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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. The time controls are 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes to finish the game, with 30 seconds increment from move one. The rounds are from October 16 to 22, with a free day on the 19th.
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.
Judit Polgar had never won a classical tournament game against Vladimir Kramnik, losing ten times and achieving nine draws (her score against him in rapid play are even more disastrous). In this, their twentieth the Hungarian GM, strongest female player in history, at long last... no, wait a minute, that did not happen!
[Event "15th Unive Crown"] [Site "Hoogeveen NED"] [Date "2011.10.17"] [Round "2"] [White "Kramnik, V."] [Black "Polgar, Ju"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E14"] [WhiteElo "2791"] [BlackElo "2701"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "2011.10.16"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. e3 Bb7 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bd3 c5 7. O-O O-O 8. Na4 cxd4 9. exd4 Re8 10. a3 Bf8 11. Re1 d6 12. Nc3 ({This is following a recent game: Potkin,V (2653)-Bologan,V (2671)/Olginka 2011.} 12. Bf4 Nbd7 13. Rc1 g6 14. h3 e5 15. dxe5 dxe5 16. Nxe5 Nh5 17. Bf1 Nxf4 18. Qxd7 Qxd7 19. Nxd7 Rxe1 20. Rxe1 Bc6 21. Nxf8 Bxa4 22. g3 Nh5 23. Nxh7 Kxh7 24. Re7 Be8 25. Bg2 Rd8 26. Bd5 Kg7 27. Rxa7 Nf6 28. Ra8 Rd6 29. Bf3 Rd3 30. Kg2 Rxf3 31. Rxe8 Rb3 32. Re2 Nd7 33. a4 Nc5 34. a5 bxa5 35. Re5 Nd3 36. Rxa5 Rxb2 37. Kf3 Nxf2 38. h4 f5 39. h5 Ng4 40. Kf4 Kh6 {0-1.}) 12... Nbd7 13. b4 Rc8 14. Bb2 Qc7 15. d5 e5 16. Nd2 g6 17. Bf1 $146 {Kramnik deviates from theory.} Qd8 18. Qa4 a6 19. Nce4 Nxe4 20. Nxe4 Rc7 21. f4 b5 $2 {Judit, who was probably getting a little nervous with the position, decided to sacrifice a pawn...} ({...instead of the very sane} 21... exf4 {Kramnik said that he did not know what he would have done after this move:} 22. Qxd7 ({or} 22. Nf6+ Nxf6 23. Bxf6 Qxf6 24. Qxe8 $13) 22... Rxd7 23. Nf6+ Qxf6 24. Bxf6 $13 {These are probably the lines Judit was afraid of.}) 22. cxb5 Bxd5 23. bxa6 Qb8 24. Kh1 exf4 25. b5 h6 26. Rad1 Ba8 27. Qd4 Re5 28. Nxd6 {Precision play by Kramnik, who has a winning position.} Rcc5 29. Rxe5 Rxe5 30. Nc4 Bc5 31. Qxd7 Re8 {and it is mate in 45 (see below).} 1-0
Mate in 45? Yes, that is where we are today. Someone with a powerful machine announced it on Playchess while the game was still in progress. Scary, right?
You can still load this game on Playchess and see Fritz 13 announce mate
in 45
Such real-time mate announcements simply mean: the engine has found an absolutely certain way to force a mate in 45 moves, at the very latest. It does not necessarily mean that this is the shortest possible mate (as in a chess problem).
It will interest our software users to know that these evaluations are stored permanently in the Let's Check "cloud", so that anyone with Fritz 13 can click on the "Let's Check" button see the latest analysis. Naturally, in the meantime other computers and other users have been working on the position, probably with heavy tablebase support, and they may have found a way to force mate in a smaller number of moves. All we can say is "Let's Check".
The game Anish Giri vs Maxime Vachier Legrave looked promising, with opposite side castling, but it turned into a relatively effortless 24-move draw by the French GM with the black pieces.
The tournament bulletin calls it "a friendly and peaceful day," speculating: "Maybe it was because of the upcoming rest day, because all players seemed quite satisfied with their half points obtained without much difficulty. A zero before a rest day give the player a heavy burden to carry for the next two days."
Judit and Anish analyse their Scotch Four Knights game, Maxime and Vladimir
watch
Judit Polgar and Anish Giri, according to the tournament bulletin, "spent as much time analysing their not very exciting game as they had spent for the game itself, exploring the microscopic threats and super-accurate defensive manoeuvers in positions that most chess players would push aside as boring." Maxime Vachier Lagrave and Vladimir Kramnik had taken one move longer in their only slightly more exciting game (opposite castling) to reach a peaceful conclusion.
This was a wild and complicated game, full of missed opportunities –
see for yourself
Anish Giri and Vladimir Kramnik played a long, hard-fought game in which the younger player was pressing, but Kramnik was able to hold and retain his full point lead (with two rounds to go).
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 |
||
Giri, Anish |
½-½ |
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime |
Kramnik, Vladimir |
1-0 |
Polgar, Judit |
Round 3 – Tuesday, October
18, 2011, 14:00h |
||
Polgar, Judit |
½-½ |
Giri, Anish |
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime |
½-½ |
Kramnik, Vladimir |
Round 4 – Thursday, October
20, 2011, 14:00h |
||
Polgar, Judit |
½-½ |
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime |
Giri, Anish |
½-½ |
Kramnik, Vladimir |
Round 5 – Friday, October
21, 2011, 14:00h |
||
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime |
Giri, Anish | |
Polgar, Judit |
Kramnik, Vladimir | |
Round 6 – Saturday, October
22, 2011, 14:00h |
||
Kramnik, Vladimir |
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | |
Giri, Anish |
Polgar, Judit |
A double rainbow over Hoogeveen: the promise that there will be two exciting
rounds?
Pictures by the official web site.
Links
The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |