The 16th Unive Chess Tournament will be held from 19th to 27th October at the town hall in Hoogeveen, Netherlands. The tournament consists of the Crown Group, the Unive Open and two Amateur events.
The Crown Group is traditionally a four-player double round-robin, this year featuring the Women World Champion Hou Yifan, the US champion Hikaru Nakamura, the top Dutch player Anish Giri, and the former European Champion Sergei Tiviakov.
Last year winner was Vladimir Kramnik.
The Unive Open is a nine-round Swiss event for up to 90 players rated 2000 or above. The prize fund is 7500 EUR with 3000 EUR reserved for the winner.
Currently top rated are GM L’Ami Erwin NED 2631, GM Grandelius Nils SWE 2593, GM Timman Jan NED 2578, GM Van Kampen Robin NED 2570, GM Ernst Sipke NED 2554, GM Nijboer Friso NED 2525, IM Liu Qingnan CHN 2514 and GM Brynell Stellan SWE 2500.
There will also be two Amateur events (afternoon and morning Groups) for the players rated U2100.
Nakamura will go 6-0!
Nakamura should win easily, but if he doesn’t he’ll say the level of the competition didn’t motivate him.
Naka will top his performance in London. He will have 5 consecutive losses here.