15th Unive Tournament 2011 in Hoogeveen begins

15th Unive Tournament 2011 in Hoogeveen, Netherlands

The double round robin Crown Group has four players: Vladimir Kramnik, Anish Giri, Maxime Vachier Lagrave and Judit Polgar, have an average rating of 2732, making this a Category 20 event. There are also side tournaments: the Unive Open is a nine-round Swiss with around 90 players with a minimum rating of 2000. It has a prize fund of €7,500, with a first prize of €3,000. The Amateur Tournament is in two groups: a Morning and an Afternoon Group, each with a maximum of 84 players. The first prize for both groups is €250.

Round one

The players arrived on Saturday, with a serious glitch: Maxime Vachier Lagrave was quite agitated because his notebook computer would not start. "If you think that is an unimportant detail," says the tournament bulletin, "you are mistaken. A laptop with a database and chess engines is the main asset of the modern master. If it fails his Elo rating drops by many points – and he feels like a modern businessman with an Internet-less BlackBerry." Fortunately the problem was solved, as the grateful smile on Maxime's face revealed.

A picture from the opening ceremony, with Kramnik, Vachier-Lagrave, Giri and Polgar

The first round brought a victory by Vladimir Kramnik over Dutch GM Anish Giri

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (above) got a clear advantage in this Queen's Indian by Judit Polgar, but could not turn it into a full point in the rook ending a pawn up.