Essent 2006: both games drawn, Polgar, Mamedyarov lead

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.

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.

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.

• Click to replay.

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.

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.

Tournament schedule:

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

• Download all games so far (PGN)
• Download games from the Open (zipped PGN)
• Official web site