Unive Hoogeveen: both games drawn

10/26/2012 – Ignoring the 180-point rating difference Chinese GM Hou Yifan, Elo 2605, put the pressure on top seed Hikaru Nakamura, 2786, and forced the world-class US grandmaster to defend for most of the game, which ended after 71 moves in a draw. Sergey Tiviakov and Anish Giri signed a peace accord after 46 moves. If Tiviakov beats Nakamura in the final round he can still win. Report with GM commentary.

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The 16th Univé Chess Festival is taking place from the 19th to 27th of October 2012, in Hoogeveen, Holland. The main event is a four-player Crown Group double round robin with Hikaru Nakamura, USA, rated 2786, Anish Giri, NL, 2730, Sergey Tiviakov, NL, 2659, and women's world champion Hou Yifan, China, 2605. The average rating is 2695, making this a category 18 tournament. The Unive Open has 78 players and is a nine round event that started on October 19. The prize fund is € 7,500, with a first prize of € 3,000. The sponsor of the Univé Chess Festival is Univé.

Crown Group report after round five

Round 5 – Friday, October 26, 2012, 14:00h
Hou Yifan
½-½
 Nakamura, Hikaru
Giri, Anish
½-½
 Sergey Tiviakov

Commentary by GM Eltaj Safarli

[Event "Hoogeveen 2012"] [Site "?"] [Date "2012.10.26"] [Round "5"] [White "Hou, Yifan"] [Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "2623"] [BlackElo "2775"] [Annotator "Eltaj,Safarli"] [PlyCount "141"] [EventDate "2012.10.22"] [SourceDate "2012.10.26"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 e5 {Black chose to play 4...e5, but I don't really like it - because it weakens Black's position.} ({The most normal and main line is:} 4... Nc6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. Bg5 e6 9. O-O-O {etc.}) 5. Qd1 Nf6 6. Nc3 (6. Bd3 $5 {Was another set-up, where White had a solid and slightly better position} Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. c4 {etc.}) 6... h6 7. Bc4 Be6 8. Bb3 (8. Bxe6 {would be possible as well, but it seems that after} fxe6 9. Nh4 Rg8 (9... Kf7 $2 10. f4 $1 exf4 11. e5 $1 Nfd7 12. Qh5+ Kg8 13. Bxf4 $16) 10. Ng6 Nc6 11. O-O Kf7 12. Nxf8 Rxf8 {Black has a reasonable position with equal chances.}) 8... Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. Be3 Nc6 11. Qe2 Na5 12. Rfd1 Qc7 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. Bxd5 Nc4 15. c3 Rac8 16. Rac1 a6 ({I think} 16... Qa5 $1 {would be strong, with equality.}) 17. b3 Nxe3 18. Qxe3 $14 Bd7 19. Rc2 Kh7 20. Nd2 g6 $6 (20... b5 {was better}) 21. Qa7 $1 Rb8 22. Nc4 $1 f5 ({It's funny that even after} 22... Bd8 {White can play} 23. Nb6 $1) 23. Qb6 {White decided to simplify the position.} ({Perhaps Black would find it harder to defend with a queen on the board after:} 23. Nb6) 23... Rfc8 24. Qxc7 Rxc7 25. Nb6 Bc6 26. f3 Bg5 27. Nc4 (27. Kf2 {I think it would be better. In this case White saves the knight. This would have made it harder for Black to defend}) 27... b5 $1 28. Bxc6 (28. Nxd6 {leads to draw after} Rd8 29. c4 $1 Be3+ (29... Rxd6 $2 30. cxb5 axb5 31. Bg8+ $1 Kxg8 32. Rxd6 $18) 30. Kh1 b4 31. c5 Bxd5 32. Rxd5 Bxc5 33. Rcxc5 Rxc5 34. Rxc5 Rxd6 $11) 28... bxc4 29. Bd5 cxb3 30. axb3 { The position is also good for White. Anyway, Black still has to work for a draw.} Rb6 31. Kf2 a5 32. Ra1 Rc5 33. Ke2 Kg7 34. Kd3 Rb8 35. Ra4 Bd8 36. b4 axb4 37. cxb4 Rxc2 38. Kxc2 Bb6 39. Kb3 Kf6 40. Kc4 Ke7 {So, after the first time control White has some chances to win. However I thought Hikaru would hold the position without too much difficulty.} 41. h3 Kd7 42. Bf7 fxe4 43. fxe4 Ke7 44. Bd5 Kd7 45. Ra3 Rf8 46. Ra6 Kc7 47. Ra2 g5 48. Rc2 Rf2 49. Rxf2 Bxf2 50. g4 Be1 51. Be6 d5+ {is interesting, but I think unnecessary.} 52. exd5 e4 53. Kd4 Bxb4 54. Kxe4 Kd6 55. Kf5 Ba5 56. Kg6 Bd8 57. Kxh6 Ke5 58. Kg6 Be7 59. Kf7 Bb4 60. Ke8 Kd6 61. Bg8 Bd2 62. Kf8 Ba5 63. Kg7 Ke5 64. Kg6 Bd8 65. Kg7 Be7 66. Kf7 Bb4 67. Kg6 Be7 68. Be6 Bd8 69. Kf7 Kd6 70. Ke8 Ba5 71. Kf7 1/2-1/2

[Event "16th Unive Crown"] [Site "Hoogeveen NED"] [Date "2012.10.26"] [Round "5"] [White "Tiviakov, S."] [Black "Giri, A."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B22"] [WhiteElo "2656"] [BlackElo "2693"] [PlyCount "92"] [EventDate "2012.10.21"] 1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 d6 7. Bc4 e6 8. O-O Be7 9. Qe2 O-O 10. Rd1 Bd7 11. Bd2 Qb6 12. Nc3 Nxc3 13. Bxc3 dxe5 14. dxe5 Rfd8 15. h4 Be8 16. h5 Rxd1+ 17. Rxd1 Rd8 18. Rxd8 Qxd8 19. a3 Bf8 20. Qd3 g6 21. hxg6 hxg6 22. Qxd8 Nxd8 23. Nd2 Bc6 24. Bd3 Be7 25. Ne4 b6 26. f4 Bh4 27. Kh2 Kf8 28. g4 Be7 29. Kg3 Nb7 30. b4 a5 31. Nf6 axb4 32. axb4 Ba4 33. Kf2 Kg7 34. Ke3 Kf8 35. Ba6 Bxf6 36. exf6 Nd6 37. Be5 Nb5 38. Bb7 Na3 39. Kd3 Ke8 40. Bd4 Kd7 41. Bxb6 Bc6 42. Ba6 Bb5+ 43. Bxb5+ Nxb5 44. Bc5 Kc6 45. Ke4 Nc3+ 46. Kd4 Nb5+ 1/2-1/2

Standings after five rounds

Schedule and results

Round 1 – Sunday, October 21, 2012, 14:00h
Hou Yifan
½-½
 Sergey Tiviakov
Nakamura, Hikaru
1-0
 Giri, Anish
Round 2 – Monday, October 22, 2012, 14:00h
Hou Yifan
½-½
 Giri, Anish
Sergey Tiviakov
½-½
 Nakamura, Hikaru
Round 3 – Tuesday, October 23, 2012, 14:00h
Sergey Tiviakov
½-½
 Giri, Anish
Nakamura, Hikaru
1-0
 Hou Yifan
Round 4 – Thursday, October 25, 2012, 14:00h
Sergey Tiviakov
1-0
 Hou Yifan
Giri, Anish
½-½
 Nakamura, Hikaru
Round 5 – Friday, October 26, 2012, 14:00h
Hou Yifan
½-½
 Nakamura, Hikaru
Giri, Anish
½-½
 Sergey Tiviakov
Round 6 – Saturday, October 27, 2012, 14:00h
Giri, Anish
  Hou Yifan
Nakamura, Hikaru
   Sergey Tiviakov

Links

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