Essent Chess Tournament 2006, Mid-Way Report

by John Lee Shaw








Prologue

I must begin this report, by taking a moment to bring to the reader a small detail of just what one had to contend with in order to get to the venue. Being re-located to Holland from the UK, I am very impressed with Dutch public transport, which seems in my experience to be very reliable and pretty much on time. Therefore, I planned my route from south-Holland to the North, got a good nights sleep, and set out.

Things did not start well, when the first bus was late, but one was not phased, and got to the train station too late to take the intended train, but with a half hour margin, and another train due shortly, things were still looking good. The first train journey was to Utrecht, where a second was then taken to Amersfoort, and here is where the story really gets interesting and takes on the pace of a Grisham novel. Infact, should said author ever release a book entitled 'The Chess Journalist' I will be reading it with much scrutiny.

Anyway, I digress. Upon reading the sign at the platform, one is informed that to go to Hoogeveen, one takes the 'voor' (front) of the train, and to go to Leeuwarden (not the direction we want), one must sit in the 'achter' (rear) of the train. This is because, at a certain point in the journey, the train splits (yes, splits!) and the front goes to Hoogeveen, and the rear ..... doesn't. Picture the scene: myself and my companion (who is Dutch and alarmingly not making any sense of things either) standing on the platform, looking at a train that looks perfect in symmetry, trying to work out which end is 'voor' and which end is 'achter'. We got in, got out, got back in another carriage, got back out, not feeling that we were yet 'voor' enough.

Just as one was starting to get higher blood pressure than World Championship Arbiters, we got a break, and were reliably informed that the 'helemaal' (whole) train goes to Hoogeveen. We got in, sat down, and tried to recover our composure. This was not exactly easy, when having to encounter mean looking dogs (one's companion does not like dogs very much) and green chicken-like puppets being walked up and down the aisle -- I am not making this up! Anyway, once the green chicken-like puppet had been extracted from the mouth of the mean dog for the fourth time, the train stopped and we were informed that it would split ... The carriages were numbered, and those sat in bla-bla-bla to bla-bla-bla would go to Hoogeveen, and those not, woudn't. Franctic looking around for numbers revealed we were in a carriage bound for Hoogeveen. Here my story ends, as not too long after, we were arriving at the venue.



The Essent Tournament

With tournaments such as Wijk aan Zee, Linares, M-Tel, etc. it is sometimes very easy to overlook other strong but less high-profile tournaments, such as the Essent Chess Tournament. Indeed, it may surprise one to learn that the tournament celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The first took place in 1997, and was won by Israel's Emil Sutovsky, (over Judit Polgar, Loek van Wely, and Vassily Smyslov). Over the years, legends such as Timman, Karpov, Spassky, Kortchnoi, Short, have all graced the 4 player tournament, along with the newer names, Carlsen, Aronian, Stellwagen, Sokolov, Bruzon, Harikrishna. Furthermore, when one looks to the open tournament, a wealth of talent and fame can be found, too numerous to do justice to.

All this goes to show that the Essent Tournament, while low in profile compared with other tournaments, lacks nothing where the recognition of world-class players is concerned:


Making up the field of this years tournament, Judit Polgar (HUN 2710) makes another welcome appearance. Judit, it is said in the tournament program, is affectionately known at Hoogeveen as 'our Judit',  as this year will be her 8th visit, only having failed to compete in 2 tournaments in its history, (2004 and 2005).



Veselin Topalov (BUL 2813) plays his first event since his World Chess Championship defeat at the hands of Vladimir Kramnik just a week or two ago. It will be interesting to see how Topalov will perform due to his hectic end of year schedule, and also with the aftermath of the controversy over 'toiletgate'.




Shakhryar Mamedyarov (AZE 2728) is back in Holland since his good performance in this year's Corus tournament back in January. Getting a wealth of experience under his belt, he is certainly established as a force to be reckoned with.



Ivan Sokolov (NED 2670) is Holland's top player as of the October 1st ratings. He shows somewhat inconsistent form, and has had a disappointing 2006 really. Ever the perfectionist, Ivan is right up with the best of them, and able to take any scalp on his day.

Polgar-Sokolov was an Open Ruy, and went quite deep in to theory. Judit was first to vary, deviating from a line that Sister Sofia had played against Wolfgang Unzicker back in 1996. Judit opted for 19.Ra7!? (see diagram, left) which seems an improvement to Sofia's 19.Bxg5. After 19...Rd7 20.Rxd7 Qxd7 21.Kh1 f4 Judit turned her attention to the black b, c, and d pawns with 22.b4 c4 23.Qd2, and obtained a slight edge. Judits slight neglect of the a-file allowed Ivan to come back at her somewhat, and suddenly black had nice development and space, where white was quite passive, and the advantage changed hands. Both sides seemed to be a little lost for a few moves, and at one point, White had her remaining pieces all on the back rank along with her king -- a sight not seen very often. The game ebbed and flowed (with White not having a very pleasent time in my opinion) until Sokolov's 45.h5?? lost to the natural 46.Be4! There followed 46...Rg8 47.Rd7 Qh1 and what Sokolov had missed I am unsure and have not yet been able to ask him, but after 48.Bd2 he resigned.






Mamedyarov-Topalov saw a Meran, and Veselin will probably be wondering what he has to do to get away from 1.d4. The game travelled along Theory lane until Topalov's novelty 20...Qd7!? (see diagram, left), 20...fxe5 (which appears best) had usually been played up to this point. Topalov, obviously wished to go his own way. His own way, however, handed white a strong (probably winning) initiative by move 23. Black's position never recovered, and even though Mamedyarov could have played more accurately in a few places, Topalov was resigning on move 47.

Polgar-Topalov was the game of the day, and Judit played agressively as expected. She opened 1.e4, and Topalov got his Sicilian, a Keres Attack Scheveningen. Interestingly enough, the game followed a line that had been played by Topalov's manager Silvio Danailov (as black), against Gilles Andruet, in 1985. Polgar left that game with her 10.0-0-0, which seems stronger than Andruet's 10.h3. Theory was followed (Guenther-Bilsel 1998/2000) until Polgar's 14.Rhf1 with equality, (see Diagram, left). Topalov will have been highly unsatisfied with his opening situation, and quickly found himself with problems. Polgar disrupted his kingside, and he was saddled with a horrible rook on h7 and bishop on h8. After White's 28.Qh4, black's situation was desperately bad, and black was forced to try an exchange sacrifice, bishop for 2 pawns, but this was played a move too late to be very effective -- it could have been played on move 27 forcing the queens off. White was soon penetrating the Black position, and Polgar relentlessly drove Topalov's king over to the edge of the board. It was a clinical finish, at the end of which the number 1 female was +2 and the number 1 male -2.




Sokolov-Mamedyarov was a Pirc Defence, that followed Tiviakov-Kasimdzhanov, Groningen 1999, albeit briefly. White varied with 13.Nc4 (shown left) instead of Tiviakov's 13.Qc2, which had gotten him a point in 35. The game was quite sharp, and the equalibrium remained until errors started to creap in to the play of both. Sokolov's 23.Bxf4? was a mistake, that should have been punished by 23...Qxe4! Instead, Mamedyarov opted for the inferior 23...fxe4, which was not as good. Black was given a second bite of the cherry, however, thanks to White's 26.axb5? (Na5 was better) and this time there was no recovery, as Mamedyarov took full advantage, and shortly afterwards had notched up his second point (and Sokolov's second defeat) in as many games.

(I apologise for the poor quality of some of the photographs, below. I am not the best photographer, and in some cases was opting not to use flash out of courtesy to the players, which makes the photo's a bit grainy.)

Topalov-Sokolov was an interesting encounter, not least because the two were both on 0/2, and badly needed a score (preferrably a win). Topalov found himself in yet another Slav Defence, and varied from theory on move 14 with Rxf3!? which apparently is simply bad as it hangs d4. Sokolov took the bait with 14...exd4, and after 15.g4 Qc5 16.Na2 0-0 17.Rf5 Qe7 18.f5 the position was about equal, with White having compensation for his pawn. Sokolov chose to give back the pawn, with 18...d3 but this was probably un-necessary, 18...Nd5 seems better, when black is expanding. Things were relatively even right up to 36...Nxe3, when I believe Ivan Sokolov offered a draw. Topalov declined this, which is of course his perogative, but I felt that the position did indeed not offer very much for either player. The game lasted neary 30 moves more, during which Ivan Sokolov seemed to be walking around with a bemused look on his face as to why it was still on-going. It was eventually drawn, and afterwards the players had a discussion, photographed below. Unfortunately, the discussion was in Russian (I think) and I could not make out what was being said. As you can see on the photographs, it was a little animated.

Judit Polgar opted for an Old Main Line Queens Indian in response to Mamedyarov's 1.d4. Mamedyarov deviated from Azmaiparashvili-Gulko 1995, with his 14.Ne1, which tempts ...Qa4 from Black, the a2 and c4 pawns both being en-prise. This is quite a sound option for Black, but Judit chose to develop with ...Nd7, which is still good. Queens were exchanged at the 20 move mark, and at this point it was looking like a draw to me at least, and at move 40 my judgement abilities were given a gold star when the players shook hands. Interesting quote, by the way, was the players being asked in the press room, 'was this a draw by repetition or did you agree to it?'  Judit Polgar's reply was swift, and made with her trade mark smile ... 'well, we repeated ... so we agreed to it.'  The players then carried out their post-mortem, which was a wonderful thing to witness, though unfortunately discussed in Russian.

a bit more friendly, and a delight to observe -- Judit Polgar and Shakhryar Mamedyarov in thier post-mortem

'oh ... yes ... well ...'  The two leaders at the halfway stage.

So, the situation at the halfway stage, is that Judit Polgar and Shakhryar Mamedyarov lead the tournament on 2.5 points from 3 games, outstanding performances. Veselin Topalov and Ivan Sokolov are 2 points behind, and with only 3 rounds remaining will be playing to make their tallies a little more gratifying. Round 4 draw is as follows: Sokolov vs Polgar; Topalov vs Mamedyarov.

Not the only member of the family playing at the tournament
Shakhryar Mamedyarov with his younger Sister Turkan. Zeinab also competes.

Chess Gateway Competition

Chess Gateway managed to get hold of a copy of a book produced in celebration of 10 years of the Essent Chess Tournament. This is pictured to the left, hardbacked, and a very nice momento in itself. It is produced in the Dutch language. As a bonus, I managed to get the book signed by all 4 competitors of the 2006 4 player tournament: Veselin Topalov, Judit Polgar, Shakhryar Mamedyarov, and Ivan Sokolov. I have decided it would be a nice idea to offer this as a prize. To enter the competition, please answer the following question:

Essent Chess Tournament 2006
Mamedyarov wins on Tie-Breaks from Polgar

by John Lee Shaw

Sokolov-Polgar was a Nimzo-Indian, that followed Illescas Cordoba-Vallejo Pons, Spanish Team Championships 2004, until Sokolov's 15.Qc2. Illescas Cordoba had played 15.Rc1 and the game had been drawn in 22. Polgar rapidly doubled her rooks along the d-file, and was sceptical about Sokolov's 17.h3, describing it and her following move of 17...c4 (17...Na5 seems best, threatening ...exd4 and also having options of ...Nc4) as being critical. (You can see this position, below left.) Sokolov's 18.a4 does not seem to have been the best response, 18.Bb1 seeming to be natural, redeveloping the bishop along the b1-h7 diagonal, covering ...e5-e4 threats, and with Ne4 or Nf5 options, and black has a few things to bear in mind on her kingside. I would be interested to know what Judit had in mind in answer to this. As it turned out, black was soon playing ...e5-e4, and White's position became somewhat reserved. Bb1 came a few moves too late, and after White's 21.Ne2 (Qe2 was about equal) it was black who had the upper hand and more free position. Black's 24...Qd7? (24...Na5 was more accurate) seems to have been a mistake, allowing 25.Qxc4 from White, however after 25...Na5, Sokolov's 26.Qb4? (26.Qe2 was ok for White) allowed 26...Nd5, 27.Nxd5 Qxd5 with the threat towards White's h3 pawn. It was around here that the players became quite animated, with Sokolov storming away from the playing area and quickly returning, and Polgar covering her face with her hands. The reason for this I can only speculate was due to White's 29.g3? (diagram below, right) which allows 29...Bd7 from black, with threats to the a-pawn. 30.Qb4 would be followed by 30...Rg6 and White has insecurities right across his position and close to losing. Possibly both players overlooked this -- I can certainly see no other reason for them to be so horrified here. It was Sokolov, who some moves later was looking even less happy, as the black queen and rook closed in around the White king, and Polgar was winning. A relentless attacker, once she has her opponent on the back foot, she rarely gives second chances, and this game was no exception. Ivan Sokolov was resigning on move 39.

 

Topalov-Mamedyarov, was a Closed Ruy, Breyer Variation, which went 14 moves deep in to theory, before Topalov went his own way with 15.Rb1!? Mamedyarov's 16...g6 seems well intentioned (aiming to re-deploy the Bf8 to g7 and along the a1-h8 diagonal) but is a little slow and slightly out of context. It would have been better to have done something a little more demanding of white, such as ...c5 or ...Nh5, even ...bxa4 is borderline playable. Topalov initiated queenside and central pawn exchanges, following up with 19.Nb3 and it is here that Mamedyarov took a deep  think. He responded strongest with 19...Reb8, but at the time, I thought that 19...Qb6!? was interesting. After 20.Be3 c5 21.Nbd2 Qc6, things are fairly level, and it is arguable as to whether White has anything in my opinion, black seems fine. This being said, Shak's move also seemed to equalise for him without too much difficulty. His move 26...Raa8 (see left diagram, below) was not the best, however, giving Topalov possibilities of 27.Rxd7! Qxd7 28.Ncxe5 Qd6 29.Nxc6 Rc8 30.Rc1 with an edge. Usually his kind of line, did Veselin miss this, or decide to play a little more carefully? In this case, he was certainly rewarded for it, as a misjudgement by black (28...c5? ...Bg7 was essential) allowed white to win a pawn and the initiative. The diagram below right shows the position after White's 30.f4, and there followed 30...g5 31.g3 gxf4 32. gxf4 Nxe5 33.Nxe5 Bxe5 34.fxe5 and black was facing severe difficulties. Topalov's advantage increased gradually, and although Mamedyarov defended resiliently and creatively, he was soon suffering his first loss of the tournament.

 

And so, at the end of round 4, Judit Polgar was in sole lead of the tournament, with 3.5/4. Just a point behind her was Mamedyarov on 2.5/4, Topalov in third place with 1.5/4, and Sokolov trailing them all with just a half point from the 4 games.

Sokolov-Topalov was a not so common Schmid Benoni, with the novelty coming from White with 12.e5. Both sides played accurately in the main, with Sokolov undertaking a central cramping idea against black with pawns on d5 and e6. (Diagram, left.) Black, meanwhile, set about organising his pieces for defense, and hopeful counter-attack. Sokolov's 19.f4?! looked unhealthy (Qd2 or hxg5 looked better) and soon black's stance was improving. It was White's 27.Bg3? (Bc1 was best here, but a horrible move to play and after 27...Be5+ 28.Bf4 the position is dead level, and 28...Bg7 would propose repetition) however, that was the turning point, allowing black to play 27...Nc4 28.b3 Ne3 with advantage. I find Sokolov's 32.Ne3?! inexplicable, allowing ...Nd3 forking white's two rooks, but even more puzzling is Topalov's 32...a6. 32...Nd3 would simply have won. As it was, White tried his best to create some counter chances, but with the position against him it was to no avail, and Topalov tied up the point in 47.



Mamedyarov once again brought out the Breyer variation to Polgar's Ruy Lopez, and they went over 20 moves deep in to theory, (seeing White sacrifice a knight for two pawns and the opening of the black king) until Polgar varied with 23.Nf5?! (See diagram, left. Previously 23.Nh5 had been the move here, with equality). Unfortunately Nf5 just seems to give black a huge (possibly winning) edge. Mamedyarov, seeming to be well prepared, continued strongly, with 23...Bc8 and there followed 24.Rc1 Bxf5 25.Bxf5 Qd6 at which point black is clearly on top. From here, it seems that all the hard work has been done, and Polgar was soon overwhelmed and resigning. An excellent piece of preparation from Shak, bouncing back well from his previous round loss.

And so, Mamedyarov joined Polgar in the lead of the tournament, with 3.5/5. Topalov closed to gap to just a point with 2.5/5 was he about to stage another great comeback? Ivan Sokolov continued to have a terrible tournament, still on 0.5 after 5 games. One round remained.

Topalov-Polgar was a Classical Nimzo Indian, with Polgar springing a new move by 12...dxc4!? It gave her the type of position that she likes, open files and play for her pieces, with the added feature of White's c and d pawns being something to aim at. Topalov's 15.Re1 seems to be a little slow, but Polgar could have responded to it more strongly than her 15...Rfe8. A little more testing was the interesting 15...Ng4 16.g3 (16.h3? Bxf3! 17.Bxf3 Qh2+ with advantage to black) e5 with a level but very explosive position in which black is at least fine. Both players made mistakes around here, but Topalov will kick himself for missing the strong 26.dxe6 which would have given Polgar some difficulties. Instead, his inexplicable 26.Re1?? blundered away a pawn to Polgar's 26...Nxd5! (This position can be seen in the diagram, left.) After 27.Qf3 Rxc4 28.Rg5 Judit was two pawns up, but gave Topalov hope upon 28...Qe7?, ...Qc7 or ...Qc6 being much better choices. After 29.Bxg7 Nxg7 30.Rxd5! Rxd5 31.Nf6+ Kf8 Judit must have been feeling somewhat downcast, with a fairly level position, and Topalov having the draw in his hands via 32.Nh7+ with repetition looming after ...Ke8 or ...Kg8. Instead, Topalov attempted to show Polgar who is boss, but 38.Kf1 should have given way to Qf4! with advantage to white. Topalov's move allowed Polgar to exchange on f6 and seize back the initiative. From here there were no more chances for Topalov, Polgar showed excellent technique to finish the game and make her score against Topalov in the tournament +2.




Mamedyarov-Sokolov turned in to an isolated pawn centre in the Slav Defence, and from here it would boil down to who could post his pieces better, and seize the initiative. In this case, it was white, with black always seem to be a step behind, though some inaccuracies and slow moves went unpunished by black. Soon enough, white had obtained a clear advantage, which Shak's 21.Qb3? relinquished, and gave Sokolov some hope. Sokolov must have thought he had secured a draw, but Mamedyarov was in no mood to split the point, and out played the Dutch GM in the endgame in order to gain an advantage. A passed pawn on its way to queening later, (shown in the diagram, left), Mamedyarov had the point.







And so, after 6 rounds of play, Hungarian Grandmaster Judit Polgar, and Shakhryar Mamedyarov from Azerbaijan finished the tournament on 4.5/6. Overall first place was decided on tie-break, (Sonneborn-Berger*) which declared Mamedyarov the one who takes the victory. There was consolation for Judit Polgar, however, as she was awarded the best game prize for her round 2 victory over Veselin Topalov. Both Judit and Shak finished on 2900+ performances. Veselin Topalov, having started the tournament badly, finished on 2.5/6 and a mere 2645 performance. In this tournament he lost a lot of rating points, and I think that he will not hold on to his #1 spot for Wijk aan Zee in January. Dutch #1 Ivan Sokolov had a terrible tournament, scoring only a half point in the 6 games, and said goodbye to a bucketful of rating points. 


* calculated by adding scores of the opponets who were beaten by a given player and half the scores of the opponents who she drew with.

the beautiful glass chess set taken home by the winner

 
Above left: Open Tournament Winner Ivan Cheparinov (Bulgaria) with his prize.
Above right: Judit Polgar (Hungary) with her prize for the best game of the Crown group.

By the way, just in case you have not done so already, there is still time to enter the Chess Gateway competition, as detailed below. Thanks to all who have entered so far!

Chess Gateway Competition

Chess Gateway managed to get hold of a copy of a book produced in celebration of 10 years of the Essent Chess Tournament. This is pictured to the left, hardbacked, and a very nice momento in itself. It is produced in the Dutch language. As a bonus, I managed to get the book signed by all 4 competitors of the 2006 4 player tournament: Veselin Topalov, Judit Polgar, Shakhryar Mamedyarov, and Ivan Sokolov. I have decided it would be a nice idea to offer this as a prize. To enter the competition, please answer the following question: