Yayyyy! Judit Polgar Will Be Back in Action!

Judit Polgar, 2009 Hoogeveen v. Anish Giri

Judit has played in nearly all of the Hoogeveen Invitationals since its inception 15 years ago.  This year's version (October 14 - 22, 2011, including an Open and an "Amateur" event alongside the Invitational), the 15th, sponsored by Unive, has the following players to the Invitational:  Polgar, Vladimir Kramnik, young phenom Anish Giri (who lives in and plays for the Netherlands), and winner of last year's Hoogeveen Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.  Daarmee komt de vierkamp met een gemiddelde rating van 2726 uit in categorie 20.  I don't read Dutch but I was able to make out that this is going to be a powerhouse tournament with an average ELO of 2726, Category 20.  That's big!  Official website. 

Judit has an excellent record at the Hoogeveen:

1997 - finished in 2nd
1998 - finished in 1st
1999 - finished in 2nd
2000 - finished in 4th (In 2000 FIDE World Champion Alexander Khalifman took 1st place.  Judit had been outscored by Khalifman in the 1999 FIDE Knock-Out World Championship in the quarter-finals.  Judit went home and Kahlifman went on to eventually become Champion after defeating Vladimir Akopian.)
2001 - finished in 1st
2002 - finished in 3rd (Khalifman finished in 2nd place)
2003 - finished in 1st
2006 - finished in 2nd
2009 - finished in 4th.  Judit played a particularly tough field that year and only 1 point separated the top and bottom places!

So, I will have to wait all summer before the action begins.