malte Schulz 1 pt.
Aleksej Domchev 0.5 pt.
Siward Walinga 0 pt.
Picture free to use with mention: Picture WFD Foundation
Picture: Hein de Vries (l) against Fedde Kramer
