
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

[Event "15th Unive Crown"] [Site "Hoogeveen NED"] [Date "2011.10.16"] [Round
"1"] [White "Kramnik, V."] [Black "Giri, A."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E97"] [WhiteElo
"2791"] [BlackElo "2722"] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "2011.10.16"] 1. Nf3
Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7
9. b4 Nh5 10. g3 f5 11. Ng5 Nf6 12. Bf3 c6 13. Ba3 $146 {A new move by Kramnik.}
cxd5 14. exd5 e4 15. Be2 Ne8 16. Rc1 h6 17. Ne6 Bxe6 18. dxe6 Nc7 19. b5 Be5
20. Qb3 Kg7 $6 {The king is not going to be happy on that square.} ({ The
young Dutch GM should have probably taken the pawn right away.} 20... Nxe6)
21. Rfd1 Nxe6 22. c5 Nd4 23. Rxd4 {The logical exchange sacrifice - Kramnik
is winning.} Bxd4 24. cxd6 Ng8 25. Nd5 Kh8 26. Rc7 Be5 27. Bb2 (27. Re7 {is
quicker:} Bf6 (27... Bg7 28. Nf4) 28. Nf4 Bxe7 29. Nxg6+ Kg7 30. dxe7 {wins})
27... Qxd6 28. Rxb7 g5 29. b6 a5 30. Bh5 Rab8 31. Ra7 Bxb2 32. Qxb2+ Nf6 33.
Bf7 Kg7 {Kramnik in his element.} 34. Rd7 Qc6 35. Be6+ 1-0

Kramnik and Giri analyse in the press room after their game

Hands moving pieces in the analysis of a position

Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik starts with a win

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.

[Event "15th Unive Crown"] [Site "Hoogeveen NED"] [Date "2011.10.16"] [Round
"1"] [White "Vachier Lagrave, M."] [Black "Polgar, Ju"] [Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E17"] [WhiteElo "2715"] [BlackElo "2701"] [PlyCount "127"] [EventDate
"2011.10.16"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O
7. Re1 a5 8. Bg5 c5 9. Nc3 cxd4 10. Qxd4 h6 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Qd2 Na6 13.
Rac1 Rc8 14. b3 Nc5 15. Nd4 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 d5 17. cxd5 Ne4 18. Nxe4 Qxd5 19.
Qd3 Qxd4 20. Qxd4 Bxd4 21. Nd6 Rxc1 22. Rxc1 Rd8 23. Rc6 Bc5 24. Nc4 Rd1 25.
a4 Re1 26. e3 Rb1 27. Nxb6 Bb4 28. Nc4 Rxb3 29. Ra6 g5 30. Nxa5 Bxa5 31. Rxa5
Ra3 32. g4 Kg7 33. Ra8 Kg6 34. a5 Ra4 35. h3 Ra2 36. a6 Kf6 37. Ra7 Ra4 38.
Kf3 Ra2 39. Kg3 Kg6 40. Ra8 Kg7 41. f4 Ra3 42. Kf3 gxf4 43. Kxf4 Kf6 44. h4
Ra4+ 45. e4 Ra5 46. h5 e5+ 47. Ke3 Ra4 48. a7 Kg7 49. Kd3 Rd4+ 50. Kc3 Ra4
51. Kb3 Ra1 52. Kb4 Ra2 53. Kc5 Ra6 54. Kd5 Ra5+ 55. Kd6 Kh7 56. Kc6 Ra1 57.
Kb6 Rb1+ 58. Kc5 Ra1 59. Kd6 Ra5 60. Re8 Rxa7 61. Rxe5 Kg7 62. Rf5 Ra6+ 63.
Ke5 f6+ 64. Kf4 1/2-1/2
Schedule and results
Round 1 – Sunday, October
16, 2011, 14:00h
|
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
|
½-½
|
Polgar, Judit |
Kramnik, Vladimir
|
1-0
|
Giri, Anish |
Round 2 – Monday, October
17, 2011, 14:00h
|
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
|
|
Giri, Anish |
Polgar, Judit
|
|
Kramnik, Vladimir |
Round 3 – Tuesday, October
18, 2011, 14:00h
|
Giri, Anish
|
|
Polgar, Judit |
Kramnik, Vladimir
|
|
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime |
Round 4 – Thursday, October
20, 2011, 14:00h
|
Polgar, Judit
|
|
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime |
Giri, Anish
|
|
Kramnik, Vladimir |
Round 5 – Friday, October
21, 2011, 14:00h
|
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
|
|
Kramnik, Vladimir |
Polgar, Judit
|
|
Giri, Anish |
Round 6 – Saturday, October
22, 2011, 14:00h
|
Giri, Anish
|
|
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime |
Kramnik, Vladimir
|
|
Polgar, Judit |
The Open is under way, and four players lead with 3.0/3 points: Tiviakov, Baklan,
Zherebukh and Lenderman. All available games are provided below.

Star attraction in Hoogeveen: Indian IM and WGM Tania Sachdev
Pictures by Jeroen van den Belt and the official web site.
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