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After the first half – three rounds of play – Alexei Shirov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave have chalked up one win each, both at the expense of the former Dutch Champion Sergey Tiviakov. The youngster in this tournament, 16-year-old Anish Giri, drew all three games, the last a marathon test against Alexei Shirov.
Juggling pieces: Anish Giri, a great hope for Dutch chess
Shirov,A (2749) - Tiviakov,S (2637) [B01]
Unive Crown Group Hoogeveen NED (2), 26.10.2010
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.f4 Nb6
8.g4 Nbd5 9.Bg2 g6 10.g5 Nxc3 11.bxc3 Nd5 12.c4 Nc7 13.c5 Qd8 14.d5 cxd5 15.c4
e6 16.Bb2 Bg7
From here on it all goes rapidly downhill for Black: 17.Nc6 bxc6 18.Bxg7 Rg8 19.Be5 Bd7 20.0-0 Rb8 21.Qa4 Rb7 22.Rab1 Qc8 23.Rxb7 Qxb7 24.Rf2 d4 25.Qa5 Kd8 26.Be4 1-0.
Tiviakov,S (2637) - Vachier Lagrave,M (2721) [B90]
Unive Crown Group Hoogeveen NED (3), 27.10.2010
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Ng4 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4
g5 9.Bg3 Bg7 10.Be2 h5 11.Bxg4 hxg4 12.0-0 e6 13.Nb3 Bxc3 14.bxc3 e5 15.c4 Nc6
16.Qd3 Qe7 17.Rfd1 Be6 18.Qxd6 Rd8 19.Qc5 f6 20.Rxd8+ Qxd8 21.f3 gxf3 22.gxf3
Kf7 23.Rb1 Kg6 24.Bf2 Rh3 25.Kg2 Qh8 26.Bg3?
26...Rxg3+! 27.hxg3 Qh3+ 28.Kf2 Qh2+ 29.Ke3 Qxc2 30.Rc1 Qxa2 31.Rc3 Qb1 32.Nc1 Nd4 33.f4 Qb2 34.f5+ Kh5 35.Kd3 Bd7 36.Qa5 Qf2 37.Qa2 Qxg3+ 38.Kd2 Qg2+ 39.Kd1 Qh1+ 40.Kd2 Qxe4 0-1.
Giri,A (2677) - Shirov,A (2749) [D45]
Unive Crown Group Hoogeveen NED (3), 27.10.2010
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0
dxc4 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Bd3 Bb7 11.a3 a5 12.e4 e5 13.dxe5 Nxe5 14.Nxe5 Bxe5 15.h3
Ba6 16.Rd1 Qc7 17.Be3 b4 18.axb4 Bxd3 19.Qxd3 axb4 20.Rxa8 Rxa8 21.Na4 c5 22.Bxc5
Qc6 23.b3 Qxe4 24.Qxe4 Nxe4 25.Bxb4 f5 26.Rd5 Bf6 27.Ba5 Rc8 28.Bb6 Rc1+ 29.Kh2
f4 30.Rd3 Bh4 31.g3 fxg3+ 32.fxg3 Rc2+ 33.Kg1 Bxg3 34.Bd4 h5 35.Nc3 Bh2+ 36.Kf1
Nd2+ 37.Kg2 Nxb3+ 38.Bf2 Nc5 39.Rd5 Bg3 40.Kxg3 Rxc3+ 41.Kh4 Ne4 42.Bd4 Rd3
43.Rd7 g6 44.Rg7+ Kf8 45.Rxg6 Rxd4 46.Kxh5 Kf7 47.Ra6 Nc5 48.Ra1 Ne6 49.Rf1+
Kg7 50.Rg1+ Kf6 51.Rf1+ Ke5 52.Kg6 Nf4+ 53.Kg5 Nxh3+ 54.Kg6
The experienced Super-GM Alexei Shirov knew, of course, that the position was a draw, but he needed to check out whether his 16-year-old opponent knew how to hold it. 54...Nf4+ 55.Kg5 Ne6+ 56.Kg6 Rg4+ 57.Kf7 Rg7+ 58.Ke8 Nf4 59.Re1+ Kd6 60.Rd1+ Nd5 61.Kf8 Rg3 62.Kf7 Rb3 63.Kg7 Ke6 64.Ra1 Re3 65.Ra6+ Kf5 66.Ra5 Re7+ 67.Kf8 Rd7 68.Ra1 Ne7 69.Ke8 Rb7 70.Kd8 Ke6 71.Ra6+ Kd5 72.Rh6 Nf5 73.Rh1 Kd4. After twenty moves Shirov had certainty: Anish the Precocious did know how to play it. Draw.
Top seed Alexei Shirov, rated 2749, originally from Latvia, now living and
playing for Spain
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, highest rated French GM at 2721, number 25 in the
world
Anish Giri, at 2677 the second highest rated player in Holland
Sergey Tiviakov, 37, born in Krasnodar, Soviet Union, twice Dutch champion
All pictures © Fred Lucas
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