NH Chess Tournament update: Rising Stars beat Experience, Nakamura gets Amber ticket

GM Hikaru Nakamura: First Among Equals

Hi Everyone,

Despite a tenth round Experience team win of 3.5-1.5 over the Rising Stars, it were the Rising Stars' team that won the NH Chess Tournament in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The final score stood 26-24 in favour of the young grandmasters.

Among the young team, Anish Giri and Hikaru Nakamura were both tied so they had to go for a blitz play-off to decide which one of them would get an invitation to the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament.

Nakamura beat Giri 2-0.

The 5th NH Chess Tournament took place August 12-22 in hotel Krasnapolsky, in the heart of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. As always, the tournament was a confrontation between a team of five young ‘Rising Stars’ and a team of five ‘Experienced’ grandmasters.

The matches saw some really nice games. In the overall score, Boris Gelfand proved top scorer with 7.0/10.0.

You can check the official website for some nice videos and detailed reports. Meanwhile, here is the marathon game from the tenth round between Svidler and Howell. You can run the moves through our pgnplayer or watch in flash below.

PGN: 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Qa4+ Bd7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 a6 7. e4 b5 8. Qe2 Bc8 9. d4 Bg7 10. g3 c5 11. dxc5 O-O 12. Bg2 Be6 13. e5 Nfd7 14. O-O Nxc5 15. Rd1 Nbd7 16. Nd4 Bc4 17. Qe3 Nxe5 18. Nc6 Nxc6 19. Rxd8 Raxd8 20. Qxc5 Bxc3 21. Bxc6 Rd1+ 22. Kg2 Bf6 23. Bb7 Bf1+ 24. Kf3 Rfd8 25. Be4 Re1 26. Qc2 Bg7 27. g4 h5 28. gxh5 f5 29. Bb7 gxh5 30. Qc7 Be2+ 31. Kg3 Rg1+ 32. Bg2 Rd3+ 33. Be3 Rxa1 34. Qc8+ Kf7 35. Qxf5+ Bf6 36. h4 Rxe3+ 37. fxe3 Bg4 38. Qh7+ Bg7 39. Be4 Kf8 40. Bg6 Rxa2 41. Bxh5 Bxh5 42. Qxh5 Rxb2 43. Qf5+ Bf6 44. e4 Rc2 45. h5 Rc3+ 46. Kg2 Rc2+ 47. Kf3 Rc3+ 48. Ke2 b4 49. h6 Rc2+ 50. Ke3 Rh2 51. Qg6 b3 52. h7 Bg7 53. e5 Rh6 54. Qf5+ Ke8 55. Kd2 e6 56. Qe4 Kf7 57. Kc3 Rh5 58. Kxb3 Rxe5 59. Qh4 Rd5 60. h8=Q Bxh8 61. Qxh8 a5 62. Kc4 Rf5 63. Kd4 Rd5+ 64. Ke4 Rf5 65. Qh7+ Ke8 66. Qg7 Rd5 67. Qf6 Kd7 68. Qf7+ Kd6 69. Qe8 Re5+ 70. Kf4 Rf5+ 71. Kg4 Ke5 72. Qd8 a4 73. Qa5+ Kf6 74. Qxa4 Ke7 75. Qa7+ Kd6 76. Qb8+ Kd7 77. Qb7+ Kd6 78. Qc8 Ke7 79. Qc7+ Ke8 80. Qd6 Kf7 81. Qd7+ Kf6 82. Qe8 Rg5+ 83. Kh4 Rf5 84. Qf8+ Kg6 85. Qe7 Re5 86. Kg4 Re4+ 87. Kf3 Re1 88. Qh4 Re5 89. Qe7 Re1 90. Kf4 Rf1+ 91. Ke5 Re1+ 92. Kd6 Rd1+ 93. Kc6 Re1 94. Qh4 Re5 95. Kd6 Rh5 96. Qe4+ Kg7 97. Kxe6 Rh6+ 98. Ke7 Rg6 99. Qd4+ Kg8 100. Qe5 Rg1 101. Qd5+ Kh7 102. Qd3+ Kg8 103. Kf6 Rg7 104. Qd5+ Kh7 105. Qh1+ Kg8 106. Qh5 Ra7 107. Qd5+ 1-0

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

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