Gausdal Classics 2005
GM-GROUP A - ROUND 3
GM Kaido Kulaots for the first time slowed down with a sound black draw against still solid IM Helge A Nordahl today, allowing top seeded GM Sergei Tiviakov to catch him in on the score with a convincing attacking win against IM Simon Williams. Second seeded GM Oleg Korneev missed his chance to reach a shared lead, as he after snatching a pawn against GM Magnus Carlsen became too passive to play for a win. Lie-Vidonyak was a dramatic game with uneven material, in which Lie playing with queen and rook against two rooks and a bishop seemingly had control due to his dominating pieces. Not counting Lie as he already has got his three GM-norms, chances for GM-norms in GM A seems more or less gone, but FM Christian Kyndell Pedersen having 2/3 following his long win against Sebastian Bogner today might be a candidate for an IM-norm.
Bogner played his third Sicilian Najdorf within 48 hours, this time wearing the black habit. Although white failed in his tries to get a direct kingside attack he kept some initiative during the middlegame, and although it was a Sicilian actually got some pressure against the backward d6-pawn. Defending actively Baby Bogner succeeded to reach an unbalanced rooks and bishop endgame probably giving about balanced chances, but again he played inaccurate when exchanging down to a rook endgame in which white’s passed queenside pawns were decisive. The game lasted 79 moves and 5 hours 58 minutes, but the last 20 moves was an easy rook and pawn versus rook endgame Pedersen had no problems to handle. Bogner having pole out so far probably should try another opening in round four. Tenth seeded Pedersen having 2/3 seems close to the 4/9 needed for an IM-norm, but better do something against Nordahl in round four too - as he has the five top rated opponents waiting for rounds 5-9.
Both players actually had played more than 25 Gausdal games in a row without losing, hence the draw was not as much a surprise as one should believe from the ELOs. Kulaots was expected to play for a win, but still shaken by the drama of yesterday he today chose a very solid Queen’s Indian set up as white. White following this came slightly better, but having to run risks if opening up the position he instead kept it closed and offered a draw at move 22. Kulaots sits at his +2 so far, while Nordahl still undefeated at +1 seems the only possible GM-norm candidate.
Following his 1.e4 disaster of round one Kjetil was back at his vegetarian English Fianchetto today. He actually still succeeded to make it interesting, as Vidonyak trying to surprise him with a creative new Bh3-move ran straight into a prepared counter surprise. Black’s idea to give up his queen for rook and bishop is creative, but probably not entirely sound as black playing with two rooks and bishop against queen and rook still struggles to complete his development and get Rh8 into play. White made a mistake when not capturing back at f3 with his king, as black could force a helpful exchange of black squared bishops and then keep the position blocked with f6. Having exchanged the black squared bishops black however forgot to close off with f6, and after answering Qe5+ with Kf8 he never really got his rook into play until in a hopeless endgame. I will not be too surprised if Lie can do nine rounds in this group without a draw, neither if Vidonyak will have to take nine rounds without a win….
Not unexpectedly this became a French Tarrasch duel, in which white
established an edge in the early middlegame. Black played creatively for
counterplay in the a6-f1 diagonal, but it turned out that Tiviakov had made
much the better calculations as he tricked around a knight to his f6 outpost
and went on to decide the game by nice tactics, exploiting partly his advanced
passed pawn and partly the airy black king. Probably a very nice game from a
Tiviakov point of view, and sharing the lead with 2,5/3
the top seeded seems given for top three and likely for top one. While Williams claims still to enjoy
Facing Korneev’s predictable Slav defence against 1.d4, Magnus played a Catalan and gave a pawn at c4 to get a centre advantage and active pieces. Although defending well Korneev appeared dissatisfied with his position and offered a draw at move 15. Magnus bravely refused then, but offered six moves later as black gave back his a-pawn to reach balanced chances. Magnus has not been playing that bad against his three higher rated opponents, but 0,5/3 of course still was a disappointing start following an unlucky drawing of lots.
GM-GROUP B - ROUND 3
80 % drawing rate in GM B today, but none of them were short ones. The player succeeding to win a game today was the youngest player of the group, IM David Howell, who instructively punished FM Thomas Michalczak’s unorthodox handling of a Ruy Lopez. FM Andrew Greet as black succeeded to turn his position against GM Chris Ward into a bank box, while Norwegian surprise man FM Geir Sune Tallaksen actually were closer to winning chances than GM Dimitri Reinderman in a static positional struggle. Ward still is the only GM having won a game in GM B as GM Ralf Åkesson following a promising novelty from IM Marie Sebag was lucky to scrape his third draw. Also closer to losing than winning so far is the expected GM norm candidate IM Jonas Barkhagen, who needed active defence to keep the knight endgame against still nasty chess smurf Jon Ludvig Hammer. All games better be considered open in a group still including six undefeated players, while chances for IM-norms still look good.
Reinderman went for a Dutch today, but without getting closer to any winning chances as Tallaksen balanced confidentially upon a safe positional edge all the way through the middlegame. As all queenside pawns were exchanged, the pawns however voted overwhelmingly for a draw. White just before 30 moves could have given himself a pair of bishops and played on, but instead offered a draw while transposing into a chronically drawing bishop and rook endgame. Tallaksen still undefeated at +1 after playing two GMs looks like a strong IM-norm candidate.
Howell surprisingly sacked his well established Ruy Lopez exchange, in favour of a main line duel in which he demonstrated the better knowledge to the position. Having exchanged white squared bishops to realize a badly timed d5-break, black consequently went on to exchange his black squared bishop to get critical problems on the black squares. Howell immediately accelerated to crush through on the kingside before 30 moves. Michalczak’s IM norm plans suffered a hard set back today, but he is still in that run. Can Howell as the only IM above 50 % be a GM-norm candidate?
Sebag in this Caro Kann line had prepared 15.Be4!? as an interesting new move, and failing to find a convincing answer over the board Åkesson playing with an awkward king at g8 had a hard struggle to complete his development. Having a dominating laser bishop on b2 as well as the more active heavy pieces, white should have a more or less winning attack in the middlegame. However Åkesson defending well succeeded first to exchange the monster bishop and then continuing down to a drawn rook endgame during mutual time trouble. Åkesson like Reinderman is closer to losing than winning games so far, but still only drawing. While Sebag playing ambitious attacking chess with a lot of time trouble duels has been a great chess entertainer so far, but still seems too uneven to fight for a GM-norm – yet!
This was a Nimzo-Indian transposing into a very closed Wywill position, in which white had an advantage but could hardly make any use of it as his only way of challenging the pawn structure would be a very double edged g4-break. Not (yet) that desperate to win a second game, Ward probably wisely accepted a repetition of moves after 35 moves. Both players look solid so far, but while Ward at +1 struggles to save his ELO Greet at +0 might now be the best IM norm candidate of all present groups.
Eager to avoid starting with a “long castle” in the result lists, Hammer went for a very solid a6-line in the Slav and seemingly played only to exchange pieces into a drawish endgame. Having succeeded as Barkhagen offered a draw in an apparently drawish double knight endgame Hammer however refused, and succeeded to demonstrate that black actually had some chances to play for a win. Barkhagen however woke up in time to sacrifice a pawn with f5, activating his pieces to get back the pawn and keep the balance, and (for principal reasons?) even refused a draw before it all petered out. Praising the talents of his young opponent Barkhagen worried that he had not won a game yet, but even more that he had not been close to winning chances in any game….
IM-GROUP A - ROUND 3
The GMs had another day of joy and happiness in IM A as Aloyzas Kveinys patiently dismantled Sjur Ferkingstad while Heikki Westerinen got jackpot for a reportedly dubious novelty against Eric Moskow. The round at the same time however also was a good one for IM-norm chances as FM Øystein Hole seemingly having wasted his chances in a preferable middlegame, suddenly succeeded winning in an apparently very drawish rook endgame against IM Svein Johannessen. Bentsen-Cooksey never became really hot, but being a pawn up in the endgame the younger Bentsen brother still plays and scores better than expected in this field. The FM-meeting between Per Andreasen and Marc Ghannoum was a shaky six hours battle both players afterwards complained not to have won.
White came slightly better from this Caro Kann main line, having a pair of bishops and some space advantage. Defending soundly in a position without weaknesses black however never was in serious problems, and even achieved some counterplay in the rooks and queens position. The game seemed about to end with a draw as white sacrificed a rook on e6 to get a perpetual. For some reason black instead preferred to play on a pawn down, but as white’s extra d-pawn got nowhere against two active black rooks he offered himself at move 37. 1,0/3 is above feared for Bentsen, 1,5/3 below hoped for Cooksey.
Sjur Ferkingstad 2237 - GM Aloyzas KVEINYS
2539 0 – 1
Ferkingstad chickened out of the Sicilian theory discussions with 2.b3, allowing black to equalize without any kind of pressure. As white playing c3 without being able to realize d4 succeeded to lock in his bishop at b2, black realized f5 with attacking chances on the kingside, and having won the pair of bishops he established a lasting pressure against the white kingside. Under pressure on the clock too Ferkingstad lost his defending line between move 30 and 40, and having misparked his knight at h6 he resigned when losing a piece at move 40. Losing with honour or not, Ferkingstad at 0,5/3 is definitely out of the IM norm calculations. While Kveinys still without playing any amazing games has 3/3, and although Hole and Westerinen also are looking so far so good, the question about Kveinys seems to be more about the sum of points than about the place.
Never an opening theoretician Johannessen today tried to equalise with a humble Owen defence, but hardly succeeded as white got a sound space advantage after establishing a pawn at e5. Black succeeded to exchange away dangers for a direct kingside attack, but playing with knight and two rooks against bishop and two rooks he still was in danger as white’s powerful b2-bishop dominated the board. Hole might have been wrong giving up the pressure to get a pawn ahead in the rook endgame, as black seemingly had excellent drawing chances then. Even the final endgame with rook, h- and f-pawn against rook and h-pawn almost certainly was a draw, but as black chose the wrong defencive plan, white succeeded to create decisive mating threats just after 50 moves. Having compensated his draw yesterday with a win against an IM today, Hole seems like the only IM-norm candidate in the IM-groups.
Moskow’s ambitious Sicilian preparations backfired after he had temporarily sacrificed a pawn at d5 today, as Westerinen’s Qd3 is a new move only played in one earlier game by himself. There actually is a reason of why no one else plays this as black could have regained the pawn with an advantage, but instead he got confused enough to let white keep the pawn with a clear advantage. Still in an inspired mood Westerinen having consolidated his extra centre pawn soon went on to play for a direct kingside attack, which he successfully completed by hitting in at f6 before 25 moves. Moskow having 1,5/3 despite this loss has had a promising start, while Westerinen having 2,5/3 so far plays like at his peak in the seventies.
This entertaining endgame battle started up with some kind of Dutch Leningrad without c4, in which white following an early queen exchange first seemed pleasantly better. Black however succeeded to get a disturbing pair of bishops, and although white after 40 moves had an extra pawn and two connected passed pawns in a rook and minor pieces endgame, black’s bishop and passed pawn then gave him the better chances. In the sixth hour of play white had to sacrifice his bishop for black’s passed pawn. Playing with rook, bishop and g-pawn against rook, a-, b and g-pawn black however lacked the time for a winning try, and exchanged rooks to give white a well known drawing fortress. Following this internal draw both players definitely seems out of the IM-norm run for now, but still of course they have a lot of ELO-points and honour to fight for.
IM-GROUP B - ROUND 3
The large IMs more than ever dominate the small pool named IM B: Löffler
instructively punished premature play from FM Simon Silseth, Siebrecht although
needing some time won well deserved against Sævareid, and Jakubowski following
four hours of heavy maneuvers opened up the board
to decide in the endgame. Hartvig-Arsenault was a hard fought draw in which
Hartvig first had the upper hand, but after 40 moves Arsenault was the one
having the chances. Bentsen-Niemi was a long theory duel ending with an
original perpetual check after white had sacrificed a piece and probably missed
a win.
Silseth for a change played 1.e4 today, but facing a Sicilian he soon withdrew to the temporarily security of a King’s Indian Advance set up. As usually playing with two knights, Silseth as usually claimed a positional edge after succeeding to place them at b3 and c4. If ever having such an advantage he however fatally wasted his chances when becoming much too eager to start an attack on the kingside: Löffler immediately came up with killing counterthreats against the white king, winning a piece and the game before 30 moves. Löffler still having won all his games ever played at Gausdal has been even more efficient than well playing so far, while Silseth following this sudden collapse needs a medium miracle to fight for an IM-norm in his Gausdal come-back.
Reportedly the first preparation of Bentsen’s chess career this Sveshnikov theory duel lasted more than 20 moves, to reach a seemingly chaotic position in which white sacrifices a piece to get a lot of open air around the black king. Having his only minor piece at e8 white reportedly could have played for a win if not placing his queen exposed on e6, but as he did a troublesome capture of the queen forced him to take out a creative perpetual check between a4, b4 and c4 after 30 moves. Waiting draw for both players, but Big Bentsen seemed happy to get on the score following his double loss to the IMs.
Ove SÆVAREID 2206 - IM Sebastian SIEBRECHT 2438 0 - 1
This was a seldom seen line of an English fianchetto, in which black getting active play in the centre had no problems to equalise. Having a solid position white spent much time without finding any plan in the middlegame, and black gradually improved the position of his pieces to pick up white’s a-pawn after 25 moves. Black allowed white to regain the pawn at a7 only to start a crucial attack against white’s important e2, and as this backbone pawn would fall white was in deep trouble when resigning desperately short of time at move 34. This was a disappointing white game from a Sævareid point of view, while Siebrecht playing well also got the full wage today.
This was a French Tarrasch line in which black tested a thematic knight sacrifice at e5, following a queen exchange leaving black with two centre pawns and a pair of bishops to compensate for the missing piece. Succeeding to activate his knights white seemed better in the last part of the middle game, but as he lost control when playing with rook and knight against rook and 2-3 pawns just before 40 moves, black reportedly missed a win then. After 40 moves white playing with one knight for three sound pawns had to be careful, but within 15 moves he succeeded to sacrifice back the knight to reach a dead drawn rook versus rook and g-pawn endgame. A draw probably was the fair result after all, although ELO-jumbo Arsenault clearly has played himself up following the lame opening game.
Black snatched on c4 and hung on to the pawn in this Catalan, while both players spent enormous amounts on time just after the opening. Playing a greedy g5 black won a knight at h4, but white got two pawns and some positional compensation as the players moved around in circles during a long time trouble duel before move 40. Black finally succeeded to find a box-opener in the fifth hour of play, and proved able to halt white’s passed pawn without losing his last pawn in the sixth hour. Schølseth improved his play today, but much better trimmed Polish chess fighter Jakubowski still wins his games in some way or another.
ELO-GROUP - ROUND 3
Sensation man Levi Andre Tallaksen was brought efficiently down to earth by top seeded Ralf Schnabel today, but the German will face a tough challenge tomorrow as Norwegian junior Martin Valla looked impressing when outplaying Bård Standal in another patient positional game. Two more surprises produced by young Norwegian players against very experienced rated opponents today: 11 year old Anders Hobber just smashed down Gunnar Bue with a kingside attack, while 15 years old Ellen Carlsen got jackpot for a creative pawn sacrifice against Per Johansson.
Schnabel for some reason spent much time upon this game, but the moves looked confident enough: White established a sound pressure from the Russian opening, and got a direct attack as black much too long left his king at e8. Having picked up one pawn without losing the initiative white controlling the seventh rank, went on to win a second pawn in an obviously winning endgame. Playing on until a mate in a hopeless rook endgame against an opponent around 2200 should not be necessary even if you are 12, but Schnabel handled it with humour to complete a comical mate at move 83. The German’s lead is not only expected, but also very well deserved so far, while Tallaksen despite this loss of course has had a tremendous start on his search for a FIDE-ELO.
Standal’s King’s Indian Advance was more than average toothless today, allowing a sound playing Valla to establish a space advantage for no risk. Black methodically went on to build up a queenside attack, and looked more or less winning when picking up the white a-pawn to get a queenside majority running. Again short of time for 40 moves Valla blundered back a pawn at move 39, but as he won back his strength while Standal collapsed after the time control, black could exchange his queen to promote his queenside pawn majority before 50 moves. Valla has been even better than I expected so far, and looks like the only serious challenge for Schnabel at the moment.
This Molde derby started as a French Exchange duel, in which black castled long to go for an attacking run. As white remained passive black came clearly ahead in the run, and probably had a winning attack running in the middlegame. Running too fast with his h-pawn Svensen however allowed white to block the attack and escape into a queen’s endgame, in which black still playing for a win could hardly avoid a perpetual check without running too many risks of losing. Solid but not more from bulletin slave Svensen so far, while Nyland still not playing at his best was much better today than yesterday.
Black was allowed to win tempos for his kingside pawnstorm by hunting the black squared bishop of white in this Bf4-Dutch, and seemingly had got an active position after 12 moves. As black became to eager to attack with his pawns without having developed his pieces, it turned out white actually had a clear advantage when a draw suddenly was agreed after 18 moves. Forså is below expected so far, while Aandal having 2/3 against three opponents with a higher FIDE-ELO should be satisfied so far – drawing promising positions after all is a bad habit running in that family.
White came healthy although a little bit passive from this English fianchetto, but given a nice knight square at e5 black activated his bishops to get an attacking pressure around move 20. Having a) won a pawn at b2 and b) demonstrated a crosspin more tricky that actually helpful, black just picked up another pawn to transpose into a won endgame. White resigned early at move 30, but having two extra pawns and a large queenside majority black behind reasonable doubt was winning then. Another honest loss against another strong opponent for Tjølsen - while Bryn rehabilitated himself convincingly following the second round collapse.
White got a sound pressure in the middlegame as black chose a humble French line with 3.--- dxe4, but defending well a position without obvious weaknesses Gupta never really seemed in danger of losing. White for some moves pinned some hopes upon a passed d-pawn in the rook and bishop endgame, but it soon turned out he just had to exchange down to a totally drawn rook endgame. Although of course extremely promising for his 12 years Schäfer has not been at his very best for the first third of this tournament, while Gupta defending much better than the average Norwegian 1400-player seems capable for a nice ELO-norm.
Facing 1.e4 in his second black game too Bue gave his Pirc a second try, but again failed to produce with any disturbing counterplay against a Austrian kingside attack. White hence was allowed all necessary time to build up his attack, and like Schnabel in round one crashed though on the kingside before 30 – to fulfil with a mate at g7 at move 31. Extremely motived for chess in general and Gausdal very much in particular, 11 years old Anders Hobber impressed with a very mature attacking game today – but Bue really should give his Pirc a critical look after this tournament.
Johansson since thirty years or so remains true to his fianchetto set up against Dutch Leningrad, and having realized a thematic e4 with some pressure against the backward black e-pawn he appeared having got the better part of this one. It turned out however that Ellen had set up a cunning trap, as white when taking at e7 and exchanging queens ran into a powerful artillery from black’s remaining pieces. Soon he had to return the pawn to defend a passive rooks and minor pieces game, in which black’s outpost at e4 and pressure against various weak white pawns gave her a pleasant advantage. Johansson might still have been able to defend himself, but having blundered a pawn to a knight fork threat he stumbled on into a rook endgame in which Ellen had no problems to realize her two extra pawns. Johansson has had better Gausdal starts than this one, but “the Carlsen sister” today demonstrated that she at her best can be a brilliant positional player in her own right. Magnus according to rumours had quoted that he would have been satisfied to play this game as black, but if so has been unwilling to repeat it.
Guttorm ANDERSEN 1284 unfortunately had to accept a point without play this round, as our Canadian friend Paul AYOUB 1180 will be away for two days – if not enjoying Bergen much too much he will hopefully be back for round five!