Rising Stars lead in Amsterdam

The NH Chess Tournament is being staged from August 19 to 29 in the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky in the center of Amsterdam, by the NH hotel chain and the Association Max Euwe, Monaco. The event is a Scheveningen team tournament, with one team called "Experience" and the other "Rising Stars". The average ages are 51.8 and 17.6, the average ratings 2590 and 2614. Here are full details of the event.

The openings ceremony at the NH Chess Tournament in Amsterdam

Thursday August 24 was the free day after the first half of the tournament. Here is a summary of the action so far:

Round one

To the surprise of experts the "Experience", which had black on all boards in the first round, defeated the "Rising Stars" 3.5-1.5. The most spectacular game Artur Jussupow's win over Daniel Stellwagen. After the game Jussupow checked it with his computer and discovered that Stellwagen had resigned in a winning position:

Stellwagen,D (2575) - Jussupow,Ar (2617) [C18]
NH Hotels Amsterdam NED (1), 19.08.2006

Black is completely winning, but now plays37...Kxh7?? Unfortunately Stellwagen decided at just this point that further resistance was futile and the young Dutch grandmaster resigned. However the computer showed Jussupow that after 38.Rae1 the black queen has to move and allow a discovered check by 39.Kg1 or 39.Kg3, leaving Black with a hopeless position.

Two faces of experience: Artur Yussupow and the newly bearded Ulf Andersson

Alexander Beliavsky scoring a first round black victory against Jan Smeets

• Full report on the official site

Round two

In round two the Rising Stars struck back with 3.5-1.5 to level the score. Magnus Carlsen got a drawn ending but outplayed endgame expert John Nunn when the latter allowed a few inaccuracies to creep into his game. Daniel Stellwagen erased memories of his first-round loss with an optimistic kingside attack which worked against the experienced Alexander Beliavsky, who did not find the correct counter.

GM John Nunn, right, with chief tournament arbiter Guert Gijssen

• Full report on the official site

Round three

This round brought the first white win in this tournament, with Jan Smeets grinding down Ljubomir Ljubojevic in five hours and 61 moves. Alexander Beliavsky evened the score for the Experience team with black win in the Scottish against Wang Hao of China. John Nunn had a narrow escape against Sergey Karjakin, while Artur Jussupow drew with a French Defence against Magnus Carlsen in 69 moves, And Ulf Andersson did the same in 33 moves with a Rubinstein against Daniel Stellwagen.

The seconds: Peter Heine Nielsen (Denmark, 2640), who looks after Magnus Carlsen, and Arkadij Naiditsch (Germany, 2664), who assists Jan Smeets.

• Full report on the official site

Round four

Veteran John Nunn played the most beautiful game of the round and so far in the tournament, with a spectacular attack in a d3 Ruy Lopez against Jan Smeets.

Nunn,J (2617) - Smeets,J (2532) [C65]
NH Hotels Amsterdam NED (4), 22.08.2006
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.0-0 d6 6.c3 0-0 7.Nbd2 Bd7 8.h3 a6 9.Ba4 Ba7 10.Re1 Ne7 11.Bb3 Ng6 12.Nf1 h6 13.Ng3 c6 14.d4 Qc7 15.Be3 Rfe8 16.Qd2 exd4 17.Bxd4 Bxd4 18.cxd4 c5 19.Rac1 b6 20.Qc3 Qb7 21.dxc5 dxc5 22.e5 Nd5 23.Qd2 Ndf4 24.Rc4 Ne6 25.Ne4 Qc7

Here it comes: 26.Nf6+! gxf6 27.Qxh6 f5 28.Nh4 Bb5 29.Nxf5 Rad8 30.Rg4 c4 31.Bc2 Rd5 32.Rh4 1-0. In the press room after the game Nunn showed what would have happened if Black had taken the bishop on c4 on move 29: 29…Bxc4 30.Bxc4 Nxe5 31.Re4! Rad8 32.Rh4 Rd1+ 33.Bf1 f6 34.Qh8+ Kf7 35.Rh7+ Kg6 36.Nh4+ Kg5 37.Rh5+ Kf4 38.Qxf6+ Ke4 39.Rxe5+ Qxe5 40.Qf3+ Kd4 41.Qxd1+ Ke4 42.Qf3+ Kd4 43.Qd3 mate. Smeets declined to take the bishop, but there was no way to save the game and three white power moves later he resigned the game as mate was inevitable.

John Nunn at the start of his brilliant game against Jan Smeets

Sergey Karjakin saved the day for the Rising Stars with a five hour 79 move black piece victory over Artur Jussupow. The other three games were drawn, so that the team scores was still an even 10:10 points. No sign of dominance by any one side.

Veteran Jussupow about to get ground down by youngster Sergey Karjakin

• Full report on the official site
  

Round five

In this round the Rising Stars lept into the lead, with stinging victories by Magnus Carlsen and Wang Hao. The Norwegian wonder boy played the following miniature against veteran Ulf Anderson from neighboring Sweden:

Carlsen,M (2675) - Andersson,U (2542) [C10]
NH Hotels Amsterdam NED (5), 23.08.2006
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Bg5 Be7 7.Nxf6+ Nxf6 8.Bd3 c5 9.dxc5 Qa5+ 10.c3 Qxc5 11.0-0 Bd7 12.Re1 Ng4 13.Bxe7 Qxf2+ 14.Kh1 Kxe7 15.Re2 Qc5 16.Qe1 Rad8 17.Qh4+ Nf6 18.Nd4 Bc6 19.Rf1 Rhg8 20.Qg3 Kd7 21.Bxh7 Rh8 22.Bg6

Carlsen intended for the game to continue 22…fxg6 23.Nxe6 Qb6 24.Nxd8 Rxd8 25.Qxg6 Kc8 26.Qxg7 with a white material advantage which would not be easy to convert into victory. But after 22.Bg6 Andersson, who was already short of time, plunged into thought, using up most of his last ten minutes. And then to Carlsen's surprise he resigned! "Of course I am much better," said Magnus, "but there was still all to play for."

Serbian GM Ljubomir Ljubojevic played a good game against Wang Hao, all the way up to move 44, when he blundered badly against an opponent who had started to play all his moves fast. Artur Yussupov was close to victory against Jan Smeets but blew it when he inadvertently produced the same position for a third time, allowing Smeets to claim a draw by threefold repetition.

GM Wang Hao, 17, from China, rated 2610

Individual results

The score at half time after five rounds is 13.5:11.5 for the Rising Stars. Magnus Carlsen has the best individual result, with two wins and no losses. The performance of the Norwegian teen is 2737 in the tournament so far. Alexander Beliavsky has also won two games and lost one. Sergey Karjakin has won once and drawn all his other games.

All results

Links

• Official web site
• All games played so far (in PGN)
• First ChessBase report