
Trading Places
From Wednesday, August 22 to Saturday, September 1, the legendary hotel Krasnapolsky
in the very heart of Amsterdam, will be 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 youngsters will be delighted to play in Amsterdam, where the conditions
are top-notch, but still their silent (or not so silent) wish is to go somewhere
else! Small wonder. The NH Chess Tournament is organized in close cooperation
with the Association Max Euwe in Monaco and the special prize for the best youngster
is an invitation to the 2008 Amber Rapid and Blindfold spectacle.
The NH Chess Tournament is held for the second time. As you may remember last
year the Rising Stars swept the Experience team 28-22 and Magnus Carlsen
earned the invitation to Monaco. This time the youngsters will face a tougher
challenge. The Experience team has been strengthened and if we can rely on the
players’ ratings they will even win 25.5-24.5.
Experienced Grandmasters

Alexander Beliavsky, SLO, 2653
|
Rising Stars

Sergey Karjakin, UKR, 2678
|

Pedrag Nikolic, BIH, 2646 |

Ivan Cheparinov, BUL, 2657 |

Alexander Khalifman, RUS, 2632 |

Daniel Stellwagen, NDL, 2631 |

Artur Jussupow, GER, 2583 |

Jan Smeets, NDL, 2538 |

Ljubomir Ljubojevic, ESP, 2550 |

Parimarjan Negi, IND, 2529 |
The main candidate to follow in Magnus’ footsteps is the top-seed of
the Rising Stars, Sergey Karjakin. Once the youngest grandmaster in the world
(remember, twelve years and seven months!), Karjakin is now, at seventeen, a
top-level GM with a daunting 2678 rating. His closest rivals will be Ivan Cheparinov
(2657), the second of Topalov who cooked up so many brilliant novelties for
the former world champion, and Dutch hope Daniel Stellwagen (2631). The Rising
Stars team is completed by Dutch grandmaster Jan Smeets (2538) and fourteen-year-old
Parimarjan Negi (2529) from India, who in the past year was the youngest grandmaster
in the world.
Their task will not be easy against an Experience team composed of living legends
who are truly brimming with experience. Top-seed Alexander Beliavsky (2653)
had the best performance overall last year (even better than Carlsen’s)
and will try his best to spoil the youngsters dreams. He is supported in this
ambition by his team mates Predrag Nikolic (2646), Alexander Khalifman (2632),
Artur Jussupow (2583) and Ljubomir Ljubojevic (2550).

A five-minute walk from the Central Station takes you to Dam Square in Amsterdam

Hotel Krasnapolsky, seen from Dam Square
The venue could not be more centrally located. NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky
is situated on Dam Square, at a five minutes’ walk from Amsterdam Central
Station. The hotel, known to Amsterdammers as ‘Kras’ has a rich
history and the Winter Garden, where the players will have their breakfast (if
they manage to be in time) and lunch, must be one of the most spectacular restaurants
in the city.

The Winter Garden inside the Hotel Krandapolsky, where the players will eat

The "grachten", concentric canals dug around the old city centre

The famous bridges over the grachten in the central part of Amsterdam
Every day the games start at 13.30 hours in the spacious Foyer Room on the
first floor, with the exception of the last round on September 1, which will
start at noon. One hour after the start of the games, the live commentary will
begin in the Amsterdam Room on the same floor. The commentators are Lex Jongsma,
Gert Ligterink, Hans Ree, Genna Sosonko and Cor van Wijgerden. Who will perform
when you can find on the tournament website.

Tourist suggestion: why not combine a visit to the NH Chess Tournament with
a visit to the Rijksmuseum, the home of Rembrandt's Nachtwacht (Nightwatch)
and many other Dutch 17th century paintings
Paying a visit to Krasnapolsky and watching the games and commentary live
is a wonderful way to spend a summer afternoon, but those who are not in the
position to go to Amsterdam can follow the games live on the Internet. And just
like last year, the transmittance of the moves will be accompanied by streaming
video images from the playing room. That is, no shaky webcam images, but state-of-the-art
video of a quality that so far is unique for chess tournaments.
Links