First draw in battle for World Championships title
Five times in a row there has been a 1-0 score in the Walinga-Groenveld WC match, today we had the first draw. It could have been very different. Folkert Groenveld was leading for most of the time. After the opening part, Walinga made an error with a salesman’s move which meant he had to relinquish a piece a short time afterwards. According to Jelle Wiersma, commentator during the game and multiple Frisian champion, this normally means that victory is up for grabs. Generally, gaining a piece means the win. However Walinga played on, quite rightly, as in Frisian draughts, several winning combinations of moves always remain possible. With the clock running down (five minutes left on the clock), Groenveld thought he could easily play out the game, however, he made a crucial error by moving a piece from the side with 36-31 on the 44th move. With one stroke he nullified his advantage. This enabled Walinga to salvage a draw and now remains ahead 4½-1½. He now has the best chance to claim the match, he only needs a further 1½ points to retain the title. If Groenveld had won, it would have given a completely different complexity to the match. Now only five games remain for Groenveld to gain three points.
1. 32-27 19-24 2. 33-28 20-25 3. 27-21 16x29 4. 39x30 17-21 5. 30-24 25x23 6. 31-27 21x32 7. 37x17 12x21 8. 34-30 11-16 9. 30-25 21-26 10. 43-39 7-11 11. 36-31 26x37 12. 38x36 11-17 13. 39-34 17-21 14. 34-30 21-26? 15. 30-24 14x34 16. 44x24 13-19 17. 24x13 8x19 18. 40-34 9-14 19. 41-37 3-8 20. 34-30 15-20 21. 37-32 20x40 22. 50x30 19-23 23. 32-27 26x28 24. 30-24 14x34 25. 35x24 10-15 26. 49-44 15x35 27. 45x25 8-13 28. 44-40 16-21 29. 40-35 6-11 30. 42-38 13-18 31. 36-31 21x41 32. 47x36 2-8 33. 24-20 8-13 34. 38-33 4-9 35. 36-31 11-17 36. 46-41 1-6 37. 31-26 17-22 38. 41-36 6-11 39. 35-30 9-14 40. 20x9 13x4 41. 33-28 22x33 42. 48-43 33-39 43. 43x34 11-17 44. 36-31 44... 5-10 45. 30-24 10-14 46. 34-30 14x34 47. 30x39 4-9 48. 39-34 17-21 49. 26x19 9x40 50. 25-20 40-44 51. 20-14 44-50 52. 14-10 50-22
