NH Tournament: Rising Stars lead Experienced Grandmasters at halftime

From Wednesday, August 22 to Saturday, September 1, the legendary Hotel Krasnapolsky in the very heart of Amsterdam, is the venue of the NH Chess Tournament. It’s a Scheveningen team tournament in which a team of five "Rising Stars" crosses swords with a team of five "Experienced Grandmasters". The best youngster will get an invitation to the 2008 Amber Rapid and Blindfold spectacle.

First half report

Round one: The 'Rising Stars' team took a one-point lead over the 'Experience' team thanks to a fine win of Jan Smeets against Predrag Nikolic. The other four games ended in a draw. Full report.

Round two: The Rising Stars seemed to be in an ideal position to increase their lead over the Experience team. After all they were White in all their games. But at the end of the day all five games had ended in a draw. After two rounds the Rising Stars are leading 5½-4½. In the individual standings Dutch grandmaster Jan Smeets remains the only player with a positive score. Full report.

Round three: The Rising Stars increased their lead over the Experience team to 8½-6½. The first result of the day was a short fightless draw, but the rest of the afternoon was brimming with excitement and tension and produced a rich harvest of hair-raising moments. In the individual standings Dutch grandmaster Jan Smeets improved his chances to win the coveted ticket to Monaco with a second win, this time at the expense of Ljubomir Ljubojevic. Full report.

Round four: The Rising Stars again increased their lead over the Experience team to a new total of 11½-8½. Dutch grandmaster Daniel Stellwagen took the lead in the individual standings with a win over Ljubomir Ljubojevic. Former leader Jan Smeets lost precious ground in the hunt for the coveted Monaco ticket when he completely ruined a winning position against Artur Jussupow. Full report.

Round five: The Experience team has demonstrated that the fight for victory is far from decided. One day before the rest day they posted a dashing 3½-1½ win. Halfway through the event the Rising Stars are leading with the smallest of margins, 13-12. In the individual standings Artur Jussupow has taken the sole lead. In the fight for the ticket to Monaco, three juniors are leading the pack, Sergey Karjakin, Jan Smeets and Daniel Stellwagen. Full report.

The tournament setup, with Pedrag Nikolic (left) vs Daniel Stellwagen under way
in round two. Jan Smeets (white shirt) and Alexander Khalifman look on

Alexander Beliavsky vs Sergey Karjakin in round five (draw)

Artur Jussupow vs Jan Smeets in round four (Jussupow won with black)

Family Silvio Danailov and client Ivan Cheparinov (green shirt) in Amsterdam

Chief Arbiter of the tournament Geurt Gijssen (left)

Artur Jussupow, leading with 4.5/5 and a 2847 performance so far

Full schedule and all results

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