The reaction everyone for three rounds has been expecting for accelerated surprise FM Helge A
Nordahl, finally arrived today: His respectless piece sacrifice against GM Rozentalis became a
little bit too respectless, and so first seeded Rozentalis despite a slow start is leading alone
before round 8 - while Nordahl still needs 0.5/2 to take an IM-norm, but on the other hand still
can take a GM-norm with 2/2 or possibly with 1.5/2 (not to mention the exclusive tenth round
possibility). The other comet of the week however is flying around higher than ever before:
English FM Craig Hanley again demonstrated his endgame strength when squeezing GM Heikki
Westerinen, and so Hanley unless in case of a very low rated opponent in the ninth round
is already granted his fourth IM-norm, and 1.5/2 will be sufficient for his first GM-norm.
(And not to forget as Craig only needs 2400 to get the IM-title: He has won back about all
the ELO points he lost in Hastings last week!) Still no good news regarding other title
candidates, except for the fact that Magnus Carlsen won when he had to against an opponent
just above 2200: Womacka as a GM-norm for now is dying following his loss to Kallio in their
key game today, while Kovalevskaya can be considered buried following her surprising loss to
Mr Totally Unpredictable Finn Riku Molander - who following his slow start still needs at least
one more wonder to be a norm candidate. Rising Daniel Bisby made a waiting move in his norm s
earch when drawing Shumiakina, and both now need to speed up fast to reach the IM-demand after
round 10. Leer-Salvesen too is in trouble following his loss to Alexei Lugovoi, even when this
too was a tiny endgame loss. Rozentalis in short is leading half a point ahead Miezis, Hanley
and Kallio three round before the end, with heavyweigthers like Lugovoi and Ovsejewitch lurking
in the crowd waiting just around the corner.
Nordahl surprisingly played 3.Nc3, allowing Rozentalis to enter a
Nimzo-Indian. Almost certainly white had planned something evil which he was never allowed
to act out in the 4.f3-variation: Having exchanged the white coloured bishops just after the
opening, black achieved a sound and flexible position with chances for play in the c-file.
Having played e5 and Ng5 in search for a kingside attack, Nordahl stayed consequent with his
play as well as with his general attitude of showing no respect for GMs, when sacrificing the
knight at g5 to intervene with his queen at h7. From a scientific point of view it still looked
a little bit too respectless, as white had no minor pieces left for the attack. Black however
had ongoing problems to find a safe place for his king - Nordahl later ironically commented
that he would probably not have played the sacrifice against a weaker opponent, but if
he had done so the sacrifice probably would have won then. Rozentalis anyway defended excellent,
first evacuating his king to the center, and then walking back to h8 when the white pieces had
left the kingside. Black for some moves offered to return the knight, but then black had
threats against the white king making the gift too poisonous to be eaten. It all petered out
just before 40 moves, and when white tried to sacrifice his queen it was just a cramp.
Rozentalis leading alone for the first time is finally in control of the first prize, while
Nordahl needing at least 1.5/2 for a GM-norm still cannot take his IM-norm for granted.
This draw was not unexpected, but neither was it unexciting - Ovsejewitch
for 31 moves made a modest winning try as white, and Miezis balanced on the edge for the first
time in this tournament. Both played experimentaly in the opening moves, Miezis with 1.d4 e6
2.c4 b6, and Owsejewitch with 3.a3. Play later transposed into some kind of snake Benoni, as
black placed his bishop on d6 on front of his d-pawn. Fortunately (seen from a chess dogmatist's
point of view) it was after all a little bit too experimental, as Ovsejewitch having the pair
of bishops and a space advantage on the queenside looked at least slightly better from the
opening. Just before 20 moves he looked clearly better, as black's bishop at b7 looked truly
awkward behind a pawn at c6. Miezis however solved the problem straightforward enough by
playing Bc8 and then a tactical Bh3, as white's Nf3 needed protection from the g2 pawn. It
still looked dangerous as black later blocked the bishop's retreat by playing Qg4, and
eventually he had to give the bishop, but black had enough attack to get back the piece.
As white had a passed c-pawn and was playing with queen, two rooks, bishop and five pawns
against queen, two rooks, knight and five pawns, I would still have been unwilling to volunteer
as black against Ovsejewitch after 31 moves. Obviously having come to respect Miezis' defending
abilities, he however offered a draw without further discussions.
Forced to win to keep his hope for a GM-norm alive, Womacka true to his
style went for a patient Ruy Lopez exchange variation. Respecting Womacka's endgame strength
Kallio however did not go for a queen exchange, but instead for a sharp middle game position
in which black is castling long. It looks risky because of the weakened black queenside, but
as white had no clear breakthrough black's pair of bishops probably compensated. White still
seemed better when he suddenly went for a very un-Womackan knight sacrifice at a6, giving
lasting attacking chances but nothing directly decisive. Later white probably had something
better, but in retrospect the sacrifice still looked airy: Kallio gave up two pawns to evacuate
his king to a relatively secure center, and gradually exchanged away the dangers until being
left with queen and knight for queen and two pawns in the endgame. Having the more secure king
Kallio then confidently picked up the pawns, and finally decided by a counterattack on the white
king just before 60 moves. Womacka is definitely out as a GM-candidate for this tournament
following this try to be creative, while a still solid Kallio is in position for a moneyprize
before the three final rounds.
Heikki once more tested his 3...Nf6 in the Ruy Lopez, but a prepared
Hanley still came slightly better after exchanging at c6. Black however never lagged far
behind in the middlegame, hence white in the rook endgame still had only the classical
small advantage of a better pawn structure. It should not be sufficient to decide the game,
but once more a courtous but stubborn Hanley managed to tire out his opponent in the endgame.
White first was allowed to advance his kingside majority, and then to win the black g-pawn
against letting the black rook in on the queenside. Instead of taking the pawn at g6 Hanley
cleverly accelerated his part of the run, by sacrificing a pawn at f5 to advance the g-pawn.
Reportedly black could still save half of the day, but having a difficult choice between
several complex endgames he chose one of the wrong ones, and after giving up his rook on
the passed pawn landed in an ending with two pawns against a rook, which Hanley accurately
demonstrated to be winning for white. "just" - but that is Hanley's brilliant tournament in
one word...
Unlucky to get his second black against a GM in two rounds, "Bompi" again
came fine from the opening part of the test. After exchanging the black squared bishops at move
four white got approximately nothing out of a slow Queen's Gambit, and when he finally exchanged
at d5 black could reach a safe and symmetrical position by taking back with the c-pawn. Black
even looked slightly better in the second part of the middle game, as he controlled the c-file
and the better knight squares at c4 and e4. Again Leer-Salvesen however became too respectful,
and exchanged down into an endgame in which white's bishop and knight looked slightly better
than black's two knights. As black was able to exchange all kingside pawns the position still
looked clearly drawn, and almost certainly it was. While an awake Lugovoi went on to use every
chance of increasing his advantage a half-asleep Leer-Salvesen played without a plan - hence
white's king marched all the way around to d8, while black getting still fewer squares for his
pieces got still greater problems to defend his remaining pieces. Still having two pieces and
three pawns against two pieces an three pawns with symmetrical pawns after 52 moves black was
probably just lost, and after 62 moves he was in a comical zuzwang position, forcing him to
lose about all his remaining pieces in a few moves. Following this second unneccessary GM-loss
in a row, Leer-Salvesen needs a medium sized miracle to make a norm. Lugovoi has not been
frightening in his middle games this tournament, but he instructively demonstrated his strength
when offered the chance today - and might still win the tournament.
This probably was a Sicilian model game seen from a black point of view,
but I still got the feeling that it was much more a personal tragedy seen from a Kovalevskaya
point of view. Appearently just mixing up a closed Sicilian and a Grand Prix attack in an
awkward way, white failed both to get any real attacking prospects on the kingside and to
keep control in the center. Following a d5-break black's bishop at g7 together with his
heavy pieces in the d-file came to dominate, and when white played g5 in search of kingside
disturbances, black nastily turned the f-file against her by a thematical f6-break. Black
probably was positionally won from move 20, and having picked up a sound pawn at b2 he
switched to a kingside attack with a tactical blow at e5 in move 32. The rest was an
escalating chess massacre, and black effectively intervened with his heavy pieces to
create decisive threats against the white king before 40 moves. Never having had a
driver's licence valid for Sicilia myself I should probably feel better to know that
Kovalevskaya neither had one today, but I still felt sorry to see a player like her
getting lost in this way against a player below 2300. The actual player below 2300
however is a chess Alladin definitely having the capacity to defeat players above 2400 -
and if doing something similar in round eight he will be a norm candidate for round nine.
This game had to break the wave for one of the players, as Shumiakina's
strategy so far has been to draw no one, and Bisby's strategy to draw everyone. The beginning
was a Queen's Gambit in which white placed her bishop at f4. Black played actively with c5,
but the resulting isolani position looked slightly better for white, even when it redeveloped
into a hanging pawn's position. Having got the menu for a four hours grilling party Shumiakina
however threw the stick away by the way she exchanged queens, as the double isolani in the
b-file became the more important pawn weakness in the position from then on. Black probably
had the better long term perspectives following this, even when he had to watch out for white's
pair of bishops. Not willing to run any risk Bisby exchanged one of the white b-pawns to
exchange one of the white bishops. Black still looked "clearly slightly better" in the
remaining bishop and rook ending, and he obviously was as Shumiakina otherwise had never
offered a draw. Still undefeated Bisby is in his right still to talk about an IM-norm, but
if wanting to get one he should test his promising positions harder in games like this.
Present against a titleholder for the first time today Valenti looked
much too respectful, and he never made any try to put pressure upon black in a 3.Bb5+-Sicilian.
Not putting pressure upon a Sicilian reportedly is even more dangerous than to put pressure
upon a Sicilian, hence black equalized totally before 10 moves without doing anything except
standard moves. White still had a sound position until he suddenly backfired a canon when
suddenly trying to start a revolution on the kingside by playing 13.Nh4, 14.Bh6 and 15.Qf3.
I have seldom seen a more well placed d5-counterstrike, hence white had problems to save his
scattered forces from move 17. When black went on to play d4, black desperately tried to
sacrifice a piece. Not stopping the violent black d-pawn until it became a queen at b1 in
move 21, white however ended up with only a rook for two hungry bishops, and then he had
self-respect enough to stop the clock before 25 moves. Bluvshtein is out in the dark
regarding the GM-norm, but he might still end up in the lamplight regarding moneyprizes.
Odds were low for a draw unless Agopov got something from the opening in
this game, and he did not as Tallaksen has given up his earlier bad third move habits in the
Ruy Lopez, and instead entered a polite closed variation. White kept the traditional center
advantage for some moves, but black equalized totally at latest when getting in d5 after 21
moves. Later black if anyone had a slight initiative, although white was the one to refuse a
draw at move 31. Following sensible play from both sides the conclusion still became only a
queue of exchanges before 40 moves, and a dying endgame with rook and three against rook and
three after 40 moves. Agopov worries that being a Norwegian 2200-player obviously is the only
necessary qualification to draw him. If we are believing in the results so far being a GM and
white is a necessary qualification to defeat Tallaksen, but as being a Norwegian below 2150 so
far is a necessary qualification to be defeated by him, the Porsgrunn hope still needs 3/3 for
an IM-norm.
Needing a win to have norm chances, Magnus postponed his castling to start
a direct c-file play in this Kan Sicilian. Even though he had made several natural moves white
was better after 12 moves, but sacrificing a knight at d5 then definitely was an overreaction.
Black had to give up a pawn and his right to castle, but as any further white attacking
compensation failed to materalize, he still got the piece on very reasonable long term
conditions. Magnus did not hesitate to win later, and probably he did not have to give up
a second pawn and/or to allow what counterplay he allowed. The outcome still became an
endgame in which black had rook and knight for rook and two pawns, and which he won after
50 moves without too many headaches. Magnus still can take a norm with 2/2, while happy
person Nygren still is too loose to end up anything but an unhappy player against the really
good opponents.
This started up with one of the screwed modern variations of a Classical
Nimzo, in which black sometimes plays Na6-Nc5-Ne4-Ng5-Nh7-Nf8 before 12 moves. Unfortunately
none of the players showed any interest for that variation; white's pair of bishops and space
advantage instead gave him an edge while black's knight at a4 looked somewhat misunderstood.
Following too careless play by white, black however suddenly was allowed to win a pawn at c4
just after 20 moves. Later black was the one playing for a win, and he still had an extra
passed b-pawn in the endgame with rook and different coloured bishops. The remaining problem
not to be underestimated, was how to advance the pawn across white's active pieces. Harestad
definitely gave it a try: He was probably correct to sacrifice the h-pawn to start the advance,
but almost certainly incorrect to give the g-pawn even when the b-pawn then reached b2 - as
white's h-pawn soon threatened to reach h8. With both players about to run short of time for
the game Fäldt's play however drifted: He first sacrificed his bishop upon the b-pawn without
having to do so, and then missed a chance to win back the pawn with an extra pawn in the rook
ending. Keeping the bishop and blocking the h-pawn Harestad for some moves was in the driving
seat again, but running short of time he missed an elimination of the remaining kingside
pawns, and did not even find a possibility to play on with rook and bishop against rook.
While draw probably was the fair result both fighters afterwards complained about missed
winning chances, understandably enough as both now are left without norming chances.
Stig K was first suspected to hunt Hole in his own King's Indian
Advance sea when playing 1.d3, but following up with 2.f4 he clearified that his intention
was a Dutch Leningrad in advance. Allowed to play e4 and e5 white established a space advantage
on the kingside, but as black had a d-file and an exciting diagonal a7-g1 he seemed to have
sufficient counterplay. Not waiting for the counterplay Stig K went for a critical f5-break
just after the opening, and even when the queens left early both players spent much time in
a complex middle game. The critical question was about whether white's advanced passed pawn,
first to be stationed at e6 and then at d7, was strong or weak - or to be more accurate
decisive or falling. Probably black was better from a theoretical point of view, but with
four bishops running around the passed pawn, white had the easier position to play in mutual
time-trouble. As black frenetically denied to soften his defence by exchanging bishops, white
at move 28 could have got about a rook for the passed pawn. As he did not note that offer he
seemed in danger of having to give it for free some moves, but when black missed a second
tactical blow just after 30 moves, white was very much alert. The conclusion became a bishop
ending with an extra bishop for white, and so black immediately resigned when white got new
time. Stig K cannot behave like a 2200-player that much longer without becoming one, while
Hole will have to behave like a 2200-player if he wants to continue being one.
Armed with his beloved Accelerated Dragon Sicilian, black came better
from the opening. Blundering when about to exchange queens just after 20 moves he however
got only one pawn for a piece, and even when black had active pieces he looked losing.
While the old Stokke would have collapsed following the blunder, the new one however held on,
and managed to keep up an initiative making it difficult for white to realize his extra piece.
Nolsøe probably missed a win sometime somehow just before 40 moves, but it seems that he never
had anything clear cut enough for long time depressions today. As the game went on black kept
the initiative all the way into a rook and minor piece ending, and running out of pawns white
accepted a draw before 50 moves.
This was expected to be a boring game even before Bøyum Fossum introduced
his chronically boring Botvinnik English: Bøyum boy is satisfied to draw higher rated players
as white, while Charleshouse in his current form seems unable to win as black. The first pawn
exchange came at move 16, and that was to become the last one - leaving a very closed position
indeed difficult to win for both players. As black cooperated to close off the queenside
completely while white still had some possibilites on the kingside, white could have played
on without any risks instead of taking a draw at move 34.
I expected much more fun from this jumpy combination of players - and
definitely got it. The start was a Pirc in which white played an aggressive set-up a la a
King's Indian Sämisch. White's attack looked more than decisive as black snatched a pawn at
h5 marked with a double crossbone AND a red light. Keeping his own king relatively safe at e1,
white running down the walls with Bh6-Bxg7-Qh6+ followed by e5 AND g5, looked winning before
20 moves. Probably white missed the straightest way, as the game was still going on and as
white was about to run seriously short of time after 25 moves. White however remained in
control on the board, as he now had got back more pawns than he had ever given, while hunting
the black king around the board faster than ever before - and as usual when the flag of
Alf Roger's opponent was about to rise, the flag of Alf Roger was about to fall. Illustratingly
enough white never was to move his king from the initital square in the game, while the black
one moved 11 times and visited g8 as well as b6 before dying at e6 at move 33.
Unwilling to discuss theory surprise man Bjørgvik tried to make natural
moves in this Sicilian, and so black following some minor piece exchanges of course got a
pleasant initative. White between move 15 and 20 did wrong first by allowing black to exchange
the white bishop at g3 for a knight, and then by taking back with the f-pawn. While black's
fianchetto bishop later dominated the board white's isolani at e4 turned out to be nothing but
weak, and keeping the better pieces too black was more or less winning after taking the pawn at
move 22. Gambäck later had no problems to realize the win, transposing into a queen and bishop
versus queen and knight ending, in which black's passed pawn decided just after 40 moves.
Obviously eager to win as white Bjørn-Erik first entered a sharp four pawns
variation against Ask's King's Indian, and then established a promising center advantage as Ask
avoided the critical theoretical lines. Before move 20 white got in a tricky e5-break, the
disadvantage being only that black had active pieces and a fine position after the following
elimination of the center. Still eager to win Bjørn-Erik went on to sacrifice a pawn by a
thematic c5-break, the disadvantage being only that black was left with more active pieces
after returning the pawn. Suddenly eager not too lose Bjørn-Erik invited for piece exchanges,
and after all satisfied with a draw as black, Ask without protests went down to a drawn queen
endgame, which was immediately drawn after 33 moves.
Overall this was a shaky game, more exciting than well played. As white
chose an inaccurate order of moves for his Grand Prix-attack by playing 2.f4?!, black
confidently equalized by a d5-break. Astengo however got one of his tactical blackouts
after 13 moves, allowing a Nxf7 sacrifice simply winning the pawn. As black e6-pawn remained
weak white's position later looked overwhelming, but probably relaxing too much Berg soon
lost his pieces in the dark, while Astengo managed to fight himself into the game. Having
first destroyed his pawn structure and then given back the pawn at e5 for no obvious reason,
white even looked worse from about move 25, as black had the center and active pieces. As Berg
had started to play chess again the position probably was about balanced, when white at move
40 launched a more promising pawn sacrifice to get attacking chances on the kingside. Whether
the sacrifice was objectively correct is still left open for analysis, but it definitely paid
off as black spent his important move 41 upon moving his king from slightly exposed position
at h7 to a much more exposed position at g7. Later having excellent compensation white speeded
up his pieces, and got the necessary help to create decisive threats before move 50.
Simonsen's loss as white today was a surprise, even though Hörbing
has played himself up after the traumatic start. Starting as a slow, symmetrical and
closed Sicilian, the game behind the result was a shaky one. With the center closed
off with c4-d3-e4 against c5-d6-e5 black even looked better after 15 moves, as he was
allowed first to take initiative on the kingside with f5 and then to exchange white's
black squared bishop off for a knight. Black however played inaccurate when opening up
the kingside afterwards, and so his his own king at h7 turned out to be the more shaky
one. White's decision to sacrifice a knight at g6 still was to ask for too much, as black
had a dominating bishop for three pawns when finding a hiding place at d8 for his king. Later
allowed to place his rook on the seventh rank white kept disturbing attacking chances with
only rook and queen left, but the sea definitely calmed down just before 40 moves, when white
forced a rook exchange. Later white's king was the one in trouble, and Hörbing safely
fulfilled the win before 50 moves. Hörbing has turned his tournament at least 180 degrees,
while Simonsen when expected to stop his fall instead accelerated it today.
The longest game of round seven, this too was among the most complex and
turbulent ones. As it was a Sicilian Kan white's pieces on the kingside probably did not give
him any real attacking chances, hence black looked confidently equal even before the queen
exchange at move 23. Afterwards he even looked better, because although white had a clean
pair of bishops, black had an active pair of knights and half-open files for both his rooks.
It still looked hard to win against the barking bishops. (If anynone was in doubt) extremely
short of time for 40 moves, Karlsen however was helpful first to sacrifice a loose pawn for an
initiative lasting nearly four moves, and then exchanging one of the bishops to get a
chronically weak passed pawn at e6. For mysterious reasons Berning preferred to exchange
the pawn instead of just taking it, but he still came a sound pawn up in the rook and knight
ending introduced after 40 moves. Then Berning's usually excellent endgame technique however
took an hour off - when someting more happened, what happened was that white was allowed to
activate his pieces AND to win back the pawn. With rook, bishop and three against rook, knight
and three left on each side even the advantage of black was in doubt on the board for some
moves, but so of course was not his advantage on the clock. With Karlsen running short of
time for the game his play deteriorated, and suddenly becoming an efficient German again
Berning soon forced a promising ending with knight and three against bishop and two pawns.
Due to reduced material white kept drawing chances until overlooking that black was threatening
simply to promote his b-pawn into a queen at move 74, but as white had only seconds left on
the clock his task was probably practically hopeless by then. Ashamed by his play in the first
part of the endgame black was gentle enough to apologize his opponent immidiately after the
game, but white's self critical answer was "Do not worry, I am about getting used to this now...".
Chess improvizer Paul Johansen today was in the mood for an untheoretical
English variation. Out of his preparations before move 10 black played too passive, and allowed white
to get a center advantage and the more active pieces. Feeling inspired Johansen sacrificed a knight at
f5 in an elegant fashion at move 13, not minding that a primitive h-pawn attack probably was even stronger.
Having refused the sacrifice and forced the knight to h6, black was worse but alive until ruining his own
position with a multi-weakening f5 at move 16. White could have sacrificed his knight at f5 for the second
time at move 18, but his simple solution of taking with the pawn was enough to make black resign. Johansen
seems to be a yo-yo this year, while Larsen still suffers from his mysterious blackouts when facing 2200-players.
Officially a Trompovsky with 1...d5, this in fact became some kind of
Queen's gambit exchange without white squared bishops - of course then also without sorrows
seen from a black point of view. While white never got any minority attack on track at the
queenside black had some space on the kingside, and so he looked slightly better when the
last set of minor pieces left the scene at move 19. Playing f3 just afterwards probably
was an important mistake by white: The backward pawn at e3 later always became an attacking
target, as white never was allowed to realize e4. White's position still looked difficult to
crack, but short of time he had to work full time to safeguard both e3 and a black h-file
intervention. The decisive mistake ironically came on the queenside, as 38.a4? weakened
both the white a- and b-pawn, allowing black to snatch both when his queen had intervened
via h2. Lönngren still stubborn to win games finally is en route, while Unander six days
after the arrival has still not refound himself.
Via 1.Nf3 play transposed into a Slav, in which black returned the pawn at c4
without any protests. Symmetrical pawns voted for a draw after the opening, but as white had weakened
his queenside with a4 and b3 and placed his queen exposed in the c-file, black even held a slight initiative
after 13 moves. Instead of following up the initiative by hunting the white queen black however immediately
invited for a queen exchange, and a draw was agreed in a balanced position the very next move.
The start did not look too exciting: Johansen went for a solid Orthodox
Queen's Gambit, and Svensen chose as his weapon a seldom played e4-break giving white a
modest plus at best. Allowed time to play b6-Bb7-c5 black looked fine after 12 moves.
Then he however insisted upon overlooking completely why white played an everything but
subtle 13.Neg5!?, allowing a jackpot 14.Nxf7!. Still playing much too fast and overlooking
completely what his opponent had in mind, Johansen went for "complications" which ended in
a smothered mate with Nh6+-Qg8+!-Nf7# two moves later. Obviously fascinated by his position
Svensen gave himself a break for some minutes before playing Nh6+, but as Johansen still
denied to take the hint, the mate finally was demonstrated on the board after 18 moves.
I had a favourite not being any of the players in this game, even
before they entered a safe, symmetrical and boring Russian variation. The creative
highlight came when Hammer after eight moves parked himself for 47 minutes, and then
pseudo-sacrificed a pawn by leaving his knight at e4. White could probably have played
for an advantage by leaving the pawn weak at e4 instead of accepting the pawn, but he
took it to end up slightly worse after a counter-sacrifice at h2. Overall not overambitious
to win games Sander was happy to avoid a second loss to a 12 year old in this tournament,
while "Lille Hammer" enjoys to draw grown ups still having much more rating.
Seemingly in doubt about his own ambitious Korhonen first made a slow
start with 2.Nc3 and 3.Nge2 against Pedersen's Sicilian, but then suddenly speeded up with
4.d4 and 6.g4 followed by long castling. Not much more happened on the kingside for some
moves, and having realized d5 and kept his king at e8, black looked to be ahead in the run
after 15 moves. Definitely his attack should be the more dangerous one, when white by a
strange 19.Nb3 accepted a double isolani ahead of his king in the b-file. But while black
failed to find a decisive breakthrough on the queenside, white finally came running on the
kingside when the flag forced him to do something. Hence a complex balance of attack and
defence intensified when white was short of time and black desperately short of time.
Black got the upper hand when white blundered an exchange at move 32, but still lacking a
mating scheme himself he still had to watch out for his king in the center. With white
having only seconds left to reach 40 moves black made a critical and possibly dubious
decision to intervene on the seventh rank with Qf2, forcing white to find out whether
he could allow Qc2+ within a very few seconds. White should have continued his own
attack by Bxe6, but instead landed on an unhealthy compromise as he first played
36.Qg5-d2 to prevent Qc2+, but then allowed it by playing 37.Qd2-g5. As Qc2+ not
sensationally turned out to be winning because of the double extra tempo, white was
lost on the board too when the flag let him down at move 38.
Four moves, did anyone note the opening? Knudsen wants a FIDE-ELO
above 2000 and needed to stabilize following a "long castle" in the last three rounds, while Johansson
aged 62 naturally feels more comfortable if getting 1-2 short draws during an intensive and young
tournament like this one.
Bryn jr made an ambitious start with a Dutch Leningrad, and got the intiative
as he was allowed to play e5 and e4 before ten moves. Later the position danced around the vital e4-pawn,
protected by an army of black pieces and attacked by an army of white ones. At move 14 white's ultimatum
was a draw or tactical complications; refusing the draw black had to accept the complications. After 18 moves
they had given the interesting outcome of two pieces for a rook and two pawns. While black had an iniative
in the short run, white might have had the better long term prospects. The players however chose not to find
out, and instead immediately agreed a draw.
Bryn sr first went for the "Norwegian" 4...b5 against Nilsen's Ruy Lopez,
but instead of the consequent 5...Na5 then opted out for a delayed Schliemann with 5...Bc5.
Showing that he might be a master of closed positions too, black confidently equalized in
the very closed "bankbox" position which followed. The first piece left the board only at
move 21, but then it happened all the more dramatically, as white sacrificed a knight at
g7 too speed up the game. Getting two pieces for rook and two pawns and the better attacking
prospects, black however was the one to accelerate. His counter-sacrifice with 27...Ngf4+!
probably was just winning, and at least it within five moves brought him a won ending with
a pair of bishops for a rook. Even when black still needed some moves to open up the position
for his bishops, the endgame still was completely winning for black when he accepted a draw
just after 40 moves. It is a pity that our helpful odd number substitute became too afraid
to win today, but following a hard start his play has kept up with the new level of opponents
surprisingly well.
The players via 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 Bg4 stubbled into a Slav exchange
variation, in which some minor communication problems arose between white and his pieces, as he
played e3 before exchanging pawns at d5, and then Qb3 afterwards. Black's bishop on g4 however
was misplaced too, and following too careful play by black, white still got an initiative by advancing
with f4 on the kingside. White looked clearly better for some moves as black had problems to get
her king out of the center. The advantage however minimized as the king was allowed to find a
relatively secure square at f7, and as black was allowed to exchange enough pieces to avoid the
dangers of a direct kingside attack. White still came slightly better in the queen and knight endgame,
as black had an isolated double e-pawn. Saulnier however was staring by far too hard on the black
e-pawns when exchanging down to the pawn endgame, missing that black thanks to her more active
king actually came better. White lost his c-pawn while black kept both her e-pawns, but almost certainly
the pawn endgame still was drawn, as black could not use her extra pawn to produce any passed pawn
on the kingside. Obviously shaken by this depressing turn on a depressing game, Saulnier however made
the decisive mistake by allowing the black king access to c4 by playing 37.b4+?? - and so white lost on
zugzwang because black's backward e-pawn held an extra tempo.
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