Hoogeveen Open: Gupta, Lalith Babu lead with 2800+ performance

by Priyadarshan Banjan
10/21/2016 – A traditional chess tournament in Netherlands has 81 players competing in the Open section. Thirteen of them are Indians, and aftere seven rounds seven of these Indians are sitting pretty on top-ten. GMs Abhijeet Gupta and Lalith Babu are both performing remarkably at over 2800, and lead the remaining field by at least one point. We have beautiful pictures and remarkable positions from the games – with some tactics for you to solve.
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The town of Hoogeveen (pronounced Hoch-A-Vain) is famous all over the world for, believe it or not, its chess tournament. How many towns can have a claim to fame due to the chess festival they organize? Wijk comes to mind, and even that is in the same country. The Dutchmen love their chess!

The Hoogeveen Chess Tournament consists of the Hoogeveen Matches, the Hoogeveen Open and two amateur tournaments. All tournaments take place in the attractive town hall of the Dutch city of Hoogeveen. In the chess café, well-known commentators will analyse the games with the audience. The games can also be followed live on Playchess and on the official website.

Hoogeveen Matches: Hou Yifan vs Nigel Short, Jorden van Foreest vs Ivan Sokolov.

Hoogeveen Open: Nine rounds will be played, with space for approximately 84 players who must have a minimal rating of 2000. The Hoogeveen Open is an international tournament, and consequently (grand-) master norms can be achieved. There is a total prize fund of €7,500 with a 1st prize of €3,000.

Amateur toernaments: Group I (= afternoon group): for players with a rating up to 2100. Group II (= morning group): also for players with a rating up to 2100. Each group can contain a maximum of 84 players. They play eight rounds. 1st prize for both groups is €250 each.

Rate of play: 40 moves in 90 minutes, 30 minutes extra time + an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move one.

Hoogeveen Open: Gupta, Lalith Babu lead with 2800+ performance

By Priyadarshan Banjan, photos by Lennart Ootes

The defending champion GM Abhijeet Gupta of India is on a roll this year as well, jointly leading with 6.5/7. Here's an interesting game from round three (remember: you can analyse with engine support on our replay board!)

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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.0-0 a6 5.Bd3 Ngf6 6.Re1 e6 7.c3 b5 8.a4 c4 9.Bf1 Rb8 10.axb5 axb5 11.b3 cxb3 12.Qxb3 Bb7 13.Bxb5 Be7 14.d3 0-0 15.c4 d5 16.cxd5 exd5 17.e5 Bc6 18.Nd4 Bxb5 19.Nxb5 Nc5 20.Qc2 Rxb5 21.exf6 Bxf6 22.Nc3 Rb8 23.Rb1 Rc8 24.Bb2 Qd7 25.Qd1 Qf5 26.Re3 d4 27.Rf3
Black to move: How did Abhijeet finish off his 2402 rated opponent?
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Beerdsen,T2404Gupta,A26260–12016B51Hoogeveen Open 20163.1

In the fourth round, Gupta's opponent was Dutch GM Jan Wele (2555). Werle played an overambitious continuation, and was rewarded with a nought.

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.e3 0-0 7.Qc2 Bd7 8.Bd2 dxc4 9.Bxc4 Bd6 10.h3 e5 11.0-0-0 exd4 12.exd4 Nb4 13.Qb3 b5 14.Nxb5 Rb8 15.Bxb4 Bxb5 16.Bc3 c6 17.Ne5 Nd5 18.Bxd5 cxd5 19.Qxd5 Qc7 20.Rhe1 Ba3!? 763 21.Qb3 137 21.Kd2 Bd6 22.Re4± 21...Bxb2+? 203 Werle goes all in. Just accepting the problem and stepping back with 21...Bd6! 22.Qc2 f6 23.Nf3= would have endure that Black is fine. 22.Qxb2 Ba4 174 22...f6 23.Nf3 Ba4 24.Qa3 Bxd1 25.Kxd1 Rfc8 26.Kd2 Qc4 27.Nh4!± 23.Qa3 274 Bxd1 24.Rxd1 221 Rfc8 25.Kd2+- 90 Two pieces and a pawn for rook. White went on to win easily. f6 26.Nd3 Qc4 27.Rc1 Qd5 28.Nf4 Qf5 29.Qd6 Kh8 30.g3 Qb5 31.Qd5 Qa6 32.Ne6 Re8 33.Re1 Qa3 34.Qc4 h6 35.f4 f5 36.g4 Rec8 37.Nc5 Rd8 38.gxf5 Rbc8 39.Kc2 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Gupta,A2626Werle,J25551–02016D38Hoogeveen Open 20164.1

Another Indian GM Lalith Babu (2585) is tied for the first place with Gupta on 6.5/7.

In the fifth round, both the leaders played each other. The game was a notorious draw and was over in 30 minutes. Each and every move of this Slav-Botvinnik has been seen before in a game between Boris Grachev and Ivan Popov from Delhi 2016!

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1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 66 dxc4 6.e4 b5 7.e5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Nxg5 hxg5 10.Bxg5 Nbd7 11.g3 Bb7 12.Bg2 Qb6 13.exf6 0-0-0 14.0-0 c5 15.d5 126 b4 73 99 16.Rb1 159 Qa6 153 17.dxe6 133 104 Bxg2 37 48 Believe it or not this position has already been reached 200 times! 18.Re1!? 15 250 This was played by Krylov against Ivan Popov in 2012 and Popov had won. Popov also had this position against Boris Grachev in Delhi! 18.e7 has been played in 190 of those 200 games. 18...fxe6 489 19.Kxg2 172 bxc3 20.bxc3 67 20.f7 was played by Krylov. 20...Qc6+! 179 21.Kg1 Bh6! 22.Qg4 139 173 Bxg5 132 23.Rxe6! 11 28 There is no time to win back lost material. Qd5 40 67 Black is now two pieces up for a few pawns but White has some nasty tricks! 24.Qf5!? 173 Qa8 322 24...Qxf5 25.Rc6# is something that you wish for but never really happens in a game! 25.Rb5 119 173 Rxh2! 118 92 The quickest way to draw the game. The threat of mate on h1 forces White to give a perpetual. 26.Rxc5+ 26.Kxh2? Rh8+-+ 26...Nxc5 27.Qxc5+ Kb8 28.Qe5+ Kc8 29.Qc5+ Kb8 2 This was an exact copy of a game played between Grachev and Popov in Delhi 2016! ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Lalith Babu M R2586Gupta,A2626½–½2016D44Hoogeveen Open 20165.1
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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.d4 0-0 5.e4 d6 6.h3 Na6 7.Bg5 c6 8.Be2 e5 9.d5 h6 10.Be3 cxd5 11.cxd5 Nh5 12.Qd2 Kh7 13.0-0 f5 14.exf5 gxf5 15.Ne1 Nf6 16.f4 Bd7 17.Nd3 Qe8 18.fxe5 dxe5 19.Rae1 Rg8
Lalith found an elegant way to win a pawn here. Can you see how?
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Lalith Babu M R2586Rathnakaran,K24691–02016A05Hoogeveen Open 20164.2

India's GM Sandipan Chanda (2593) is on 5.5/7, following Gupta and Lalith Babu

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1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.Be2 Nc6 5.d4 0-0-0 6.c4 Qf5 7.Be3 Bxf3 8.Bxf3 Nxd4 9.Bg4 Nc2+ 10.Qxc2 Qxg4 11.0-0 e6 12.Nd2 Nf6 13.Qa4 Qh5 14.Qxa7 Ng4 15.Nf3 Nxe3 16.fxe3 c6 17.Rad1 Be7 18.Nd4 Qc5 19.Qa8+ Kc7 20.Qa4 e5 21.Nf5 Bf6 22.Kh1 Rxd1 23.Rxd1 e4 24.Nd6 Rd8 25.Nxe4
The theme is famous: Black to play, what would you do?
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Van Osch,M2288Sandipan,C25930–12016B01Hoogeveen Open 20166.4

Lucas Van Foreest (2350), Jorden's younger brother, is the only non-Indian in the top six with 5.0/7. 

Indian IM Eesha Karavade is also on 5.0/7

FM Rakesh Kumar Jena (2247) has caused the biggest surprise. He is tied for the third place on 5.0/7.

 Dutch GM Jan Werle (2555) has been overambitious at times. He is stuck on 4.5/7.

On the same number of points is his country-mate GM Sipke Ernst (2540)

That was what IM S. Nitin was left doing after he misplayed a decent position against Abhijeet Gupta in round 7

IM K. Rathnakaran is not having an amazing tournament, but he is serving his usual fare of entertaining chess

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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Ng4 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Bg3 Bg7 10.Qd2 Nc6 11.Nb3 b5 12.h4 gxh4 13.Bxh4 Nge5 14.Qe3 Nc4 15.Bxc4 bxc4 16.Nd2 Nd4 17.Rc1 Be6 18.f4 f5 19.exf5 Bxf5 20.Nd5 Kf7 21.Nxc4 Re8 22.0-0 Be6 23.Qe4 Bf5
White to play. Can you find a unique fork on the board?
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Rathnakaran,K2469Mager,D22241–02016B90Hoogeveen Open 20163.5

A subtle way of announcing to the world that you are a chess player

Legendary GM Oleg Romanishin is also playing. He has scored 4.5/7.

Top ten standings after seven rounds

# Name Pts Fed. Rtng TPR 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 GM Gupta, Abhijeet 6.5 IND 2626 2832 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1
2 GM Lalith Babu M R 6.5 IND 2586 2857 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1
3 GM Sandipan, Chanda 5.5 IND 2593 2545 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1
4 IM Karavade, Eesha 5.0 IND 2421 2415 0 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½
5 Van Foreest, Lucas 5.0 NED 2350 2459 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1
6 FM Rakesh Kumar Jena 5.0 IND 2247 2543 1 ½ 1 0 ½ 1 1
7 GM Werle, Jan 4.5 NED 2555 2492 1 1 1 0 ½ = ½
8 GM Shyam, Sundar M. 4.5 IND 2552 2465 1 1 ½ 1 1 0 0
9 GM Ernst, Sipke 4.5 NED 2540 2470 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 = 0
10 GM Debashis, Das 4.5 IND 2478 2348 1 0 1 ½ ½ 1 ½

See full standings and pairings here

Hoogeveen Matches

Two matches are being played between Nigel Short & Hou Yifan, and Ivan Sokolov & Jorden Van Foreest. More details will follow in a separate report.

Hou Yifan lost yet again to Nigel Short and has fallen way behind her rival in their match that is being held alongside the tournament.

 

All tournaments are taking place in the attractive town hall of Hoogeveen

All photos are by Lennart Ootes, a well-known chess photographer, known for bringing the artistic side of chess to the fore (as in the above image)

McDonalds, the fast-food giant, is also among the sponsors

Loek van Wely (2667) is the Tournament Director for the event! He also happens to be the highest rated player currently in Hoogeveen – but is not playing!

Chess in such a beautiful town can only be enchanting

In the chess café, well-known commentators are analyzing the games with the audience. Add to that, analysis by players and teachers like Ivan Sokolov, and you can have the chess-time of your life! 

Related:

  1. Report on the Matches by GM Alejandro Ramirez
  2. Liked the tactics? Find more interesting ones at tactics.chessbase.com!

Tournament Schedule

Date Matches Hoogeveen Open Amateur Analysis
Sat. 15 Oct. opening Round 1 (14.00) R1 (10.00/14.30)  
Sun. 16 Oct. Round 1 (14.00) Round 2 (14.00) R2(9.30/14.00) Jop Delemarre
Mon. 17 Oct. Round 2 (14.00) Rround 3 (14.00) R3 (9.30/14.00) Gert Ligterink
Tues. 18 Oct. Round 3 (14.00) Round 4 (14.00) R4 (9.30/14.00) Hans Bohm
Wed. 19 Oct. Rest day R5 (9.00) + R6 (15.00) R5 (9.30/14.00)  
Thurs. 20 Oct. Round 4 (14.00) Round 7(14.00) R6 (9.30/14.00) Cor van Wijgerden
Fri. 21 Oct. Round 5 (14.00) Round 8 (14.00) R7 (9.30/14.00) Robert Ris
Sat. 22 Oct. R6 (12.00), closing Round 9 (12.00) R8 (9.30/14.00) Joris Brenninkmeijer

Links

The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the 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 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
 
Priyadarshan Banjan is a 23-year-old club player from India. He works as an editor for ChessBase News and ChessBase India. He is a chess fanatic and an avid fan of Vishy Anand. He also maintains a blog on a variety of topics.

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