Broek happy to be back among friends

A FASCINATING tussle was set up for round three of the Fortis Guernsey International Chess Festival at the Peninsula Hotel as Thomas Broek of Holland took on joint island champion Peter Rowe. Broek is on his eighth visit to the festival but it is the first time that he has met Rowe in a competitive match.

Rowe has been a regular contestant at the festival since 1982 and going by FIDE ratings, Broek should have the edge over him. Broek has a rating of 2202 while Rowe's is 2046.

On his way to meeting his Guernsey opponent, he first drew with Ian Jamieson of Scotland before defeating fellow Dutch player Desire Fassaert in the second round.

'First game was a draw as my opponent had counter chances,' said Broek moments before taking on Rowe.

'The second was very nice - everything worked. Hopefully today will be as nice.'

As it turned out, Rowe secured an excellent draw against the visitor.

Broek lives 30 miles from Amsterdam and he is part of a large Dutch contingent at the competition.

He always enjoys himself during the week and that is why he keeps coming back.

'It's a good time,' he said.

'The atmosphere and the people are friendly and the environment is nice. Everyone is nice to everyone.'

Going into the third round, Rowe was joined by Peter Kirby as the leading Guernsey players on 1.5 points. After the round, Fred Hamperl was with Rowe on two points thanks to his victory over another Dutchman, T. Van Ingen.

The top seeds were grandmasters Vladimir Epishin of Russia and Tiger Hillarp-Persson from Sweden, along with former British champion Robert Bellin and India's Vaidyanathan Ravikumar, who are both international masters.

Bellin had enjoyed a good victory in round two over 15-year-old wonder kid Ravishan Khamroev.

Bellin was full praise for his young opponent from Uzbekistan.

'He's really good and one of these young lads that in a few years' time will be very good,' he said.

For full details go to www.guernseychessclub.org.gg.