NH Experience vs Youth 2010 (5)
Honours even in Round 5 of the NH Tournament
IM Malcolm Pein - Thursday 19th August 2010
Malcolm Pein reports on Round 5 of the NH Tournament in Amsterdam where the Experience and Youth teams both scored 2.5 points.
The Rising Stars and Experience teams ended honours even 2½-2½, in the fifth round of the NH Chess Tournament at Amsterdam. It was a moral victory for the Veterans as they played black on all boards but they still trail 11.5-13.5 at the half way stage.
Anish Giri's win over Vishy Anand's trainer Peter Heine Nielsen was quite convincing but Boris Gelfand defeated Hikaru Nakamura. Giri, 16, leads the race for a berth at the 2011 Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament on 3.5/5 with Fabiano Caruana on 3/5 and David Howell on 2.5.
Howell's game was very hard to comprehend, not just for the spectators but also for the players. In a well known opening position Peter Svidler 'blundered' a knight with a move, unsurprisingly, never played before at GM level. Howell had actually examined the move, fleetingly, with his trainer Stephen Gordon in their morning preparation but naturally they dismissed it.
Howell sank into thought for an hour, had his opponent blundered? Or, was this a stunning novelty? Neither really, Svidler had simply forgotten his opening theory. Unluckily for Howell, after he took the knight matters were far from clear and Svidler offered a draw in a position where Howell had a bind on the position but was the exchange down. A quick look at the clock convinced Howell to extend his hand.
D Howell (2616) - P Svidler (2734)
4th NH Tournament Amsterdam (5)
Scotch Game
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Ba6 9.Nd2 0-0-0 10.b3 d6
(Play usually continues 10...f6 11.Bb2 fxe5 12.0-0-0 With unclear play. Now White unpins his c4 pawn with tempo)
11.Qg4+
(11.Ba3!? or 11.Bb2 Nb4 12.Qe4)
11...Kb8 12.cxd5 Qxe5+
Peter Svidler
 |  | |  | |  | | |
 | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | |  |  | | | |
| | | | | |  | |
| | | | | | | |
| | |  | | | | |
 | |  | |  | | | |
David Howell
Position after 12...Qxe5+
13.Qe4 Qxa1 14.Qb4+ Bb5!
(14...Ka8 15.Bxa6 Rb8 16.Qc4 Qe5+ 17.Kd1 Qxd5 18.Qxd5 cxd5 19.Re1 looks better for White)
15.Bxb5 Qxc1+ 16.Ke2 Qc5
(16...Qxh1 17.Bxc6+ Kc8 18.Qb7#
16...Re8+ 17.Kd3)
17.Qxc5 dxc5 18.Bxc6 Bd6 draw
Peter Svidler
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
David Howell
Final position after 18...Bd6 Black cannot contest the e file and White can play on the queenside.
Svidler played an excellent novelty here.
P Svidler (2734) - H Nakamura (2729)
4th NH Tournament Amsterdam (4)
Caro Kann Advance
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h5 5.c4 e6 6.Nc3 Ne7 7.Nge2 dxc4 8.Ng3 Bg6 9.Bg5 Qb6 10.Qd2 Qb4 11.a3 Qb3 12.Nge4!
(12.Rc1 Nd5 13.Nce4 b5 Adams - Karpov 1996)
12...Nd5
(12...Bxe4!? 13.Nxe4 Nd5 14.Rh3 Qa4 Trying to keep the c4 pawn)
13.Rh3 Qb6 14.Bxc4 Qa5 15.Nd6+ Bxd6 16.exd6 Nd7 17.Rc1 Nxc3 18.Rcxc3 Nf6 19.b4 Qd8 20.Qf4 Kd7?!
(20...Bf5 21.Rhe3 0-0 22.Rg3 was unpleasant but this is worse)
21.Rhe3 Re8 22.b5 Qa5 23.Bxf6 gxf6 24.Kf1 Bf5 25.Be2 Rac8 26.Rc5 Qa4 27.Rec3 a6 28.b6 Bg6 29.Qxf6 e5 30.Rxe5 Rxe5 31.dxe5 Re8 32.Re3 Re6 33.Qg5 Qd4 34.Kg1 Be4 35.Qxh5 Rxe5 36.Qxf7+ Kxd6 37.Qxb7 1-0
