Open group: 1-2. Østenstad & Belotti 7½/9 3. Berg 7 4. van Rij 6½ 5-9. Skrobek, Knoppert, Verhaeghe, Martin & Danysz 6 10-18. Pirisi, Witkowski, Van de Bourry, Strubbe, H. Van de Wynkele, Missiaen, Nieuwelink, Lilienbecker & Grzelak 5½ 19-25. Vleeskens, Barzeele, den Hamer, Snijders, Öckinghaus, Dees & van der Sloot 5 26-32. Wyntin, Zagar, Maes, van der Zalm, Janssens, De Vogelaere & P. Galle 4½ 33-41. Verstraeten, Karminga, Vanhoutte, Slabbinck, A. Dubbeldam, Wise, Jöhnk, De Pauw & de Putter 4 42-49. Lansay, Van Parijs, Standaert, De Corte, Vandecasteele, De Coninck, Adam & De Baere 3½ 50-51. Robeys & M. Dubbeldam 3 52-55. Labrosse, de Winter, van Doorn & De Maere 2½ 56-57. Martens & De Baets 2

For the first time, there was also an IM tournament alongside the junior tournaments. Except for Ghysels, the players proved quite evenly matches, and almost everybody was in the lead at some point  In the end, Ginsburg edged out his competition. Hellers appears without a title in the July 1985 rating list but with it in the tournament book. I’m not sure at what point he actually got the title. Pedersen had to forfeit list final round game against Ghysels, due to a death in the family.

In the junior group, Norwood started as the clear rating favourite, but the competition proved fiercer than expected. Instead, it was the German Philipp Schlosser who took an early lead and never left off. The local players couldn’t keep up with their international peers. In the final round, there was a sad incident: two players, Van Damme and Neirynck, were caught analysing their games in the bar. Their games were declared forfeit.

For the two previously mentioned sections, the tournament book ([1]) gives full results and all games. For the girls’ section and the open section, only a small selection of games and the final standings are given. For the girls’ section, I found the full results in [2]. Hepworth lead for a long time, but two consecutive defeats against de Kleuver and Siepenkötter threw her back.

The open tournament attracted a few strong players. Young Norwegian Østenstad edged out Belotti on tie-breaks. Here, too, the Belgian players didn’t play an important role. A certain Adrie van Kesteren was apparently expelled from the tournament, but the tournament book gives no reason.

A correspondent kindly sent me two games, citing [3]. That source only gives Eeklo as the location, but given the date and the players it seems very likely they were played in the open section.

Wanted

• Full results for the open tournament.
• Most games from the open and girls’ sections.

Sources

1. Ed.: M. Ploeger & M. Janssens, 12e internationaal ECI schaaktoernooi Eeklo 1985
2. Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant 09-19/08/1985
3. Neven’s Research Database