Rising Stars beat Experience 26½-23½
Sergey Karjakin qualifies for 2008 Amber

With a convincing 3½-1½ win against the Experience team the Rising Stars secured overall victory in the final round of the NH Chess Tournament. After ten rounds the youngsters triumphed 26½-23½. Sergey Karjakin finished first in the individual standings with a score of 7 out of 10. As the best player of the Rising Stars team the 17-year-old Ukrainian earned an invitation to the 2008 Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament.

Just like last year Sergey Karjakin played his last game in the NH Chess tournament against Alexander Beliavsky. In 2006 the young Ukrainian had to win with the black pieces (which he failed to do), this time a win with the white pieces would be the safest way to qualify for the 2008 Amber tournament. Karjakin surprised Beliavsky by playing 12.Bg5, a choice his Slovenian opponent probably hadn’t expected as he didn’t play the opening very accurately. After 14.Bd5 White already had a pleasant advantage, which he kept and gradually increased in the ensuing middlegame. Still, Karjakin felt the pressure of having to win as he had seen that Ljubojevic had ended up in a precarious position against Cheparinov. And when he heard behind his back that that game had ended he assumed the Bulgarian had won. When this proved not to be the case he knew that a draw sufficed to get the coveted ticket to the Amber tournament, but by then his position was so good that there was no reason not to win it. Which is exactly what he did.

Ivan Cheparinov knew that he had to beat Ljubomir Ljubojevic if he wanted to threaten Sergey Karjakin in their race for the Amber ticket. True to style the Bulgarian went straight for Black’s jugular by sacrificing a full piece in the opening. Ljubojevic was not impressed (as he told anyone who wanted to hear after the game), but the experts who were watching the game certainly saw chances for White. Ljubojevic felt that he had been winning and blamed all his troubles on the mistake 33…Kf8? (he should have played 33…Nf8) which lost a piece. His first impulse, at least that’s what he claimed after the game, was to wipe all pieces off the board. Cheparinov wouldn’t have minded as he sat wondering why his opponent didn’t resign, but the comedy of errors hadn’t ended yet. In a completely winning position the Bulgarian fell for the last trap and played 57.Dxb6?. A few moves later he had to resign himself to a draw.

Although he had every reason to be dejected after the past rounds, Daniel Stellwagen pulled himself together to win an excellent game against Artur Jussupow. As against Negi, the German grandmaster played the Neo-Steinitz of the Ruy Lopez, but following his second Yasser Seirawan’s advice Stellwagen chose a set-up with a pawn on c4. At the press conference after the game, the Dutchman was critical of Jussupow’s 13…Kh8, where he felt Black could have played better with 13…dxe4, for example 14.exd5 exf3 15.e6 fxg2 16.dxc6 f5 17.f3. Now White got a superior position after 16.c6! due to Black’s horrible pawn structure. With 17.Nxd5! Stellwagen started a pretty finale and after 32 moves the point was his.

Jan Smeets and Alexander Khalifman exchanged ideas in the Marshall Gambit of the Ruy Lopez and not for the first time this sharp opening led to a draw. Khalifman was relieved when his final game was over and complained about the stress of playing competitive chess. ‘If I want to play competitive chess, I should start to do something quite different. I don’t know what, but it’s clear that I am doing something wrong. I forget everything that I prepare.’ One of the things he had forgotten was how to proceed after the new move that Smeets introduced, 17.Qxd5. As Khalifman revealed to his opponent’s amazement he had prepared this move four days ago for his game against Stellwagen. But he also confessed that he hadn’t found the precise 21.Qc6. Playing correct moves, the players steered for a position where a repetition of moves became inevitable. After 28 moves the game was drawn.

The last game to end was the one between Parimarjan Negi and Predrag Nikolic. With remarkable enthusiasm they laid into each other in a Ruy Lopez but when after 58 moves they each had only a rook and two pawns left they agreed to split the point.