NH Chess Tournament In Amsterdam
From 12 - 22 August the Rising Stars v Experience tournament makes a welcome return in Amsterdam.
This year's event is even stronger than last year, with Boris Gelfand replacing Alexander Beliavsky for the Experience side, and Wesley So, Anish Giri and David Howell bolstering the Rising Stars team.
Hikaru Nakamura (pictured) will be hoping for a better time at this year's tournament after illness hindered his campaign last time.
The best individual score by a Rising Star will earn a ticket to the prestigious Melody Amber tournament next year, so there are effectively two contests at the same time for the Rising Stars team.
The first round has already been completed, with wins for Nakamura and Gelfand balancing out the team scores (see all the games below).
| Experience Team | ||
| Boris Gelfand | ISR | 2739 |
| Peter Svidler | RUS | 2734 |
| Peter Heine Nielsen | DEN | 2700 |
| Loek van Wely | NED | 2677 |
| Ljubomir Ljubojevic | SRB | 2572 |
| Rising Stars Team | ||
| Hikaru Nakamura | USA | 2729 |
| Fabiano Caruana | ITA | 2697 |
| Wesley So | PHI | 2674 |
| Anish Giri | NED | 2672 |
| David Howell | ENG | 2616 |
There are biographies of all the players here, at the official site. Games start at 13:30 local time except the last round which kicks off at 12:00. There is a rest day at the half-way point on the 17 August.
Can the Rising Stars avenge their 27.5-22.5 defeat last year? It should be a great contest!
The official site with more information is here.
