Rising Stars Set For Victory
With just one round remaining of the NH Tournament in the Netherlands, the Rising Stars look set for victory with a four point lead over the Experience team.
In round eight Anish Giri defeated Ljubomir Ljubojevich with the black pieces in the only decisive game. Hikaru Nakamura threw away a great position by getting his rook trapped to allow a draw against Peter Heine Nielsen.
Round nine saw Boris Gelfand (pictured) earn yet another win to prove that regardless of the match score, he is the class act of the competition.
With just the final round remaining tomorrow, the Rising Stars lead 24.5 - 20.5 and Anish Giri leads the race to be the best Rising Star with an undefeated 6/9 score.
The results in round eight and nine:
| Round Eight | |
| Nielsen – Nakamura | ½ - ½ |
| Svidler – Caruana | ½ - ½ |
| Gelfand – So | ½ - ½ |
| Ljubojevic – Giri | 0 - 1 |
| van Wely – Howell | ½ - ½ |
| Round Nine | |
| Nakamura – Svidler | ½ - ½ |
| Caruana – Gelfand | 0 - 1 |
| So – Ljubojevic | ½ - ½ |
| Giri – van Wely | ½ - ½ |
| Howell – Nielsen | 1 - 0 |
The standings after round nine:
| Experience | 20.5 | ||
| Gelfand, Boris | ISR | 2739 | 6.5 |
| Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2734 | 4.5 |
| Van Wely, Loek | NED | 2677 | 3.5 |
| Ljubojevic, Ljubomir | SRB | 2572 | 3.0 |
| Nielsen, Peter Heine | DEN | 2700 | 3.0 |
| Rising Stars | 24.5 | ||
| Giri, Anish | NED | 2672 | 6.0 |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2729 | 5.5 |
| Caruana, Fabiano | ITA | 2672 | 4.5 |
| Howell, David W L | ENG | 2616 | 4.5 |
| So, Wesley | PHI | 2674 | 4.0 |
