At the strong Lishui Open World Cup tournament in China, drafts player Wouter Sipma from Groningen impressed with a fine second place behind Martijn van IJzendoorn, leaving behind stars such as Alexander Schwarzman, Jan Groenendijk and the new world champion Yuriy Anikeev.
Barely two weeks after the World Cup in Curaçao, Wouter Sipma was already on the other side of the planet, where the circumstances were a world of difference compared to the meager entourage in Willemstad. “It was a relief to play in a wonderfully tightly organized tournament after Curaçao. Everything went perfectly, the gaming room looked nice, nice website, excellent hotel, nice prize money. They really left nothing to chance.”
Crowd of Chinese drafts players
The drafts community, which was already not bathed in luxury, was also enriched with the sporting contribution of a large number of Chinese drafts players. Not only did they play surprisingly well, they also showed that mind sports are in principle gender neutral in terms of level. The 24-year-old Sai Ya won the women’s ranking ahead of the strong Natalia Sadowska and world champion Viktoriya Motrichko, but also defeated all her compatriots plus a handful of male grandmasters.
In the meantime, the 30-year-old Sipma once again proved to be among the absolute world top. “I think my performance is one of my best so far. I managed to play more relaxed than in the World Cup and that resulted in great games and a lot of points. I was just unlucky that Martijn van IJzendoorn was doing even better. But I am very satisfied with silver, a good cash prize and a big boost of World Cup points.”
LISHUI OPEN CHINA
1. Martijn van IJzendoorn 9-14, 2. Wouter Sipma 9-13 / resistance 92 3. Alexander Schwarzman (Isr) 9-13 / 89, 4. Guntis Valneris (Let) 9-12 / 93, 5. Jan Groenendijk 9 -12/93, 6. Yuriy Anikeev (Oek) 9-12/88, 7. Sai Ya (Chi) 9-12/97, 8. Jean Marc Ndjofang (Kam) 9-12/85, 9. Natalia Sadowska ( Pol) 9-11/93, 10. Viktoriya Motrichko (Oek) 9-11/91, 11. Chenfan Wang (Chi) 9-11/90, Jitse Slump 9-11/89.