Essent 2006: both games drawn, Polgar, Mamedyarov lead 24.10.2006– Mamedyarov vs Polgar and Topalov vs Sokolov were both fighting draws in round three of the Hoogeveen tournament in Holland. That leaves Judit Polgar and Shakhryar Mamedyarov in the lead with 2.5/3 at halftime, while Veselin Topalov and Ivan Sokolov languish at 0.5 points each. New with videos by Peter Doggers and pictures by Fred Lucas.
Nigel Davies:
A busy person’s opening system Players with interests and commitments away from the chess board often find it difficult to compete against those with more study time. Their opponents come to the board armed with the latest theory and can bash out moves well into the middle game. On this DVD Nigel Davies addresses this issue by demonstrating a simple and easy to learn opening system designed for the busy person.
More information...
Essent
Chess Tournament 2006
The 10th edition of the Essent Chess Tournament is taking place from October
20 to 28, 2006 in Hoogeveen, Holland. As in the past years there are a number
of competitions: a Crown Group, a strong Essent Open, an Amateur Tournament,
a pub tournament and an event for youth. The games are being broadcast live
on the official site and on Playchess.com.
Full details on the event are available on our first
Essent report.
Round three
Judit Polgar as black had to be a bit careful against the co-leader, with
her, in this tournament. Shakhryar Mamedyarov was obviously out to take a point
in the Queen's Indian game, but Judit neutralised and held the draw.
Video of the analysis session Mamedyarov-Polgar by Peter
Doggers
Veselin Topalov, the former FIDE world champion, tried to keep things sharp
and unclear in the Slav game against Holland's Ivan Sokolov. Like him Topalov
had yet to score and desperately wanted this third-round white game point.
But soon it was Sokolov who had theoretical winning chances. The game ended
in a 61-move draw.
The Open tournament with 84 players has finished five rounds and is led alone
by Michail Brodsky with 4.5 points. In the second group we have the third and
fourth highest ranked players, Postny and L'Ami, and in the third group with
3.5/5 the two top seeds, Gurevich and Cheparinov.
Rnk
Sd
Name
Pts
Rating
Perf.
1.
6
Brodsky, Michail
4.5
2566
2803
2.
3
Postny, Evgeny
4.0
2609
2646
4
L'Ami, Erwin
4.0
2593
2639
8
Goloshchapov, Alexander
4.0
2552
2692
9
Werle, Jan
4.0
2551
2641
12
Rogers, Ian
4.0
2526
2540
13
Smeets, Jan
4.0
2525
2673
15
Ernst, Sipke
4.0
2512
2625
41
Bitalzadeh, Ali
4.0
2345
2642
10.
1
Gurevich, Mikhail
3.5
2648
2593
2
Cheparinov, Ivan
3.5
2632
2601
7
Dvoirys, Semen
3.5
2553
2482
10
Khairullin, Ildar
3.5
2543
2459
18
Piskov, Yury
3.5
2452
2505
21
Dambacher, Martijn
3.5
2429
2461
26
Donchenko, Anatoly
3.5
2395
2456
17.
5
Ikonnikov, Vyacheslav
3.0
2588
2384
11
Ibrahimov, Rasul
3.0
2541
2418
14
Van Der Wiel, John
3.0
2522
2383
16
Hort, Vlastimil
3.0
2501
2355
17
Smerdon, David
3.0
2473
2371
20
Peng, Zhaoqin
3.0
2437
2375
22
Willemze, Jeroen
3.0
2423
2353
28
Willemze, Thomas
3.0
2384
2390
29
Van Beek, Alexander
3.0
2379
2524
30
Swinkels, Robin
3.0
2379
2414
31
Hoeksema, Erik
3.0
2374
2529
33
Bednar, Jaromir
3.0
2369
2338
38
Shumiakina, Tatiana
3.0
2363
2464
40
Okkes, Menno
3.0
2355
2492
42
Pruijssers, Roeland
3.0
2339
2308
43
Slingerland, Fred
3.0
2331
2462
57
Schuurman, Petra
3.0
2239
2543
Top seed in the Essent Open: Mikhail Gurevich, 2648. Note that Mikhail
now plays for Turkey, not Belgium, as we originally stated. Turkish fans calm
down: it was an error, not a henious conspiracy to detract from the new glory
of Turkish chess. Sheesh.
Second seed and Topalov second Ivan Cheparinov, 2632, Bulgaria
Former world championship candidate Vlastimil Hort, Germany
WIM Marlies Bensdorp of Holland, 2264
Jan Smeets, Holland, 2525
One of the professional
amongst the camera-wielding crowd at chess tournaments is Fred
Lucas, well known to our readers from past galleries.
All the photos
on this page were provided by Fred, who has much more material –
chess and otherwise – on his Momentoo
Photography site.
Playing hours: All rounds start at 14.00 hours daily. The
final round (October 28th) starts at noon.
The Amateur Groups have other starting times: Group I: 14.30 hours (October
28th at 13.00 hours); Groep II: 10.00 hours (October 28th at 9.00 hours).