Rising Stars: the Experience team without a chance

by ChessBase
8/24/2008 – Remember how hard-fought these contests used to be? Well, in round five of the third NH Chess Tournament that pits Rising Stars against Experienced GMs it was 77-year-old Viktor Korchnoi who scored the first full point for the latter. Otherwise there were nine draws and 14 losses. Chinese GM Wang Yue leads the field with 5.0/5 points and a theoretical performance of 3400. Big pictorial report.

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The NH tournament, a confrontation between a team of five young ‘Rising Stars’ and a team of five ‘Experienced’ grandmasters, is taking place in the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky in the centre of the Dutch city of Amsterdam, from August 20th to 30th, 2008. The event is a ‘Scheveningen’ tournament, which means that each player of one team plays against each of the players of the other team. They do so twice, once with the white pieces and once with the black pieces.

Round one: ‘Rising Stars’ sweep ‘Experience’
In the first round of the NH Chess Tournament the Rising Stars defeated the Experience team 4-1, a sweeping win that was extra painful as the youngsters played with the handicap of the black pieces. The wins of the youngsters were posted by Fabiano Caruana, Daniel Stellwagen and Wang Yue. – Full report.

Round two: Rising Stars rout Experience again
In the second round the Rising Stars mercilessly exploited the advantage of the white pieces. With four wins and one draw the youngsters swept their opponents for the second time in 48 hours and increased their lead in the overall standings to 8½-1½. In the race for the ticket to the Amber Rapid and Blindfold Tournament three youngsters have a perfect score after two rounds: Fabiano Caruana, Daniel Stellwagen and Wang Yue. – Full report.

Round three: Rising Stars keep winning
While heavy rainfalls boosted the sales of umbrellas in Amsterdam, dark clouds keep hovering over the Experience team too. In the third round of the NH Chess Tournament ‘the old guard’ lost again. This time the Rising Stars posted a 3½-1½ victory. The overall score is a discouraging 12-3 in favour of the Rising Stars. In the fight for the ticket to the Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament Wang Yue from China is leading with a perfect score of 3 out of 3. – Full report.

Round four: Another Black day for the Experience team
In Round 4 the Rising Stars once again increased their lead over the Experience team. Playing with the black pieces ‘Experience’ lost 4-1. The overall score after four rounds is: Rising Stars-Experience 16-4. In the race for the ticket to the Amber Rapid and Blindfold Tournament in Nice, Wang Yue sets a murderous pace. The Chinese number one scored his fourth win in a row and keeps a perfect score. – Full report.

Round five: Rising Stars lead 19-6 halfway, Kortchnoi scores first Experience win
In Round 5 of the NH Chess Tournament the Rising Stars posted another win, but the small margin, 3-2, was greeted by many as a clear indication that the Experience team’s will to fight has definitely not been broken. The overall score halfway through the event is 19-6 in favour of the Rising Stars. Viktor Kortchnoi delighted the spectators by winning his first game (which also happened to be the first win for the Experience team!) after four consecutive losses. In the race for the ticket for the Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament in Nice, 21-year-old Wang Yue continues to impress. The Chinese grandmaster also won his fifth game and keeps a perfect score. – Full report.

This is what the cross table looks like after the first half. Note the single win in the bottom half. Note too Wang Yue's almost 3400 performance, and the 2978 Ivan Cheparinov has chalked up.

The score after the first half of the tournament is:

Experience Country Rtng
Pts
Simen Agdestein Norway 2583
2.0
Ljubomir Ljubojevic Serbia 2555
1.5
Evgeny Bareev Russia 2655
1.0
Viktor Kortchnoi Switzerland 2602
1.0
Artur Jussupow Germany 2587
0.5
 
Total score: 
6.0
 
Rising Stars Country Rtng
Pts
Wang Yue China 2704
5.0
Ivan Cheparinov Bulgaria 2687
4.5
Fabiano Caruana Italy 2630
3.5
Daniel Stellwagen Netherlands 2616
3.5
Erwin l’Ami Netherlands 2610
2.5
 
Total score: 
19.0

Monday is a free day, round six will be played on August 26.


Picture Gallery

By Jeroen van den Belt


The playing hall at the start of round five (with Wang Yue vs Evgeny Bareev in the middle – Wang won with the black pieces) and Caruana vs Agdestein on the right (draw)


Ljubomir Ljubojevic vs Ivan Cheparinov in the foreground (Cheparinov won)


GM Loek van Wely comments on the main games for spectators


Agdestein-Caruana: ½-½; in the background Korchnoi-L'Ami: 1-0


Simen Agdestein, first major trainer of Magnus Carlsen, facing a different prodigy


The coming man (boy? lad?) in chess: 16-year-old Fabiano Caruana of Italy


The scorer of the first win for the Experience team: the perennial Viktor Korchnoi


Viktor Korchnoi, right, in his round five game against Erwin L'Ami

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Going for bust (and Amber): Chinese GM Wang Yue with 5.0/5 points


Second hottest contender: Topalov second Ivan Cheparinov, with 4.5/5 points


Famously multi-lingual former Yugoslav former world class GM Ljubomir Ljubojevic


Analysis after round five, with Artur Yussupow, Daniel Stellwagen and GM Vladimir Chuchelov


The streets of Amsterdam (to the left and right of the canal)


Sightseeing in this Dutch city is best done by boat

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