Last year, Erwin lost his final game in the Internie to Henny Visscher. This time, he won it against Karel Stolte from a Pirc Defense 3.....Nbd7. Erwin tried to remember the ideas used by F. Hoogeveens (HSV) from the Black side and developed his pieces according to that set-up. However, Karel used an original idea. With his pawn running to g5, Erwin was able to create tension in the Black kingside, which he converted to a pawn advantage. Karel resigned when he has to give up his rook for the promoted pawn.
Henny Visscher forced a draw with Joost Michielsen while Hans and Rik were still playing when I went home.
May 29, 2001: Vogelwijk Internie Round 28
Erwin Casareno 2026 scored a quick win over the 11 year old Bastian Dessing. He forced the resignation of Bastian after his 13 th move, after winning a piece in a center exchange. Erwin decided to play an open game from a Benoni, choosing 2.dc5 from 2.d5 or Henny's 2.e3. With this win, Erwin improves his percentage to 87.6 %, but more importantly, reduced the number of games he must play to only 4.
Maarten Stolte and Bas Geelhoed were still playing when he left the playing hall. Maarten sacrificed his queen for a rook and a minor piece and should be an interesting endgame. The game ended in a draw.
The Vogelwijk Championship is still a long way to go. With the completion of each game, things will begin to clear up. The question is: Can Erwin play the remaining 4 games? Can he win his second club title in this season? If so, which club will he play for the next season? We can only guess what he is thinking. Anything is possible.
May 22, 2001: 2001 Vogelwijk Open Rapid
Erwin Casareno finished 11e with 6 points out of nine. He tried to salvage some honor in the last night by scoring 2.5/3, to rise from the grave. His worst finish is documented in his report on this event.
May 19, 2001: Delft The Netherlands: Zuid Holland Beker Competitie
This competition was organized to pit four champion teams from HSB, LSB, and RSB. Haagse Toren is the representative of HSB, being the champion team. Capelse Schaak Vereniging and Charlois/Europoort represented Rotterdam. The fourth team is Vogelwijk, as a replacement of the team from LSG which could not make it.
The competition is formatted as a knockout tournament, designed to be finished in one day. In the first round, Haagse Toren was unlucky to be paired with Capelse ( which won the event) while Vogelwijk has the luck after getting Charlois/Europoort. Joost Michielsen lost his game, followed by Theo Hartmann (B + N + pawns endgame) and then Ton Bodaan ( who had to play for the win and took risks). I had a won game but could not complete it and had to force the draw after some uneasy moments in the Q + P endgame. The score 1/2 - 3 1/2.
On the other hand, Vogelwijk settled for a 2-2 draw against Charlois/Europoort and relied on its experience in lightning games to win with 3-1 score, with Maarten Stolte, Hans Segers and Ben Spierings providing the win. Bas did not take the draw by perpetual check and should be applauded for his courageous stand.
Thanks to Maarten Stolte. Were it not for him, I would have missed the free lunch provided by the organizers. See photos. I liked eating with Chris van Zijderveld, Theo Hartmann, Ton Bodaan and Joost Michielsen on one table. Then there is the problem: I felt sleepy after a good meal.
The battle for third place started started at 14:15. Joost won quckly, followed by Ton. I managed to get a good position in a queenless middlegame and should get the half point against B Boog 2107. Disaster struck when I played quickly ( 47 minutes vs 10 minutes), became lazy in analyzing the position and of course, a little sleepy, making the move Bc7 ?, resulting to the loss of a pawn. I resigned the game, then informed Chris van Zijderfeld of my intention to leave. Chris gave me a memorabilia for the event. My wife and I had to hurry to Delft centrum as it is already 16:45 and the shops would close at 17:00. We needed to buy a picnic table which we will use for the oyster picking activity the next day. And we succeeded, the plastic table was available in Blokker. I learned later that Theo Hartmann won his game so Haagse Toren got the third place.
Looking back, I felt that i should have won the game against Kachun Lui and draw with Boog. Anyway, it is a nice experience. If lucky, I might be here again next year. Back to Homepage
The moment of truth happened last night in Den Haag. Erwin Casareno 2026 slowly grounded down Ton Bodaan 1843 last night to gain the point that he needed to overtake Henny Visscher in the overall standings.. Erwin finished the 7-game finals with 5 points, just half a point ahead of Henny Visscher 1982 and Joost Michielsen 2024. Erwin was not aware that Rik Pronk lost earlier to Joost Michielsen, as he focused on his own game. It was only in move 48 that Erwin achieved a dominating position. In this position, he missed an outright win with a 4 move combination starting with 48..... Bh6! 49.Be1 Rf2+ 50.Bf2 d3! 51.Be1 d2 when White would have to give
his bishop to prevent the pawn promotion. Instead, he went after the White pawns and gained a one pawn advantage, extending the game for another 20 moves.
Erwin was congratulated by Ton, Henny, Theo, Hans, Nino and Chris for successfully defending the crown. Theo was so delighted in scoring his first win in the finals against Hans Segers, to move out from the bottom of the standings. 5.0 Erwin Casareno 4.5 Henny Visscher, Joost Michielsen, 4.0 Rik Pronk, 3.0 Vincent Oudewaal, 2.5 Theo Hartman, Hans Segers, 2.0 Ton Bodaan
Erwin Casareno tamed the Alekhine defense of Remi Thierry to edge higher in the Boon competition.
With one round to go, the championship for Haagse Toren has narrowed down to two players: Rik Pronk and Erwin Casareno. Erwin caught up Rik for the lead after scoring a point from Vincent Oudewaal. Erwin sacrificed a rook and a pawn so that his queen can get closer to Vincent's King. Erwin's attack gained momentum when Vincent has to give up his queen for the other rook. With skillful handling of the Queen, Erwin disturb the attacking potential of the rooks, and with good moves, was able to eliminate Vincent's pawns. It took 92 moves for Erwin to get the point, marked by the promotion of the g pawn.
On the other hand, Rik defended very well with the Black pieces and Henny could not mount any attack. The middle game position looked like a King's Indian position, but actually arouse from a Pirc Defense.
Both players have 4 points from 6 games and both have one game remaining. Rik against Joost Michielsen and Erwin against Ton Bodaan. Who will be the champion for 2001? Your guess is as good as mine.
Erwin Casareno, tired from the UNIAG games in Alicante, Spain, managed to score his first win over Eduard van Dijk 1927 the defending champion. Eduard experimented with the Queen Pawn opening and got a very good position from the opening (as usual). Eduard has several winning moves but did not find the best move and lost his 2-moves window of opportunity. Tough defense from Erwin defused the attacks of Eduard to negate the two pawn sacrifice. With the victory, Erwin solidified his hold of 1st place when Henny could only draw against Bas Geelhoed in the other encounter.
