The sensation of the third round was Norwegian FM Helge A Nordahl's win as black against
second seeded GM Alexei Lugovoi, following a shocking rook blunder from the Russian. First
seeded Rozentalis left his second draw on three tries against players below 2300 after a boring
game against Daniel Bisby, and so the top two favourites both are far from any money prize at
the moment. Sharing the first place with FM Nordahl instead is IM Womacka - the Troll-champion
of 2002 still looks rock solid, and won another long endgame against a very qualified opponent
when stopping Shumiakina's first hope for an IM-norm. Womacka however cannot be sure to stay in
the top, and Nordahl should definitely not expect to - big sharks like GM Kallio, GM Ovsejewitch,
IM Bluvshtein and GM Westerinen steem upwards following new victories today.
To tell the truth and most of the truth this was a probably well played
first board meeting, but definitely not an exciting one. Miezis had no problems to equalize
with his Kan Sicilian, but the equalization was too total - nothing more exciting than a
steem of exchanges followed. The final endgame with different coloured bishops arising
before 30 moves, was so dead that Miezis only thought for a few minutes before accepting
the offer.
This transposed into a Benoni fianchetto, in which black having control on
e5 and an intiative on the queenside was definitely not worse. Between move 20 and 30 he
established and advanced a passed b-pawn, but as white despite time trouble managed to block
the pawn on b2, Womacka just before move 40 exchanged down to a queen and knight ending where
he got white's pawns at e4 and d5 for the passed pawn. At move 40 black short of time himself
however missed his chance to reach a close to winning knight endgame with four against three
pawns, and so instead got a hard fight to win with knight and three pawns against knight and
two. The patient German IM still managed to be more Russian than the Russians, deciding the
game by intervening with his king to win both white's g- and h-pawn for the black d-pawn.
Hanley took another slow start with a Rubinstein French, and managed to
calm it down by not caring about a knight Kovalevskaya left hanging on g5 for several moves.
White's chances for a direct attack dispappeared with the queens before move 20, but as black
had to give up his pair of bishops white still kept a slight "edgegame". Black however defended
safely, and even when white finally won a pawn in the bishops endgame, it gave no winning
chances due to opposite coloured bishops.
This started as an exciting King's Indian theory duel, as Lugovoi went for a sharp Four Pawn variation
Nordahl has played as white too. The outcome was generally unclear, but white held an initiative in the middlegame, and played
hard for a win first with e5-e6 and then with d5-d6. Nordahl felt forced to sacrifice an exchange upon the d6-pawn, but
playing with queen, bishop and a passed a-pawn against queen and rook, he still kept drawing chances based upon endgame
fortresses. The fight for and against the fortress continued even after the players at move 58 finally agreed to exchange queens.
Probably the endgame with rook, g- and h- against bishop, a-, f- og g was within the drawing area then, but following
inaccurate play by Nordahl Lugovoi finally seemed close to a win after 65 moves, when both players had only about ten
minutes left for the game. Still onlookers were surprised to see the clock stopped - and when running to the board they
became shocked to see "0-1" on both scoresheets! It turned out that Nordahl had played 67.--- Bc3 threatening the rook
at f6, and that Lugovoi played the positional 68.Kf2?? without noting the tactical threat - and so blundered a rook for the
first time in his life as a titleholder! Lugovoi was internationally recognized as a great human for his gentle and humorous
reaction, but as a great player he has had a horrible start on the tournament. Nordahl on the other hand is sensationally
still sharing the first place after three rounds, clearly ahead of all norm schedules.
The result definitely was the most exciting part of this game. Rozentalis had no problems
to equalize in a King's Indian Advance a la French, but probably playing too objective he was later helpful helping
Bisby closing off the board. Rozentalis' decision to offer a draw at move 34 still came as a surprise as he was
clearly ahead on the clock and not worse on the board, but as the white center advantage and a generally
blocked position left him few squares and even fewer winning plans, the decision of course was understandable
in the first part of the double round.
The opening was a Queen's Gambit which left white only with a slight initiative in a symmetrical
position, and raised expeectations for another Magnus point against a GM. Having accepted a double isolani in the b-file
to exchange queens, Ovsejewitch still kept an initiative. Having allowed a disruption of his own pawn structure Magnus
was left worse on both pieces and pawns, as white played with rook and bishop against rook and knight, and was unable
to exchange away his own pawn weakness. Sacrificing a pawn at e6 to intervene with the pieces around the white king
turned out to be a decisive mistake, as white's own play against the king turned out to be the more dangerous, winning
another pawn and the game after 40 moves.
Today's Kallio went for 1.e4 and today's Harestad for 1.--- e5, after which the game landed
in a Ruy Lopez exchange. Black first seemed active enough against an ambitious white set-up including a long castling,
but following an exchange of black's black squared bishop, white got an initiative based upon his control of the d-file
and the squares a3-f8. During later tactical complications white first left his bishop hanging on c5 for several moves
and then went to insist upon sacrificing it at b6. Wheter everything was entirely correct still is an open question, but
spending all his time on the opening complications Harestad practically speaking made his task hopeless, and so
he in the end had to give back the piece after paying four pawns in rent for it.
Poulsen as usually made an ambitious start, this time with a Sicilian Grand Prix attack
which gave white some play on the queenside. The young Faroe player however became by far too loose when
he within three moves gave up first one pawn at b2 and then another one at f5 - the last one turning out to be a
camuflage-coloured piece sacrifice which within three more moves gave black the more dangerous attack. A
tactically awake Bluvshtein cashed in what he was offered and then gave up his attack to exchange into a minor
piece ending with an extra minor piece. Poulsen so far appears too uneven to be an IM-candidate, while Bluvsthein
still appearing somewhat laid-back still might be in the run for a top place and/or a GM-norm.
This was a Berlin Ruy Lopez with 3.--- Nf6 in which black looked fine and the position exciting.
A short storm of tactical exchanges around move 20 left white with an extra pawn in the rooks and minor piece
ending, but as black had the bishop and the cleraly better pawn structure he at least had compensation. What
might have become an interesting endgame duel disappeared in the dark when Johansen at move 26 blundered
his knight, even though he continued with an all the more hopeless endgame for 25 more moves. Paul too looks
too uneven to be an IM-candidate, while Heikki has been looking inspired the last two rounds.
The best player ever from the deep south of Norway was not too happy to get white against
the second best player ever from the deep south of Norway, but still got a pleasant English queenside initative from the
opening. As Tallaksen underestimated his own position he had to give a pawn at b7 without any compensation,
giving white the pleasant choiche between clearly advantageous endgames with two passed pawns for an exchange
or with an extra pawn in a double rook ending. He chose the rook ending, but did not look too optimistic for his
chances to win it against endgame master Tallaksen. The rest was predictable: Tallaksen defended excellent while
Leer-Salvesen found the wrong plan when establishing a totally blocked passed pawn on the queenside instead of
exchanging away his pawn weaknesses on the queenside. Leer-Salvesen needs more self-confidence and/or a more
suitable opponent to fight for a norm, while Tallaksen looks difficult to crack so far.
This result of course was a surprise, even when Valenti looked impressing in the second round.
Chess schicophren Molander started up with a closed Sicilian, but remembering that he intended to play for a win, he
soon tried to open the center again. Not for the first time Molander however became too loose, first missing that black
could take an a3-pawn, and then that he could reach back with the queen in time to secure the position. Valenti's play
for the rest of this 92 moves game was slow, as he only late in the endgame started to advance with his passed queenside
pawn, but probably excellent. The game was practically decided when Valenti won a second pawn by a tactical blow at
g2 after 50 moves, and Molander might very well have resigned when he was forced to exchange queens a few moves
later. With Valenti having less than five minutes left for the knight endgame the Finn fighter went on, but the Italian left
no doubt about the outcome, giving up his queenside pawns only to get two other ones on the kingside. Is Valenti aged
52 also a candidate for an IM-norm?
Something as seldom as a nearly understandable Sicilian. Black by natural means achieved
a flexible and active position against a very slow and/or just somewhat misunderstood closed white set up. As black
had by far the better bishops white's try to open up the center with d4, consequently turned out to be bad positionally
and even worse tactically, as it was downhill on skateboard to a nighmare ending two rooks, knight and six pawns
against two rooks, bishop and seven pawns. Later black's bishop at d4 became more dominating the the white knight
at d5, and controlling the open c-file with his rooks black had a pleasant journey to win the second pawn and the game.
Today's Stokke was the old boring one with that English fianchetto all Norwegian
masterplayers below 30 have nightmares about . Something went wrong with Black's Tarrasch like set up, as
white by natural means simply picked up the d5 pawn before 20 moves. Black's pair of bishops and better
pawn structure later gave him only potential compensation, as the white pieces remained active. There was
however still many moves left, when Charleshouse in a difficult clock situation blundered a piece at move 34 -
especially when Stokke noted it two moves later. Having won zero out of nine Troll Masters games in 2002,
Stokke looks very happy having won two out of three in 2003 - will this be his Gausdal breakthrough?
This was a Slav in which white castled short and black long. Having regained the c4-pawn,
white probably made the right decision when accepting a doubling of his kingside pawns to get the pair of bishops.
Whether he was right later to take two pawns more is to be questioned, as black achieved full compensation after
winning back one of the pawns and exchanging one of the white bishops. Black despite his obligatory time trouble
again played hard for a win, and after 40 moves had won back two pawns to be one up. It is however doubtful
whether he had real winning chances at any stage with only rook, bishop and three against rook, bishop and two,
as the bishops were different coloured and as black's extra pawn was a backward weakness at b7. The end came
by repetition of moves just before 70 moves, when the players in general and black very much in particular again
was about to rund short of time.
For some 25 moves this was only another balanced Caro-Kann position, in which both
players castled long to make sure that none of them got any attack. Even when white had queen and knight aganst
rook and bishop the endgame looked slightly better for black, as white's weak pawns at c5 and h5 were weaker
than the blacks at f6 and h6, and as black's centralized queen dominated the board. Still white had excellent drawing
chances until he at move move 31 blundered two pawns in one, and obviously disillusioned resigned when Hole
continued to check around after taking the pawns.
This started rather slowly, as black played a flexible but passive three
rank setup in the Kan Sicilian. White came better as his e5-break was much more critical than
black's h5-advance, and went on with a Nf5-sacrifice black hardly could accept. Unfortunately
for him refusing it too was a disaster, and so white had an extra piece and an easy win within five
moves. Berg will probably not be very popular among the 2200-players at the end of this week,
but deserve high points for style after having sacrificed the same knight at f5 and e6, and still having
it as an extra piece in the final position.
This was a Pirc in which black spent much time on the clock, but looked fine
on the board. Why white sacrificed a pawn appeared somewhat unclear, as black later seemed to be the
one having compensation. Stig K ran seriously short of time, but it was Nolsøe who trying to exploit it
then blundered a piece. Still having an extra piece when getting an extra hour, Stig K had no problems
to realize the win. Nolsøe can hardly be an IM-norm candidate following this loss, while Stig K has got
an excellent start following his inspired play in round 2 and 3.
White played much too passive in this dynamic Benoni fianchetto, and failed to
develop his queenside until in the endgame. Black's straightforward play in the meantime gave him all the
better pieces, and so white was already in trouble when a tactical detail removed his d5-pawn just before
move 20. Picking up another pawn at b3 black looked clearly winning in the rook and knight endgame.
Then howeverhe became much too inaccurate and careless, allowing white to transpose into a drawn
ending with rook and f-pawn against rook, c- and h-pawn. Probably tired after a long game starting early
in the morning, Johansson however made the last mistakes when a) placing his rook ahead black's passed
c-pawn instead of behind it and b) advancing with the f-pawn until white's king took it.
10 moves, Modern. Spending half an hour upon the opening black had no problems to equalize,
and as white exchanged at e5 a drawish symmetrical King's pawn structure arised. Both players wanted one day of rest
before the double round, following a long game in the second round. Knudsen is well en route for his FIDE-ELO, and
when informing his fan club about the “result” he is reportedly only sending them the number of moves and the name
of the opponent....
If Bjørgvik came close to earth again with some help from Sergei Ovsejewitch in the second
round, he got a hard landing today. Andersen second Pirc try was a better one, as he after two exchanges of minor
pieces got equal play without any problems. White's queen at a6 did not seem to give much, and so black having a
center advantage even looked slightly better in the middlegame. The outcome however was still left open, before
Bjørgvik blocked the emergency exit for his queen with 20.c4?? - and so found it captured at a6 after Andersen's
well timed 20.--- Nb8!.
Born a Nimzo with 4.f3, this grew up into a hanging pawn's position which looked very promsing for
white, as he could easily overprotect the pawns and had a strong pair of bishops luring behind them. As white at move 24 hit
with a critical d5-break black was probably about to collapse anyway, but it certainly accelerated the process to sacrifice
a knight at d5 - Bjørn-Erik more or less sarcasticly denied to take the piece directly, instead leaving three black pieces
hanging two moves later.
The outcome was not totally unexpected in the first part of the double round for two relatively solid
players having 0.5/2 and no norm ambitions. Unander was expected to make some try as white, and having set the pieces
careful into motion by a quiet fianchetto set up, he made a try to accelerate on the kingside around move 10. It however
soon turned out that black had a sound position with enough counterchances on the queenside, and so a sensible draw was
served at move 17.
In this King's Indian advance a la French, Astengo accepted an isolated c-pawn to get active piece
play in the middle game. If it was not correct it definitely looked so for the rest of the game, as nothing happened on
the queenside, while black's pawn attack on the kingside and control of the d-file pushed white all the more back against
the first rank. He ended up like a pancake with a pawn too little in the knight and rook endgame, which black elegantly
decided by letting his knight, rook and knight cooperate to escort in the passed e-pawn.
Black looked even better from this closed Sicilian, and as it was a Sicilian I guess his position
then was closed to positionally winning. Frustrated by never finding anything decisive on the kingside Karlsen however
(again) ran short of time and became self-destructive, blundering first two pawns, then a piece and then the queen (!?)
before 35 moves. Ask has been more efficient than well playing so far, but that helps a lot on the score - while what
Karlsen needs still is a "fast forward"-button working before move 30.
10 moves. This was an English fianchetto which transposed into a Queen’s Gambit Tarrasch,
where white “still” had an edge in the final position. Bryn jr saving for a FIDE-ELO was satisfied to draw a
rated player, while the rated player being black in a boring opening preferred to get on the record and to get
the bulletin on the tracks.
From an English opening this transposed into some strange Semi-Slav-position where black
first seemed fine. Playing too passive in the later part of the middlegame, he however ran into trouble particulary
when weakening his black squares in general and king position in particular by playing g6. White should have had
something decisive when playing for a direct attack before black got in Bg7, and/or when playing with an extra
pawn and still some attacking chances after the exchange of the dark squared bishops. In the rook and knight endgame
following the queen exchange his extra pawn was a backward d3-pawn, and having active pieces TT had no great problems
defending it.
This really was a smelling opening coctail, starting like an English and ending like a closed
Grünfeld-Indian, after having been a Cambridge Springs Queens Gambit in between (!?). Black had lost some tempos
along the windy opening road, and so white was clearly better even before winning the d5-pawn because of a c-file-pin.
A pawnstorm on the kingside later might very well have been black's best try, but still it was only weakening. Having
to pay pawn number two and three in the door to the endgame, black soon decided not to see the rest of the movie.
This was a Scandinavian in which white kept an initiative, and for some mysterious reason black
postponed his castling until blundering a piece by castling. Sander with clean German technique left no compensation
at all, and as black's try to show pawn muscles on the kingside was just cramp, our unlucky French friend again had to
stop the clock before 30 moves.
This game actually had two rating favourites, depending upon which ELO to use. Having advanced
rapidly the last months Jon Ludvig was the bookmakers' favourite, and appearently he came active from a "Nimzo-Dutch"
opening. Black however was so eager to attack on the kingside that he forgot to develop the queenside, and that became
all the more unfortunate as his attack on the kingside lead to nowhereland. Still not be underestimated, veteran Bue
hit back with an exchange sacrifice at d5 when black came short of time, and so black's king suddenly was the one
lost on the hunting field. Some discussons followed when Bue accidently replaced his pieces wrong in mutual time
trouble, but extra minutes for Hammer did not make much of a difference as he was anyway mate in the next move.
Following a quiet classical Nimzo opening, Ida demonstrated a will to play for a win early in
the endgame, playing a tactical Ne5 with the idea of sacrificing the knight at f7. Black's best answer probably was
to take the knight at e5, as he would actually get two minor pieces and a rook for the queen. Allowing Nxf7 he still
looked better, as white had only rook and pawn for two minor pieces, without much of an attack. Hörbing however never
found any good plan to open up the position for his bishops, and finally settled for a draw just after 50 moves - the
endgame still looked clearly better for black, as he could prepare a critical d5-break to open the position.
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