Essent 2006: both games drawn, Polgar, Mamedyarov lead

10/24/2006 – Mamedyarov vs Polgar and Topalov vs Sokolov were both fighting draws in round three of the Hoogeveen tournament in Holland. That leaves Judit Polgar and Shakhryar Mamedyarov in the lead with 2.5/3 at halftime, while Veselin Topalov and Ivan Sokolov languish at 0.5 points each. New with videos by Peter Doggers and pictures by Fred Lucas.

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Essent Chess Tournament 2006

The 10th edition of the Essent Chess Tournament is taking place from October 20 to 28, 2006 in Hoogeveen, Holland. As in the past years there are a number of competitions: a Crown Group, a strong Essent Open, an Amateur Tournament, a pub tournament and an event for youth. The games are being broadcast live on the official site and on Playchess.com. Full details on the event are available on our first Essent report.

Round three

Judit Polgar as black had to be a bit careful against the co-leader, with her, in this tournament. Shakhryar Mamedyarov was obviously out to take a point in the Queen's Indian game, but Judit neutralised and held the draw.


Judit Polgar


Shakhryar Mamedyarov

Mamedyarov,S (2728) - Polgar,Ju (2710) [E18]
10th Essent Hoogeveen NED (3), 24.10.2006
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.Nc3 0-0 7.0-0 Ne4 8.Bd2 f5 9.Qc2 Bf6 10.Rad1 Nxc3 11.Bxc3 Be4 12.Qc1 d6 13.Bh3 Qe8 14.Ne1 Nd7 15.f3 Bb7 16.Nd3 Qh5 17.Nf4 Qh6 18.Bg2 Bg5 19.h4 Bxf4 20.Qxf4 Qxf4 21.gxf4 Nf6 22.Kf2 Nh5 23.e3 a5 24.Bh3 d5 25.cxd5 exd5 26.Rc1 Rae8 27.Rc2 Ba6 28.Rfc1 Bd3 29.Rd2 Bb5 30.Rdc2 Bd3 31.Rd2 Bb5 32.b3 Re6 33.Rdc2 Bd3 34.Rd2 Bb5 35.Rdc2 Bd3 36.Rb2 Rfe8 37.Bd2 Rg6 38.Be1 Rge6 39.Bd2 Rg6 40.Be1 Rge6 1/2-1/2.


Video of the analysis session Mamedyarov-Polgar by Peter Doggers

Veselin Topalov, the former FIDE world champion, tried to keep things sharp and unclear in the Slav game against Holland's Ivan Sokolov. Like him Topalov had yet to score and desperately wanted this third-round white game point. But soon it was Sokolov who had theoretical winning chances. The game ended in a 61-move draw.


Veselin Topalov


Ivan Sokolov

Topalov,V (2813) - Sokolov,Iv (2670) [D18]
10th Essent Hoogeveen NED (3), 24.10.2006
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0-0 Nbd7 9.Qe2 Bg4 10.Rd1 Qa5 11.e4 Qh5 12.Rd3 e5 13.h3 Bxf3 14.Rxf3 exd4 15.g4 Qc5 16.Na2 0-0 17.Rf5 Qe7 18.e5 d3 19.Bxd3 Nd5 20.Bg5 Qe6 21.Nxb4 Nxb4 22.Bc4 Nd5 23.Rd1 Rae8 24.Bxd5 cxd5 25.Qb5 Nxe5 26.Qxd5 Qxd5 27.Rxd5 f6 28.Be3 b6 29.g5 Kf7 30.gxf6 gxf6 31.Rd6 Re6 32.Rd1 Nc4 33.Rd7+ Re7 34.Rxe7+ Kxe7 35.Rh5 Rg8+ 36.Kf1 Nxe3+ 37.fxe3 Rg7 38.Kf2 Ke6 39.Kf3 Rc7 40.h4 f5 41.Rh6+ Ke5 42.h5 Rf7 43.b4 Kd5 44.Kf4 Kc4 45.b5 Kb4 46.Re6 Kxa4 47.Re5 a5 48.bxa6 b5 49.Rxf5 Ra7 50.Rf6 b4 51.e4 b3 52.Rb6 Ka3 53.e5 b2 54.e6 Ka2 55.Ke5 b1Q 56.Rxb1 Kxb1 57.Kf6 Rxa6 58.Kf7 Ra2 59.e7 Rf2+ 60.Kg7 Re2 61.Kf7 1/2-1/2.

Standings

Essent Chess Open Tournament 2006

The Open tournament with 84 players has finished five rounds and is led alone by Michail Brodsky with 4.5 points. In the second group we have the third and fourth highest ranked players, Postny and L'Ami, and in the third group with 3.5/5 the two top seeds, Gurevich and Cheparinov.

Rnk Sd Name Pts Rating Perf.
1. 6 Brodsky, Michail 4.5 2566 2803
2. 3 Postny, Evgeny 4.0 2609 2646
  4 L'Ami, Erwin 4.0 2593 2639
  8 Goloshchapov, Alexander 4.0 2552 2692
  9 Werle, Jan 4.0 2551 2641
  12 Rogers, Ian 4.0 2526 2540
  13 Smeets, Jan 4.0 2525 2673
  15 Ernst, Sipke 4.0 2512 2625
  41 Bitalzadeh, Ali 4.0 2345 2642
10. 1 Gurevich, Mikhail 3.5 2648 2593
  2 Cheparinov, Ivan 3.5 2632 2601
  7 Dvoirys, Semen 3.5 2553 2482
  10 Khairullin, Ildar 3.5 2543 2459
  18 Piskov, Yury 3.5 2452 2505
  21 Dambacher, Martijn 3.5 2429 2461
  26 Donchenko, Anatoly 3.5 2395 2456
17. 5 Ikonnikov, Vyacheslav 3.0 2588 2384
  11 Ibrahimov, Rasul 3.0 2541 2418
  14 Van Der Wiel, John 3.0 2522 2383
  16 Hort, Vlastimil 3.0 2501 2355
  17 Smerdon, David 3.0 2473 2371
  20 Peng, Zhaoqin 3.0 2437 2375
  22 Willemze, Jeroen 3.0 2423 2353
  28 Willemze, Thomas 3.0 2384 2390
  29 Van Beek, Alexander 3.0 2379 2524
  30 Swinkels, Robin 3.0 2379 2414
  31 Hoeksema, Erik 3.0 2374 2529
  33 Bednar, Jaromir 3.0 2369 2338
  38 Shumiakina, Tatiana 3.0 2363 2464
  40 Okkes, Menno 3.0 2355 2492
  42 Pruijssers, Roeland 3.0 2339 2308
  43 Slingerland, Fred 3.0 2331 2462
  57 Schuurman, Petra 3.0 2239 2543


Top seed in the Essent Open: Mikhail Gurevich, 2648. Note that Mikhail now plays for Turkey, not Belgium, as we originally stated. Turkish fans calm down: it was an error, not a henious conspiracy to detract from the new glory of Turkish chess. Sheesh.


Second seed and Topalov second Ivan Cheparinov, 2632, Bulgaria


Former world championship candidate Vlastimil Hort, Germany


WIM Marlies Bensdorp of Holland, 2264


Jan Smeets, Holland, 2525

One of the professional amongst the camera-wielding crowd at chess tournaments is Fred Lucas, well known to our readers from past galleries.

All the photos on this page were provided by Fred, who has much more material – chess and otherwise – on his Momentoo Photography site.


Impressions from Essent by Peter Doggers

Tournament schedule:

Date Round Robin Open Group Amateurs
October 20 opening 1st round 1st round
October 21   2nd round 2nd round
October 22 1st round 3th round 3th round
October 23 2nd round 4th round 4th round
October 24 3th round 5th round 5th round
October 25 Rest day 6th round 6th round
October 26 4th round 7th round 7th round
October 27 5th round 8th round 8th round
October 28 6th round 9th round 9th round

Playing hours: All rounds start at 14.00 hours daily. The final round (October 28th) starts at noon.
The Amateur Groups have other starting times: Group I: 14.30 hours (October 28th at 13.00 hours); Groep II: 10.00 hours (October 28th at 9.00 hours).

Links