Amazingly enough Troll Masters does not have a single participant on 4/4, following a tight 40 moves draw between
IM Mathias Womacka and FM Helge A Nordahl on the first board. Generally drawish top boards today was good news for
the surprises playing there, meaning first Nordahl of Norway and second FM Craig Hanley of England. Drawing opponents
around 2500 today both strenghtened their cards, and they are well ahead of schemes for IM-norms so far. No obvious
candidate for a GM-norm has been presented yet, but 3.5/4 in that regard is a satisfying start for Womacka as well as
for WGM Ekaterina Kovalevskaya. The top overall looks exciting and unpredictable - winning convincingly today, first
seeded Eduard Rozentalis and second seeded GM Alexei Lugovoi in no way have given it up yet.
This was a tight Sicilian Najdorf, in which white castled long to play for a kingside attack. The
position was positionally diffuse even on a Sicilian scale, as both players had split pawns and as it remained unclear
whether white's pair of bishops where better than black's knight and bishop. Black reportedly was not worse from the
opening, but white according to unconfirmed rumours had some chances in the later middle game and around the transposition
into the endgame. The endgame with rooks, bishop and five pawns on each side looked drawish, but as Womacka often does not
respect drawish endgames, Nordahl was still happy (and cool) to claim a a draw on third time repetition at move 40 with his
flag hanging.
Miezis surprisingly opted out of his usual English system to go for an even more "patient"
(read: boring) Botvinnik set-up. White actually trolled a promising queenside intiative out of it, even when Miezis'
evaluation of the position as "totally winning" (of course) was an exaggaration (but please do not ask me to defend the
position against him....). Tired by getting up so early and/or by meeting a GM, Miezis however suddenly lost speed in
the middlegame, allowing Heikki to strike back with d5 in the center. Later left with the e-file and the better bishops,
the Finn veteran after regaining the d5-pawn played first with the better attacking chances and then even with an extra
pawn. For a few moves having two extra pawns in the fifth hour of play Heikki probably missed a win sometime somewhere.
In the final endgame with bishop and three against knight and two, white's advanced b-pawn and active king finally saved
half of the point at 5.50. Heikki has made an inspiring start, while Miezis having sacrificed the lunch without even
winning the game was not in his best mood.
This was probably a good move for both players during a double round, but nevertheless disappointing
from an spectator's point of view. Still trusting his English, Hanley entered the scene with short and slow Botvinnik
steps. Controlling the d- and f-files white possibly kept an edge, but if so this advantage was without practical
significance as he lacked intervention squares. Symmetrical pawns and cloned pieces indeed made the position very
drawish when the players left for an early lunch at move 28.
A few minutes before the round it became clear that Valenti unfortunately was unable to play
due to illness. As Valenti declared himself fit for fight well in time for the pairings of the next round, he was
of course still included in the tournament. Happily his opponent was already a GM, and so the walk over did not
affect the norm chances.
That was much more like it: This game between two young IMs still hoping for a GM-norm turned
into a tactical wild horse show. Leaving the king at e8 looks dangerous, but is of course normal in a Sicilian.
Not respecting that white went for a knight sacrifice which looked airy, and so did the following rook sacrifice.
Cleverly giving back the piece but not the rook, Agopov still looked winning in the endgame. Bluvshtein's three
connected passed pawns however were disturbing at least, and when they became four Agopov just after 40 moves
settled for a repetition of moves.
White got a space advantage with d5 and e4 against d6 and e5 in this closed Sicilian, but his
seemingly promising play on the queenside (of course) turned out to be nothing but a misunderstanding, as the a-file
was empty and as black could easily overprotect her pawn base at d6 and go on rolling with f5 etc on the kingside.
Black's position might very well have been strategically winning after 20 moves, but white still was very helpful
when trying to attack the black pieces in front of his king with the kingside pawns. Exchanging his black squared
bishop against a knight and then playing h3-g4-f3 white left himself without any chance to save the black squares,
hence it was hardly surprising when his pieces started to fall apart just after 30 moves. Kovalevskaya following this
impressing black victory very well deserves to be tested against the top seeded; Gambäck must show up a second edition
to be an IM-candidate.
Rozentalis made a quiet start with a closed set up against Hole's Caro-Kann, and as black was
allowed to take a space advantage on the queenside and to exchange the white bishops, he looked fine from the opening.
In the middlegame Rozentalis however quickly demonstrated that white could a) open the f-file and b) use it as a
springboard for a kingside attack, logically culminating in c) a highly unpleasant exchange sacrifice at f6. Hole
probably had to give up his queen when black hit at f7, but as white ended up with one queen and two connected passed
pawns for two rooks, the game was never again to become exciting.
This was a Sicilian Sveshnikov in which white played 9.Na3-b1 and gave up the pair of bishops at f6,
but reportedly still came fine from the opening, as his knight on d5, pawn at f6 and f-file made the situation very risky
for black's king. Nygren made a dramatical brakthrough with a Bxf7-sacrifice which forced black to give up her queen;
the remaining problem was only that getting rook, bishop and pawn for the queen with an active pair of bishops and an
active pair of rooks, black refused a draw and went on to win decisive material and get a decisive counterattack against
the white king before move 40. Shumiakina's games have in one word been "shaky" so far, but in another word she definitely
looks "tough" enough to take an IM-norm.
This started as a King's Indian Advance a la French, which seemed to give white excellent drawing
chances. Apart from the symmetry black however had no problems from the opening, and following a queen exchange white
probably should have avoided, black got an intiative on the queenside. White's position still looked resistant, until
he running short of time first lost his e4-pawn and then allowed a rook intervention on the second rank. The outcome
became a double rook ending with two extra pawns for black, and as they had reached respectively the sixth and seventh
rank, Andersen was completely lost anyway when losing on time at move 36.
Having started a new career as a chess free thinker, Stig K captured a pawn at c5 in a Queen's
pawn opening, but soon returned it to establish a passed pawn at b5. Later white creatively sacrificed the pawn to
intervene in the b-file, but although white after exchanging queens got an a-pawn back black still got the advantage
due to his pair of bishop and passed c-pawn. This still seemed to be the situation when a draw was agreed at move 31,
hence I find it surprising that an ambitious player like Bisby did not play on.
This game was doomed to become a theory duel; the battlefield happened to become the new Anti-Meran
fashion with 6.Qc2, 7.Bd3. As white thanks to a tactical detail was allowed to fix the c6 weakness with b4 white kept an
edge, and transposed into an isolani position giving white excellent attacking chances. Facing a critical d5-break a few
moves later black felt obliged to sacrifice an exchange for only a pawn. Due to inaccurate play from white, black's passed
d-pawn still gave him drawing chances with queen and knight against queen and rook. After 50 moves and nearly 5½
hours the players seemed about to exchange queens, leaving white with less than 15 minutes to demonstrate the win in a
complex rook versus knight ending. Instead of forcing a queen exchange Stokke however blundered the d-pawn, and resigned
without (unneccessary) tests of Geir Sune's technique. When Geir Sune might be an IM-norm-candidate it is because of his
ability to play his games all the way out; when Kjetil S is not yet, it is because he is still blundering too often.
Clearly playing for a win Magnus started up with 1.e4 today, and entered an at first look slow
4.Qxd4-line, which after the second look turned mad just after ten moves. Having castled long Magnus pseudo-sacrificed
a piece at e5 in move 12, but instead of returning the piece with a wrecked position Berg gave up his queen and
two pawns for two pieces and a rook. As black's king still was exposed his position looked dangerous, but his pair
of bishops and active pieces made the position chronically unclear. After 25 moves Berg's position even looked
preferrable, as he finally had completed his development and placed the king relatively safe at f7. With Berg running
desperately short of time Magnus however found a new attacking road on the kingside, and obviously in a joyfull and
creative mood he gave up an exchange to hunt the black king to a8 and pick up three more pawns along the road. As
white was about to get five pawns against none he was probably clearly better anyway when black just before 40 moves
blundered an exchange - leaving his remaining pieces on the queenside paralyzed looking at the running white h-pawn.
This was a Sicilian in which black met no pressure, but in which white's position remained difficult
to crack. He however was too modest when transposing into the bishop and rooks endgame, and so black was clearly better
even before white missed a tricky transition leading to a pawn endgame with one pawn less. Lugovoi's play today was not
astonishing in any way, but on the other hand he showed no signs of lasting wounds following yesterday's tragedy.
Stomach ill chess improviser Molander today was in the mood to test one of his more or less
untheoretical queenside fianchetto systems. It however did not become much of a success, as Bjørn-Erik by conventional
means realized both e5 and d5, achieving a space advantage approximately of the size of Canada. Having had (among other)
to return his knight back to g8, Molander looked to be ready for delivery each move. Bjørn-Erik used the chance to spend
much time not finding any decisive breakthrough, and probably due to frustration then entering tactical complications
which Molander turned out to have evaluated much better: Following the execution of all minor pieces and a number of
pawns black was left with an extra pawn and active heavy pieces, while white only inherited time trouble and a lot of
open space around his king. Black's attack anyway was decisive when white at move 36 lost on time while considering
the ruins of what according to him "hardly could have been a better position". This collapse almost certainly as the
end of Glenne's hope for an IM-norm for now. "Almost certainly" still is a term I hesitate to use related to Molander,
but his play has almost certainly not been too impressing so far.
Obviously not uninterested in another draw against a 2200-player, Knudsen tried to close off as much
of the board as possible, with an opening being slow and closed even in the Reti class. He succeeded only for a very
short while, as Fäldt is an excellent positional player when given time to arrange his pieces. Black's space advantage
soon left white with an unpleasantly tight position, which collapsed just after 20 moves when he blundered a vital e-pawn,
after which black's queen intervened and together with his minor pieces made up a decisive attack within a few moves. Fäldt
still looks like a great master when meeting weaker players; it remains to test whether he can handle that role against
better players too. Hopefully this game was just a bad morning for Knudsen, and not the beginning of a new era in his
tournament.
This was a messy Benkö game, in which black first seemed to have the standard "about sufficient"
line & diagonal compensation for the pawn. When "winning" an exchange for his dark squared bishop he however entered
trouble, as white's passed e-pawn and active pieces later terrorized the black position. Lönngren however ran much too
short of time, and then totally lost the grip in a still complex position. Having only a few minutes left himself Poulsen
was gifted to take his tactical chances, and having blocked the passed pawn at e7 he soon went on to hunt first some white
pieces and then king. Lönngren in the end reached 40 moves, but then his only way to stop a mate was to stop the clock.
This was another Sicilian, in which white with a strong knight on d5, the better pawn structure
and the black king stranded on e8 looked to have a promising position, but where black's pair of bishops of course
turned out to be the only thing worth a care. Following a misunderstood queen exchange white short of time faced a
difficult defence against the bishops, and even when he temporarily had the more active pieces after giving up an
exchange, it was all a fight against the tide. Having reactivated his pieces, black after 50 moves gave back the
exchange, to decide without any problems with two extra pawns in the rook and bishop endgame.
This was a relatively slow 6.Qc2 Anti-Meran variation, in which Harestad filled with ambitions
went for an immediate e4-break in the center and castled long. White got a strong initiative and a dominating pair
of bishops as black reacted inaccurately, and when he later snatched a pawn at h2 white seemed to have a decisive
attack on the kingside. Even when Ask defending well from then on managed to avoid a total disaster, he following a
rook-sacrifice at g6 was left a pawn down with the more exposed king, still with all heavy pieces left on the board.
Harestad true to his bad habits at this stage had something like two minutes left for fifteen moves, hence he within
the next three managed to turn the position into a nightmare, as white allowing a counterblow at b2 had to give up his
queen for two rooks. As black got one queen, two connected passed pawns and an unlimited number of checks for the
reasonable price of two rooks he was later just winning, and following more time trouble mistakes Harestad actually
went mate just after 40 moves. Ask got another bonus for being fast and efficient, Harestad another tax for still being
slow and inefficient.
This was a short but intense game, especially in the class of Caro-Kanns. Charleshouse advertised
for complications when answering Bg4 with Qb3, and followed it consequently by snatching a pawn at b7 and breaking in
the center with d5 - obviously not minding that his own king was still to be found in the open center lines. Johansson's
decision to exchange queens definitely was an emergency exit, as white had an extra pawn, a pair of bishops and the better
rooks. Theoretically some bookmakers probably were right when predicting a long game, but practically black was already in
deep trouble when blundering two pieces for a rook and resigning at move 23.
Not scared by his jumpy start on the tournament, Simonsen as black opened the f-file by 3.--- f5?! in
the Ruy Lopez (also called Jänisch gambit, but things are not getting more sound because they got an acceptable name.
Compare me). White however either forgot or did not know about the critical tests, and having refused the pawn he
helped black to a promising f-file attack among other by weakening Nf3 with g3. White for a while saved himself from
the direct threats by placing his queen at g2, but short of time he suddenly switched his plan 360 grades by snatching
a pawn at b7, leaving his queen with a long and thorny road back to the king after d5. While the queen tried to travel
back via b4, black decided the game by mate via an elegant rook sacrifice at h2.
Sander gave his Scandinavian another test in this German prestige duel, but still landed in trouble
even when white played a slow system with 4.g3. The center pawns blew up within a few moves after the opening, leaving
white's centralized heavy pieces in very threatening positures. A truly entertaining tactical chaos later ended up with
something as little entertaining as a knight endgame with an extra pawn for white. I still got the feeling that white had
something better somewhere in the crowd, but until told anything else I consider the endgame good enough, as white's
kingside majority when connected with a German technique and an extra pawn instructively decided.
Bue's arrow today was one his closed, slow and untheoretical set ups. Nolsøe got a sound position
by pretending that he was playing a Queen's Gambit Tarrasch, but even when his bishops were the stronger ones, white's
position with symmetrical pawns and reasonable pieces still looked solid. This however changed suddenly, as white having
denied to exchange white squared bishops weakened his kingside by f4, and overlooked an acrobatic Nh4 creating an
unpleasant threat against g2. The end coming after just 25 moves was an elegant one, as black sacrified his queen on
b8 to complete a mating attack on the white king with his remaining pieces.
This started as a sensible symmetrical Botvinnik, but that image suddenly changed as chess
schizophrenic Tor Kristian Larsen suddenly went crazy again by sacrificing first a rook and then a knight at e6,
based upon air around the black king and not upon any kind of concrete variations. While Larsen for mysterious reasons
spent two moves to transport his knight to e6, Unander made reasonable moves to give his king a parachute, and when the
knight finally reached e6 white hence had the choice between exchanging queens, giving up a third piece for less
compensation than ever before at e6, or to stop the clock and try to take it a little bit slower next game. He made
the right decision.
This slalom game was hardly the qualitative highlight of the day, but definitely an entertaining
one. Korhonen achieved a clear advantage from the opening, as black's pawnstorm on the kingside only left his own
king awkwardly placed at e8. After getting the necessary help by black to open the e-file, white at move 21 missed a
brilliant queen sacrifice at e7, which would have given him a decisive material advantage within four moves. White still
kept attacking chances in the e- and f-files, but frustrated by a stubborn defence from Bjørgvik, he became too eager when
trying to blow up black's position by a rook sacrifice at e6. Bjørgvik despite being short of time found the necessary
defending moves to preserve his extra rook, and after 40 moves definitely decided by sacrificing his rook to get another
queen. Korhonen's play so far probably reflects the fact that he is coming straight from another intensive tournament in
Helsinki, while Bjørgvik defeating his second rated opponent is a true sensation, probably about to achieve a FIDE-ELO
some 500 points above his national one.
A Scandinavian with 3.Qf3, this left theory early for a balanced endgame with two rooks, one bishop,
one knight and a balanced number of pawns on each side. As white apart from placing a knight at d5 remained seated, black
without running any risk was allowed to take initiative on both wings and to activate his king. Still not finding any active
plan white landed in a probably difficult ending with knight against bishop, which became definitely lost when black was
allowed first to establish a passed pawn on the sixth rank and then intervene on the queenside with his king. Johansen
seems about to overcome his starting problems, while Bryn jr still has problems to demonstrate his best play at Gausdal.
This was a positional Caro-Kann line, in which black never found any counterplay against white's
initiative on the queenside, as white's king on g1 was safer than the black one on f7. About to be overrun on the
queenside black after 20 moves tried to complicate by a knight sacrifice at d4, but getting two pawns and no play
black later (too) was just lost. During mutual time trouble white soon demonstrated that black's king still was the
exposed one, and so the game was decided anyway when black just before 40 moves missed a fork winning the queen.
Probably this was a good game by the bulletin slave, who following an unambitious opening showed
up the clearly better understanding of a symmetrical King's Pawn position. Black's problems probably started when he
forced himself to exchange at f4, giving up the symmetry and allowing white to establish a dominating e5-pawn. Black
probably had to exchange it when white later placed an octopus knight at d6, but if so he was already lost: White's
passed pawn at d6, his pair of bishops and his threats to intervene on f6 or e7 with the remaining knight, later left
black in dire straits - not to mention that he was also 1-2 pawns down. The formal end came just before 40 moves, as
black's queen on d3 was arrested by the bishop police on the same diagonal as Kg6.
This was the first game to finish in round four, and a truly shocking collapse from Hörbing. Black
came fine from his meeting with an ancient Steinitz line in the Classical French, as he instinctively blocked the white
attack on the kingside with f5, and then started a more dangerous counterattack against black's king on c1 by a c5-break.
A few moves later white simply missed that black could kick away his knight on c3 by the simple mean named d4, and forced
to allow a pawn loss and queen inviation at a2 with unpleasant threats against the white king to follow, a shocked Hörbing
resigned after just 14 moves. The beginning of the tournament has been a tragedy for Hörbing regarding play as well as
points, while Bøyum Boy for the first time got paid in points for his play.
Both players seemed eager to get away from the bottom row of tables, hence the game turned into a long
and hard struggle, nearly depriving the players their lunch. Saulnier went for closing with a slow Colle-like system,
against which Torgersen launched an aggressive and Dutch-like set up with d5, f5 and Ne4. For some moves both players
tried to attack their opponents king on the kingside. Later white might have had a slight plus because of his pair of
bishops, but his queen-exchange was a serious misunderstanding, as his rook was left offside in the h-file for the
endgame. Failing to find what chances he still had to get the rook out of the kingside death row, white ended up losing
an exchange on h4. Allowing white to get a rook for his passed e-pawn later was completely unneccessary, but not fatal,
as black having five pawns against bishop and two still could have won by advancing his passed h-pawn immediately. When
he failed that chance, the endgame however became so drawn that continuing it really was a waste of lunch for both players.
Today's Hammer hit for a win with 1.e4, and soon showed up the better understanding of a classical
Italian game. Having directed his knight against f5, his rook against f6 and his bishop against f7 he simply trapped
black's bishop at h5 by a violent g4, and continued the attack when black tried to sacrifice at g4. Despite his troublesome
start of the tournament, an inspired Jon Ludvig showed self-confidence when refusing a winning endgame to continue the
attack - within a few moves resulting in queen win, mating attack etc etc.
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