Vachier Lagrave wins 14th Unive Tournament 2010 in Hoogeveen

14th Unive Tournament 2010 in Hoogeveen, Netherlands

This double round robin tournament took place in Hoogeveen, Netherlands. The four players, Alexei Shirov, Maxime Vachier Lagrave, Anish Giri and Sergei Tiviakov, had an average rating of 2696 – just five points shy of making it a Category 19. In our first report we brought you a pictorial by Fred Lucas.

Here are all the individual results and the final standings:

Giri,A (2677) - Tiviakov,S (2637) [B36]
Unive Crown Group Hoogeveen NED (4), 28.10.2010
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Nxd4 7.Qxd4 d6 8.Be2 Bg7 9.Be3 0-0 10.Qd2 a5 11.Rd1 Be6 12.0-0 a4 13.f4 Qa5 14.Bd4 Rfe8 15.Qd3 Rad8 16.Kh1 Bd7 17.Qe3 Rc8 18.h3 Bc6 19.e5 Nd7 20.exd6 exd6 21.Qf2 Nf6

Sergey Tiviakov, for a long time one of Holland's strongest players – and Dutch Champion in 2006 and 2007 – cannot be too happy with the challenge from upstarts like Anish Giri, twenty years his junior but already 40 points higher than him on the rating scale. Neither can Sergey be happy over the way the youngster takes him to the cleaners: 22.f5 g5 23.h4 g4 24.h5 Ne4 25.Nxe4 Bxd4 26.Rxd4 Rxe4 27.Rxe4 Bxe4 28.Bxg4 Rxc4 29.Be2 Rc6 30.Qh4 Qe5 31.Qd8+ Kg7 32.f6+ Kh6 33.Qf8+ Kg5 34.Qg8+ Bg6 35.hxg6 hxg6 36.Qxf7 Qxe2 37.Qd5+ Kg4 38.Rf3 Qe1+ 39.Kh2 Qh4+ 40.Rh3 Qxf6 41.Qe4+ Qf4+ 42.Rg3+ 1-0.

Shirov,A (2749) - Vachier Lagrave,M (2721) [D86]
Unive Crown Group Hoogeveen NED (4), 28.10.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 Nc6 9.Be3 0-0 10.0-0 Bd7 11.h4 Na5 12.Bd3 e5 13.Bg5 Qc7 14.dxe5 Rfe8 15.f4 Bg4 16.Qe1 h6 17.Bf6 Bxf6 18.exf6 Rad8 19.Qg3 c4 20.Qxg4 cxd3 21.Ng3 Nc4 22.e5 Ne3 23.Qf3 Nxf1 24.Rxf1 d2 25.Rd1 Qc4

Alexei Shirov is clearly in trouble, and he tries to solve his problems with his most trusted method: tactical brilliance: 26.Nf5 Rd3 27.Ne7+ Kh7 28.Qxb7 Red8 29.Qxa7 Rxc3 0-1. It didn't work out this time, Alexei, but it has, often enough. The next game is a typical example.

Shirov,A (2749) - Giri,A (2677) [E52]
Unive Crown Group Hoogeveen NED (5), 29.10.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.e3 0-0 6.Bd3 b6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.0-0 Bb7 9.Ne5 Bd6 10.f4 c5 11.Bd2 Nc6 12.Ne2 Rc8 13.Bc3 Ne7 14.Ng3 Ne4 15.Bxe4 dxe4 16.Qg4 f5 17.Qh3 c4 18.d5 Bc5 19.Rad1 Bxe3+?! 19...Bxd5 was probably more expedient, but who can resist taking with check without any visible disadvantage. 20.Kh1

And now who can resist plonking a knight on a square from which it attacks the bishop and the pawn on f5, from where it would attack the queen – good stuff. 20...Nxd5? It turns out this is a terrible blunder: Black has 21.Nxf5 and now if for instance 21...Bc5 22.Nh6+ Kh8 (22...gxh6 23.Qg4+ with mate to follow) 23.Qe6 Rf6 24.Nef7+ Rxf7 25.Nxf7+ Kg8 26.Nxd8+ Kh8 27.Nf7+ not the absolutely shortest route, but definitely the purdiest: 27...Kg8 28.Nh6+ Kh8 29.Qg8+ Rxg8 30.Nf7# – the famous smothered mate. 21...Bxf4 22.Nh6+ gxh6 23.Qe6+ Kg7 24.Nc6+ Nxc3 25.Rxd8 and a traumatic end for the bright young GM. 1-0.

Vachier Lagrave,M (2721) - Tiviakov,S (2637) [B01]
Unive Crown Group Hoogeveen NED (5), 29.10.2010
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.Be2 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qd7 6.h3 Bxf3 7.Bxf3 0-0-0 8.d3 Nd4 9.0-0 e6 10.Be3 Ne7 11.Bxd4 Qxd4 12.Ne4 Nc6 13.Qc1 Be7 14.Rd1 f5 15.c3 Qd7 16.Ng3 g6 17.d4 Bd6 18.b4 Bxg3 19.fxg3 Qd6 20.b5 Na5 21.c4 e5 22.c5 Qe7 23.Qc3 e4 24.Bxe4 fxe4 25.Qxa5 Kb8 26.Qc3 Rd5 27.Re1 Rhd8 28.Rad1 Qd7 29.c6 Qd6 30.Rxe4 Rxb5 31.cxb7 Rxb7 32.d5 Rb5 33.Kh2 Qb6 34.a4 Rb3 35.Qc4 Rb2 36.Re7 Rf8 37.Qe4 Rb4 38.Qe5 Rb2

The game is over, White is completely winning. But Sergey Tiviakov fights on, and Maxime takes his king on a trip round the board. 39.Re8+ Rxe8 40.Qxe8+ Kb7 41.a5 Qc5 42.a6+ Kxa6 43.Qc8+ Kb5 44.Qb8+ Qb6 45.Qe8+ Ka6 46.Qc8+ Kb5 47.Rc1 Qe3 48.Qb8+ Qb6 49.Qe8+ Kb4 50.Qe4+ Ka3 51.Ra1+ Ra2 52.Qd3+ Qb3 53.Qa6+ Kb2 54.Qf6+ Ka3 55.Qe7+ Ka4 56.Rxa2+ Qxa2 57.Qxc7 Qxd5 58.Qxa7+ Kb5 59.Qxh7 Qe6 60.h4 Kc5 61.Qh6 Qe8 62.Qf4 Kd5 63.g4 Qe1 64.Qg5+ Kd4 65.Qf6+ Kd5 66.h5 gxh5 67.gxh5 Qe8 68.Qf5+ Kd4 69.h6 Qb8+ 70.Kh3 Qb3+ 71.g3 Qb7 72.h7 Qh1+ 73.Kg4 Qd1+ 74.Kg5

This is the path that Tiviakov's king took before it was at last hunted down. 1-0.

Maxime Vachier Lagrave, born October 21, 1990, is the 2009 World Junior Chess Champion. The former child prodigy completed his final grandmaster norm at age 14 years, 4 months, in 2005.

Pictures by Jeroen van den Belt and the official web site.

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