Hoogeveen: Kramnik wins by 1½ points, rejoins the 2800 club

10/23/2011 – In round five of the 15th Unive Tournament both Anish Giri and Vladimir Kramnik scored full points – the former after a blunder just before the time control by his opponent Judit Polgar, the latter after Vachier Lagrave cracked under intense pressure. Kramnik produced a plus three and 2900+ performance, which puts him back into a very illustrious club. Final report with Let's Check analysis.

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15th Unive Tournament 2011 in Hoogeveen, Netherlands

The double round robin Crown Group had four players: Vladimir Kramnik, Anish Giri, Maxime Vachier Lagrave and Judit Polgar, with an average rating of 2732, making this a Category 20 event. The time controls were 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes to finish the game, with 30 seconds increment from move one. There were also side tournaments: the Unive Open is a nine-round Swiss with around 90 players with a minimum rating of 2000. It had a prize fund of €7,500, with a first prize of €3,000. The Amateur Tournament was in two groups: a Morning and an Afternoon Group, each with a maximum of 84 players. The first prize for both groups was €250.

Round five

Young Dutch GM Anish Giri played an interesting novelty in a Symmetrical English (incidentally, have you noticed that the advert below the chess board on our JavaScript player points to context relevant products from our shop?). The strongest female player ever to grace the planet, Judit Polgar, defended tenaciously and seemed to have a draw in her handbag. But then she committed a terrible inaccuracy one move before the time control and compounded it with a further mistake on the final move of the first period. After that Anish had no trouble taking home his first (and naturally only) full point in this event.

Note that in the JavaSript player below we have included the evaluations provided by "Let's Check" users while the games were in progress. Let's Check is the elephant in the living room of our new Fritz 13 program. The values, calculated by the strongest chess engines on the most powerful machines, appear as an evaluation graph below the chess board and give you a very nice overview of how the game progressed (you can click on the graph to jump to the relavent position). For people who have switch off JavaScript and cannot see the games the annotated versions are in our PGN download at the bottom of the page.

[Event "15th Unive Crown"] [Site "Hoogeveen NED"] [Date "2011.10.21"] [Round "5"] [White "Giri, A."] [Black "Polgar, Ju"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A15"] [WhiteElo "2722"] [BlackElo "2701"] [PlyCount "93"] [EventDate "2011.10.16"] {Engine/Game Correlation: White = 61%, Black = 57%.} 1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. Nf3 e5 5. Nc3 d6 6. O-O Be7 7. d3 O-O 8. a3 h6 {0.10/25} 9. Ne1 {0.00/26 } Rb8 {0.10/27} 10. b4 $146 {0.06/25 \/ A new and interesting move by Anish Giri.} cxb4 {0.43/22} 11. axb4 {0.16/22} Nxb4 {0.18/24} 12. Rxa7 {0.18/24} d5 { 0.39/26} 13. cxd5 {0.19/29} Bc5 {0.19/28} 14. Ra1 {0.22/26} Bd4 {0.23/24} 15. Ra3 {0.41/22} Nbxd5 {0.12/27} 16. Nxd5 {0.19/27} Nxd5 {0.19/27} 17. e3 {0.45/23 } Bc5 {0.44/21} 18. Ra1 {0.13/26} Re8 {0.18/26} 19. Bb2 {0.13/26} Nf6 {0.13/25} 20. Nf3 {0.16/24} Bg4 {0.44/26} 21. Qb3 {0.30/27} Bd6 {0.30/26} 22. Rfc1 {0.19/ 24} Qd7 {0.30/23} 23. Ra5 {0.15/25} b5 {0.41/27} 24. Qa2 {0.00/24} Qf5 {0.07/25 } 25. Ra7 {0.00/26} Rf8 {0.00/26} 26. Ne1 {0.00/24} Bb4 {0.27/25} 27. e4 {0.23/ 25} Qh5 {0.79/22} 28. d4 {0.00/26} Bd2 {0.84/20} 29. Ra1 {0.00/24} b4 {0.15/24} 30. dxe5 {0.00/25} Be6 {0.00/25} 31. Qa5 {0.00/26} Bxe1 {0.30/27} 32. Rxe1 {1. 19/25} Ng4 {0.30/26} 33. h3 {1.26/24} Nxf2 {0.25/24} 34. Kxf2 {1.26/22} Rfd8 { 0.79/26} 35. Re2 {0.00/23} Bc4 {0.50/26} 36. Bf3 {0.50/25} Qxh3 {0.50/25} 37. e6 {0.30/24} Qxe6 {0.50/25} 38. Rc2 {0.51/25 Judit has been under pressure for most of the game, but seems to have solved all her problems and is headed for a draw.} Bb5 {1.14/24} (38... Bb3 39. Re2 Bc4 {would have been the wisest continuation, e.g.} 40. Be5 Bxe2 41. Bxb8 Rxb8 42. Bxe2 Qxe4 {and a probable draw.}) 39. Kg2 {0.45/25} (39. Rb7 {was stronger.}) 39... g5 $4 $18 {3.63/25 Terrible.} (39... Bd3 40. Rf2 Bxe4 {would have held:} 41. Rxf7 Qxf7 42. Bxe4 Qe6 43. Be5 Rd7 {and Black has rook and two pawns for two bishops.}) 40. Kh2 { 3.40/22} Qb3 $2 $18 {9.84/27 From bad to worse. Black is completely lost now, two moves after the draw was clearly in sight.} 41. Qc7 {10.69/28} Bc4 {8.77/25 } 42. Rf2 {8.95/23} Qe3 {9.69/23} 43. Kg2 {11.96/24} Re8 {#12/32} 44. Bh5 {#11/ 25} Qxe4+ {#21/18} 45. Kh2 {#10/25} Rf8 {#10/32} 46. Ra6 Be6 47. Rxe6 (47. Rxe6 Qxe6 (47... fxe6 48. Qg7#) 48. Bxf7+ Rxf7 49. Qxb8+ Kh7 50. Qh8+ Kg6 51. Qg8+ Kh5 52. Qxf7+) ({White also had a direct mate:} 47. Bxf7+ Bxf7 (47... Rxf7 48. Qxb8+) 48. Rxh6 Qh7 49. Rxh7 Kxh7 50. Qe5 Kh6 51. Qg7+ Kh5 52. Qh7+ Kg4 53. Qh3#) 1-0

On his 21st birthday – imagine, he will now be able to order a beer in the US! – Maxime played a mysterious exchange sacrifice on move 26, but solved the problem after inaccuracies by Vladmir Kramnik, and seemd to be headed for a clean birthday draw. However, after twenty minutes of good defending the French GM cracked and Kramnik picked up a stray pawn. After that is was all "a matter of technique" for the former World Champion.

[Event "15th Unive Crown"] [Site "Hoogeveen NED"] [Date "2011.10.21"] [Round "5"] [White "Kramnik, V."] [Black "Vachier Lagrave, M."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A15"] [WhiteElo "2791"] [BlackElo "2715"] [PlyCount "173"] [EventDate "2011.10.16"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Qa4+ Bd7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 a6 7. d4 b5 8. Qd3 Bg7 {0.48/22} 9. g3 {0.00/24} b4 {-0.14/26} 10. Ne4 {-0.12/26} Nxe4 {0.00/ 25} 11. Qxe4 {0.00/24} Bc6 {-0.14/24} 12. Qf4 {-0.33/21} O-O {0.18/21} 13. Bg2 {0.19/23} Qd6 $146 {0.20/25} 14. O-O {0.45/22} Nd7 {0.17/24} 15. Qh4 {0.20/24} e5 {0.24/25} 16. d5 {-0.21/26} Qxd5 {-0.33/25} 17. Be3 {-0.22/25} Qb5 {0.08/26} 18. Rac1 {0.24/23} Bd5 {0.24/25} 19. Rxc7 {-0.16/25} Rac8 {-0.16/26} 20. Ng5 { -0.06/27} h6 {0.00/24} 21. Rxc8 {0.18/23} Rxc8 {0.00/25} 22. Ne4 {0.04/27} g5 { 0.00/25} 23. Qh3 {-0.07/19} Be6 {0.34/27} 24. Qh5 {0.34/26} Rc4 {0.41/24} 25. Rd1 {0.00/23} b3 {-0.06/25} 26. a3 {0.00/21 The first critical point in this game. Black has equalised in the opening and is set to give White a run for his money.} Rd4 $2 $16 {1.25/26 It is unclear what moved the French GM to play this exchange sacrifice.} (26... Qa4 {was the move Maxime had to find.}) 27. Bxd4 {1.96/24} exd4 {1.11/26} 28. h4 {1.80/29} Ne5 $2 $18 {3.15/34} 29. hxg5 { 2.59/26} Bg4 {2.71/29} 30. Qh4 {3.35/33} Qxe2 {2.86/27} 31. Rxd4 {3.09/25} Nf3+ {2.60/23} 32. Bxf3 {3.13/20} Bxf3 {2.66/25} 33. Rd8+ {3.17/25} Kh7 {3.55/30} 34. Nd2 {3.55/32} Bc6 {3.67/35} 35. gxh6 $2 $18 {1.80/24 Makes everything much harder for Big Vlad.} ({After e.g.} 35. Nf1 {White protects the b2-pawn with the mate-in-one threat on h6.}) 35... Bxb2 {1.60/27} 36. Qg5 $2 $11 {0.00/28 Now the position is back to a draw expectation.} ({After} 36. Qh3 Qd1+ 37. Qf1 Qxf1+ 38. Kxf1 {White has winning chances.}) 36... Qd1+ {0.00/30} 37. Nf1 {0. 00/30} Qf3 {0.00/28} 38. Qg8+ {0.00/29} Kxh6 {0.00/20} 39. Rd6+ {0.00/21} Bf6 { 0.00/37} 40. Qh8+ {0.00/22} Kg5 {0.00/38} 41. Qg8+ {0.00/27} Kh6 {0.00/37} 42. Rxc6 {0.00/26} Qxc6 {0.00/25} 43. Ne3 {0.00/27} Qf3 {0.12/29} 44. Ng4+ {0.00/25 } Kh5 {0.00/24} 45. Nh2 {0.00/24} Qd1+ {0.23/25} 46. Kg2 {0.00/23} Qd5+ {0.00/ 22} 47. Kh3 {0.00/23} Qe6+ {0.00/29} 48. Ng4 {0.40/25} Bg5 {0.00/26} 49. f3 { 0.41/28} Qf5 {0.41/28} 50. Qh8+ {0.41/30} Kg6 {0.46/27} 51. Qg8+ {0.00/26} Kh5 {0.41/28} 52. Qg7 {0.41/28} Be3 {0.77/28} 53. Qc3 {0.00/24} Qe6 {0.41/29} 54. Qg7 {0.50/30} Bh6 {0.41/26} 55. Qh8 {1.02/21 From move 36 until now the powerful Let's Check machines have given the game a 0.00 evaluation - apart from a few blips. According to them it was a clean draw.} f5 $2 {1.25/22} ( 55... a5 {was the way to continue. The text move unpins the knight and allows:} ) 56. Nxh6 $1 {0.50/29} Qxh6 {1.58/21} 57. Qg8 {0.65/30} Qd6 {1.05/25} 58. Qxb3 {0.65/30 and White is simply a pawn up. Everyone knows how good Kramnik is in positions like this.} Kg6 {1.49/24} 59. Qg8+ {0.79/19} Kf6 {1.63/21} 60. Qh8+ { 0.47/31} (60. f4 Qxa3 61. Qg5+ Ke6 62. Qg6+ Ke7 63. Qxf5 {was a better option.} ) 60... Kg6 {0.66/32} 61. Qg8+ {0.79/19} Kf6 {1.63/21} 62. f4 {0.69/31} Qd3 { 0.83/30} 63. Qf8+ {1.23/20} Kg6 {0.69/32} 64. Kh4 {0.35/32} Qd5 {0.75/23} 65. Qe8+ {0.29/29} Kf6 {0.69/26} 66. Qh8+ {0.69/23} Kg6 {0.75/22} 67. Qh5+ {0.27/30 } Kg7 $2 $18 {2.55/27} 68. g4 {2.83/29} Qh1+ {3.76/22} 69. Kg5 {5.77/19} Qc6 { 9.94/20} 70. gxf5 {5.49/27} Qg2+ {10.79/29} 71. Qg4 {10.25/25} Qb2 {10.36/29} 72. Qf3 {4.52/26} Qf6+ {4.90/19} 73. Kg4 {10.73/23} Qb6 {16.12/21} 74. Qc3+ { 10.75/23} Kf7 {6.57/21} 75. Qe1 {9.50/26} Qd4 {8.92/22} 76. Qe6+ {4.96/29} Kf8 {12.35/27} 77. Qc8+ {6.26/20} Kf7 {6.29/19} 78. Qe6+ {4.96/29} Kf8 {12.35/27} 79. f6 {13.33/25} Qg1+ {12.35/27} 80. Kf5 {10.99/28} Qc5+ {10.99/29} 81. Qe5 { 7.14/24} Qc2+ {10.94/26} 82. Kg5 {#31/25} Qg2+ {8.27/23} 83. Kh6 {14.78/28} Qh2+ {11.47/26} 84. Kg6 {8.08/23} Qc2+ {8.76/27} 85. Qf5 {8.91/23} Qc3 {#23/24} 86. Qd5 Qc2+ 87. f5 {and mate to follow.} 1-0

On the final day both games were drawn, which produced the following table:

Note that with his plus three score Kramnik has gained eight points in this event. On the Live Chess Ratings, calculated by Artiom Tsepotan and Dr. Christopher Wright on 23 October 2011, 00:31 GMT, he has reached a significant mark:

# Name
Rating
+/-
Games
FIDE
Age
1 Carlsen
2825.8
+2.8
10
20 (30.11.1990)
2 Anand
2811.0
-6.0
10
41 (11.12.1969)
3 Aronian
2805.9
-1.1
11
29 (06.10.1982)
4 Kramnik
2799.6
+8.6
6
36 (25.06.1975)
5 Radjabov
2781.0
+29.0
15
24 (12.03.1987)
6 Ivanchuk
2775.0
+10.0
26
42 (18.03.1969)
7 Topalov
2768.0
0.0
0
36 (15.03.1975)
8 Karjakin
2763.2
-8.8
15
21 (12.01.1990)
9 Morozevich
2762.4
+25.4
17
34 (18.07.1977)
10 Nakamura
2757.8
+4.8
10
23 (09.12.1987)

Naturally these are not the official FIDE ratings, but they indicate that Kramnik has once again joined the 2800 club (2799.6 is rounded up to 2800). So now there are four players in that stratospheric group – and all four are playing in the London Chess Classic in just over a month from now!

All 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
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
Kramnik, Vladimir
1-0
 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
Giri, Anish
1-0
 Polgar, Judit
Round 6 – Saturday, October 22, 2011, 14:00h
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
½-½
 Giri, Anish
Polgar, Judit
½-½
 Kramnik, Vladimir

The Unive Open Tournament

This was won by veteran Sergey Tiviakov and the two young Dutch talents Robin van Kampen and Sipke Ernst.

No. Player Ti. Nat.
Rtng
Pts
TB1
TB2
Perf
1 Tiviakov, Sergei GM NED
2647
7.0
52.0
38.75
2652
2 Van Kampen, Robin IM NED
2529
7.0
50.5
38.25
2628
3 Ernst, Sipke GM NED
2581
7.0
48.5
37.25
2561
4 Lenderman, Aleksandr GM USA
2562
6.5
53.5
36.5
2623
5 Grover, Sahaj IM IND
2514
6.5
52.0
36.0
2574
6 Nyzhnyk, Illya GM UKR
2561
6.5
51.5
35.0
2615
7 Zherebukh, Yaroslav GM UKR
2580
6.5
50.5
34.25
2594
8 Baklan, Vladimir GM UKR
2617
6.0
51.5
32.5
2566
9 Haslinger, Stewart G GM ENG
2542
6.0
50.5
31.0
2520
10 Schoorl, Rob FM NED
2276
6.0
48.0
29.5
2496
11 Svane, Rasmus GER
2351
6.0
47.0
28.5
2425
12 Brandenburg, Daan GM NED
2522
6.0
46.5
30.75
2455
13 Willemze, Thomas IM NED
2370
6.0
45.5
29.0
2362
14 Voekler, Bernd FM GER
2374
6.0
44.5
28.75
2398
15 Van Delft, Merijn IM NED
2413
6.0
41.0
26.25
2377
16 Peelen, Piet IM NED
2354
6.0
39.5
25.5
2397


Of great interest was the result of GM Illya Nyzhnyk, who scored 6.5/9 points with
a performance of 2615. Illya, you should know, turned 15 less than a month ago.


Another super talent, IM Sahaj Grover from New Delhi, India, also scored 6.5/9 points
with a 2574 performance. Sahraj is sixteen. His current rating is 2514.

The "beauty award" went to Geon Knol (above) for his seventh round game against Thomas Beerdsen. You should play through the moves, especially starting from move 34. The evaluations were generated by Fritz 13.

[Event "Hoogeveen open"] [Site "Hoogeveen, "] [Date "2011.10.20"] [Round "7"] [White "Knol, Geon"] [Black "Beerdsen, Thomas"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B23"] [WhiteElo "2137"] [BlackElo "2019"] [Annotator "Fritz 13"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2011.??.??"] [SourceDate "2008.12.06"] 1. e4 {0.04/19} c5 {0.63/20} 2. Nc3 {0.70/19} a6 {0.66/18} 3. g3 {0.08/18} d6 { 0.30/18} 4. Bg2 {0.08/19} Nc6 {0.08/18} 5. d3 {-0.04/20} g6 {-0.05/18} 6. f4 { -0.36/19} Bg7 {-0.30/17} 7. Be3 {-0.46/17} Nf6 {-0.27/18} 8. h3 {-0.36/15} Rb8 {-0.05/18} 9. Nge2 {-0.06/18} Qc7 {0.01/19} 10. O-O {0.01/19} O-O {0.01/18} 11. Qd2 {0.01/16} b5 {0.08/16} 12. Rae1 {-0.38/17} b4 {-0.39/16} 13. Nd1 {-0.55/16} Bb7 {-0.51/15} 14. g4 {-0.76/14} Nd7 {-0.70/17} 15. c3 {-0.74/14} bxc3 {-0.42/ 16} 16. bxc3 {-0.75/16} Nb6 {-0.36/19} 17. h4 {-0.84/16} Qd7 {-0.28/18} 18. Nf2 {-0.25/16} Ba8 {-0.20/16} 19. g5 {-0.40/16} Na4 {-0.13/17} 20. Bh3 {-0.91/18} Qc7 {-0.72/19} 21. Nd1 {-0.69/16} f5 {0.02/19} 22. exf5 {0.14/17} gxf5 {0.22/18 } 23. d4 {-0.67/18} Na5 {-0.15/19} 24. d5 {-0.27/17} Nc4 {0.00/20} 25. Qc2 {-0. 11/18} Nab2 {0.00/21} 26. Bxf5 {-0.15/20} Nxd1 {-0.05/21} 27. Bxh7+ {-0.15/21} Kh8 {-0.20/21} 28. Qg6 {0.11/19} Ndxe3 {1.02/18} 29. Qh5 {1.10/20} Rf6 {3.54/16 } 30. gxf6 {4.41/21} exf6 {4.44/21} 31. Bf5+ {4.46/23} Kg8 {4.42/20} 32. Be6+ { 4.42/22} Kf8 {4.37/21} 33. Qh7 {4.25/19} Bxd5 {#9/9} 34. Qg8+ {#8/9} Ke7 {#8/8} 35. Qxg7+ {#7/8} Kxe6 {#7/7} 36. Nd4+ {#6/7} cxd4 {#6/7} 37. f5+ {#5/7} Ke5 { #5/7} 38. Qg3+ {#4/7} Ke4 {#4/7} 39. Qf4+ {#3/7} Kd3 {#3/7} 40. Qxd4+ {#2/7} Kc2 {#2/7} 41. Re2+ {#1/7} Nd2 {#1/7} 42. Qxd2# 1-0

For her "convincing win against Sipke Ernst and an interesting attack against Bram Klapwijk" the organisers awarded Arlette van Weersel an "honorary Beauty Prize". We, on the other hand, think she beat Geon Knol hands down.

Pictures by the official web site.

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