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Sunday, August 22, 2010

NH Chess Tournament update: Four white pawns on four centre squares!

Playing hall of the NH Chess Tournament in Amsterdam.

Hi Everybody,

The Rising Stars have gone on to take a full four-point lead by the end of the ninth and the penultimate round. That means the Experienced team needs a win on every single board in the tenth round only to draw level! With one round to go the Rising Stars are leading 24½-20½ in the overall standings

The ninth round ended in a 2½-2½ tie.

David Howell got the better of Peter Heine Nielsen while Boris Gelfand beat Fabiano Caruana.

The NH Chess Tournament is taking place from August 12-22 in hotel Krasnapolsky, in the heart of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

The team that collects most points wins the tournament. The best player of the ‘Rising Stars’ team will be invited to the 20th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament in March 2011 in Nice, provided he or she scores over 50% in the NH Chess Tournament in Amsterdam.

Have you ever seen a game with four White pawns occupying the four centre square? Yes, the four centre squares of e4, e5, d4 and d5? Go 'wow' on this unique position in the Howell-Nielsen game!

Chess Vibes writes, "In case you wonder, in recorded chess history this pawn formation had only been seen fifteen times before. [We counted only 30 in a database of 4,307,440 games."

You can run the moves in our pgnplayer or watch in flash below. You can check up more statistics and great videos at the official website here.

PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Ne7 6. Nxe5 Qd4 7. Qh5 g68. Qg5 Bg7 9. Nd3 f5 10. e5 c5 11. b3 b612. Bb2 Qg4 13. Qe3 Nd5 14. Qe1 f4 15. f3 Qg5 16. c4 Bf5 17. Nxc5 bxc5 18. cxd5 Bd3 19. Nc3 O-O 20. Ne4 Qf5 21. Nxc5 Bxf1 22. Kxf1 Rad8 23. Qe4 Rfe8 24. d4 Qxe4 25. fxe4 1-0

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

NH Chess Tournament: Rising Stars maintain lead against Experience Team

GM Anish Giri: Can I do my best here?

Hi Everybody,

Back to Amsterdam. The fifth round - which is also the halfway mark - in the NH Chess Tournament saw the Rising Stars and the Experience team splitting the points.

Anish Giri’s win over Peter Heine Nielsen was equalled by a corresponding win by Boris Gelfand over Hikaru Nakamura. After five rounds the Rising Stars lead 13½-11½.

The NH Chess Tournament is taking place in the heart of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The best player of the ‘Rising Stars’ team will be invited to the 20th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament in March 2011 in Nice, provided he or she scores over 50% in the NH Chess Tournament.

You can find some nice videos at the official website.

Here is the nice Giri-Nielsen game from the fifth round. Try the pgnplayer with the moves or simply watch the game in flash below.

PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 c6 6. O-O d5 7. b3 dxc4 8. bxc4 c5 9. Bb2 Qb6 10. Qb3 Ne4 11. e3 Nc6 12. Ne5 Nd6 13. Nd2 Be6 14. Bxc6 bxc6 15. dxc5 Qxc5 16. Bd4 Qa5 17. Nxc6 Qc7 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. Qc3+ Kg8 20. Na5 Rab8 21. Rfc1 Rfc8 22. Qe5 Bh3 23. Nab3 Rb4 24. c5 Qb7 25. f3 Nb5 26. Kf2 Be6 27. Rc2 Na3 28. Rc3 Nb5 29. Rc2 Na3 30. Rc3 Nb5 31. Rd3 Qa6 32. Ne4 Nd6 33. Nxd6 Qxd3 34. Nxc8 Bxc8 35. Re1 Rc4 36. Nd4 Ba6 37. Qxe7 Rc1 38. Qd8+ Kg7 39. Ne6+ 1-0

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

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Sunday, August 15, 2010

NH Chess: Rising Stars beat Experienced grandmasters in third round

Caruana against Svidler at NH Tournament.

Hi Everybody,

The young stars at the NH Tournament in Amsterdam were on a roll in the third round against Experience team of grandmasters. The juniors blanked the seniors 4-1.

Hikaru Nakamura beat Peter Heine Nielsen, Fabiano Caruana beat Peter Svidler and David Howell got the better of Loek van Wely. The shortest game of the day was between Wesley So and Boris Gelfand that ended as a draw. The Anish Giri-Ljubomir Ljubojevic also ended as a draw.

Here is the nice Caruana-Svidler game that you can run through our pgnplayer or watch in flash below.

PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Qc7 11. Rc1 Rd8 12. Bf4 Be5 13. Bxe5 Nxe5 14. Bb3 Ng4 15. Ng3 Qf4 16. Qe1 Nf6 17. e5 Nd5 18. Bxd5 Rxd5 19. c4 Rd8 20. d5 b5 21. Qa5 Bd7 22. Rfe1 Be8 23. cxb5 Rxd5 24. b6 Rd2 25. Ne4 Rb2 26. Qxc5 Rxb6 27. Qxe7 Bc6 28. Nf6+ Kg7 29. Rf1 h6 30. Rc3 Rab8 31. Qc5 Ra6 32. Qd6 Rbb6 33. Re3 Rxa2 34. Nh5+ gxh5 35. Rg3+ Qxg3 36. Qf6+ Kg8 37. hxg3 Be4 38. Qd8+ Kh7 39. Rc1 Bf5 40. Rc7 Be6 41. Rxa7 Rxa7 42. Qxb6 Ra4 43. Qb1+ Kg7 44. f4 Ra5 45. Qd1 1-0

You can check the official website for more photos and details here.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

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Labels: NH Chess Tournament, NH Rising Stars Experience

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Rising Stars lead against Experienced Grandmasters in NH Chess Tournament

GM David Howell

Hello Everyone,

In a team event one win is enough. And, one win by David Howell of the Rising Stars was enough to give them a lead over the Experience team at the NH Chess Tournament in the second round.

Howell beat Ljubomir Ljubojevic while the other four games were drawn. The overall score is now in favour of the Rising Stars at 5½- 4½.

You can find more details and photos at the official website here. They also have videos and nice detailed news reports.

Here is the Ljubojevic-Howell game that saw White get into time trouble.

PGN: 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Qa4+ Bd7 6. Qc2 Nb4 7. Qb3 c5 8. a3 Be6 9. Qa4+ N4c6 10. e3 Bg7 11. Ng5 Bc8 12. Nge4 Nd7 13. d3 O-O 14. Be2 a6 15. O-O b5 16. Qc2 Bb7 17. Bd2 Rc8 18. Rfc1 h6 19. Nd1 Kh7 20. Bf1 Nce5 21. f4 f5 22. Nef2 Nf7 23. Bc3 e5 24. Qd2 Qe7 25. Rab1 Nf6 26. fxe5 Nxe5 27. d4 Nc4 28. Bxc4 bxc4 29. dxc5 Qxc5 30. Qe2 0-1

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

Also see her personal blog at