The 4th NH Chess Tournament runs from Thursday, August 20, and runs through
August 31 in the five-star NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky smack in the centre of
Amsterdam. It is a double round robin team event, with five Rising Stars facing
five Experienced players.
Round nine: In the penultimate round the Rising Stars posted
a 3-2 win over the Experience team. There were three decisive games. Fabiano
Caruana defeated none other than Peter Svidler with the black pieces to close
in on his colleague Rising Star Jan Smeets in the race for the Amber ticket.
In the final round a draw will suffice for Smeets in his game against Van Wely,
as he has one full point more than Caruana, who will face Ljubomir Ljubojevic.
The second win for the Rising Stars was scored by Daniel Stellwagen, who inflicted
Loek van Wely’s first loss. Alexander Beliavsky contributed the only win
for the Experience team by beating Hou Yifan.
Round 10 saw the Experience team secured overall victory with
a 3½-1½ defeat of the Rising Stars. The final standings are 27½-22½.
The wins on the final day were scored by Peter Svidler, who defeated Hikaru
Nakamura in a flashy attack, and the top-scorer of the Experience team, Peter
Heine Nielsen, who outplayed Hou Yifan.
| Round nine – Aug. 30 |
|
| Svidler – Caruana |
0-1 |
| Nielsen – Nakamura |
½-½ |
| Beliavsky – Hou Yifan |
1-0 |
| van Wely – Stellwagen |
0-1 |
| Ljubojevic – Smeets |
½-½ |
|
|
| Round ten – Aug. 31 |
|
| Nakamura – Svidler |
0-1 |
| Hou Yifan – Nielsen |
0-1 |
| Stellwagen – Beliavsky |
½-½ |
| Smeets – van Wely |
½-½ |
| Caruana - Ljubojevic |
½-½ |
|
Nakamura,Hi (2710) - Svidler,P (2739) [E60]
3rd NH Chess Tournament Amsterdam NED (10), 31.08.2009
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 Nc6 4.d5 Ne5 5.e4 d6 6.Ne2 Bg7 7.Nec3 0-0 8.Be2
e6 9.f4 Ned7 10.0-0 exd5 11.cxd5 Re8 12.Bf3 Nc5 13.Re1 h5 14.h3 b5 15.e5 dxe5
16.fxe5 Nfd7 17.e6 Ne5 18.Nxb5 Ncd3 19.exf7+ Kxf7 20.Rf1 Kg8 21.Be4 Nxc1 22.Qxc1
c6 23.N5c3 Ba6 24.Re1? Nakamura probably should have moved the rook
to d1.
24...Ng4 25.Qd2 Qb6+ 26.Kh1 Nf2+ (nice, but 26...Bh6 was simpler
and quicker) 27.Kh2 Nxe4 28.Nxe4 Rxe4 29.Rxe4 Qxb2 30.d6 Rd8 31.d7 Be5+
32.g3 Rxd7 0-1.
| Final standings (after ten
rounds) |
Experience individual score
Nielsen 6½
Svidler 6
Ljubojevic 5½
Beliavsky 5
Van Wely 4½
|
|
Rising Stars individual score
Smeets 6
Caruana 5
Stellwagen 4½
Hou Yifan 3½
Nakamura 3½
|
Total: 27.5 |
|
Total: 22.5 |
Jan Smeets secured the coveted ticket to the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament
with a quick draw against his countryman Loek van Wely. The Dutch Champion scored
six points from ten games, finishing ahead of Fabiano Caruana (five points)
and Daniel Stellwagen (4½ points). Next year, in March, Smeets will make
his Amber debut in Nice. Previous qualifiers from the NH Tournament to the Amber
Tournament were Magnus Carlsen (2006), Sergey Karjakin (2007) and Wang Yue (2008).
Rank, points and performance
Pictorial impressions from the NH tournament
By GM Dr John Nunn
Fabiano Caruana gives "the look"...
...but it does't help against Alexander Beliavsky, who scored a convincing
win
Hou Yifan's "look" is different
Yifan with her mother in the lobby of the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky
Dutch GM Loek van Wely in a good mood
So is Daniel Stellwagen, who normally looks quite serious
Happy with his result? More likely Peter Svidler his delighted with England's
success at cricket
Jan Smeets after his last-round draw which secured him a place in the 2010
Amber tournament
Not satisfied?? You finshed as best 'experienced' player and best overall
player,
with 6.5/10 points and a 2752 performance, Peter Heine!
The tournament in Amsterdam attracted many GM visitors, especially those from
the more 'experienced' end of the spectrum, eager to meet their old colleagues.
GM Nick de Firmian stopped over on his way to Denmark
GM Vlastimil Hort is a reglar visitor to the NH Hotels tournament
Predrag Nikolic isn't so active these days, but is still a strong GM
GM Gennadi Sosonko provided commentary during the event
GM Yasser Seirawan lives in Amsterdam and plays only in the Dutch league
these days
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 the free PGN reader ChessBase
Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program
to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009! |
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