The games provided in this article can be found in the following lichess study
Meet The Bulldogs: Series Introduction
When I am not coaching, writing, making Chessable courses, filming Youtube videos, writing silly tweets, or tilting when playing online chess, I am managing the team Croatia Bulldogs which has obtained the opportunity to participate in the 2023 Season of the Pro Chess League organized by chess.com. With the season just around the corner, it is my pleasure to welcome you all to the first edition of the Meet The Bulldogs series, a series of articles/videos in which I am going to introduce you to the players playing for the Croatia Bulldogs team in the Pro Chess League by going over their best 5 games of their careers. In this first study, I am going to cover the games of our youngest member and one of the big chess talents on the horizon, Dutch 16-year-old IM Eline Roebers.
Eline Roebers
Eline Roebers is a 16-year-old Dutch IM who has been making headlines throughout 2021,2022 and 2023 with her successful and remarkable performances – especially in team events, as well as with her entertaining, energetic, highly tactical, and sparkling play.
Even though she has been well-known in the Dutch chess circles for a while due to her domination in the Youth competitions and her win at the World Junior U14 Championship in 2020 (held online) and winning the Brugse Meesters Open in Belgium at the age of 15 (which elevated her rating to 2297), the wider chess audience first heard about the name after she distinguished herself at the European Women’s Team Championship held in November 2021, where she won an individual bronze medal on board 2, scoring an impressive 7/9.
In 2022, she would continue to rise in the world rankings and achieve great success on the International stage. Apart from winning her second major chess open – Untergrombach Open 2022, she would also win the silver medal for her performance on board 1 in the 2022 Chennai Olympiad, score 5/7 in the European Women’s Club Cup 2022 and fulfill the requirements for the title of the International Master.
In 2023, Eline got the opportunity to participate in the prestigious Tata Steel Challenger chess tournament, where she scored the biggest victory of her career by beating the reigning Dutch champion and established grandmaster Erwin L’Ami in the 2nd round of the tournament.
Eline Roebers Top 5 Games
1) Roebers – Osmak, European Women’s Team Championship, 2021
As mentioned above, the wider chess audience first heard about Eline’s name after her fantastic performance at the European Women’s Team Championship, 2021, where she scored 7/9 and won an individual bronze medal on board 2. It would be, therefore, unjust not to mention at least one of her games from that great event.
Her game against strong Ukrainian IM Julia Osmak was particularly impressive. After a very enterprising opening where she sacrificed a pawn, Eline obtained a very promising – almost winning – position, with a big compensation for the pawn. In these types of positions, the advantage can slip very easily, yet Eline handled it absolutely masterfully.
2) Roebers – Cori, Chennai Olympiad 2022
One of Eline’s most successful tournaments so far was the Chess Olympiad held in Chennai in 2022, where she played on board 1 (!), scored 7.5/10 (!!) and won the silver medal (!!!). Her games from this event are some of the most fascinating and entertaining chess games I have ever seen, with a lot of topsy-turvy encounters, tactical fights, and evaluation swings (check, for example, her game against Marie Sebag or Mariya Muzychuk).
However, for the purposes of this video/article/.pgn, I have decided to choose a nice combination she executed in the 8th round in her game against Deysi Cori from Peru. This game was also quite complicated and combative, but after her opponent missed a nasty intermediate check of the knight on b6 earlier, by move 26 Eline obtained a completely winning position. However, White needs to be exact – there is only one winning combination.
3) Roebers – Radeva, European Women’s Club Cup, 2022
In the previous two games, we have seen two queenless positions where Eline showcased her calculating ability and handling of the initiative. These two traits/strengths of her style, however, are more apparent in sharp and complicated positions with the queens of the board – that are actually featured in the majority of her games.
Let’s take a look at a few such typical positions, starting from the following game taken from a successful competition by Eline – European Chess Club for Women held in October 2022., where she made 5/7. Her game against Viktoria Radeva from Bulgaria featured a very impressive kingside attack.
4) Roebers – Rakhmangulova, European Women’s Club Cup, 2022
Let’s take a look at another game from the European Chess Club Cup for Women held in October 2022. In this game, Eline faced a 2260-rated player from Ukraine and executed a very nice, study-like combination.
5) Roebers – L’Ami, Tata Steel Challengers, 2022
Last but not the least, in January 2023 Eline participated in the biggest tournament of her career – Tata Steel Challengers 2023. Despite being the lowest-rated player by a wide margin (hundreds of rating points), at the very
beginning of the tournament, in round 2, she managed to stun the chess world by beating the strong and experienced Dutch Grandmaster and reigning Dutch Champion, Erwin L’Ami, in a fantastic attacking display.
Eline Roebers Top 5 Games Video
References and Links:
Croatia Bulldogs Official Website
Eline Roebers Croatia Bulldogs Player Profile