Second place for checkers Hijken DTC after turbulent final round

Because Hijken himself got stuck at 10-10 in an equally exciting duel against subtopper Westerhaar, second place was the maximum achievable.

The drafts competition had an unexpectedly exciting final phase. After nine of the eleven rounds, Schiedam led sovereignly with three points ahead of Hijken DTC, which was defeated 13-7 in the head-to-head game.

But in the penultimate lap sand got into the Schiedammer machine. With the title up for grabs, they lost 11-9 at home against outsider Wageningen, which, like Huissen, took two points, while runner-up Hijken only had to make up one point.

Arts and crafts

The four top teams therefore all still had a chance at the title and went full for the win

As expected, Wageningen won 12-8 against low-flyer Dam Combination Fryslân. Schiedam was soon behind 6-4 and after a nice win by Martin Dolfing, Hijken was virtually in the lead. The euphoria in the Dorpshoeve was short-lived, after Hans Jansen surprisingly lost to Hijken and Schiedam struck twice in Huissen.

It was exciting until the last move. In Hijken, Jan Ekke de Vries, Jan Mente Drent and world champion Roel Boomstra were close to winning, but opponent Westerhaar fulfilled his sporting duty with verve and dragged a point out of the fire: 10-10.

In the end it turned out not to matter, because Schiedam secured the 11-9 victory in Huissen and the national title with art and flying. Team chief Wouter Sipma could live with it. ,, We fought with our entire team for what we were worth. Ultimately a second place, exactly one point for Wageningen. Top three was our goal, so we did a great job. But how close we were to the title!”