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The first two rounds of the Unive tournament in Hoogeveen saw all four games were drawn.

In Round 1 Anish Giri and Vassily Ivanchuk followed the game Grischuk - Sargissian from Mainz earlier in the year. Giri couldn't find anything better than repeating position a few moves later.

Giri,A (2552) - Ivanchuk,V (2756) [D38]

Unive Crown Hoogeveen NED (1), 18.10.2009

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.e3 c5 8.Be2 Qa5 9.0-0 c4 10.Nd2 Bxc3 11.bxc3 Qxc3 12.e4 Nxe4 13.Nxe4 dxe4 14.Rc1 Qa5 15.Bd2 Qf5 16.Rxc4 0-0 17.Qc2 Nb6

[17...Qg6 18.Bf4 Nb6 19.Rc5 Bf5 20.Qb3 Be6 21.d5 Bg4 22.Bxg4 Qxg4 23.Bc7 Qd7 24.d6 Qe6 25.Qxe6 fxe6 26.Rb5 Rf5 27.Rb4 Rc5 28.Rxe4 Nd5 29.Rxe6 Nxc7 1/2-1/2 Grischuk,A (2733)-Sargissian,G (2667)/Mainz GER 2009/The Week in Chess 769]

18.Rc5 Qg6 19.Rg5 Qc6

20.Rc5

Giri looked at a few ideas here to try and play on but didn't find anything.

[20.Qb2 Nc4 21.d5 Nxb2 22.dxc6 and the knight escapes to d3.; 20.Qb3 Be6 21.Rxg7+ Kxg7 22.Qg3+ Bg4 defends.]

20...Qg6 21.Rg5 Qc6 22.Rc5 1/2-1/2

Sergei Tiviakov is a specialist with the centre counter and kept his disadvantage well within bounds and found his way to a drawn rook and pawn ending.

Polgar,Ju (2687) - Tiviakov,S (2670) [B01]

Unive Crown Hoogeveen NED (1), 18.10.2009

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Nc4 Qc7 8.a4 g6 9.g3 Bg7 10.Bg2 Nb6 11.Nxb6 axb6

[11...Qxb6 12.a5 Qa6 13.Qe2 Qxe2+ 14.Nxe2 a6 15.0-0 Bf5 16.c3 0-0-0 17.Re1 Rhe8 18.Nf4 e6 19.h3 h5 20.Be3 Nd5 21.Nxd5 exd5 22.Bd2 Rxe1+ 23.Rxe1 Kd7 24.b4 Re8 25.Rxe8 Kxe8 26.Bf1 1/2-1/2 Radjabov,T (2756)-Nisipeanu,L (2675)/Bazna ROM 2009/The Week in Chess 763]

12.Bf4 Qd8 13.0-0 Be6 14.Re1 Qd7 15.Qd3 0-0 16.Rad1 Nd5 17.Nxd5 Bxd5 18.b3 Bxg2 19.Kxg2 Rfd8 20.Qe4 Bf6 21.h4 h5 22.c4 b5 23.axb5 cxb5 24.d5 Rac8 25.Be3 bxc4 26.bxc4 Qa4 27.Bb6 Rd7 28.c5 Qxe4+ 29.Rxe4 e6 30.d6 Bd8 31.Bxd8 Rdxd8 32.Re5 Rd7 33.Rb1 f6

White has a tiny advantage but it isn't enough to win.

34.Rxe6 Rxc5 35.Rxf6 Kg7 36.Re6 Kf7 37.Rbe1 Rc6 38.Re7+ Rxe7 39.Rxe7+ Kf6 40.Rxb7 Rxd6 41.Kf3 Rd2 42.Ke3 Ra2 43.Rd7 Ra5 44.Rd6+ Kf5 45.f3 Ra3+ 46.Rd3 Ra4 47.Rd5+ Kf6 48.Rd4 Ra3+ 49.Ke4 Ra6 50.g4 Re6+ 51.Kf4 hxg4 52.fxg4 g5+ 53.hxg5+ Kg6 1/2-1/2

Round 2 saw some fighting chess. Vassily Ivanchuk against Judit Polgar was a Nimzo-Indian - Queen's Indian hybrid where white had a nice space advantage but Polgar's pieces were well enough coordinated. Once she got her d5 break in she was pretty much equal even if it looked like Ivanchuk was the one doing the attacking. Ivanchuk retreated coming up to first time control and handed the initiative to Polgar. It seems that 46...Qd4 would have put Ivanchuk under move pressure. After which Ivanchuk held on to the draw.

Ivanchuk,V (2756) - Polgar,Ju (2687) [E21]

Unive Crown Hoogeveen NED (2), 19.10.2009

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 b6 5.Bd2 Bb7 6.g3 c5 7.dxc5

[7.a3 1-0 Kasela,S (1979)-Hrabusa,M (2246)/Herceg Novi MNE 2008/The Week in Chess 724 (66)]

7...Bxc5 8.Bg2 0-0 9.0-0 Na6

[9...Nc6 0-1 Kostic,B-Nagy,G/London 1927 (50)]

10.a3 Be7 11.b4 Rc8 12.Qb3 Qc7 13.Rfd1 Rfd8 14.Nb5 Qb8 15.Bf4 d6 16.Rac1 h6 17.h3

White has a bit of spacial pressure but black's pieces are nicely coordinated.

17...e5

Commital but black's position can more than stand it.

18.Bd2 Nc7 19.Nc3 Qa8 20.Be3 Bf8 21.Kh2 Ne4 22.Nh4 Nxc3 23.Rxc3 Bxg2 24.Nxg2 Ne6 25.f3 d5 26.cxd5 Rxc3 27.Qxc3 Rxd5 28.Rc1 Qd8

Black looks a tiny bit better here but it is white that gets a small initiative.

29.Qc8 g6 30.Qa6 Qd7 31.Rc8 Kg7 32.Rb8 Qe7 33.Bc1 Rd7 34.Bb2 Nd4 35.h4 h5 36.Bxd4 exd4 37.Nf4 Kh7 38.Qc8 Kg7

White now calls off winning attempts and his moves are probably not that good.

39.Qc2 Rc7 40.Qd1 Qd7 41.Qd3 Qd6 42.Re8 Rc3 43.Qb5 Be7 44.Ra8 Re3 45.Rxa7 d3 46.exd3

46...Rxf3

[46...Qd4 when 47.Qd5 (47.Ng2 Re2 48.Rxe7 Rxe7 49.Qc4) 47...Re2+ 48.Kh3 Qg1 mates. Was a line given by Polgar after the game.]

47.Kg2 Re3 48.Kf2 Re5 49.Qd7 Qf6 50.d4 Re4 51.Kf3 Re1 52.Kf2 Re4 53.Kf3 Re1 54.Ra8 Ra1 55.Qe8 Kh6 56.Qh8+ Qxh8 57.Rxh8+ Kg7 58.Rb8 Rxa3+ 59.Kg2 Bxb4 60.Rxb6 Be1 61.Ne2 Re3 62.Rb2

White is tied up but apparently it doesn't really matter with best play.

62...Kf6 63.Kh3 Kf5 64.Rb5+ Kf6 65.Rb6+ Ke7 66.Rb2 f6 67.Kg2 Kd6 68.Ra2 Kd5 69.Kh3 Ke4 70.d5 Kxd5 71.Nf4+ Kd6 72.Rg2 Ke5 73.Nxg6+ Kf5 74.Nf8 Rd3 75.Rg1 Re3 1/2-1/2

Anish Giri followed a game that Sergei Tiviakov had previously played against Georg Meier and came up with an improvement. After the game Giri thought that 21. Bxe7 was better but Tiviakov thought he was always holding.

Giri,A (2552) - Tiviakov,S (2670) [E00]

Unive Crown Hoogeveen NED (2), 19.10.2009

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Nf3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 c6 7.0-0 0-0 8.Bf4 b6 9.Nc3 Bb7 10.Rc1 Nbd7 11.cxd5 cxd5 12.Nb5 Ne8 13.Qd3 a6

[13...g5 1/2-1/2 Ivanisevic,I (2664)-Gelashvili,T (2612)/Kallithea Halkidiki GRE 2008/The Week in Chess 714 (44)]

14.Nc7 Rc8 15.Nxa6 Ra8 16.Nc7 Rxa2 17.Qb3 Ra5 18.Bd2 Ra7 19.Nb5 Ra8 20.Bb4N

[20.Rc2 Nd6 21.Nxd6 Bxd6 22.Bb4 Qe7 23.Bxd6 Qxd6 24.Rfc1 Rfc8 1/2-1/2 Meier,G (2556)-Tiviakov,S (2645)/Liverpool ENG 2008/The Week in Chess 724]

20...Ba6

21.Ne5

[21.Bxe7 Qxe7 22.Ne5 was Giri's preferred play after the game.]

21...Nxe5 22.dxe5 Bc5 23.Na3 Bxb4 24.Qxb4 Bxe2 25.Rfe1 Ba6 26.Rc6 Rb8 27.Nc2 Bc8 28.Nd4 Bd7 29.Ra1 Rb7 30.Rc3 g6 31.g4 Ng7 32.h3 f6 33.Qd6 fxe5 34.Qxe5 Qb8 35.Nf3 b5 36.Rac1 Qxe5 37.Nxe5 Ne8 38.Rc5 Kg7 39.Re1 Kf6 40.h4 Ng7 41.b4 Rfb8 42.Rc3 Ke7 43.Ra1 Ne8 44.Nd3 Rc7 45.Nc5 Nf6 46.Re1 Kd6 47.g5 Ne8 48.Bh3 Bc8 49.Bxe6 Re7 50.Rce3 Ng7 51.Bxc8 Rxe3 52.fxe3 1/2-1/2

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