Univé Chess Tournament starts, two draws in round 1 Crown Group

In the first round of the Univé Chess Tournament both Giri-Ivanchuk and Polgar-Tiviakov ended in a draw. In the open group, which started already on Friday, only three players are sharing the lead after three rounds: GM Brodsky and IMs Slingerland and Willemze.

The 17th Univé Chess Tournament, formerly known as Essent Tournament but sponsored by insurance company Univé this year, takes place October 16-24 in Hoogeveen, The Netherlands. As always the Crown Group is a 4-player, double round-robin with this year Vassily Ivanchuk (2756), Judit Polgar (2687), Sergei Tiviakov (2670) and Anish Giri (2552) playing for a € 10,000 prize fund. The time control is 40 moves in 1.5 hours + 30 minutes to finish the game, with 30 seconds increment from the start.

Round 1

After the opening on Friday, two of the four participants of the Crown Group could already be found in the Hoogeveen town hall on Saturday. Vassily Ivanchuk, who was wearing his famous Real Madrid training outfit, was interested in the games from the second round of the open group, but also spent some time in the press room following the live transmission of the Bundesliga.

Rising star Anish Giri loves the game of chess as much as his Ukrainian colleague, but he showed it differently: by playing blitz with everyone who wanted to try his luck. Some questioned this type of preparation, but isn't chess all about enjoying the game?

As it turned out, Giri already picked up a similar attitude as many of today's top grandmasters seem to have when they have to play Ivanchuk: it's impossible to prepare for him, so perhaps it's better not to prepare at all. "I did look at the Ragozin some time ago, but I didn't expect it today," Giri said after the game, which had ended in a quick draw after White gave a perpetual check on the black queen.

Although the 15-year-old was satisfied with a draw against Ivanchuk, he did try to find ways to play on in the end. "I looked at 20.Qb2 with the idea 20...Nc4 21.d5 Nxb2 22.dxc6 and try to trap the knight, but it can go to d3. And 20.Qb3 Be6 21.Rxg7+ Kxg7 22.Qg3+ is a trick that doesn't work because of 22...Bg4."



Judit Polgar, who came to Hoogeveen for the ninth time, hadn't played a classical game since November last year. "With our two children we've had other priorities lately, but now I'll play some more." After Hoogeveen Polgar will join the World Blitz in Moscow, and she'll also be playing the World Cup in Khanty-Mansyisk.

Sergei Tiviakov was probably doing fine after the opening but Polgar preferred 17...cxd5 over 17...Bxd5. "I kept a small advantage because of the pawn structure; in some endings White can attack the b6 pawn with Bc7." Tiviakov's pawn sacrifice on f6 in the rook ending was a good choice. "Otherwise I would have had serious winning chances," Polgar said.



For the first time in the history of the tournament the players don't play with glass pieces (and wooden Garde clocks) anymore, but on normal electronical boards. The glass museum nearby Hoogeveen ceased to exist a few years ago and for this edition it was decided to end the tradition. The winner does receive a glass chess set, though.

In the open group, GM Brodsky and IMs Slingerland and Willemze are the only players left with a 100% score after three rounds. Top seed Joshua Friedel (USA) dropped half a point in the first round against Andreas Vinke (2232) from Germany while GM Friso Nijboer, the strongest Dutch participant this year (partly because of the upcoming European Team Championship), drew yesterday with his compatriot IM Herman Grooten in a wonderful game, full of mistakes but lovely to replay - included in the viewer below. As soon as possible a video report of the first day in Hoogeveen will be published.

Univé Chess Tournament 2009 | Crown Group | Schedule & Results

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