Mamedyarov leads in the Essent Hoogeveen tournament

Essent Chess Tournament 2007

The Crown Group consists of four players, who take part in a double round robin tournament. Here are the participants with their ratings and world rankings:

A special feature of this tournament is that the players in the Crown Group have to play with glass pieces.

"This is what you will be playing with, Ruslan!" Zaven Andriasyan explains the Essent rule

Close encounter of a different kind: Ruslan Ponomariov examines the glass pieces

"Can they shatter during a fast capture move?" We don't think so, Ruslan

Top seed Shakhryar Mamedyarov – rated 2752, number seven in the world

After two rounds, Shakriyar Mamedyarov was leading the field with two white game victories against van Wely and Andriasian. In round three he drew with black against Ruslan Ponomariov, who had collected one and a half points in the first two rounds (a white win against Andriasian and a black pieces draw against van Wely). For World Junior Champion Zaven Andriasyan it is hard sailing: he has lost all three games so far.

Alongside the Crown Group is a strong Open section, containing twelve Grandmasters amongst the 84 players. After four rounds, the lead is held by young Dutch GM Jan Werle, who is the only player on 100%.

Amongst the Open players, special mention should be made of Vlastimil Hort, a Hoogeveen regular. He will reach the chessplayer's magic age of 64 next January. "All my life, I have been advancing at one square per year! I started on a1, and now I am approaching h8! h8, h-Hort!"

Tournament schedule

• Tournament web site
• All games from the crown group
• All available games from the Open (zipped PGN)