Round 5 first and second was a good round for the Norwegian norm chances, all the way until Tallaksen lost a six
hour endgame to Ovsejewitch. It started with dynamical balance and middle game draw for Nordahl against GM Kallio,
went on as Magnus Carlsen had few problems to win as black against Mr Unpredictable Paul Johansen, and became
complete with the sensation of the day - FM Bjarte Leer-Salvesen's win in a fire game against IM Mark Bluvshtein.
While both Leer-Salvesen and Carlsen are in the norm run when we are waiting for the second part of the tournament,
FM Craig Hanley is the second norm candidate behind Nordahl, following his mysterious endgame win against IM Agopov.
Both Agopov and Bluvshtein are out as GM-norm-candidates following their losses today, while a long draw between
WGM Kovalevskaya and IM Womacka on the first board means that both still have possibilities, but that both are
behind the scheme for 2601. No one protests against the excitement about the top places in the tournament:
The first place after the first half is shared between four GMs, one IM, one WGM and three FMs - and so the
sensational leader Helge A Nordahl will play on the fifth board in round six.
Both players needed a win really to be in for a GM-norm, but they still
made a slow start with a very closed Sicilian - leaving both players with eight pawns, seven
pieces and no advantage. White's try to start a queenside attack with b4-b5 early in the
middlegame looked nothing but misunderstood, as the b5 pawn turned out to be nothing but a
weakness following a timely d5-break from black. Having secured his kingside by a f6-break
Womacka picked up the b5-pawn before 25 moves, but the backward pawn at e6 remained weak
enough to make it difficult for black to realize his advantage. Never lacking patience
Womacka still should have an excellent position to work on, but he probably became too
eager when snatching another pawn at a3 with his queen just before 40 moves. Later white's
play with queen, rook and knight against the black king at least was annoying, and having
exchanged the rooks Womacka felt forced to accept a perpetual check after 46 moves.
Via 1...g6 play transposed into a King's Indian, and obviously still having
ambitions, Nordahl went for a critical four pawn attack. Kallio left theory for a slow and
unthoretical queenside plan with a6-b5-c6, which looked much too slow. Having played e5-exd6-
dxe7 white got the clearly better pawn structure, hence black went for complications by
sacrificing an exchange. Even when black's pair of bishops made it difficult to win, he
could hardly claim full compensation with four of his five pieces left on the first two
ranks, and with his knights passive at b8 and a8. Having used a little bit too much time
Nordahl however suddenly remembered that a draw against the GM actually was an excellent
result for his norm chances, and so both kings were on the board and both players in the
analysis room after 22 moves.
Heikki gave his Winawer speciality with 4.Nge2 the critical test against
Rozentalis. It gave white nothing, but the ending with rook, bishop, knight and six pawns
against rook, two knigths and six pawns still looked drawish. On the first look the endgame
with bishop, knigth and four against two knights and four also looked drawish, but as
demonstrated by Rozentalis white had done something seriously wrong somewhere in between
the two endgames, as black now had a passed pawn on the queenside, an attacking road for
his king to the kingside, and the better minor pieces. Westerinen resigned after 53 moves,
as his kingside pawns were falling en masse in the knight ending. Winning
his first black game and his first game against a GM tonight, first seeded Rozentalis
finally seems about to demonstrate his true strength for the Gausdal crowd.
Miezis' black opening repertoire might not be the strongest, but on the
other hand Shumiakina's white openings seldom gives much - and so a slow queenside fianchetto
as a compromise gave black no problems and no party today. Following some tactical exchanges
the players were left with a nearly symmetrical and seemingly drawish position with queen,
rook, knight and six pawns on each side before 25 moves. White even seemed to have s slight
initiative then, but again running short she found no plan, and allowed Miezis to successfully
rearrange his pieces. Following a knight exchange it still looked drawish until Shumiakina just
before 40 moves blundered her important b2-pawn; later Miezis had few problems to transform
into a winning ending.
Not unexpectedly this became the longest game of round five, finishing
only after 80 moves and 5.57. The start was a Nimzo with 4.Qb3, following some exchanges
leading to a symmetrical structure in which white's pair of bishops however gave him a
practical plus. Tallaksen was probably wrong when allowing white to give up pair of bishops
to reach an isolani position - as reduced material of course gave black no attacking chances,
while the isolani just fell a few moves later. Following some more exchanges, this time some
tricky ones, white was left with an extra pawn in the queen endgame. This almost certainly was
winning, even when white had only three pawns left against two, as black could hardly achieve
anything against the white king and/or stop the passed a-pawn. The double round finally ended
after 5.57, when Ovesjewitch had two queens and Tallaksen no more checks.
This "goodbye" to GM-norm-candidate Bluvshtein and "hello" to
IM-norm-candidate Leer-Salvesen was very well deserved, as Leer-Salvesen's inspired play was
among the best showed so far in this tournament. Bluvshtein unexpectedly went for a main
variation in the Queen's Gambit Tarrasch, but opted out with a seldom seen a6 just when the
variations are about to became critical. While black looked unhappy with the position and
weakened himself on both wings with b5 and g5 without getting any attack anywhere, white
intensifed his pressure in the middle of the board. His advanced pawn on f6 combined with
an active queen and two very active knights became a permanent troublemaker for the black
king, and so it was no sensation that the tactics worked out for white - even when the
variations where many and when he had to play them with about a rook less for some moves.
The conclusion became queen and pawn for rook and bishop in the endgame, and even when worried
Norwegians feared that Bluvshtein was close to raising a fortress on the sixth rank, "Bompi"
soon demonstrated the entry door. Was that the door to his first IM-norm? "Bompi" at least was
very happy to pass this critical doorstep without losing to a 10 year younger player for the
first time.....
This was a mysterious game, in which everyone thought Agopov was about to
halt Hanley's advances. White's kingside attack proved not to be too dangerous, but still he
held first a space advantage and a pair of bishops after a strange Old Indian opening, and then
one and for some moves even two pawns more - with a black bishop seemingly awkward at h6. With
Agopov running short of time without finding any decisive breakthrough fast playing Hanley
however first achieved counterplay on the queenside, and then got jackpot as white after
opening the g-file for black by exchanging at h6, blundered an exchange to land in a lost
ending, where black's queenside majority soon brought him a new queen. This was the final
goodbye to Agopov's GM-norm-chances for now, while Hanley actually is closer to that schedule
than to the IM-schedule at the moment.
Poulsen dared to test a Grünfeld against Lugovoi, but sidestepped the main
variatons by the seldom seen 6...Nb6?!. There is however a reason why this is seldom played,
as white got a pleasant space advantage. Having all the more active pieces and a threatening
passed pawn at d6, white confidently sacrificed an exchange at d5 just after 20 moves, and
gained a decisive material win before 30. Following his third game tragedy, Lugovoi did what
he could do to rehabilitate himself in the double round.
This became an odd and foggy Pirc duel, in which white being ahead in
development and having a space advantage must have been better in the early middlegame -
even when black's pieces had much potential energy. Then white allowed black to win a piece
by a simple e5 double attack. Getting only a pawn for the bishop white later looked lost,
even he had some pretty knights in the middle of the board. Stig K. gave back an exchange
to get off the board both knights, and so had an excuse to accept a draw before the time
trouble - even when black having two pieces for rook and pawn, still looked better in the
final position.
This closed Sicilian first looked fine for black, as he got a b-file and
some small queenside play which usually is very important in the Sicilian, while white only
had a kingside initiative which usually does not give anyhting at all in the Sicilian. The
kingside suddenly exploded as white creatively sacrificed a knight at g4, but the fire soon
died out, as both players without demonstrating it at the board realized than white had a
perpetual and nothing but a perpetual. Still possible norm chances for both, but I left
with the feeling that both needed a win in this game.
Magnus invited for an Aljechin, but accepted to join an untheoretical and
four knights like 1.e4 e5 opening. While white seemed interested to close as much as possible
black played aggressively for a win, breaking up on the kingside with h5 followed by g4. Chess
street fighter Paul Johansen surprisingly went wrong on the very next corssroad, entering
complications leading to nothing but a totally lost endgame with only a passed h-pawn for a
piece. Hoping for a miracle to come in the h-file Johansen played on, but when the pawn finally
reached h7 at move 43, his king turned out to be mated. Magnus looked confident today, and is
still a hot IM-candidate following 2/2 in the double round.
Finally a Sicilian like I want them to be: White got a clear advantage
even when he met 2...Nc6 with 3.Bb5 and a slow queenside finachetto, as black had passive
pieces and a first backward then isolated pawn at d6 to care about. Winning the d6-pawn at
the gate to the endgame, white having his extra pawn in a queenside majority should have
excellent winning chances with bishop, knight and six pawns against bishop, knight and five -
even when the bishops were different coloured. Unfortunately it did not end like my favourite
Sicilians do, as white blundered a pawn in a very unneccessary way just before 40 moves,
leaving a dead bishop ending to be buried just after the time control. Valenti looked fit
again, but having lost the fourth round on walk over he probably needed a win in the fifth
to fight for an IM-norm.
Charleshouse surprisingly entered a Benoni in which white can get a
relatively safe plus by taking back with the e-pawn at d5, and so white was only a little
bit better during the middle game. The advantage turned as black was allowed to sacrifice
his bishop at h3, but he was probably mistaken later to give up his pair of bishops for a
double c-pawn, as the following ending with rook, knight and four pawns on each side was
too drawish even for Charleshouse; only a dead rook ending with two against two pawns was
left after 65 moves.
This was another 3.Bb5-Sicilian; in this one black when invited snatched
a pawn at d4, but following some piece exchanges he had to give it back a few moves later
to get castled. The remaing ending with queen, rook and five against queen, rook and five
looked very drawish, but probably due to white's queenside majority play still went on for
25 moves. Then draw was reached in a creative way, as black sacrificed a pawn to achieve a
passed h-pawn, which finally forced white to take out a perpetual check.
Is Hole about to start playing real openings and/or for an advantage as
white? At least he entered something as theoretical as a Classical King's Indian, in this
prestige brain duel between the present masterplayers from the university chess club. Black
got his usual counterplay on the kingside, but Alf Roger got his usual time trouble cramps,
and then Hole managed to balance the kingside with one hand and continue his c-file attack
with the other. With his flag shrinking black at move 38 tried to increase the pressure
against f3 by an acrobat Nh2, but it definitely failed as the f3-pawn instead captured the
knight at g4 two moves later.
Black dared to enter a hedgehog-relative Sicilian set up against the
1.e4-Stokke. Everything looked normal for nearly ten moves, but then the game suddenly
turned into a chess comedy. It all started as Stokke carelessly played 10.b3?, allowing
black to play Nxd4 11.Qxd4 Bf6 with unpleasant threats against Nc3. Unhappily unaware of a
medium fantastic escape with the tactical counterblow 13.Nd5!!, a depressed Stokke gave up
first a pawn and then an exchange at e5, at least to get some bishop activity for the material.
For half a move he did not have much, but then Berning made a grave positional error by
castling long straight into the bishop diagonals. Black later felt forced to return both the
exchange and the pawn, and then both players felt shaky enough to share the point without
testing the ice of a roughly balanced endgame.
This too became a somewhat comical game, as black's king at f8 in the end
was surronded by a white queen at h8, a rook at h7 and a pawn at g6 - and that was before
white decided to blow up the black kingside totally by playing 30.f6 too! In the earlier life
the game was a Sicilian Scheveningen in which white went for a direct murder, playing first
f4-f5 before move 10 and then g4-g5 before move 20. Aas white himself has castled short it
looked a little bit dangerous, but as black hesitated by far too long to counterattack, the
outcome became a deep fog around the black king, and a massive mate at g7 at move 31.
This was an (over)ambitious Trompovsky, in which white played e4-e5,
and then castled long to start a pawnstorm on the kingside. Black however had an active
pair of bishops, and following a counterbreak in the center his attack soon turned out to
be the more dangerous one. To be more accurate, white following another black break in the
center was about to be mated in the a-file. For once in trouble on the clock too Unander
desperately tried to scarifice two exchanges in the g-file, but immediately resigned as
black decided to force an exchange of queens instead of blundering mate. Unander still has
difficulties to find his usual 2200-strength, while young Berg simply seems to be a disguised
2200-player.
Not uninterested in a draw and definitely interested in avoiding opening
disasters, Bjørgvik started the game up with a slow and symmetrical Italian. Black played
9...Kh8 followed by 11...Kh7, but apart from that demonstrated the better understanding of
the opening, and got strong attacking chances based upon the f-file. At move 22 black had
attacking chances based upon his knight on f4, even when that was then only remaining minor
piece. At move 27 it was all over, as Bjørgvik first gave up his h-pawn by playing h4, and
then missed a decisive exchange sacrifice. A relaxed victory by Harestad, who did not even
run short of time - but Bjørgvik is of course still among the sensations of the tournament.
This was a turbulent game accurately shared in part one (before 20 moves)
and part two (after 20 moves), with white looking like a titleholder in the first part and
black in the second part. The start was a modest exchange variation of Caro Kann, in which
black got a symmetrical pawn structure and white a pleasant piece initiative. The tournament
seemed about to turn into a nightmare for Glenne when Karlsen hit him with a nice piece
sacrifice at b5 at move 14 - within three moves leaving with a sound exchange up. While white
spent much time upon parking his pieces on the queenside, black however used his time to get
on track something reminding about an attack on the kingside. The decisive turning of the tide
came at move 24, when white much too carelessly snatched a pawn at a5. Black efficiently turned
the table at least 180 degrees by sacrificing an exchange at a5 to create decisive
counterthreats against the white king with his queen and four minor pieces. Desperately
short of time and hope, Karlsen took the first train into a wall before move 30. Bjørn-Erik
for now saved his tournament, Terje K. needs to speed up on the clock and/or to slow down on
the board to do the same.
In this b-final of the Swedish apartment, Lönngren true to his style went
for a slow positional edge with a Catalan. Ohlzon however soon turned out to be the closer
friend of that opening (too): Following a long time identity crisis for white's black squared
bishop it was sacked at move 13, leaving black with the pair of bishop and a promising c5-break
with the white queen misplaced at c2. Lönngren however entered the life jacket and hang on to
the pawn symmetry by exchanging at c5, leaving black "only" with a piece initiative - which
was to last all the way into the endgame. Ohlzon playing with queen and bishop against queen
and knight then managed to establish a strong passed pawn at c3, but spent (far too) much time
without finding any way to pass the white blockade. Black was still better on the board after
39 moves, but that did not help him much, as white then decided the game (and shocked one IA,
two WGMs, one IM and one GM busy with the time troubles of the top boards) simply by yelling a
90 decible "TIME". A heartbraking loss for Ohlzon still struggling to get points out of his
openings, but knowing the flag still is a part of the playing strength.
This truly was a boring one. Svensen's insisted on playing Trompovsky even
when he must have been told by someone that it gives nothing against 1...d5, and having
exchanged the problem child of a white squared bishop at move four, Astengo of course had no
worries to enter a Queen's Gambit. The players cooperated to bury the remaining minor pieced
during moves 12-17, but later finding themselves left among sixten pawns and six heavy pieces
in a truly drawish position, they immediately afterwards agreed to call the double round a day.
Aware that Bøyum boy is a Botvinnik boy, Knudsen answered 1.c4 with b6,
but later transposed into some kind of Sicilian finachetto variation, in which white got for
free a pleasant pressure against d6. (Black might have believed that the d6-pawn could never
become weak as it was a Sicilian position, missing that this mysterious rule for even more
mysterious reasons is not valid when play has transposed into Sicilian from another opening!)
Knudsen's dramatical solution to the problem about the weak d6-pawn became to sacrifice it, but
white's new extra pawn at d5 turned out to be a lasting one. (Being a dogmatic chess thinker I
of course hate isolated pawns even more than I hate Sicilians, but even I have to admit that
it is OK with a Sicilian isolani position when the isolani is an extra pawn!) Just after 30
moves white exchanged the d5-pawn against black's h5-pawn. Black might have had drawing chances
due to reduced material in the following bishop ending, but as white had a sound extra pawn
with pawns left on both wings, he at worst had excellent winning chances. White anyway won it
convicingly before 60 moves by advancing his king to h7 - black resigned facing the nuclear
bomb threat of Kh8 followed by f6 gxf6 > g7 > g8Q. Fossum for a change got points out of his
promising play during the double round, while this was the day Knudsen started to lose games.
This looked like a very convincing positional victory for white, but black
gave him a helping hand from the start by going for some suspect kind of hippopotamus set up
with b6-d6-e6-g6-h6. I have never understood the meaning of such a behaviour, especially if
you are playing for a win against a lower rated opponent (in a foreign country!). If things
got a meaning Korhonen never demonstrated why, and so "Lille Hammer" by natural means
established a space advantage on the queenside, in the center AND on the kingside. White
showed up a good understanding when exchanging queens and white squared bishops, as he was
later left with the c-file and the better bishop, while black was trying to figure out whether
b6 or d6 was his main weakness. Running short of time Hammer might have played inaccurately
around move 25-39, but handling a strategically won position he still had enough time left to
decide the game by a nice tactical Bxd6 at move 40. Getting two knights for a rook, white
later easily decided by advancing his passed d-pawn. Hammer following his difficult start
was hitting hard today, while taxi driver Korhonen might be about to receive a chess parking
fine from the arbiter.
Via 1.Nf3 c5 this transposed into even another Sicilian with 3.Bb5+. White
later seemed slightly better thanks to his center pawns at e4 and d4, but having the c-file
and a flexible position black should be fine. White's e5-break at move 14 looked aggressive
more than convincing, as white's pawn at e6 looked about as weak as strong following some
piece exchanges. Pedersen however spent too much time in the middle game, and then made a
dubious decision when exchanging his pawn at e7 against the white one at e6, as black's king
later was left seriously exposed at g8. Seriously short of time Pedersen first gave up a pawn
to exchange queens, and then definitely failed the rook endgame by blundering another pawn
just before move 40. "TT" effectively took the pawns and safely decided the endgame, and
seems about to overcome his difficult start.
This was a Kan Sicilian in which white first had a slight initiative,
and following an e5-break he got a seemingly promising isolani position - as black's isolani
at d5 looked weak and as white's pawn at e5 together with his bishops directed against the
kingside gave some attacking chances. But black still had two bishops and a c-file, and so
nothing was decided after 18 moves. All pieces except the white king however were replaced at
move 21, as Bue suddenly commited positonal suicide by opening the door to his own king with
19...g6? - and then threw the door and the wall away by 20...g5??. Fortunately Bue snatched
the last chance to demonstrate that he had only temporarily lost his chess understanding,
meaning that he resigned immeditaley when 21.f6 turned the canons against the black king.
White kept a slight edge from this not too exciting Queen's Indian Fianchetto, but
lost it at latest when a sound playing black after exchanging two sets of minor pieces realized d5 just before
move 20. Following a second group tour of exchanges, black's knight at d5 approximately balanced white's
c-file, with queen, rook, knight and six pawns left on both sides. White was probably wrong to play on for a
win following the rook exchange, as black's passed a-pawn gave him what winning chances left for the queen
ending. As black had an airy king the position after 40 moves still should be within the drawing border, but for
mysterious reasons Johansson after five hours of play first stopped checking the black king, and then exchanged
a probably drawish queen ending into an obviously lost pawn ending in which black got passed pawns in both
the a-file and the h-file. Larsen following this patient victory is on the track for a good tournament and a FIDE-ELO,
despite a difficult start. Heading the other way around Johansson after the first half is below schedule, but his play
has not been that bad - the two endgame collapses illustrates more his lacking form to stay six hours against 40
years younger opponents, than any lack of endgame strength.
Black looked fine enough from this evening meeting with 3.Bb5-Sicilian - a strange
maneuver like Nh6-Ng4-Nxf6 of course is within the socially acceptable in a Sicilian. Black however became
a little bit too kind during a later steem of exchanges, and so ended up in a double rook ending being "clearly
slightly better" for white, as black had an extra pawn island and two possible pawns weaknesses at a7 and c6.
Eager to win a game Nilsen dressed in his grill devil suit and went on to increase the pressure with a satisfying
endgame technique. Black was probably helpful both when answering h5 with g5 just after 40 moves and
when accepting to exchange one set of rooks a few moves later, as it soon turned out to be impossible to
defend a6, c6 and h6 in the single rook endgame. Black might still have had drawing chances with rook
and three against rook and four, but definitely lost it to a still well playing (and stubbornly smiling?) Terje N.,
when giving white a passed h-pawn by exchanging h6. Nearly is still not enough for Bryn jr, while Nilsen
seems about to acclimatize.
A slow birth was registered for this game, as Saulnier refused Hörbing's
open King's Indian challenge by a closed set up with e3 and b3. The game however turned sharp
in the middle game, as both players despite/because of their depressing tournament start turned
out to be eager for the whole point. White's positional grip on the queenside for a while seeme
superb to black's attack on the kingside, as black had no attack on the kingside. Trying to imagine
that he had an attack black realized e4 and f4 while white failed to develop his position, and black
even got in a tactical Ned4-stroke just before 30 moves. The problem being only that the outcome
of the stroke was exchanges favouring white, because although the extra pawn at c5 was member
of a double isolani, it gave him a grip on vital squares and attacking chances in the b-file. With both
players acting during pressure from the clock Saulnier however was the one to break apart between
move 30 and 40 - first stumbling into a tactical e3-e2, then allowing a critical f3, then answering it with
g3 and then missing the last chamces to save himself from a direct mate at g2.
This not too theoretical Caro-Kann with 2.Nf3 seemed closed, sensible and fair enough
from a black point of view, until she at move 9 much too carelessly took back at f6 with the knight - and
probably even until she instead of admitting the mistake by giving up the right to castle after 10.Bb5+ ! returned
the knight to d7, landing in a pin which won an exchange for white within three moves. White however had to
weaken his kingside by g4 to get the exchange, and so black succeeded to demonstrate some compensation
thanks to her pair of bishops and the fact that white had no safe place to hide his king. Following some inaccuracies
by white, black probably had enough compensation before playing 19...Qe7?, missing that white could win a pawn
by 20.Qxd5!, based upon an e-file pin. White instead played 20.c4? and offered a draw, which was accepted in a
probably about balanced position - and so all 60 players have a score before the second half of the tournament.
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