The second edition of the Dutch Diving Chess Championship took place on Dec 29, 2023, and had a great line-up with 24 men and women. The youngest competitor was 11 year old Yohan Ghosh visiting from the USA.

In a thrilling play-off, Zyon Kollen defeated reigning Dutch Diving Chess Champion Sipke Ernst. While the regular game was drawn, after a long battle, in the exciting final Kollen managed to penetrate the white position with two black rooks, after which Ernst had no choice but to shake hands with the new champion.

Here is the critical position in the play-off game:

White is a piece ahead, but the c-pawn is very dangerous. The winning move here was 1.Bd3 (1…Rb1+ 2.Rxb1 cxb1D+ 3.Bxb1 Ra8 4.Bd3! and on a check White always has Bf1), but Sipke did  1.Rc1?  and now quickly followed  1…Rb1 2.Rxc2 Ra8 3.h4  (the moves were called to the demonstration board by two assistants who could hardly keep up)  3…Rxf1+! 4.Kh2  (otherwise mate)  4…Raa1 5.g4  (5.Kh3 h5)  5…Rg1! 6.Kh3 Rg2  and white gave up. A worthy ending!

Congrats Zyon Kollen!

Rank Name Score Title Gender Rating
1 Kollen, Zyon 5.5 FM M 2335
2 Ernst, Sipke 5.5 GM M 2542
3 Vriens, Levi 5   M 1822
4 Button, Bram 4   M 1971
5 Ghosh, Johan 4   M 0 *
6 Bijkerk, Tijmen 4   M 1615
7 Thompson, Zachary 4   M 1649
8 Nicolai, Amir 3.5   M 2232
9 Santema, Tjeerd 3.5   M 1842
10 Damen, Josephine 3   F 1732
11 De Graaf, Jurriaan 3   M 0 *
12 Said, Omar 3   M 1801
13 Koenis, Michiel 3   M 1693
14 Van Bussel, Wibo 3   M 1680
15 Van der Most, Tom 3   M 1568
16 Rookus, Sjoerd 2.5   M 1943
17 Rongen, Sjeng 2.5   M 1336
18 Mekenkamp, ​​Teun 2   M 0 *
19 Great, Marjoke 2   F 1902
20 Bakker, Jos 2   M 0 *
21 Van der Veen, Romke 2   M 0 *
22 Neijzen, Koos 2   M 0 *
23 Verlinden, Daan 1   M 0 *
24 Scholten, Naomi 0   F 0 *