
From Wednesday, August 22 to Saturday, September 1, the legendary Hotel Krasnapolsky
in the very heart of Amsterdam, is the venue of the NH Chess Tournament. It’s
a Scheveningen team tournament in which a team of five "Rising Stars"
crosses swords with a team of five "Experienced Grandmasters". The
best youngster will get an invitation to the 2008 Amber Rapid and Blindfold
spectacle.
First half report
|
6th round – Tuesday August 28th |
Parimarjan Negi |
0-1 |
Alexander Beliavsky |
Jan Smeets |
½-½ |
Pedrag Nikolic |
Daniel Stellwagen |
0-1 |
Alexander Khalifman |
Ivan Cheparinov |
1-0 |
Artur Jussupow |
Sergey Karjakin |
1-0 |
Ljubomir Ljubojevic |
|
7th round – Wednesday August
29th |
Alexander Beliavsky |
½-½ |
Jan Smeets |
Pedrag Nikolic |
1-0 |
Daniel Stellwagen |
Alexander Khalifman |
0-1 |
Ivan Cheparinov |
Artur Jussupow |
0-1 |
Sergey Karjakin |
Ljubomir Ljubojevic |
½-½ |
Parimarjan Negi |
|
8th round – Thursday August 30th |
Daniel Stellwagen |
½-½ |
Alexander Beliavsky |
Ivan Cheparinov |
0-1 |
Pedrag Nikolic |
Sergey Karjakin |
½-½ |
Alexander Khalifman |
Parimarjan Negi |
½-½ |
Artur Jussupow |
Jan Smeets |
1-0 |
Ljubomir Ljubojevic |
|
9th round – Friday August 31st |
Alexander Beliavsky |
0-1 |
Ivan Cheparinov |
Pedrag Nikolic |
½-½ |
Sergey Karjakin |
Alexander Khalifman |
½-½ |
Parimarjan Negi |
Artur Jussupow |
1-0 |
Jan Smeets |
Ljubomir Ljubojevic |
1-0 |
Daniel Stellwagen |
|
10th round – Saturday September
1st |
Sergey Karjakin |
1-0 |
Alexander Beliavsky |
Parimarjan Negi |
½-½ |
Pedrag Nikolic |
Jan Smeets |
½-½ |
Alexander Khalifman |
Daniel Stellwagen |
1-0 |
Artur Jussupow |
Ivan Cheparinov |
½-½ |
Ljubomir Ljubojevic |
|

The setup at the NH Tournament in Amsterdam
Round six: Four decided games and one that easily could have
gone either way. When the dust had settled the sixth match between the Rising
Stars and the Experience team had ended in a 2½-2½ tie. The overall
score was now 15½-14½ in favour of the Rising Stars. In the individual
standings Sergey Karjakin joined Artur Jussupow in the lead. With four rounds
to go the Ukrainian top-seed seemed to be on course to win the invitation to
the 2008 Amber tournament in Monaco.

What's going on here? Just Dutch photographer Fred Lucas at work
Round seven: Thanks to a 3-2 win the Rising Stars increased
their lead over the Experience team to two points. With three rounds to go the
overall score was 18½-16½ in favour of the youngsters. The fight
for the coveted ticket to Monaco seemed to have narrowed down to a direct duel
between Sergey Karjakin and Ivan Cheparinov (although Jan Smeets could not yet
be counted out). They both impressed in round seven with black wins over Artur
Jussupow and Alexander Khalifman respectively.

Indian super-talent Parimarjan Negi, 14, held former FIDE world champion
Alexander Khalifman to a draw in round eight
Round eight: With a 2½-2½ tie the Rising Stars
maintained their two-point lead over the Experience team. With two rounds to
go the overall score was 21-19 in favour of the youngsters. The fight for the
invitation to the 2008 Amber tournament took a dramatic turn when Ivan Cheparinov
lost his white game against Predrag Nikolic. With 5½ points from 8 games
Sergey Karjakin kept the best chances to play Amber, but Jan Smeets was only
half a point behind after his victory over Ljubomir Ljubojevic.

Tough battle: Ivan Cheparinov (right) defeats Alexander Beliavsky to stay
in contention
Round nine: With a 3-2 win the Experience team reduced the
advantage of the Rising Stars to a single point, 23-22. With one round to go
the race looked open again, although the youngsters had a considerable advantage
on the final day when they defend their lead playing with the white pieces in
all games. Sergey Karjakin continued to lead in the fight for the invitation
to the 2008 Amber tournament. His only real challenger in the last round would
be Ivan Cheparinov, who was trailing by half a point after a hard-fought win
over Alexander Beliavsky.If two members of the Rising Stars team finished on
top with the same number of points the ticket to Amber 2008 was to be decided
in a blitz play-off.

Outing: Rising stars Negi, Karjakin, Stellwagen, accompanied by chaperone
Yasser Seirawan (blue shirt), take a boat trip on Amsterdam's famous canals
("grachten")
Round ten: With a convincing 3½-1½ win against
the Experience team the Rising Stars secured overall victory in the final round
of the NH Chess Tournament. After ten rounds the youngsters triumphed 26½-23½.
Sergey Karjakin finished first in the individual standings with a score of 7
out of 10. As the best player of the Rising Stars team the 17-year-old Ukrainian
earned an invitation to the 2008 Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament.

17-year-old Sergey Karjakin in his impressive last-round win over veteral
Alexander Beliavsky
Final table

In the final overall standings young (17 years old) Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine
finished on top, clearing his nearest rival by a full point.
Sergey is rated 2678 and is ranked number 35 of all players in the world. On
the Playchess server he is currently
the second-highest rated player in blitz. Playchess has 215,000 registered members,
with a total of 224 million (you better believe it) games played so far.

See you at the Amber tournament in Monaco: Sergey Karjakin
Full schedule and all results
1st round – Wednesday August 22nd |
Alexander Beliavsky |
½-½ |
Parimarjan Negi |
Pedrag Nikolic |
0-1 |
Jan Smeets |
Alexander Khalifman |
½-½ |
Daniel Stellwagen |
Artur Jussupow |
½-½ |
Ivan Cheparinov |
Ljubomir Ljubojevic |
½-½ |
Sergey Karjakin |
|
2nd round – Thursday August 23rd |
Jan Smeets |
½-½ |
Alexander Beliavsky |
Daniel Stellwagen |
½-½ |
Pedrag Nikolic |
Ivan Cheparinov |
½-½ |
Alexander Khalifman |
Sergey Karjakin |
½-½ |
Artur Jussupow |
Parimarjan Negi |
½-½ |
Ljubomir Ljubojevic |
|
3rd round – Friday August 24th |
Alexander Beliavsky |
0-1 |
Daniel Stellwagen |
Pedrag Nikolic |
½-½ |
Ivan Cheparinov |
Alexander Khalifman |
½-½ |
Sergey Karjakin |
Artur Jussupow |
1-0 |
Parimarjan Negi |
Ljubomir Ljubojevic |
0-1 |
Jan Smeets |
|
4th round – Saturday August 25th |
Ivan Cheparinov |
½-½ |
Alexander Beliavsky |
Sergey Karjakin |
1-0 |
Pedrag Nikolic |
Parimarjan Negi |
½-½ |
Alexander Khalifman |
Jan Smeets |
0-1 |
Artur Jussupow |
Daniel Stellwagen |
1-0 |
Ljubomir Ljubojevic |
|
5th round – Sunday August 26th |
Alexander Beliavsky |
½-½ |
Sergey Karjakin |
Pedrag Nikolic |
1-0 |
Parimarjan Negi |
Alexander Khalifman |
½-½ |
Jan Smeets |
Artur Jussupow |
1-0 |
Daniel Stellwagen |
Ljubomir Ljubojevic |
½-½ |
Ivan Cheparinov |
|
6th round – Tuesday August 28th |
Parimarjan Negi |
0-1 |
Alexander Beliavsky |
Jan Smeets |
½-½ |
Pedrag Nikolic |
Daniel Stellwagen |
0-1 |
Alexander Khalifman |
Ivan Cheparinov |
1-0 |
Artur Jussupow |
Sergey Karjakin |
1-0 |
Ljubomir Ljubojevic |
|
7th round – Wednesday August
29th |
Alexander Beliavsky |
½-½ |
Jan Smeets |
Pedrag Nikolic |
1-0 |
Daniel Stellwagen |
Alexander Khalifman |
0-1 |
Ivan Cheparinov |
Artur Jussupow |
0-1 |
Sergey Karjakin |
Ljubomir Ljubojevic |
½-½ |
Parimarjan Negi |
|
8th round – Thursday August 30th |
Daniel Stellwagen |
½-½ |
Alexander Beliavsky |
Ivan Cheparinov |
0-1 |
Pedrag Nikolic |
Sergey Karjakin |
½-½ |
Alexander Khalifman |
Parimarjan Negi |
½-½ |
Artur Jussupow |
Jan Smeets |
1-0 |
Ljubomir Ljubojevic |
|
9th round – Friday August 31st |
Alexander Beliavsky |
0-1 |
Ivan Cheparinov |
Pedrag Nikolic |
½-½ |
Sergey Karjakin |
Alexander Khalifman |
½-½ |
Parimarjan Negi |
Artur Jussupow |
1-0 |
Jan Smeets |
Ljubomir Ljubojevic |
1-0 |
Daniel Stellwagen |
|
10th round – Saturday September
1st |
Sergey Karjakin |
1-0 |
Alexander Beliavsky |
Parimarjan Negi |
½-½ |
Pedrag Nikolic |
Jan Smeets |
½-½ |
Alexander Khalifman |
Daniel Stellwagen |
1-0 |
Artur Jussupow |
Ivan Cheparinov |
½-½ |
Ljubomir Ljubojevic |
|