The Ninth Essent Chess Tournament (Hoogeveen) was held from October 21st
to 29th, 2005. The reigning women's world champion Antoaneta Stefanova was
part of the Crown Group, a four-player double round robin event. But with 160
rating points lower than the third seed, Emil Sutovsky, Stefanova did not really
have a big chance.
The winner of the Crown Group: Pentala Harikrishna
The rating favourite Ivan Sokolov was overtaken in the final table by one
of India's brightest young talents: Pentala Harikrishna won the tournament
with 4/6.
In the Essent Open the clear winner was Vladimir Baklan,
who was half a point ahead of six GMs, and a full point better than top seed
Suat Atalik. Here are the top scorers:
No. Player Pts Rat. Perf
1. Baklan, Vladimir 7.0 2590 2698
2. Nijboer, Friso 6.5 2545 2600
Rozentalis, Eduardas 6.5 2585 2601
Brodsky, Michail 6.5 2564 2641
L'Ami, Erwin 6.5 2541 2547
Rogers, Ian 6.5 2556 2532
Goloshchapov, Alex. 6.5 2523 2581
8. Atalik, Suat 6.0 2620 2574
Naumkin, Igor 6.0 2445 2513
Van der Wiel, John 6.0 2503 2524
Ernst, Sipke 6.0 2473 2499
Wells, Peter K. 6.0 2513 2439
Cebalo, Miso 6.0 2512 2453
Grooten, Herman 6.0 2350 2472
15. Willemze, Thomas 5.5 2363 2519
Kharitonov, Alexandr 5.5 2545 2486
Jonkman, Harmen 5.5 2446 2473
Negi, Parimarjan 5.5 2352 2453
Jens, Jelmer 5.5 2366 2389
Pictorial report
By Frits Agterdenbos
The four players in the Crown Group: Stefanova, Sutovsky, Sokolov and Harikrishna
The last round game between the Indian talent and the women's world champion
ended in an 11-move draw. Harikrishna was leading by a full point and only
needed this draw to secure first place. In the second round he had defeated
Stefanova with the black pieces.
The round six game between Sutovsky and Sokolov. The latter won in 57 moves.
The postmortem between Sutovsky and Sokolov after the game
Top seed Ivan Sokolov, who could not catch Harikrishna
Israeli GM Emil Sutovsky
Women's world champion Antoaneta Stefanova
Glass pieces decorate the Crown Group
The press center, where the players would come to surf
Dutch GM Friso Nijboer (left) missed a win against Eduardas Rozentalis in the
final round. Both players shared 2-7 place.
The winner of the Open: GM Vladimir Baklan of Ukraine
Top seed Suat Atalik
Japan's legendary
Shogi Champion Yoshiharu Habu scored five points and came 20th in the Essent
Open Chess Tournament
15-year-old Dutch player Vincent Rothuis made an IM norm in the Essent
Open
Tom Bottema and Habu playing Shogi in press center
Antoaneta Stefanova with one of her biggest chess fans: Dutch GM Harmen
Jonkman
TD Jeroen van den Berg with Open winner Vladimir Baklan
- Official
web site
with round reports (in Dutch), more pictures, and games and results from
all groups
