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The fight for the first place became less exciting than expected: Ovsejewitch-Rozentalis became a balanced game,
which was declared draw in the third hour of play - as Ovsejewitch was satisfied to assure a moneyprize, and as
Rozentalis could guarantee his unshared first place because Miezis was a pawn down in endgame against Hanley. The
remaining excitement was related to the norm chances, with FMs Hanley and Carlsen both playing for a win in promising
positions against GM Miezis and IM Bluvshtein. Miezis fighting for the second prize however managed to create enough
activity at least to make Hanley's win very difficult, and somewhat desperately having sacrificed his rook in the rook
endgame, Hanley in the end was the one to save his draw and the first place of Rozentalis only by a one tempo margin.
Norway's favourite chess son Carlsen however used this golden moment to defeat his first IM in a linear and logical
game: Having established a sound pressure in the early middlegame black first won two pawns in tactical complications
just before 40 moves, and then safely converted the win in the rook endgame. Troll Masters 2003 as one out of very few
Norwegian chess adventures ended on a happy note: Top seeded Rozentalis got his Troll, 12 year old Magnus Carlsen his
norm, and following nine days of increasing pressure from various participants, the organiser at the prizegiving promised
to make another Troll Masters in 2004 "conditioned only that my personal situation makes it possible - and that most of
you are coming back too!".
The first board made a promising start as the players entered a (relatively) sharp Queen's Indian
variation, in which black weakens his kingside by h6 and g5 and gives white a pair of bishops to win a pawn at c3.
Whether white had compensation was still an open question when the players were about to leave the theory just before
20 moves, but then they suddenly agreed a draw. Rozentalis might have regretted the decision for some nervous minutes
when Miezis suddenly came close to winning in the fifth hour of play, but hardly earlier or later - even when 8/10 gave
him only a very modest ELO-plus. Ovsejewitch actually finished below the zero mark regarding ELO, but finishing undefeated
and getting a shared third prize he still declared himself satisfied.
First of course a decisive game of the tournament of both players - Hanley needed a win for a
GM-norm and Miezis to win the tournament - this second board meeting also was a prestige duel, as Miezis winning their
earlier Gausdal meeting by a crush has not been top optimistic about Hanley's GM-chances during the week. True to his
patient style even in this moment of truth Hanley started up with a closed Sicilian. Miezis played the unusual and
possibly inaccurate 4...e6, and even when Hanley avoided the critical answer he got a center advantage and the more
active pieces. Still black probably was only slightly worse before giving up his h7-pawn to get back the white one at
e5. Then he however immediately landed in trouble, as white got excellent attacking chances against the weakened black
kingside. Hanley probably missed his GM-norm somewhere in the dark corners between the "promising" variations he had
available during this stage of the game - and of course got no more help from a stubbornly fighting Miezis, for once
spending much time in a middle game. Hanley went for the safe solution as he won a pawn on the queenside, but then had
to exchange down into a double rook ending in which black's active rooks made it very difficult for white to realize his
queenside majority. Of course playing to the bitter end Hanley after 45 moves found himself trapped in a drawish single
rook ending with a-, f- and h-pawn against e- and f-. Hanley gave it one last desperate try by advancing his king up
the board to escort the h-pawn, but having to sacrifice his rook upon black's passed pawn he in the end kept the draw
only be a one tempo margin himself. No first place for Miezis and no GM-norm for Hanley, but still an unshared second
place for Miezis, the best result ever for Hanley and a bunch of cash for both of them.
No talks about a GM-draw in this game, as both needed a win for a moneyprize. The result became
a sharp theoretical duel in the razor blade like Blumenfeld variation of a Meran Semi-Slav, in which an inferno of
tactical complications on e5 and the diagonal a4-e8 leads to a materially balanced but positionally messy position
after 16 moves - white is playing with queen, bishop, two rooks and six pawns against queen, knight, two rooks and
six pawns, and whether Ke1 or Ke8 had the more dangerous life is still a widely disputed question. 17.b3 is considered
less critical in this position because of 17...Kd7, but that evaulation might change following this game - unless
Kallio's play in the next five moves can be improved. As the game went Lugovoi by his h4-Rh3-plan managed to evacuate
his king to f1 and leave the black king exposed in the center. Later white's attacking threats convincingly forced black
into a rook ending which was winning as white had an extra pawn and two connected passed pawns on the queenside. Lugovoi
elegantly decided by giving up both to reach a won pawn endgame at move 40, and probably made his best Gausdal game today.
Kallio is hardly satisfied with the final result after losing a prize because of this game, but although he lacked the
necessary margin this time his play overall was convincing.
As 12 year old Magnus Carlsen needed a win in this game to take his first IM-norm, the excitment
highlight of the day was given for all Norwegian participants having fulfilled their own game. The game was also a
prestige duel, as Bluvshtein in Gausdal Classics of last year won a marathon internal meeting after being lost from
the opening. Winning the opening obviously is dangerous in the meetings between the young lions, as Bluvhstein actually
got the best start today. The players entered a Kan main variation but left it before 10 moves, and white seemed better
at least as he having played f4 and e5 forced black to weaken his kingside by g6. Giving up the e5-pawn to intensify the
attack later was a risky decision by Blusvhtein, but he still had the upper hand in the tactical complications until
playing the passive 22.Rf2? instead of the critical 22.Nec5! > f6 23.Txe5. Since he overlooked that chance the players
reached a position materially equal, but positionally clearly better for black - as he had active heavy pieces in the
open files and a bishop clearly superb to the white knight. Short of time for before 30 moves Bluvshtein looked to be
in deep trouble, but he still had active pieces and got some help to create counterthreats as Magnus took a pawn at a2
instead of continuing his attack. The playing room was absolutely silent when Bluvshtein with his flag hanging threw
on the board a critical Ne6-sacrifice at move 36. Following some deeply concentrated minutes Magnus however came up with
the one refutation available, pseudo-sacrificing his rook to end two pawns in a rook ending just after 40 moves. Some
drawing cramps appeared among the onlookers as Magnus pawn at h4 soon turned out to be weak, but fortunately no cramps
bothered Magnus - he simply gave up the h-pawn to get the white b-pawn, and later his passed a-pawn decided just after
60 moves. Magnus definitely found the right moment to defeat his first IM, while Bluvshtein definitely was right only to
remark that "fortunately it is much less awful to lose games at Gausdal than anywhere else..."
The 2002 edition of Tallaksen-Womacka became a theoretically important duel in the modern
7.h3 variation of Benoni - the 2003 edition continued where they left the track then. White first gave up his
pawn at e4 against the one at b5, and then got a knight at e4 against giving one at b5. White at the same time
was invited to win a rook at a8, but declined as his queen would hardly ever see the sun again. Later white got
an important pawn at d6, but as black was about to win an even more important pawn at b2, white without any respect
gave up an exchange at a1 in move 23. Womacka's draw offer three moves later was a surprise as he is an IM and had
an exchange for a pawn, but as white had an active pair of bishops, an active knight at d6 and a passed d-pawn, the
final position better be registered as unclear. Womacka himself surprisingly considered it drawn due to balance of
terror, and true enough it is difficult to find winning plans for any of the players. To be continued in 2004? By
the way Tallaksen's best result ever, while Womacka definitely did not use the chance to become a double Troll champion.
Fäldt invited for Sicilian Sveshnikov boxing, but got in his face a pillow 3.Bb5 followed by 4.Bxc6.
The rest of the opening made me once more realize how little 3.Bb5 followed by 4.Bxc6 gives white, how little I understand
about Sicilian and/or how little chess Sicilian is - black played f6 before white had played e5 and then played Ne7-Ng6-Nf4-
Ne2+-Nd4-Nf5-Nd6 before exchanging the creature for another knight at c4 in move 18. Then white having made only natural
moves of course still had nothing except possibly an "initiative light", playing with two rooks, bishop and knight against
two rooks and two bishops. Having exchanged one of the black bishops and intervened on d6 with her knight white for a few
moves seemed to have the better pawns, but probably it was just an illusion. At least black was about to force a slightly
better rook ending when placing one of his rooks on the seventh rank and offering a draw at move 30. Kovalevskaya never
followed up her promising start in this tournament, while Fäldt followed up very well his never promising start.
The result was not unexpected, but this was actually a tough game - finishing only because of
perpetual check in the rook ending after nearly five hours of play. The start was a closed Sicilian, in which I
suspect white to have made something wrong - at least his isolani pawn became so weak that he gave it at once on
move 13. True enough white held an initiative, but I expected black to be more or less winning, as white initiatives
does not count at all according to everything I do not know about Sicilians. Having walked in circles for some moves
Agopov however returned the pawn at d5, to end up with symmetrical pawns and passive pieces in the rook and bishop
endgame. Black just afterwards gave up the symmetry to exchange bishops, but due to black's scattered queenside pawns
white later held a pleasant initiative in the ending with rook and five versus rook and five. He still should have too
little to win against an IM, but doubt followed as the IM surprisingly gave up a pawn at c5 to activate his pieces.
Molander might have missed some chance to increase his advantage during mutual time trouble just before 40 moves.
Afterwards he still had a pawn but did not look really close to anything more, and Agopov elegantly forced a draw
after 50 moves by giving up another pawn to start a kingside attack by his king and rook. Downs but then more ups for
Molander, exciting start but boring tournament for Agopov - just like last year.
Another 3.Bb5+-Sicilian giving white less than nothing - in fact Shumiakina for once got an opening
advantage based upon her pair of bishops and queenside initiative, as nothing worth mentioning took place on the kingside.
The game turned complex as black after 15 moves deposited her queen in a storehouse at a2 to win a pawn, without having
any obvious exit. Realizing d5 and having active pieces herself, black still was in command until she at move 23 turned
down a promising exchange sacrifice, and instead went for a chronically unpredictable long time piece sacrifice. When
the smoke finally left the board black had used a vacuum cleaner on the white queenside pawns, and hence was playing
with two rooks and six pawns against two rooks, bishop and two pawns. Black's passed pawns on the queenside however
were scattered, and white probably held the balance until he just before 40 moves missed repeated chances to pick
up the black c-pawn by a tactical stroke at c5. Even at move 43 the stroke at c5 might have been sufficient for a
draw, but having missed that chance too, white soon found himself running against the tide in between black's passed
pawns. With Berg having less than one minute left for the game after 60 moves, Shumiakina having about five minutes
elegantly sacrificied her way through to win the last game of Troll Masters 2003 - giving up two kingside pawns to
promote the third one when having four pawns against bishop and pawn. The most patient player of the tournament,
Shumiakina in the end walked herself a long road up to seventh place and a small ELO plus, while Berg still needed
an extra bag to get all his new ELO points back from Gausdal.
Remaining excitement for this game was whether Bisby could save his undefeated record, or whether
Nordahl could extend his IM-norm to ten rounds. Starting up with a closed Sicilian white got a half open d-file, an
outpost on d5 and a possible attacking target at d6 - in short black equalized! Following exchanges of two sets of
minor pieces both players considered themselves slightly better after 20 moves, but still none of them felt motivated
to play on.
Two innovative players started up in a French Tarrasch with 3...Nc6, but mysteriously ended up
in a position closer to a Meran Semi-Slav (if close to anything). As black was allowed to realize c5 he had a strong
square at d5 and overall active pieces, but the pawn at e5 still gave white some chances for a kingside attack. White
might have been correct to play Ne4-Nd6-exd6 and then give up the d6-pawn to open lines, but his following knight
sacrifice at e6 almost certainly was doubtful from an chess scientific point of view. From a chess streetfighter
point of view however it worked out well: Having spent too much time even before the sacrifice Stig K spent the
rest on trying to calculate a position improssible to calculate after the sacrifice, and made a decisive mistake
by placing his king in the center instead of on the kingside. The king soon landed in hot water placed at the
crossroad between an open d-file and an open seventh rank at d7, hence black's position probably was difficult
anyway when he walked with arms wide open into a mate just before 30 moves. Having been flapping around in the
air without any security net for eight days Poulsen on the ninth one made a soft landing on a nice result, while
Stig K still smiled for his best result ever.
Seven moves, French. The players have had interesting French duels at Gausdal before, but
unlucky to meet each other and having nothing except a few ELO-points to fight for, they settled for an early lunch
today. That one point of ELO was the one to keep for Bompi, while Heikki despite his fast start had to swallow an
ELO decifit during the last lunch.
Harestad went for his solid 7.e4-variation even when playing for a win in the Semi-Slav, and
got an edge following inaccurate play by black. After exchanging two set of minor pieces black felt obliged to
give white an extra c-pawn to get off the queens. The pawn sacrifice probably was planned to be temporarily, but
white hung on to keep the pawn all the way into the endgame. Having put his queenside majority into motion white
blundered and/or sacrificed back the pawn just before 40 moves, to reach a bishop versus knight ending obviously
preferrable to white because of his passed c-pawn. In the end white gave up his passed pawn to win the knight and
save the win (and the lunch) on his last queenside pawn just before 70 moves, but probably white had the win all the
way in the endgame. Still the final result was just around average height for Harestad, and well above the skies for
Torgersen.
Via 2...e6 this transposed into a sharp Sicilian Scheveningen variation, in which white is castling
long to run wild with a pawnstorm on the kingside. Having sacrificed a pawn at g6 white first seemed to have the better
attack. However he failed to find any decisive breakthrough, and probably overreacted when giving up an exchange at g6.
The position however stayed overall messy as both players ran seriously short of time for 40 moves. Black playing for a
win refused to give back the exchange even when white placed a knight at g6, hence the position remained unclear with
white having one pawn and the easier attacking position for the exchange. Following an inaccurate move 39 from black
white was about to pick up a second pawn with the better position, but still we lost much excitement when black lost
on time despite having nearly half a minute for move 40. Six points was among Andersen's best results ever, four and a
half probably among Charleshouse worst since childhood.
Via 1.Nf3 Hole transposed into a modest Classical King's Indian, in which black exchanges at d4.
White's half-open d-file probably gave him a slight edge later, but black overall had active pieces and established
counterpressure against the white pawn at b3. White gave up b3 to get d6 a few moves later, and reached a rook and
bishop ending in which black was closer to an advantage. White again looked slightly better in the rook ending the
players were about to enter after 40 moves, but as it was clearly drawn the players stopped after 38 moves - delivered
within a total of 75 minutes!? Ask's first Gausdal tournament became a success, while Hole usually does better.
Berning as usually started up with 1.e4, but went for a King's Indian Advance when black played a
Caro-Kann. Lönngren refused a draw at move eight and had no problems from the opening, as he held a center advantage
and was allowed to block white's queenside play by a5 and a4. Play still seemed about balanced when black at move 14
exchanged at e4 to reach a symmetrical King's pawn position. As white had played h3 and g3 and had no ground to base
any attack upon, his 23.f4? turned out to be just weakening. Even when black soon was allowed to win the g3 pawn, his
advantage would not have been obvious if white at move 26 had played Rxd4, intending Nd6 with some counterplay.
Overlooking the Nxg2 stroke at move 30 white immediately resigned - in a lost position, but one he could still try to
complicate by the tactical defence 31.Rg3. Never close to any norm this time Lönngren still fought on to reach a clear
plus result in the end, while Berning having played 17 games in 12 days before the tournament became too social and too
tired in the end.
11 moves, Semi-Slav. This sudden draw was no sensation, as two slightly disappointed 2200-players
had nothing worth fighting for. Black made a slight inaccuracy by placing his bishop on e7 instead of d6 in an Anti-Meran,
but as white later made a more serious misunderstanding by exchanging at d5 with the black squared bishop stuck at c1,
chances were probably about equal in the final position.
Gambäck did not chose the most critical variation(s) against Svensen's Cambridge Springs, but still
he was ahead in development following exchanges of two set of minor pieces, and hence did right to refuse a draw at move
12. As black was allowed to complete the development of his queenside while white's opening of the f-file did not give
much on the kingside, white's advantage however gradually vanished around move 15-20. In the following position with
queen, rook, knight and five pawns on each side black had the better pawn structure, but white still was the one to
play for a win. Mysteriously he instead managed to ruin his position within three moves, overlooking a rook intervention
on the second rank until black had absolutely killing threats against the white king. Mate at g2 with an extra piece for
black confirmed Gambäck's tragic collapse in the final round - and the sensational rise of the bulletin slave.
The 3.Bb5(+) Sicilian had no good day and no tournament, but this actually was the best argument
against that it might be a good variation so far: White had nothing after nine moves, and at move ten he by a sleeping
f3 just blundered a pawn to a tactical Nxe4-stroke. Later black of course was clearly better: True enough white for
some moves held a nice knight square at d5, but first it did little except shining, second black had a strong bishop at
e5, and third black by playing Ne6-Nf4 just exchanged the knight before 25 moves. But later not much more happened for
a long time with queen, two rooks and bishop on each side, as black despite an extra pawn failed to develop his position.
Finally getting some activity on the kingside, white actually looked closer to having compensation just before 40 moves
than ever before. Then he however collapsed totally, first helping black to open the h-file, then placing his king on h1
and rearranging his other pieces to help the black attack. White resigned at move 43, as black having picked up another
pawn at e4 suddenly was winning positionally as well as materially. Downs, then ups and then more downs for Hörbing,
despite this up still too many downs for Nolsøe.
Nygren actually did what a lot of Norwegian players have thought about doing against mobil
chess encyclopedia Stokke: Played 1.b3 just to get him out of the book(s). The resulting Nimzowich-Larsen attack
had some similarities to a Sicilian Grand Prix-attack, among others that black equalized. For the first 20 moves
chances remained about balanced: Following a long castle by black white held the center and some attacking chances
on the queenside, but black had harmonious pieces and an open g-file. The fall of black started with a mysterious
21...f4? giving white a free hand in the center, and while black later lost the thread, white accelerated to create
a strong attack within five moves. Black definitely lost it when blundering his important b6-pawn, and as white used
every chance mate followed at b7 in move 33. Above expected for Nygren because of this win, despite the final losses
much better than last year for Stokke.
This started as a French, but depressingly reeducated into a very closed and slow Sicilian, with
two set of minor pieces and no pawns exchanged before 20 moves. White had some space on the kingside but no obvious
attacking plans, hence black handled half the cake at latest when getting a center advantage by realizing d5 at move
19. Then white suddenly went amoc, sacrificing an exchange for some boxes of air at f5. True enough black's f-pawn was
a possible long time weakness, but it became only a short time attacking weapon, as black after 24...f4 had the better
attacking chances too. Short of time black missed some attacking wins later, at easiest when missing 31...f3. His
attacking chances however forced white to exchange down all the way into an ending in which black simply had rook
for a bishop, and which he won without any serious doubt about the outcome, even when it probably did not have to
last 61 moves. A modest ELO-norm and a plus result for white in his first international try; even when I do not know
which ELO to compare him against probably another convincing step forward by Bøyum boy.
White came better as he had the more active pieces, a half-open d-file, an outpost at d5 and a
center advantage playing with e4 against d6. Everything fine except of course that black is usually fine despite all
those factors in the Sicilian, but maybe white has exemption possibilities in the Kan? White's advantage looked too
obvious to be ignored much longer when he at move 24 placed a truly dominating knight at d5, and more or less winning
when he just afterwards picked up a pawn at a5. Karlsen however had his obligatory time trouble horrors coming up,
hence he instead of deciding the game by a brilliant e5-break at move 29, blundered it all away by allowing black
first to get two rooks for one queen, and then to get the queen for rook and bishop. An awake Unander immediately
took his tactical chances, played a little bit inaccurate when about to enter the ending an exchange up, but still
demonstrated an easy win with rook against bishop just after 40 moves. Finally a good result for Unander, but still
no play close to his usual strength - while Karlsen this round and this tournament lost against his own clock more
than against the pieces of his opponent.
Both players obviously had seen an opening book before, and both obviously had in mind to
celebrate the end of the tournament with a win: They cooperated to enter a razor blade Botvinnik-variation in the
Semi-Slav, in which after 18 moves white having castled short has a (protected) pawn at e7, while black having castled
long has a (not protected) bishop at g2. Black was the first to leave the theory when retreating his bishop to b7 to
keep pressure in the diagonal, instead of saving the material balance by taking the white rook at f1. That decision might
have been dubious, but if so white definitely had to test it by taking the rook at d8 instead of a knight at f8. Having
all the more active pieces without even being material down, black later was winning even before white at move 23
blundered a piece. Many turbulent and intense games for both players, Larsen despite this game should be more satisfied
than Ohlzon regarding the tournament result.
Today's closed Korhonen-system was a Reti, later transposing into a Semi-Slav in which black had
been given time to place his bishop at f5 before playing e6. White refused a draw at move six, but as the best thing
he found to do about the bishop at f5 was to exchange it, black probably was even slightly better when realizing c5
at move 11. Maybe black after exchanging at d4 was wrong to give up the c5-square by playing b5, and/or maybe he was
wrong later to exchange the knight at c5, as white then got a mobile pawn majority with four against two pawns on the
queenside. But having the center advantage and having blocked the white queenside pawns, black still seemed to have
control - until he allowed black to advance his queenside pawns at move 29, and weakened his d5-pawn by playing e5
just afterwards. Probably black could have held his position together later too, but then white at least had the
easier position to play. Anyway black tired after a long tournament and long game collapsed just before 40 moves,
allowing the white queenside pawns to advance even further, and his position definitely fell apart when he had to
give the d-pawn just before 40 moves. Everything including this game taken together a zero result by Johansson,
while Korhonen saved a nearly acceptable result during the final rounds.
Formally a closed Sicilian, this following pawn exchanges at d4 and d5 landed in a French exchange
variation with the c-pawns and the black squared bishops exchanged too. With symmetrical pawns and equal pawns, it was
of course very drawish, and having only the slim advantage of "half a move" extra white offered at move 10. Short playing
time and fair enough score for Sander, while Bjørgvik even when he slowed down made one of the best relative performances
of the tournament.
5 moves - via 1.Nf3 transposing into some suspect quasi-Pirc. Everything except a draw would have
been a sensation: Knudsen has not been uninterested in a draw at any stage during his nine earlier games, and Hammer
even tried to agree draw with possible opponents before the pairings of round ten were confirmed. Ironically both
players earned one point of national rating upon the game result, as Hammer because he is a junior will get his result
rated first, and then will be ahead when the results of Knudsen are to be rated. Although Knudsen got the better ELO-norm,
Hammer passing him in national rating still should be considered the more promising player.
Still looking for someone to suffer for his earlier rounds Simonsen accelerated the Italian opening
by a romantic Evans gambit. Obviously not known with the old captain Bryn senior made a classical mistake first by
retreating his bishop to e7 and then to play d6. Getting back the pawn at f7 white had a clear attacking advantage
before 10 moves, and as black mysteriously gave up another pawn at e5 white after 13 moves was a sound pawn up with
the better pieces and the much safer king. Black later had some chances to make it an endgame by exchanging queens,
but instead he understandably kept the queens to seek for counterplay on the kingside. White however proved able to
defend g2 without too much sweat, hence black's king running around on an open kingside still was the one to be in
trouble - and the one to be mated by white's queen and rook after 35 moves.
No doubt about this game, but black still looked more satisfied than white when stopping the clock.
Having lost national rating already Pedersen played for a win as white to limit the loss, but
without getting much out of a standard Sicilian Alapin isolani position. Probably white for some moves kept an edge
due to his pair of bishops, but black was fine at latest when establishing a knight at d5 at move 14. Failing to find
any real attacking chances on the kingside white exchanged queens to play with the bishops, but they at best gave him
the slightly better prospects even when the isolani at move 31 advanced to e5. In short the rook and minor pieces endgame
still was materially equal and looked balanced when black at move 40 lost on time. Pedersen following a promising start
simply played below what he has done recently, but still gained some ELO-points - while Bryn junior got only a low
ELO-norm as he still lacked the small margins.
Hoping to get a reasonable ELO-norm and obviously having prepared something against Bue's Sämisch,
black surprisingly entered a King's Indian variation in which white castles long and black short. White looked slightly
better from the opening, but as he combined inaccurate defence on the queenside with inaccurate attack on the kingside,
black was at least equal in the attacking run after 23 moves. At move 24 white blundered by overlooking than black
threatened to get a more or less decisive attack with Nc4, producing ugly threats against the queen at d2 and the
vital pawn at b2. Having missed that golden chance and for mysterious reasons frenetcially denying to play out Nc4
the next moves too, black instead gave white the killing attack within a few moves. Smelling blood Bue reacted
efficiently, and practically decided the game by a tactical h6-stroke at move 28. No ELO-norm for black and an
ELO-loss for white, but in a national scale above expected for both of them.
As both players had every reason to look depressed about their tournament, the result was no
surprise, but this actually was a jumpy game in which both players missed promising chances.
Saulnier still insists upon first playing e3 and then exchanging at d5 when meeting a Slav, hence his opponent
again got an improved exchange variation with the white bishop stuck at c1. Having placed his bishop on g4 white
however allowed white to play Ne5 instead of the consequent exchange at f3, and as he strangely gave up his right
to castle by answering Qa4+ with Kf8, white could have got a clear advantage simply by exchanging at g4. Instead he
gave up a center pawn by leaving the knight at e5, and even when white got some initative on the queenside he probably
did not have sufficient compensation. A much too careless move 17 by black however gave with a chance to exchange the bishop
at e7, getting a decisive attack as black's king would have been forced to take at e7 and then to leave the kingside for
good. Suddenly realizing the danger of having the king at f8 Johansen gave back the pawn to evacuate it to h7, leaving
about balanced chances but still much chess when a draw was agreed at move 23. Both hoped for much more in the game as
well as in the tournament, true enough.....
PS: Possible observant readers might have noted that we had one board and two Italians too little during the
last round. Confirming everything I have heard about Italians and organisation, our friends Corrado ASTENGO and Giuseppe
VALENTI unfortunately had booked airplane tickets back to Milano too early to make the last round. Fully in understanding
with the arbiter the players were then simply left out of the pairings of round ten, but included on the final list.
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