On 30th September 2023, the Dutch Corporate Chess Championship was held in Rotterdam. Last year it was the first time ASML participated in the European Corporate Chess Tournament, with only one team. This time, after the establishment of the Litho Knights, there are more enthusiastic club members who wanted to participate and represent ASML and enjoy the experience.
The rapid tournament style was chosen with 15 minutes for each player with 5 second increment for each move. The paring of each round was based on the Swiss system. This tournament hosted 4 GMs, 6 IMs and 2 WIMs, 6 FMs and 4 CMs spread across the teams. Each team consists of 4 players and one extra player. There were altogether 54 teams that played against each other for 7 rounds, started at 10.30 with short breaks until the last round which commenced at 16.30.
This year, three teams from ASML participated and named as ASML – 1, ASML – 2, ASML – 3. For ASML – 1, the line up of the players were as follows. GM Jorge Viterbo Ferreira played the first board, followed by Jose Margarido, Ralf Weijers (Captain), Marcos Ivan Quintana Hernandez and Arda Cayonlu.
Team ASML-1 placed on the 8th rank at the beginning, and they faced KNSB for the first round. A clear win with 3.5 points on hand out of 4 points, the second round they battled against Hogeschool van Amsterdam. Again, 3.5 points out of 4, showing splendid performance. Round 3 was with PGGM 1 with 3-1, and 4th round with Heinekin-1 with a draw 2-2. The 5th round specifically was challenging against ING-1 which ASML-1 lost all the 4 points. However, they rose again round 6 against ORTEC (3-1) and in the last round with another draw with Bullstore (2-2).
Picture: ASML-1 playing their last round of the tournament.
For ASML-2, board one played by Alexis Pelliteri (Captain), followed by Nuwan Liyanage, Krithik Gurjan, Pedro Ferreira, and Reinaldo Astudillo.
For round 1 it was a 1-3 with Gemeente Tilburg, but the second round was a 3.5-0.5 with Defensie -2. Third and fourth rounds were tough with 0.5-3.5 with Hogeschool van Amsterdam (they were thrilled about the result as they got slaughtered by ASML-1 in the same way in the previous round) and European Patent Office – 1 with 1-3. Fifth and sixth rounds were win with 3-1 and 3.5-0.5 against Ministerie van SZW 2 and DSW Zorgverzekeraar. The final round was again a step down with a 1-3 with Flynth. For ASML-2, it was intense learning experience, and somehow managed to score at least a half point in all the rounds.
Picture: ASML-2 playing against Hogeschool van Amsterdam in second round.
ASML-3 line-up was as follows.
The rapid games are intense specially if you are an amateur player and to play over the board. For ASML-3 there were only 4 players, therefore, they didn’t had the chance of substitute or to play strategically with the extra help of an additional player. Board 1 was played by Sunil Ebenezer Samuel, followed by Anton Baranikov, Adrian Lara-Quintanilla, and Victor Dolk. They played against Bullstore (2-2), Sioux Technologies (2-2), ADP (2-2), SAP (1-3), Ministerie van VWS (0-4), Boon Food Group B.V. (1-3) and ING-3 (1-3).
Picture: ASML -3 (Victor, Adrian, Anton)
Team ASML: [Back row, from left] Anton, Nuwan, Jorge, Jose, Adrian, Marcos, Reinaldo, Victor, Sunil. [Front row, from left] Arda, Alexis, Ralf, Pedro and Krithik.
It was exciting that we have a solid team at ASML and it should be mentioned here that, Litho Knights as a new club with its members and management are making great efforts to help players to be the best they can be.
I would like to highlight that by unanimous votes Sunil has been crowned ASML player of the tournament. In the first round he was able to beat IM Stefan Kuipers with a rating of 2473!!!
For most of the players, this was a new experience and to play over the board, and under different time conditions. It definitely was a great learning experience, and with the lessons learned, we will get ready for the next year D.C.C.C with more preparation and more ambition wearing (newly designed for Litho Knights) t-shirts.
Nuwan Liyanage
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