Martin Walinga miraculously wins the first game of the WC match
In an extraordinary game world champion Marten Walinga astonished with a victory over challenger Folkert Groenveld from a near impossible position. During the opening the challenger was lord and master due to his thorough preparation. Consequently, Walinga required a great amount of time for the first phase of the game. After 10 moves he only had around 16 minutes left on the clock; his opponent still had his initial 90 minutes. Both players start with 90 minutes each and gain 30 seconds for each move made. After the game Marten Walinga stated that he felt he was up the creek without a peddle when he realised how well his opponent had prepared for the opening.
In the middle part of the game the computer clearly favoured the way black (Groenveld) was positioned, however, that does not automatically mean that it would be easy to close out the game. It is possible that victory still takes 30 moves. In any case, at one point Groenveld failed to see the best move. More worryingly, he gave away a piece, then immediately took it back but captured the wrong way. That turned the tide of the game. Walinga was able to take a position at the front and Groenveld was unable to stop Walinga from breaking through to make a king. It did not get this far, Groenveld resigned after 43 moves.
With this win Walinga gained an important moral victory. Folkert Groenveld nevertheless was so kind as to take the time to briefly discuss and analyse the game via the livestream. Tomorrow evening both men will continue at 7pm.
The expectation is that the number of ties will be limited. Victory and defeat simply lie too close together in the Frisian game.
Alderman Harry Boon from Harns/Harlingen municipality made the first move in the first game of the first match of the Frisian Draughts world championships.
Notation of the first game: 1. 32-27 20-25 2. 27-22 12x32 3. 38x27 19-23 4. 31-26 14-19 5. 33-29 17-21 6. 26x17 11x31 7. 36x27 7-12 8. 37-32 19-24 9. 29x20 25x14 10. 34-30 2-7 11. 41-36 7-11 12. 30-25 23-29 13. 39x17 11x33 14. 43x23 13x33 15. 40-34 33-38 16. 42x33 12-17 17. 33-28 14-20 18. 25x14 9x20 19. 48-42 17-21 20. 49-43 8-12 21. 36-31 21x41 22. 47x36 12-17 23. 42-37 3-9 24. 43-38 9-14 25. 44-40 17-21 26. 37-31 21x41 27. 36x47 20-25 28. 38-32 14-20 29. 35-30 16-21 30. 46-41 20-24 31. 30x19 4-9 32. 19-14 9x20 33. 28-22 21x23 34. 34-30 25x34 35. 40x18 1-7 36. 32-27 10-14 37. 27-21 7-12 38. 18x7 6x8 39. 21-17 20-24 40. 41-37 14-19 41. 37-31 5-10 42. 31-26 10-14 43. 26-21
