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