Grading

Dear Chessfriends (and others accidently passing by)

     Only a few months delayed, you can spread out across the next xx(x) pages find ELO-calculations and a motivated grading for all 60 participants of Gausdal Troll Masters, presented in the order of their final place. All ELO-calculations are inofficial ones made by me: Mistakes might occur due to wrong use of round off, wrong use of coefficient, or some other kind of Lahlumian mistakes. Regarding the grades they are (meant to be) relatively related to the player's expected strength, but for (hopefully) obvious reasons there will still be a tendency for higher grades in the top and lower grades in the bottom of the standings. An outspoken opponent of the idea that chess should be included in the Olympics and/or in the national sport federation of Norway, I have this year succeeded in suggesting an alternative sport in some way or another being recommendable for each of the 60 players. Please excuse, forgive etc if I happen to hurt some of the players (or some of the readers) along the road, it obviously never was my intention to do so when writing this - as I never had any intentions when writing this.

Please note before yelling that all comments are based exclusively upon the subjective impressions of one person, unfortunately happening to be me, armed with a somewhat strange sense of humour and an ELO about to fall below 2200, and being short of time (without any time increment) during as well as after Troll Masters 2003. My always helpful webmaster is completely innocent - and so is the nearly always helpful ICDTSTELFTL ("International Committee Designed To Save The English Language From The Lahlum"), which has not been consulted as I used the time planned for me to write + the time planned for the committee to read over my writings + five weeks more just to write these comments. All counter comments, questions, corrections, remarks, threats etc are to be sent me at hanso.lahlum@c2i.net.

As far as I can be said to have any conscious thoughts, one of them is to prioritize present participants before non-present non-participants during my tournaments - and another one to think twice and to get some historical distance before publishing what I write about other persons, instead of throwing it out only because it still got some interest. (This hesitation often does not help enough to save the text, I know - but then you have not seen the earlier versions...) After the last round I have found it necessary to postphone the publishing some 20-25 times among other because I prioritized to get in the rating reports, to interview the sixth GM of Norway, to help my team to reach the Norwegian team final (they did it only despite my disturbing bothering, I know....), to make the necessary preparations for Gausdal Classics 2003 - and sometimes even to sleep....

Having said this in pure self-defence I of course again apologize the numerous delays of this webpage for all (= both) my readers. Hopefully those delays will not frighten too many off from playing future Gausdal tournaments, as the overwhelming mass of you obviously already have got more than enough such reasons. Finally I hope some (or to be a realist: One) of you are as happy to read this now as I am to declare the webpage of Gausdal Troll Masters 2003 finally completed! I hope there will be such a homepage in 2004 also, even though this means that I will have to make a tournament too....

H@ns Ol@v (hanso.lahlum@c2i.net) on the night before 22. March 2003.
1. GM Eduardas ROZENTALIS 2. GM Normunds MIEZIS 3. FM Craig HANLEY 4. GM Sergei OVSEJEVITSCH 5. GM Alexei LUGOVOI 6. FM Magnus CARLSEN 7. WGM Tatiana SHUMAIKINA 8. GM Heikki KALLIO 9. FM Helge A NORDAHL 10. WGM Ekaterina KOVALEVSKAYA 11. IM Mathias WOMACKA 12. Geir Sune TALLAKSEN 13. IM Mark BLUVSHTEIN 14. IM Mikael AGOPOV 15. FM Riku MOLANDER 16. Daniel L. BISBY 17. Magnus FÄLDT 18. Hans Krogh HARESTAD 19. Alf R. ANDERSEN 20. Martin POULSEN 21. FM Bjarte LEER-SALVESEN 22. GM Heikki WESTERINEN 23. Stig K. MARTINSEN 24. Olaf BERG 25. Tobias LöNNGREN 26. Tarjei J. SVENSEN 27. Josef ASK 28. Kim NYGREN 29. Øystein HOLE 30. Bjørn-Erik GLENNE 31. Paul JOHANSEN 32. Terje TORGERSEN 33. Øystein Bøyum FOSSUM 34. Eydun NOLSØE 35. Björn GAMBÄCK 36. Giuseppe VALENTI 37. Nils-Johan OHLZON 38. Glenn CHARLESHOUSE 39. Pasi KORHONEN 40. Matts UNANDER 41. Kjetil STOKKE 42. Corrado ASTENGO 43. Jan A. BJØRGVIK 44. Stefan HÖRBING 45. Boris BERNING 46. Olavur SIMONSEN 47. Rolf SANDER 48. Øyvind PEDERSEN 49. Terje NILSEN 50. Jon Ludvig HAMMER 51. Tor Kristian LARSEN 52. Ragnar KNUDSEN 53. Terje KARLSEN 54. Per JOHANSSON 55. Gunnar BUE 56. Steinar BRYN 57. Ida LAHLUM 58. Askild BRYN 59. Kai-Roger JOHANSEN 60. Jean SAULNIER
1) GM Eduardas ROZENTALIS (MCT Vilnius, Lithuania - born 27.05.1963 - seeded 1)

Results:
  1. Draw as black against Bjørn-Erik Glenne 2203.
  2. Win as white against Josef Ask 2128.
  3. Draw as black against Daniel Bisby 2283.
  4. Win as white against Øystein Hole 2252.
  5. Win as black against GM Heikki Westerinen 2374.
  6. Win as white against WGM Evgenija Kovalevskaya 2585.
  7. Win as black against FM Helge A Nordahl 2303.
  8. Draw as white against GM Normunds Miezis 2523.
  9. Win as white against FM Craig Hanley 2359.
  10. Draw as black against GM Sergei Ovsejewitch 2517.
Current ELO: 2585
Average of opponents :2353 5
Expected score :7.9/10
Actual score :8.0/10
Performance :2593
Change of ELO :+1

Objectively speaking, Rozentalis is probably too great a greatmaster to deserve anything more than a "4" for any performance below 2600. His starting point however was a truly difficult one: He had traumatic memories from his last Gausdal try, and as the top seeded by nearly 50 points he needed a place at least at top three not to lose ELO. Neither was the start too promising, as Rozentalis drew 2200-players Glenne in round one and Bisby in round three - the first one with two pawns up from a winning position as Rozentalis for once failed to understand what was happening, the second because nothing ever happened.

For the rest of the tournament Rozentalis however demonstrated his true strength for the exclusive Gausdal crowd: Having outplayed Hole he demonstrated his brilliant endgame strength by slowly squeezing Westerinen and Kovalevskaya, and calmed down a hot Helge A Nordahl by excellent defending play. In between solid GM-draws against Miezis and Ovesejewitch, he in round nine decided the first place by a crushing miniature against Hanley.

Following his slow start Rozentalis was a little bit lucky with the opponents: He never got the critical test against second seeded Lugovoi, and met only three opponents above 2400 - hence 8/10 won him just one more ELO-point. Winning ELO as the top seeded in a title qualifying Swiss however is a great performance anyway (according to everyone having tried), and the Troll as well as the 1001 EUROs came very well deserved: No one lost fewer (none!) OR won more games (six!) than Rozentalis this year. And no one were as complete a chessmaster as the little Lithuanian chess giant: Seen in retrospect he was never in danger of losing, and in fact it is hard to point out a single position from his ten games in which his opponent had an advantage! Beside his triumphs on the board Rozentalis spent one of his evenings off to give a free lecture for the other players; I think this five is more than average deserved. Rozentalis was the succesful biathloner of Troll Masters 2003: He just walked around and looked confident for some rounds, and then accurately brought down everything he gave a shot.

2) GM Normunds MIEZIS (Liepeja CC, Latvia - born 11.05.1971 - seeded 3)

Results:
  1. Win as black against Nils-Johan Ohlzon 2176.
  2. Win as white against Olavur Simonsen 2265.
  3. Draw as black against IM Mikael Agopov 2376.
  4. Draw as white against GM Heikki Westerinen 2374.
  5. Win as black against WGM Tatiana Shumiakina 2364.
  6. Win as white against FM Bjarte Leer-Salvesen 2329.
  7. Draw as black against GM Sergei Ovsejewitch 2517.
  8. Draw as black against GM Eduard Rozentalis 2585.
  9. Win as white against GM Aleksei Lugovoi 2540.
  10. Draw as black against FM Craig Hanley 2359.
Current ELO: 2523
Average of opponents :2389 5
Expected score :6.8/10
Actual score :7.5/10
Performance :2582
Change of ELO :+7

Never having taken less than 6.5/9 at Gausdal, Miezis overall has done better here than anywhere else in the world. Still 7.5/10 and second place was above expectations. Starting with 2/2 and 5/6 Miezis had clearly stronger opponents than Rozentalis, meeting eight titleholders and all the three other top rated. He is less complete than Rozentalis and was in danger of losing at least against Westerinen and Hanley. Miezis however looked inspiring and was impressing in all his five winning games - particulary when defeating Lugovoi in the key game of round nine. Unshared second place and a performance close to 2600 is strong even on a Miezis scale, particulary as he was unlucky to get six blacks. Still he lacked the last round win against Hanley which could have given him the first place and a performance above 2600, and hence I think a "6" will be to overreact.

As always Miezis' main strength is his overall chess intelligence and optimism, making it possible for him to play for a win in almost all kind of middle games even against qualified opponents. His achilles heel as always is the opening, even when his reperoire is solid enough to avoid disasters even as black against GMs: After the first two rounds he hardly got one obvious advantage from any opening, and a well prepared 2300-player like Leer-Salvesen had no problems equalizing. But equalizing against Miezis is by far not the same as drawing Miezis; once more he became the optimistic and successful 3000 meters hurdle runner of the field.

3) FM Craig HANLEY (Nortwest Eagles, England - born 23.03.1984 - seeded 12)

Results:
  1. Win as black against Pasi Korhonen 2115.
  2. Win as white against Eydun Nolsøe 2236.
  3. Draw as black against WGM Evgenija Kovalevskaya 2452.
  4. Draw as white against GM Sergei Ovsejewitch 2517.
  5. Win as black against IM Mikael Agopov 2376.
  6. Draw as black against IM Mikael Womacka 2496.
  7. Win as white against GM Heikki Westerinen 2374
  8. Win as white against GM Heikki Kallio 2474.
  9. Loss as black against GM Eduardas Rozentalis 2585.
  10. Draw as white against GM Normunds Miezis 2523.
Current ELO: 2359
Average of opponents :2415 6
Expected score :4.2/10
Actual score :7.0/10
Performance :2564
Change of ELO :+42

As Hanley lacked the bitter half point to get a GM-norm in round nine and ten, giving him top grading might appear generous. No one however considered twelth seeded Hanley a GM-candidate before the tournament: His goal was a fourth IM-norm, and having fulfilled that after seven rounds he went on to make his best result ever, finishing third with 3/5 against the GMs. Meeting five GMs, two IMs and one WGM Hanley had stronger opponents than anyone else, and still lost only as black against Rozentalis.

True enough Hanley was lucky in several games: Never getting much out of his openings and seldom playing middle games, the base of his play was a low time spending, a very low level of mistakes, and a patient but creative endgame strength: He was lucky to squeeze 2/2 out of two drawish endgames against Nolsøe and Westerinen, and to scrape 1.5/2 out of two probably lost ones against Agapov and Womacka. No news were good news for Hanley in the drawn games against Kovalevskaya and Ovsejewitch, while the highlight of Hanley's tournament was his positional crush against Kallio - and the low point of course his disasterous collapse against Rozentalis.

In the final game against Miezis Hanley first came tearfully close to a decisive advantage, but in the end could smile as he saved a draw by a one tempo margin. He was the cool and patient sailor of this tournament, being skilled in his movements and lucky with the wind all the way until he was thrown into the water by a disguised tornado named Rozentalis in the ninth round. Careless enough to play Hastings before Gausdal Hanley still cannot be promoted into the "IM-list" in my address archive, but getting the remaining ELO-points should only be a question of short time.

4) GM Sergei OVSEJEWITSCH (Ukraine - born 04.05.1974 - seeded 4)

Results:
  1. Draw as white against Corrado Astengo 2172.
  2. Win as black against Jan ARne Bjørgvik (1609).
  3. Win as white against FM Magnus Carlsen 2279.
  4. Draw as black against FM Craig Hanley 2359.
  5. Win as white against Geir Sune Tallaksen 2258.
  6. Draw as black against GM Heikki Kallio 2474.
  7. Draw as white against GM Normunds Miezis 2523.
  8. Win as black against FM Helge A Nordahl 2303.
  9. Draw as white against IM Mark Bluvshtein 2461.
  10. Draw as white against GM Eduardas Rozentalis 2585.
Current ELO: 2517
Average of opponents :2379 4
Expected score against rated opponents:6.2/9
Actual score against rated opponents:6.0/9
Performance :2504
Change of ELO :-2

Ovsejewitch's first Gausdal tournament was a solid one, and apart from Rozentalis he probably showed himself as the most complete player of the field: The Ukraine GM neither lost any game, and was hardly ever in danger of doing so. This time we however hardly met the creative attacking player Ovsejewitch also is at his best: His wins against Bjørgvik, Carlsen, Tallaksen and Nordahl all were working day victories confirmed only in the endgame, and the draws overall were not too exciting. Surprisingly unable to win despite a pawn more in a long endgame against Astengo in the first round, Ovsejewitch still got a promising start by winning three out of his next four games.

In the second part of his tournament he was however not ambitious enough to really fight for the first place, taking three relatively short draws as white in his key games against Miezis, Bluvshtein and Rozentalis. Serious and professional in all his behaviour, the humble Ukraine still appeared a little bit tired and uninspired, and getting six whites probably was not any great advantage, as his white openings appeared more or less toothless against heavyweight opponents. Overall he confirmed his playing strength and got a satisfying moneyprize, but landed just below zero regarding ELO. Our Ukrainian friend may qualify as a chess decathlon, but if so he at least for now had his strength in the longer running distances.

5) GM Aleksei LUGOVOI (St Petersburg Lentransgas, Russia - born 05.03.1975 - seeded 2)

Results:
  1. Win as white against Kim Nygren 2202.
  2. Draw as black against FM Magnus Carlsen 2279.
  3. Loss as white against FM Helge A Nordahl 2303
  4. Win as black against Corrado Astengo 2172.
  5. Win as white against Martin Poulsen 2244.
  6. Draw as black against IM Mark Bluvshtein 2461.
  7. Win as white against FM Bjarte Leer-Salvesen 2329.
  8. Win as black against FM Riku Molander 2291.
  9. Loss as black against GM Normunds Miezis 2523.
  10. Win as white against GM Heikki Kallio 2474.
Current ELO: 2540
Average of opponents :2330 3
Expected score :7.7/10
Actual score :7.0/10
Performance :2479
Change of ELO :-7

Second seeded Lugovoi immediately fell in with the friendly Gausdal atmosphere, and clearly demonstrated himself not only as a very social and positive person, but also as a player of great capacity. Even when a shared third prize was no disaster from a financial or prestige point of view, he as an ambitious chess perfectionist was hardly satisfied with his play and/or by scoring more than half a point below expected. Following a clean first round game he got a difficult start, missing what winning chances he might have had against Magnus Carlsen and then shockingly blundering his rook in a probably won endgame against Nordahl.

Demonstrating his class again against Astengo and Poulsen in the two next rounds Lugovoi still reached the top boards, and following a short draw against Bluvshtein he gave himself one last shot for the first prize by scraping a win against Leer-Salvesen and bombing Molander back to the stone age. Lugovoi's play was in no way convincing when he went down in the key game against Miezis in round nine, and following this second loss he to achieve a prize needed just what he got in the tenth round: A crushing win against GM Kallio, based upon superb knowledge of a critical opening variation. I very much had the feeling that Lugovoi was just unlucky with the margins this time, and keeping his other results he would have been above expected score without the shocking blunder of round three. Lugovoi at his best is a nightmare opponent as he is the technically and strategicially superb basket player for most of the match, but when necessary without changing his clothing turns into the messy and hard-shooting handball fighter.

6) FM Magnus CARLSEN (Asker SK, Norway - born 30.11.1990! - seeded 18)

Results:
  1. Win as black against Rolf Sander 2048.
  2. Draw against GM Aleksei Lugovoi 2540.
  3. Loss against GM Sergei Ovesejewitch 2517.
  4. Win as white against Olaf Berg 2065.
  5. Win as black against Paul Johansen 2239.
  6. Loss as white against FM Helge A Nordahl 2303.
  7. Win as black against Kim Nygren 2202.
  8. Draw as white against WGM Tatiana Shumiakina 2364.
  9. Win as black against FM Bjarte Leer-Salvesen 2329.
  10. Win as black against IM Mark Bluvshtein 2461.
Current ELO: 2279
Average of opponents :2307 6
Expected score :4.6/10
Actual score :7.0/10
Performance :2456
Change of ELO :+36

No doubt about this one: Magnus got the IM-norm which was his optimistic goal before the tournament, defeated his first IM, and made his best tournament result ever when finishing shared third in this field - and he was not even lucky! True enough Magnus might have been in danger of losing against Lugovoi in the second round, might have been in danger of losing during a shaky game against Berg in round four, and was in trouble before the decisive last round game against Bluvshtein turned. But overall all his six wins were deserved, he was unlucky to get six blacks including the last two rounds when needing to win both, he blundered away a promising position against Nordahl after refusing a draw, drew from a clearly better position against Shumiakina, and reportedly missed a forced draw against Ovsejewitch. I am surprised by a 12 year old Norwegian able to take an IM-norm, but shocked by one able to do so without help from the margins - leaving age aside we might have about three Norwegian IM-candidates able to do so.... Magnus demonstrated great mental strength when needing 3.5/4 and taking it despite three blacks and three titleholders among the opponents, and he appeared more relaxed and laid-back than ever before, not getting seriously short of time in any game.

Overall having improved his playing strength Magnus played much more self confident and creative for a win against everyone except the 2500-GMs this year, and he fulfilled his promising positions better than ever before. Hopefully the success will inspire him to further tries along the same line. Compared to an IM-level Magnus' openings might still be his main weakness - although able to play many openings he lacks kicking variations as white at least against players above 2300, and even against lower rated players he as black always got the advantages more because of his playing strength in the middlegame than because of his openings.

Not to forget: I am very happy to note that Magnus still is a chess child playing chess simply because he enjoys it - playing both the teamtalking and the blitz was an illustration of this chess joy, winning them just an illustration of his still growing strength. Finally I am of course very happy that Magnus was very happy to take his first norm at Gausdal.... I defined him as a chess go-cart last year, and it fits better than ever following this speedy result - but I more than ever has the feeling that he will grow up to become a real Formula 1 driver....

7) WGM Tatiana SHUMIAKINA (Shishmate Chelyabinsk, Russia - born 04.10.1965 - seeded 11)

Results:
  1. Win as white against Tobias Lönngren 2122.
  2. Win as black against Boris Berning 2240.
  3. Loss as white against IM Mathias Womacka 2496.
  4. Win as black against Kim Nygren 2202.
  5. Loss as white against GM Normunds Miezis 2523.
  6. Win as black against Björn Gambäck 2213.
  7. Draw as white against Daniel Bisby 2283.
  8. Draw as black against FM Magnus Carlsen 2279.
  9. Draw as white against Geir Sune Tallaksen 2258.
  10. Win as black against Olaf Berg 2065.
Current ELO: 2364
Average of opponents :2268 4
Expected score :6.3/10
Actual score :6.5/10
Performance :2378
Change of ELO :+2

It is a very long way to go from the Ural mountains to the Gausdal mountains, and having played an intensive tournament in Stockholm the week before Gausdal, Shumiakina felt tired after another long travel by bus, train and car before starting the first round at Gausdal. Nevertheless she gave everything available in every game, and with an average length of games around five hours she spent more time in the playing room than anyone else: Definitely she was the marathon runner of Troll Masters 2003. In the end she landed on a small plus regarding ELO as well as place, but lost her chance for an IM-norm when drawing Tallaksen in round nine.

Like Ovsejewitch, Shumakina might be an entertaining tactical player, but in this tournament fell back on her backbone as a patient and stubborn endgame master: She won long and drawn endgames against Berning in round two, Gämback in round six and Berg in round ten, and her three draws during rounds 7-9 all came from worse endgames. Against Berning as well as against Nygren Shumiakina had a clearly inferior position in the middle game, but turned the board as she played hard for a win without any fear to lose. Her good result should be explained primarily by the fact that she proved tougher and mentally stronger than her male opponents. On the deficit side she had her time troubles, disturbing in at least five of her games and an important reason why she lost against Womacka and Miezis. Even when the overall feeling was that she became a little bit too inaccurate and primitive against the top players, she had good drawing chances at least against Miezis until running short of time. Her openings too has got capacity for more: Although her black openings where enough for 4.5/5 against lower rated opponents, she even against lower rated players got very little from her white serves. I had the feeling that Shumiakina got much out of not playing too well in her first Norwegian tournament; but finishing seventh when seeded eleventh without playing at your best at least deserved a "4".

8) GM Heikki KALLIO (Garde SK, Finland - born 15.10.1980 - seeded 6)

Results:
  1. Win as white against Alf Roger Andersen 2142.
  2. Draw as black against Geir Sune Tallaksen 2258.
  3. Win as white against Hans Krogh Harestad 2236.
  4. Win on walk over (against Giuseppe Valenti 2230).
  5. Draw as black against FM Helge A Nordahl 2303.
  6. Draw as white against GM Sergei Ovsejewitch 2517.
  7. Win as black against IM Mathias Womacka 2496.
  8. Loss as black against FM Craig Hanley 2359.
  9. Draw as white against WGM Evgenija Kovalevskaya 2452.
  10. Loss as black against GM Aleksei Lugovoi 2540.
Current ELO: 2474
Average of opponents :2367 3
Expected score :5.9/9
Actual score :5.0/9
Performance :2410
Change of ELO :-9

The first two thirds of Kallio's tournament were very solid. True enough he was not too convincing as black in his drawn games against norm-seekers Tallaksen and Nordahl - in the end(game) closest to the win in an overall shaky game against Tallaksen, Kallio was lucky to get a draw offer against Nordahl. As white Kallio however won convincing attacking games against Harestad and Andersen, and drew a boring game against Ovsejewitch. Kallio's tournament peaked when he as black patiently punished a too loose piece sacrifice from Womacka in the seventh round. Having got a walk over in the fourth round Kallio had 5.5/7, and seemed like a hot candidate even for top three. However he collapsed in the final three rounds, scraping only one draw as white against Kovalevskaya in between ugly black losses against Hanley and Lugovoi: Against Hanley he was just positionally outplayed, while he against Lugvoi landed in too hot water following a sharp Meran duel.

Obviously he did not have the margins during the important final rounds, but still Kallio as a GM aged 22 and seeded below 2500 can hardly be satisfied to score nearly one point below expected. Definitely having changed image since his junior years he now appears as a humble and very serious player, bothering the organiser only with his questions about how to get the games from Wijk aan Zee... It is difficult for a 2200-organiser to suggest improvements for a player at Kallio's level, but if trying I got the feeling that he apart from being a little more lucky with the small margins, should sharpen his openings to advance even further. Being unpredictable of course helps a lot in our computer age, but I doubt whether being completely unpredictable is worth the high price Kallio is paying: Both his losses followed directly or indirectly from the openings, and in several other games he turned out to know the variation less good than his much lower rated opponents. He is an unpredictable chess slalom runner always exciting to follow, but this time proved unable to complete an ambitious and self-composed run.

9) FM Helge A NORDAHL (Black Knights and White Widows, Norway - born 26.06.1975 - seeded 14)

Results:
  1. Win as black against Kai-Roger Johansen 2084.
  2. Win as white against Olaf Berg 2065.
  3. Win as black against GM Aleksei Lugovoi 2540.
  4. Draw as white against IM Mathias Womacka 2496.
  5. Draw as white against GM Heikki Kallio 2474.
  6. Win as white against FM Magnus Carlsen 2279.
  7. Loss as white against GM Eduardas Rozentalis 2585.
  8. Loss as white against GM Sergei Ovsejewitch 2517.
  9. Draw against Magnus Fäldt 2252.
  10. Draw against Daniel Bisby 2283.
Current ELO: 2303
Average of opponents :2358 6
Expected score :4.2/10
Actual score :6.0/10
Performance :2430
Change of ELO :+27

Nordahl himself is likely to object against this grading, pointing out that he was even ahead of the GM-norm schedule as late as after the sixth round, and actually dropped even below a 2450-performance after round ten. Even when I know Helge since his early teenage years and has considered him underrated for the last five years or so I however doubt his capacity to take a GM-norm, he made his best result ever when taking his first IM-norm, even when principally ambitious he was careful to launch himself as a norm candidate before the tournament - and he is even more likely to complain if getting a "5".

It might be argued that he had been lucky when he shared the lead with 5/6. Of course the margins worked for him until that point: Lugovoi was probably winning before blundering that rook, Womacka at his best would have made something out of that advantage, and Carlsen before sacrificing incorrectly refused that draw offer because he had that advantage from that opening. The working day victories overall were fair enough, but still neither Johansen or Berg lost without chances. Everything is true, but the main reason of the success still was Nordahl's dynamic and respectless play: He stayed the game much better than Johansen and Berg, produced tight battles as black against Lugovoi and Womacka, used the chances he got against Magnus - and having an exchange more from the opening he could very well have played on against Kallio. Overall his result probably reflects the play very well, as he was lucky with nothing except the drawing of round nine during the last four rounds: He was not without chances against Rozentalis or Ovsejewitch, even when not losing undeserved after becoming too respectless against Rozentalis and too respectful against Ovsejewitch. Fäldt was helpful to be just sufficient for the IM-norm in round nine and to take a short draw then, but if playing Nordahl anyway would have been a favourite then. Against Bisby in the last round, Nordahl understandably lacked motivation - it is not the same fighting to prolong a norm as to get one....

Six blacks too qualifies as unlucky, even when Nordahl actually scored much better as black. Taking into account the opponents, he all the way through the tournament demonstrated what a practical fighter he at his best might be, and of course what a brilliant chess understanding and what dangerous opening variations he is still hiding behind his still somewhat rusty opening repertoire. Successful with his receipe to run straight against the titleholders, Helge qualifies as the optimistic and successful chess sprinter of this tournament - true enough having some problems to keep up the speed during the second half of his run.

10) WGM Ekaterina KOVALEVSKAYA (Russia - born 17.04.1974 - seeded 8)

Results:
  1. Win as white against Terje Karlsen 2135.
  2. Win as black against Øystein Hole 2252.
  3. Draw as white against FM Craig Hanley 2359.
  4. Win as black against Björn Gambäck 2213.
  5. Draw as white against IM Mathias Womacka 2496.
  6. Loss as black against GM Eduardas Rozentalis 2585.
  7. Loss as white against FM Riku Molander 2291.
  8. Win as black against Hans Krogh Harestad 2236.
  9. Draw as black against GM Heikki Kallio 2474.
  10. Draw as white against Magnus Fäldt 2252.
Current ELO: 2452
Average of opponents :2329 3
Expected score :6.7/10
Actual score :6.0/10
Performance :2401
Change of ELO :-7

Seeded eight and playing for a performance of 2601, lady chess star Kovalevskaya of course cannot be satisfied to end up tenth with a performance of 2401. I think however that the main reason of the disappointing final result was that she playing 19 games and having two long travels within 19 days became tired during the second part of the tournament. As evidence number one I will register that she was a GM-norm-candidate for the first five rounds - or to be accurate for the first 5½ rounds. Winning nice attacking games against Karlsen, Hole and Gämbäck, she was closer to winning chances against Hanley, but a little bit lucky to save the draw in a long game against Womacka in round five. For the first part of the top meeting against Rozentalis in round six she also looked fine, but losing a drawish endgame then was to become the beginning of the end for her tournament. After surprisingly getting lost in a Sicilian labyrinth as white against Riku Molander in round seven, Kovalevskaya was not a candidate for anything exciting anymore.

Kovalevskaya still played for a win in her three last games, but having succeeded against Harestad, she failed to realize her obvious advantage against Kallio and never got any advantage against Fäldt. All taken together she probably deserved a "4" for everything except the Molander game, but that on the other hand was a tragedy nearly depriving her the "3". While her travel companion Shumiakina was more an endgame expert and less an attacker than she use to be, Kovalevskaya the other way around was less a boxer and more a judo wrestler for now. Overall she presented herself to Gausdal as a 2500-player with 2300-openings, because even though she only against Molander came clearly worse from the opening, she hardly ever got much of an advantage even as white against clearly weaker players.

11) IM Mathias WOMACKA (USG Chemnitz, Germany - born 26.06.1966 - seeded 5)

Results:
  1. Win as black against Øystein Bøyum Fossum 2167.
  2. Win as white against Magnus Fäldt 2252.
  3. Win as black against WGM Tatiana Shumiakina 2364.
  4. Draw as white against FM Helge A Nordahl 2303.
  5. Draw as black against WGM Evgenija Kovalevskaya 2452.
  6. Draw as white against FM Craig Hanley 2359.
  7. Loss as white against GM Heikki Kallio 2474.
  8. Draw as black against Daniel Bisby 2283.
  9. Draw as white against FM Riku Molander 2291.
  10. Draw as black against Geir Sune Tallaksen 2258.
Current ELO: 2496
Average of opponents :2320 2
Expected score :7.3/10
Actual score :6.0/10
Performance :2392
Change of ELO :-13

I might sound unreasonable when giving only a "2" for 6/10 and 11th place, to a player having lost only one game. But I think humble Womacka will take it as a compliment, which is what it is: A performance just below 2400 would have been great for most of us, but it was nothing but a failure for a great master like Womacka - arriving as the defending Troll Champion, and playing to cross 2500 and to achieve his third GM-norm. The start was like last year: Womacka's play was everything but spectacular when he worked six hours to win a drawn endgame against Øystein Bøyum Fossum in the first round, but following a convincing win against Fäldt and another patient one against Shumiakina, he having 3/3 shared the lead only with Nordahl, as the GMs had more serious starting problems. The third round win however sensationally was to become his last in the tournament: What is usually Womacka's main strength, his ability to realize the small advantages, completely left him that evening. Womacka got small or even clear advantages against Nordahl in round four, Kovalevskaya in round five, Hanley in round six, Kallio in round seven, Bisby in round eight and Molander in round nine - but sacrificed it all away against Kallio, and failed to realize his win against all the others. The tenth round game against Tallaksen was a complex opening duel difficult to evaluate - having exchange for a pawn Womacka at least could have played on from the final position, but then the usually polite Womacka train had left Gausdal anyway.

Well,having said this I am happy to state that I have absolutely no worries for Womackas future career: He will get the last GM-norm soon anyway, and as he was above 2500 after Troll Masters 2002 and soon will be again, 13 points lost in Troll Masters 2003 does not matter much. And as his strength has been realizing the small advantages for many years, he will hardly lose that ability for good. To adopt a positive view, if he produces as many small advantages in his next international try, Womacka will almost certainly make a GM-norm. Womacka at his best is like the German football teams used to be: Very difficult to score upon, especially when he is in the lead. This time he very untypically was in the lead almost every match, but failed to exploit it for the tournament.

12) Geir Sune TALLAKSEN (Porsgrunn SK, Norway - born 14.03.1985 - seeded 20)

Results:
  1. Win as black against Gunnar Bue 1991.
  2. Draw as white against GM Heikki Kallio 2474.
  3. Draw as black against FM Bjarte Leer-Salvesen 2329.
  4. Win as white against Kjetil Stokke 2136.
  5. Loss as black against GM Sergei Ovsejewitch 2517.
  6. Draw as white against Gisueppe Valenti 2230.
  7. Draw as black against IM Mikael Agopov 2376.
  8. Win as white against Martin Poulsen 2244.
  9. Draw as black against WGM Tatiana Shumiakina 2364.
  10. Draw as white against IM Mathias Womacka 2496.
Current ELO: 2258
Average of opponents :2316 5
Expected score :4.2/10
Actual score :6.0/10
Performance :2388
Change of ELO :+27

This is actually close to a "6" - losing only as black against Ovsejewitch (after 80 moves) and drawing one GM, one WGM and two IMs, Tallaksen taking 6/10 with a performance just below 2400 made his clearly best result ever. His tournament was all the way a very solid and hard working one: Losing to the only 2500-player he met and taking 3.5/4 against his opponents below 2300, he drew all five opponents between 2300 and 2500 - all of these in endgames. Probably he was a little lucky during a critical stage at his tournament during rounds 2-4, saving difficult endgames against Kallio and Leer-Salvesen before winning a drawn one against Stokke. But "Geir Suna Sunus" aged nearly 18 is already legendary for his ability to get much out of his long games, hence I call it "endgame strength" more than "luck". Also he was close to keep his norm chances alive by defeating Shumiakina in round nine, and came as close at queen and two pawns against queen and three against Ovsejewitch - and his heavy theoretical encyclopedia hit the head of the opponent only against Poulsen.

All taken together the only "Porsgrunn panther" present as a player got about as much as he deserved, and that is close to a "6". But he is strong enough to take an IM-norm now, and he did not. And being a technical intelligent player he still lacks the little extra creativity and killing instinct necessary to defeat better players - the list for "titleholders having drawn Geir Sune Tallaksen" became much longer during this tournament, but the list for "titleholders having lost to Geir Sune Tallaksen" is still a very short one. Keeping up his work with chess he is still driving convincingly against an IM-level in his favourite role as the stubbornly trampling railroad bicycler: Never making the run, but always doing fine as he is nearly as difficult to get rid of before the spurt as to defeat in the spurt....

13) IM Mark BLUVSHTEIN (Canada - born 20.07.1988 - seeded 7)

Results:
  1. Win as black against Kjetil Stokke 2136.
  2. Draw as white against Paul Johansen 2239.
  3. Win as black against Martin Poulsen 2244.
  4. Draw as white against IM Mikael Agopov 2376.
  5. Loss as black against FM Bjarte Leer-Salvesen 2329.
  6. Draw as white against GM Aleksei Lugovoi 2540.
  7. Win as black against Giuseppe Valenti 2230.
  8. Win as white against Stig K Martinsen 2085.
  9. Draw as black against GM Sergei Ovesejewitch 2517.
  10. Loss as white against FM Magnus Carlsen 2279.
Current ELO: 2461
Average of opponents :2300 2
Expected score :7.1/10
Actual score :6.0/10
Performance :2372
Change of ELO :-11

Giving a "2" to a player born 1988 for taking 6/10 with a performance close to 2400 might sound hard, and maybe it is. But after all he is the highest rated player born 1988 in the world, talking only about a GM-norm before arriving he was hardly satisfied in the end to miss the IM-norm by a full point - and he lost to a 12 year old in the last round.... Although 3/4 is not that bad a start Mark even at that stage complained about his result, having been in danger of losing as white against Paul Johansen and Agopov. Worse things were to come: Mark's planned GM-norm definitely disapperated in the blue during round five, when his Tarrasch experiment was just blown up by a still inspired Leer-Salvesen. Not losing his joy about chess and Gausdal Mark seemed about to recover during the next four rounds, drawing convincingly against GMs Lugovoi and Ovsejewitch, and winning nice attacking game against Valenti and Martinsen.

If Mark had realized what actually was a promising position against the little one in the tenth round, it would have been a fully average result. But having lost that game convincingly Mark himself complained that he is always losing far too many games at Gausdal, and even when he actually lost only two this time (compared to five last year) and showed clear signs of having improved, I will not hurt the ambitious young GM-candidate by calling this a satisfying result for him. At his best Mark is a energic chess karate fighter: He will hit you with some hard knock, but what is difficult to predict. For now he kicked away his own legs a little bit too often.

14) IM Mikael AGOPOV (Matinkylan SK, Finland - born 05.03.1978 - seeded 9)

Results:
  1. Win as white against Steinar Bryn (1561).
  2. Win as black against Corrado Astengo 2172.
  3. Draw as white against GM Normunds Miezis 2523.
  4. Draw as black against IM Mark Bluvshtein 2461.
  5. Loss as white against FM Craig Hanley 2359.
  6. Draw as black against Øystein Hole 2252.
  7. Draw as white against Geir Sune Tallaksen 2258.
  8. Win as black against Björn Gambäck 2213.
  9. Draw as white against Daniel Bisby 2283.
  10. Draw as black against FM Riku Molander 2291.
Current ELO: 2376
Average of rated opponents :2330 4
Expected score :5.0/9
Actual score :5.0/9
Performance :2373
Change of ELO :0

The correct grading here is probably "3½", as Agopov following a promising start managed to land on an absolutely zero result. I will however round off upward not only because he is such a positive and helpful Gausdal friend, even when he of course is: I just did round off upward as he decided to come even when he due to "unexpected travel complications" (= a communication problem between him and a German bus schedule!?) had to pay an extra airplane ticket to arrive delayed, and still making a good start he had more within short reach during the tournament. Having defeated Bryn the daddy and Astengo in a hurry following his arrival, Agopov in the two next rounds registered respectively a boring draw against GM Miezis and a hurricane one he came close to winning against IM Bluvshtein. If Agopov's GM-candidature did not die just before 40 moves against Bluvshtein (when Agopov was a rook up, but true enough a mass of connected pawns down), he bitterly lost it when throwing all away a probably winning endgame against his apartment fellow Hanley.

The Finn looked truly depressed following this set-back, and for the rest of the tournament stayed in the shadow behind the top boards as he lacked the will and/or power to defeat 2200-players. The exception was the tricky win against Gambäck in round eight, but apart from that Agopov did not come really close to defeating Hole, Tallaksen or Bisby, and had to stay a four hour defence to save himself against countrymen Molander in the final round. The final result made nothing good and nothing bad for Agopov's chess career. Maybe he should have stayed with that girlfriend in Germany when he missed that bus to that plane. But I hope his girlfriend will forgive me for saying that for social reasons, I am still very happy that we were allowed to lend him for nine days.... Talking about style Agopov is a chess rower: Hard-working, technically clean and harmonious, but a little bit montonous and seldom involved in the spectacular battles.

15) FM Riku MOLANDER (Ita-Helsingin SK, Finland - born 01.04.1979 - seeded 15)

Results:
  1. Win as white against Tarjei Svensen 2074.
  2. Draw as black against Björn Gambäck 2213.
  3. Loss as white against Giuseppe Valenti 2230.
  4. Win as black against Bjørn-Erik Glenne 2203.
  5. Draw as white against Stig K Martinsen 2085.
  6. Win as black against Olaf Berg 2065.
  7. Win as black against WGM Evgenija Kovelevskaya 2452.
  8. Loss as white against GM Aleksei Lugovoi 2540.
  9. Draw as black against IM Mathias Womacka 2496.
  10. Draw as white against IM Mikael Agopov 2376.
Current ELO: 2291
Average of opponents :2272 4
Expected score :5.3/10
Actual score :6.0/10
Performance :2345
Change of ELO :+11

This might very well be a "4+", but it is not a "5": Waiting for his possible IM-norm from Curacao to be rated Molander should be considered underrated, and despite several nice game results the great chess improvizer was never really close to an IM-norm. The start after all was better than last year, as he despite a good try did not lose to Tarjei Svensen. But still is was in no way a good start, as he after drawing Gämbäck in round two and losing to a well playing Valenti in round three had a performance below 2200 after three rounds. The play did not improve much against Glenne, but Molander once more demonstrated his counterattacking abilities by hitting back from a very "compact" position. Luckily drawing Stig K Martinsen in round five Molander seemed totally lost regarding the norms, but he once more made a strong come-back by defeating Berg and just dismantling Kovalevskaya in round seven. The norm chances were punctured by Lugovoi in round eight, but finishing off the week by drawing IM's Womacka and Agopov by perpetual check in long fighting games, Molander still got a clear plus out of it after playing himself up during the second part of the tournament.

Much of a chess chameleon Molander is at his best still a great fighter and improvizer with unpredictable openings, dangerous for all available opponents in a single game. Obviously he is still too uneven not only between his games, but also between his moves: Chessplayer Molander is a mountainbike rider unpredictable for everyone including himself in all kinds of terrain. His shaky start of the tournament however can be excused partly by illness (and possibly also by too many other Finns) this year, and overall I got the feeling that he is about to stabilize. If I am right about that (and the backgammon does not steal another chess talent), he might very well turn into an IM even before Troll Masters 2004.

16) Daniel BISBY (Redhill CC, England - born 22.09.1978 - seeded 17)

Results:
  1. Draw as white against Øyvind Pedersen 2054.
  2. Win as black against Steinar Bryn (1561).
  3. Draw as white against GM Eduardas Rozentalis 2585.
  4. Draw as black against Stig K Martinsen 2085.
  5. Draw as white against Björn Gambäck 2213.
  6. Win as black against Josef Ask 2128.
  7. Draw as black against WGM Tatiana Shumiakina 2364.
  8. Draw as white against IM Mathias Womacka 2496.
  9. Draw as black against IM Mikael Agopov 2376.
  10. Draw as white against FM Helge A Nordahl 2303.
Current ELO: 2283
Average of rated opponents :2289 4
Expected score against rated opponents:4.4/9
Actual score against rated opponents:5.0/9
Performance :2332
Change of ELO :+9

This was not the strongest, but definitiely the strangest result of the field - especially as Bisby reportedly is known to be an attacking player. If informed in advance that there would be four undefeated players in the field I would have found Rozentalis, Miezis and Ovsejewitch relatively soon - but if forced to accept Bisby as the fourth one I would have granted him a "6" in advance. I would have considered it impossible to win two games and lose none without ever being close to an IM-norm, but in some mysterious way Bisby managed to do just that. The start was telling enough, as he having wasted a won position against 2000-player Pedersen in the first round drew without too many dangers against top seeded Rozentalis in the third round. Having won his first game against Bryn senior in the second round, Bisby was to win the second one against a much too loose Josef Ask in round six - except for those two games he drew his way all the way through the tournament.

Bisby's play overall was even more solid than the result, as he on the board came in serious danger of losing only when being an exchange down against Womacka in the eight round. His lack of norm chances much seemed to bring a lack of will, as he played too carefully and even concluded the game too early against Martinsen as well as against Shumiakina and Agopov. Bisby demonstrated a norm capacity this time, but to realize it he will have to run some more chances than he did this time. Ten rounds without a loss at this level still is very seldom done by players below 2300, hence this one might deserve a "5". But winning two games still is too little, and Bisby did not try hard enough to deserve anything more than a nice surplus of ELO and a strong "4". He surprisingly became the softball player of this tournament.

17) Magnus FÄLDT (Schack 08 Norrköping, Sweden - born 13.12.1962 - seeded 21)

Results:
  1. Win as white against Stefan Hörbing (2038).
  2. Loss as black against IM Mathias Womacka 2496.
  3. Draw as white against Tobias Lönngren 2122.
  4. Win as black against Ragnar Knudsen (1817).
  5. Draw as black against Gisueppe Valenti 2230
  6. Draw as white against Stig K Martinsen 2085.
  7. Draw as white against Hans Krogh Harestad 2236.
  8. Win a sblack against GM Heikki Westerinen 2374.
  9. Draw as white against FM Helge A Nordahl 2303.
  10. Draw as black against WGM Evgenija Kovalevskaya 2452.
Current ELO: 2252
Average of rated opponents :2287 4
Expected score against rated opponents :3.6/8
Actual score against rated opponents :4.0/8
Performance :2287
Change of ELO :+6

This one is also close to a "5": Fäldt lost only to Womacka in the second round, and having defeated GM Westerinen and drawn WGM Kovalevskaya in his two last black games, he landed on a solid plus result regarding place as well as ELO. Making a modest start with 1.5/3 and meeting four opponents below 2150 within the first six rounds, he was however never a candidate for an IM-norm, and earned his clear plus result only during the last three rounds.

Overall a sensible player Fäldt showed up his excellent positional understanding in most of his games, but although demonstrating his fighting will by being involved in several long endgame duels, he lacked the little extra power to win games. After his much too loose exchange sacrifice against Womacka he impressed by taking 3/4 with capacity for more as black, but drawing four white games against an ELO-average well below his own, he was too toothless to win games. All taken together a promising start on Fäldt's Gausdal career, but he still has capacity for more. Fäldt for me was the football midfield strategician of the tournament: Great to follow from a technical and strategical point of view, but without much of shot and too kind when forced into messy duels.

18) Hans KROGH HARESTAD (Selskapet for Osloemigrerte Sørlandssjakkspillere, Norway - born 16.10.1974 - seeded 26)

Results:
  1. Win as black against Jon Ludvig Hammer (1752).
  2. Draw as white against FM Bjarte Leer-Salvesen 2329.
  3. Loss as black against GM Heikki Kallio 2474.
  4. Loss as white against Josef Ask 2128.
  5. Win as black against Jan Arne Bjørgvik (1609).
  6. Win as white against Olavur Simonsen 2265.
  7. Draw as black against Magnus Fäldt 2252.
  8. Loss as white against WGM Evgenija Kovalevskaya 2452.
  9. Win as black against Øystein Bøyum Fossum 2167.
  10. Win as white against Terje Torgersen (1790).
Current ELO: 2236
Average of rated opponents :2295 4
Expected score against rated opponents :2.9/7
Actual score against rated opponents :3.0/7
Performance :2245
Change of ELO :+1

This on the other hand was closer to a "3", as Harestad junior following his strong form during the last months started up with ambitions for an IM-norm, but ended up close to zero ten turbulent rounds later. Successfully having worked six hours to defeat Hammer in the first round, Harestad lost it somewhere during the next three rounds - missing a win against teamfellow Leer-Salvesen, and losing an interesting position against GM Kallio and a very promising one against Ask after developing strong time trouble. Convincingly having punctured surprise man Bjørgvik and dismantling blackout man Olavur Simonsen, Harestad was back in business before round seven. He definitely lost it when drawing a promising endgame against Fäldt due to time trouble, and then being left in dire straits by Kovalevskaya. A nice attacking game against Fossum and a patient endgame win against Torgersen saved the ELO and the honour, and although Harestad himself was not satisfied, 6/10 and 18th still is sufficient for a "4".

Harestad probably deserved better from his play, as he wasted excellent winning chances against Leer-Salvesen, Ask and Fäldt. The reason however was that he readopted his bad habit about being in war with the clock every round, and dying in flames when given the chance against Kallio and Kovalevskaya, he did not demonstrate his good habit about producing sensations against titleholders. I still got the feeling that Hans has improved since his last Gausdal try nine months ago, but he is obviously still too uneven and undisciplined to make an IM-norm out of it. The man still looks like a scrabble player, but actually he is more of a ju jitsu fighter.

19) Alf Roger ANDERSEN (Akademisk SK, Norway - born 09.01.1971 - seeded 36)

Results:
  1. Loss as black against GM Heikki Kallio 2474.
  2. Win as white against Jean Saulnier (1880).
  3. Win as black against Jan-Arne Bjørgvik (1609).
  4. Loss as white against FM Bjarte Leer-Salvesen 2329.
  5. Loss as black against Øystein Hole 2252.
  6. Win as white against Rolf Sander 2048.
  7. Loss as black against Martin Poulsen 2244.
  8. Win as white against Nils-Johan Ohlzon 2176.
  9. Win as black against Eydun Nolsøe 2236.
  10. Win as white against Glenn Charleshouse 2284.
Current ELO :2142
Average of rated opponents :2255 5
Expected score against rated opponents :2.8/8
Actual score against rated opponents :4.0/8
Performance :2255
Change of ELO :+18

The only player out of 60 candidates to finish undrawn, Alf Roger had a traditional jumpy Swiss for the first seven rounds: Winning more or less convincing against Saulnier, Bjørgvik and Sander, but losing without too many chances against Kallio, Leer-Salvesen, Hole and Poulsen. Stubbornly fighting on for a win in every game Alf Roger still managed to give himself an excllent result in the end, following hard-fought wins against Ohlzon, Nolsøe and Charleshouse in the last rounds. He true enough had the margins during the two final rounds, coming back from two inferior positions to win dramatic time trouble duels - against Charleshouse on time in a still unclear position.

Alf Roger however demonstrated himself as a great fighter at repeated occasions, and showed up excellent attacking play at least against Ohlzon and Nolsøe, to land on a clear ELO-plus and his best international result ever - hence he deserves a "5". There is still capacity for more: Alf Roger is still not subtle enough in non-attacking position, his black openings are still double-edged at best, and he still had to develop critical time trouble in seven out of ten games. All taken together I still declare him too incomplete to fight for an IM-norm on the next occasion too, but this chess mud wrester is definitely respectless and ambitious enough to make it someday somewhere.

20) Martin POULSEN (Havnar TF, Faroe Islands - born 21.10.1984 - seeded 23)

Results:
  1. Draw as white against Ragnar Knudsen (1817).
  2. Win as black against Øyvind Pedersen 2054.
  3. Loss as white against IM Mark Bluvshtein 2461.
  4. Win as black against Tobias Lönngren 2122.
  5. Loss as black against GM Aleksei Lugovoi 2540.
  6. Draw as white against Øystein Bøyum Fossum 2167.
  7. Win as white against Alf Roger Andersen 2142.
  8. Loss as black against Geir Sune Tallaksen 2258.
  9. Win as black against Kjetil Stokke 2136.
  10. Win as white against Stig K Martinsen 2085.
Current ELO :2244
Average of rated opponents : 2218 4
Expected score against rated opponents :4.9/9
Actual score against rated opponents :5.5/9
Performance :2298
Change of ELO :+10

Giving the words "unstable", "airy" and "shaky" frightening new dimensions, Poulsen definitely was the snowboarder of this tournament. Presenting himself as a gifted attacker in all his five winning games, he looked truly poor in his defending and positional play when collapsing in a promising position against Bluvhstein and when becoming rolled over during his tries to lift with the trains against Lugovoi and Tallaksen. His draws too were shaky at best as he was about to lose on time after losing the win in the endgame against Knudsen, and was lucky not to be pressured after going from white to trouble against Bøyum Fossum. Like Andersen Poulsen however was an unpredictable fighter never giving up his ambitions to win every game, and he was rewarded by a solid plus result after winning the last two rounds in nice attacking style.

Aged 18 and being above 2200 for the first time on this FIDE-list, Poulsen all taken together of course should be satisfied with a performance close to 2300. To become a real IM-candidate he needs "only" to a) read Dvoretsky & Jusupov's "positional play" - two times b) read some more books about his black openings c) become a little bit more pratical and a little less arrogant in his time spending.

21) FM Bjarte LEER-SALVESEN (Selskapet for Osloemigrerte Sørlandssjakkspillere, Norway - born 13.11.1978 - seeded 13)

Results:
  1. Win as white against Stig K Martinsen 2085.
  2. Draw as black against Hans Krogh Harestad 2236.
  3. Draw as white against Geir Sune Tallaksen 2258.
  4. Win as black against Alf Roger Andersen 2142.
  5. Win as white against IM Mark Bluvshtein 2461
  6. Loss as black against GM Normunds Miezis 2523.
  7. Loss as black against GM Aleksei Lugovoi 2540.
  8. Win as white against Kjetil Stokke 2136.
  9. Loss as white against FM Magnus Carlsen 2279.
  10. Draw as black against GM Heikki Westerinen 2374.
Current ELO :2329
Average of opponents : 2303 4
Expected score :5.4/10
Actual score :5.5/10
Performance :2339
Change of ELO :+2

Unfortunately this become a standard "Bompi at Gausdal"-tournament, meaning that he had some norm chances during the tournament, but no one in the end. The first half of the tournament was promising, although Bjarte was lucky to scrape a draw against Harestad in the second round and failed to realize an extra pawn against Tallaksen in the third. Following working day victories against Martinsen and Andersen Bompi stunned the fan club by the obvious highlight of his tournament, crushing Bluvshtein in a creative attacking game in round five.

In the second part of the tournament, Bjarte however was not awake enough to use his chances - having done two convincing black games againt Miezis and Lugovoi, he bitterly lost to both after becoming tired out in the endgame. Another working day win against Stokke gave him a last shot against Carlsen in the ninth round, but that turned into a selfshot before 15 moves. In the end Leer-Salvesen landed only at a small plus, getting one of his two ELO-points because of a seven moves draw against an even more desillusioned Westerinen in the last round. The strongest player ever to emerge from Norway's deep south lost two prestige duels when finishing behind teamfellow Hans Krogh Harestad and the new south star Geir Sune Tallaksen, but still continues his slow steps upwards from 2300 - and obviously he is good enough to fight for a norm even without much help from the margins now. It is a question of time, for this still a little bit too relaxed and inaccurate chess bowler.

22) GM Heikki M J WESTERINEN (Kuopio SY, Finland - born 27.04.1944 - seeded 10)

Results:
  1. Draw as black against Josef Ask 2128.
  2. Win as white against Askild Bryn (1616).
  3. Win as black against Paul Johansen 2239.
  4. Draw as black against GM Normunds Miezis 2523.
  5. Loss as white against GM Eduardas Rozentalis 2585.
  6. Win as white against Eydun Nolsøe 2236.
  7. Loss as black against FM Craig Hanley 2359.
  8. Loss as white against Magnus Fäldt 2252.
  9. Win as black against Tarjei Svensen 2074.
  10. Draw as white against FM Bjarte Leer-Salvesen 2329.
Current ELO :2374
Average of rated opponents : 2317 2
Expected score against rated opponents :5.2/9
Actual score against rated opponents :4.5/9
Performance :2317
Change of ELO :-7

The final result of course was disappointing, as the old champion instead of climbing up against 2400 slipped further below towards 2350. Still it should not be forgotten that Heikki made his best start for several years at Gausdal, and produced several nice attacking wins during the tournament. True enough the second part of the first round was a disappointment, as Heikki failed to convert his middle game advantage into anything more than a pawn which made no difference for the result in the rook endgame. He however looked fine when defeating Bryn junior and Paul Johansen during the next two rounds, came within short sight of defeating Miezis as black in the fourth round, and reached a drawish ending even against Rozentalis in the fifth round. Losing that game of course was a set-back, but still Heikki was in an inspired mood when crushing Nolsøe by a nice queen sacrifice in the sixth round. That however was to become Heikki's last hurrah of this tournament: His chances for a good result evaporated with mysterious endgame losses from drawish positions against Hanley and Fäldt - at least in the latter game Heikki once more lost to his bad habit of pressuring too hard in a drawn position. Following a long win against surprising man Svensen, even Westerinen lacked the will to fight for reducing his ELO-loss against Leer-Salvesen in the tenth round.

He has done better, yes - but his play still was better than the sum of points indicates, and I am still left with the feeling that he might have had a "5" if defeating Miezis in round four or drawing Rozentalis in the fifth round. It is a "2" as things went, of course: Heikki might not be as good as he once was, but he still is that much better than this result. He still is very much a serve and volley tennis player without a serve, and would increase his capacity much if spending some months to update his rusty openings, as they are seldom giving him much of a starting capital even as white against untitled opponents. Hopefully his endgame problems this time were just temporary set-backs, but an intensive ten rounds tournament like this of course becomes more tiring for every year - even for a good old fighter like Heikki Westerinen.

23) Stig K MARTINSEN (Fana SK, Norway - born 26.06.1980 - seeded 42)

Results:
  1. Loss as black against FM Bjarte Leer-Salvesen 2329.
  2. Win as white against Ida Lahlum (1438).
  3. Win as black against Eydun Nolsøe 2236.
  4. Draw as white against Daniel Bisby 2283.
  5. Draw as black against FM Riku Molander 2291.
  6. Draw as black against Magnus Fäldt 2252.
  7. Win as white against Øystein Hole 2252.
  8. Loss as black against IM Mark Bluvshtein 2461.
  9. Win as white against Paul Johansen 2239.
  10. Loss as black against Martin Poulsen 2244.
Current ELO :2085
Average of rated opponents : 2285 5
Expected score against rated opponents :2.2/9
Actual score against rated opponents :4.5/9
Performance :2285
Change of ELO :+35

No doubt about this one: Stig K made his best result ever, and left Gausdal with a personal record, being above 2100 for the first time on ELO as well as on national rating. Scoring 4.5/7 against them he for the first time succeded really to catch on with the 2200-players. His games true enough were shaky and he himself a little bit lucky: His wins against Hole, Nolsøe and Paul Johansen all resulted from blunders, having chances for a win against Molander he was lucky to save himself against Bisby, and he collapsed ugly against Poulsen in the last round. Stig K again landed in serious time trouble in more than half of his games, but demonstrated himself as much more of a practical fighter this time, and even decided his game in sharp time trouble duels against Nolsøe and Hole.

Giving Leer-Salvesen a fight into the bitter ending of round one, Stig K later lost without much of a chance against Bluvshtein - in some way or another he still becomes a little bit too easy against the players above 2300. Stig K appeared confident when taking 3.5/4 as white in this tournament, but still has much capacity to improve his black openings. Welcome above 2100 - your ability to deal with your bad habits will decide whether you will fall, stay or rise even further. Stig K so far has done much better with his new and modernistic chess approach, but I still got the chess cricket feeling when watching his games: Firstly I do not understand anything of what is going on and wonder whether the players do, then suddenly everyone is running around in a great hurry, and then it is all over....

24) Olaf BERG (Havnar TF, Faroe Islands - born 10.11.1986 - seeded 45)

Results:
  1. Win as white against Glenn Charleshouse 2284.
  2. Loss as black against FM Helge A Nordahl 2303.
  3. Win as white against Boris Berning 2240.
  4. Loss as black against FM Magnus Carlsen 2279.
  5. Win as black against Matts Unander 2214.
  6. Loss as white against FM Riku Molander 2291.
  7. Win as white against Corrado Astengo 2172.
  8. Draw as black against Øystein Hole 2252.
  9. Win as black against Josef Ask 2128.
  10. Loss as white against WGM Tatiana Shumiakina 2364.
Current ELO :2065
Average of opponents : 2253 5
Expected score :2.6/10
Actual score :5.5/10
Performance :2289
Change of ELO :+44

The youngest foreign untitled participant, Olaf Berg immediately presented himself as Mr Underrated Nightmare by defeating Charleshouse in the first round. Later taking 4/4 when hooliganing away his opponents between 2100 and 2250, he demonstrated himself as a dangerous attacking player with a great potential for entertainment and surprises. Having the draw against 2252 Hole as the link between his two tournaments, Berg after the first round however lost to all his opponents above 2250: Against Nordahl, Carlsen, Molander and Shumiakina he had his chances, but became too inaccurate at the board and too stressed as the clock to stay the games.

Probably some more opening studies are needed, as Berg would then be able to speed up earlier in the middlegames. Keeping the time troubles apart I however got the feeling that he needs to strenghten his positional backbones really to become an IM-candidate - he is yet a little bit too much a chess shot putter. But this not to complain, of course: The best Faroese player born 1986 is an ocean ahead the best Norwegian born that year, and he made his best result ever at Gausdal. He is above 2100 following this Troll Masters, and almost certainly will be above 2200 before the next one. And as "winning a bunch of ELO" actually was his main goal of the tournament, this definitely was a well deserved "5".

25) Tobias LÖNNGREN (Örebro SS, Sweden - born 20.09.1981 - seeded 40)

Results:
  1. Loss as black against WGM Tatiana Shumiakina 2364.
  2. Win as white against Jon Ludvig Hammer (1752).
  3. Draw as black against Magnus Fäldt 2252.
  4. Loss as white against Martin Poulsen 2244.
  5. Win as white against Nils-Johan Ohlzon 2176.
  6. Loss as black against Corrado Astengo 2172.
  7. Win as black against Matts Unander 2214.
  8. Draw as white against Eydun Nolsøe 2236
  9. Draw as white against Björn Gambäck 2213.
  10. Win as black against Boris Berning 2240.
Current ELO :2122
Average of rated opponents : 235 4
Expected score against rated opponents :3.2/9
Actual score against rated opponents :4.5/9
Performance :2235
Change of ELO :+20

Still a young man, Lönngren has already found himself as a heavy and patient player. He got a heavy tournament too, but the patient fighter following a slow start went on to land on a solid plus result. Probably a 2122-player should have a "5" for this 2200-performance, but Lönngren's play was too uneven this tournament, and he was never close to the IM-norm he hoped for. He might claim to have been unlucky in his losing games, as he was not without chances against Shumiakina, Poulsen or Astengo. On the other hand he was lucky in several other games - working six hours to defeat Hammer from a drawish position and to save a difficult endgame against Fäldt, and winning on time in a still painful position against Ohlzon.

Finally finding himself Lönngren looked much better during the last four rounds, taking 3/4 against 2200-players after patient black wins against Unander and Berning with boring draws against Nolsøe and Gambäck. I am courteous enough not to mention that he in the end nearly managed to lose a totally dead rook and pawn against rook and pawn ending against Nolsøe. Lönngren is an eager and patient chess bicycler for the long roads and the tight crowds, but still has some problems with the spurts.

26) Tarjei J. SVENSEN (Molde SK, Norway - born 20.10.1981 - seeded 44)

Results:
  1. Loss as black against FM Riku Molander 2291.
  2. Loss as white against Nils-Johan Ohlzon 2176.
  3. Draw as black against Askild Bryn (1616).
  4. Win as white against Terje Nilsen (1794).
  5. Draw as white against Corrado Astengo 2172.
  6. Draw as black against Tor Kristian Larsen (1747).
  7. Win as white against Kai-Roger Johansen 2084.
  8. Win as black against Glenn Charleshouse 2284.
  9. Loss as white against GM Heikki Westerinen 2374.
  10. Win as black against Björn Gambäck 2213.
Current ELO :2074
Average of rated opponents : 2228 5
Expected score against rated opponents :2.0/7
Actual score against rated opponents :3.5/7
Performance :2228
Change of ELO :+23

This is actually close to a "6": Svensen made his best result ever and crossed 2100 for the first time, despite starting with 0/2 and later working an average seven hours a day with the bulletin. Tarjei is still not a very accurate player, but overall his play this time stayed ten rounds much better than he has ever before stayed nine. He was lucky to win two drawish endgames against 2200-players within the last three rounds, as both Charleshouse and Gambäck played too hard for a win. Using the chances offered by overambitious opponents however is an important part of this game. Tarjei won convincing attacking games against Terje Nilsen and Kai-Roger Johansen, could have played on in both his short draws against lower rated opponents, and he was definitely unlucky in two of his three losing games - losing on time in a preferrable position against Molander, and blundering away a won position due to time trouble against Ohlzon. The loss to Westerinen was fair enough, but still it was interesting even in the endgame - hence Tarjei was not crushed in a single game.

Always modest and careful in his behaviour, Tarjei nevertheless has become a gifted chess improvizer and counterattacking player. Maybe I should have a bad conscience to have sabotaged his opening preparations by my eternal bothering about the bulletin (which by the way never came any way), but for mysterious reasons Tarjei never plays better than when he is an overworked bulletin slave for me at Gausdal.... Talking about improvements he still has capacity on his openings, because although never crushed he never got much of an advantage either. To reach a 2200-level he also will have to speed up a little, or alternatively at least to get rid of his bad habits about falling asleep until losing on time - which he started the tournament by demonstrating. But for now I am very much impressed, hopefully Tarjei thanks to this result will qualify for the master class of the Norwegian championship of 2003. For now he was the successful stadion bicycler of the tournament: Following his starting problems he drove slowly and looked uninterested for most of his races, but proved able suddenly to accelarate when the situation demanded it.

27) Josef ASK (Västerås ASK, Sweden - born 27.11.1975 - seeded 39)

Results:
  1. Draw as white against GM Heikki Westerinen 2374.
  2. Loss as black against GM Eduardas Rozenatlis 2585.
  3. Win as white against Terje Karlsen 2135.
  4. Win as black against Hans Krogh Harestad 2236.
  5. Draw as white against Glenn Charleshouse 2284.
  6. Loss as white against Daniel Bisby 2283.
  7. Draw as black against Bjørn-Erik Glenne 2203.
  8. Win as black against Gisueppe Valenti 2230.
  9. Loss as white against Olaf Berg 2065.
  10. Draw as black against Øystein Hole 2252.
Current ELO :2128
Average of rated opponents : 2254 5
Expected score against rated opponents :3.3/10
Actual score against rated opponents :5.0/10
Performance :2254
Change of ELO :+26

This too is closer to a "6" than a "4" - all rounds taken together this as far as I know was Ask's best international result ever, and having a performance above 2250 he again crossed 2150. His first round draw against Westerinen was probably no sensation as Ask has drawn several GMs earlier, but still surprising as he managed to hold together a difficult position through a long game. He was awfully revealed before 20 moves by Rozentalis in the second round, and played by far too loose also during his later losing games against Bisby and Berg.

His play was somewhat shaky in several other games too, but playing consistently for activity with a low time spending and a sharp tactical look, he made much out of it - mixing up relatively solid draws against 2200-players Charleshouse, Glenne and Hole with nice tactical shots against Karlsen, Harestad and Valenti. True enough Ask was in deep trouble at least against Harestad, but time trouble is a part of the game when you are playing him - and Ask efficiently used his chances when getting them. This potentially powerful chess discus thrower did with only three oversteps this time, and if continuing that way he will soon reach new lengths.

28) Kim NYGREN (Örebro SS, Sweden - born 10.08.1980 - seeded 28)

Results:
  1. Loss as black against GM Aleksei Lugovoi 2540.
  2. Win as white against Gunnar Bue 1991.
  3. Win as black against Per Johansson 2016.
  4. Loss as white against WGM Tatiana Shumiakina 2364.
  5. Draw as black against Olavur Simonsen 2265.
  6. Win as black against Boris Berning 2240.
  7. Loss as white against FM Magnus Carlsen 2279.
  8. Loss as white against Paul Johansen 2239.
  9. Draw as black against Corrado Astengo 2172.
  10. Win as white against Kjetil Stokke 2136.
Current ELO :2203
Average of opponents : 2224 4
Expected score :4.7/10
Actual score :5.0/10
Performance :2224
Change of ELO :+5

This is a rounded off "3.6" - Nygren signed on a thin plus after confirming almost all my beliefs about his good and bad habits. He is a gifted attacking player usually being very efficient when getting the upper hand against players up to his own level, but he still too often becomes too primitive and too inaccurate against the better players. He is somewhat of a chess ice hockey player: Highly dangerous when allowed to speed up the skates or fire with a clean sight for the goal, but still not advanced enough in his movements and strategy. Even when his endgame techique against Johansson was everything but accurate, Nygren won deservedly and convincing when getting the necessary help from Bue, Johansson, Berning and Stokke, and drew solid black games against Astengo and Simonsen.

The losses where far less elegant to follow: Nygren went down without the shadow of a hope against Lugovoi, and more or less collapsed (true enough in three different ways) from promising white positions against Shumiakina, Carlsen and Paul Johansen. In short I got the same feeling when he left as when he arrived: Kim is a gifted happy go lucky person and player, but to become an IM-candidate he needs to deepen and clean up his play in all stages of the game, and to keep his concentration better during the whole tournament. But he is still a young man and he still got a great joy of chess - the capacity is obvious.

29) Øystein HOLE (Akademisk SK, Norway - born 20.10.1971 - seeded 22)

Results:
  1. Win as black against Jean Saulnier (1880).
  2. Loss as white against WGM Evgenija Kovelevskaya 2452.
  3. Win as black against Pasi Korhonen 2115.
  4. Loss as black against Eduardas Rozentalis 2585.
  5. Win as white against Alf Roger Andersen 2142.
  6. Draw as white against Mikael Agopov 2376.
  7. Loss as black against Stig K Martinsen 2085.
  8. Draw as white against Olaf Berg 2065.
  9. Draw as black against Bjørn-Erik Glenne 2203.
  10. Draw as white against Josef Ask 2128.
Current ELO :2252
Average of rated opponents : 2239 3
Expected score against rated opponents :4.7/9
Actual score against rated opponents :4.0/9
Performance :2192
Change of ELO :-10

Hole's 3 is a rounded off "2.5" - in the end saved by his suprising second place in the blitz tournament. Such a sensible player having been half a point away from an IM-norm at an earlier Gausdal occasion, can hardly be satisfied with 50 %, a performance below 2200 and a loss of FIDE-ELO as well as national rating. Still the whole minus is the seventh round loss against Stig K Martinsen, following a tight time trouble duel as Øystein for once ran seriously short of time himself. He was unlucky to meet both the underrated nightmares Martinsen and Berg, and apart from 0.5/2 against them (Hole as the only one managed to draw Berg!) his results were a typical slight pluss Swiss. For the first six rounds it was a solid plus: Hole lost only against WGM Kovalevskaya and GM Rozentalis, made a solid (read: boring) draw against IM Agopov and registered his typical patient victories against Saulnier, Korhonen and Andersen.

The Martinsen game however became a turning point: Hole later gave away his advantages against Berg and Glenne, and failed to create anything in a long theory duel against Ask. Long theory duel against Hole? Yes, something is about to happen - having worked together a solid black repertoire, Hole now seems about to give up his King's Indian Advances to play for an advantage as white. He is still basically a patient and sound baseline tennis player, but having improved his serve defences he now seems all the more about to improve his serves too. That investment will probably pay off in an only slightly longer run, even when it did not do so during our ten rounds. Another reform however was that Hole ran short of time several times, and that of course is much less of a good idea for a relatively slow player like him.

30) Bjørn-Erik GLENNE (Nordstrand SK, Norway - born 03.04.1971 - seeded 31)

Results:
  1. Draw as white against GM Eduardas Rozentalis 2585.
  2. Loss as black against Giuseppe Valenti 2230.
  3. Win as white against Tor Kristian Larsen (1747).
  4. Loss as white against FM Riku Molander 2291.
  5. Win as black against Terje Karlsen 2135.
  6. Draw as black against Glenn Charleshouse 2284.
  7. Draw as white against Josef Ask 2128.
  8. Draw as black against Stefan Hörbing (2038).
  9. Draw as white against Øystein Hole 2252.
  10. Draw as black against Paul Johansen 2239.
Current ELO :2203
Average of rated opponents : 2264 4
Expected score against rated opponents :3.4/8
Actual score against rated opponents :3.5/8
Performance :2264
Change of ELO :+2

Bjørn-Erik's Gausdal come-back became a shaky experience: He lost all norm chances when losing in an ugly fashion against Valenti and Molander within the first half of the tournament, faced a disaster when being lost from the opening against Karlsen in round five, and having turned that game he proved completely unable to create anything during his five draws in the second half of the tournament. Nevertheless he lost only two games, drew the strongest player he has ever drawn against Rozentalis in the opening round (true enough from a game in which most positions, including the final one, was lost) and finished on a plus on ELO as well as national rating (true enough a wafer thin plus at both) - hence I have let him convince me that he deserves better than a "3".

I had the feeling that Bjørn-Erik in general and his openings in particular did not do too well this tournament, but that he fought back to make a reasonable result out of it. Probably he managed a plus result despite not having much help from the small margins this time. To be more nuanced about his openings the white ones were solid without giving too many advantages, while the black ones were everything but solid and hardly ever managed to equalize. I would recommend Bjørn-Erik to give his white openings a critical look and his black openings a very critical look before his next international try; apart from that his main challenge still is to keep up his play all the way and to exploit the chances he gets. I agree with Bjørn-Erik that he is a chess curling player, who was trying to curl against an uphill for the ten rounds of this match.

31) Paul JOHANSEN (Moss SK, Norway - born 01.01.1956 - seeded 25)

Results:
  1. Win as white against Terje Torgersen (1790).
  2. Draw as black against IM Mark Bluvshtein 2461.
  3. Loss as white against GM Heikki Westerinen 2374.
  4. Win as black against Nils-Johan Ohlzon 2176.
  5. Loss as white against FM Magnus Carlsen 2279.
  6. Loss as black against Kjetil Stokke 2136.
  7. Win as white against Tor Kristian Larsen (1747).
  8. Win as black against Kim Nygren 2202.
  9. Loss as black against Stig K Martinsen 2085.
  10. Draw as white against Bjørn-Erik Glenne 2203.
Current ELO :2239
Average of rated opponents : 2240 3
Expected score against rated opponents :4.0/8
Actual score against rated opponents :3.0/8
Performance :2153
Change of ELO :-25

Nothing new about many ups and downs for Paul Johansen, but his sleazy counterattacking chess definitely worked less good when he came in a defending position with an ELO well above 2200 this year. The start was promising enough, as Paul following a tiny victory against Torgersen in the first round, produced his sensation of the tournament by a fighting draw against Bluvshtein in the second round. His too loose play however was revealed when he blundered in one move against Westerinen, and beat down himself in the openings against Carlsen and Stokke. In between having won convincingly in a long game against Ohlzon and in a short attacking one against Larsen, chess street fighter Paul Johansen again was on the plus side after coming back from an inferior position to win a long and typical game against Kim Nygren in the eight round. But the very next day he was back on his worst habits, blundering three times in one game when losing to Stig K Martinsen.

In short the short draw against Bjørn-Erik Glenne in round ten and the 50 % score was not representative for his shaky play. Probably that was not much of a shock: Paul's first ELO was simply too high, and compared to his national rating just above 2100 this result was on the plus side. But anyway Paul's play was well below his best, as he was even more uneven and inaccurate that he use to be - and much more than he can afford to be at this level. To reach 2300 he needs to deepen his positional understanding, but more realisticly he should be able to stabilize above 2200 by spending some hours before the games to strengthen his openings and some minutes during the games to give himself some security net. For now he is a chess boxer with heavy knocks, but without much of a guard.

32) Terje TORGERSEN (Norsk Internett SK, Norway - born 14.11.1969 - seeded 54)

Results:
  1. Loss as black against Paul Johansen 2239.
  2. Loss as white against Pasi Korhonen 2115.
  3. Draw as black against Øystein Bøyum Fossum 2167.
  4. Draw as black against Jean Saulnier (1880).
  5. Win as white against Øyvind Pedersen 2054.
  6. Draw as white against Matts Unander 2214.
  7. Draw as white against Nils-Johan Ohlzon 2176.
  8. Win as black against Olavur Simonsen 2265.
  9. Win as white against Boris Berning 2240.
  10. Loss as black against Hans Krogh Harestad 2236.
Current ELO :Unrated. (Norwegian rating 1790)
Average of rated opponents : 2190 5
Score against rated opponents :4.5/9
Performance :2190
ELO-norm :2190 (9 games = sufficient for an ELO)

This on the other hand hand was closer to a "6" and probably the main surprise of the final standings: Having been a 1700-player for many years "TT" in his first international title tournament made his best result ever, and he probably would have accepted right away if offered a FIDE-ELO of 2100 in advance. The first four rounds included three black games, and were shaky and somewhat nervous: Terje T. suffered an honest loss after missing some chances in the rook endgame against Paul Johansen in round one, resigned in a still complex position against Korhonen, scraped a draw from a nightmare opening against Bøyum Fossum, and missed a draw in the ending against Saulnier. The cool win against Pedersen in the fifth round however became a turning point for Terje: Following two solid draws against Unander and Ohlzon he accelerated his sucess by a crushing attacking win against Simonsen in the eight round - and became a true sensation man getting his reward for ambitious play when Berning ran short of time in round nine. Of course satisfied with a FIDE-ELO of 2190, Terje having updated his ambitions felt unhappy a) to meet Hans Krogh Harestad as black in the last round and b) to lose that long game by the bitter margin of "one tempo and the last pawn" in the endgame. No doubt this was the highlight of his career so far, but still his play was too uneven for a "6" - he was at that level only during the rounds 5-9.

Finding himself around 1900 in national rating for the first time and qualified for the master class of the Norwegian Championship due to his ELO, Terje hopefully got the inspiration to increase his chess working further. Extremely interested in chess in general and his games in particular, he should have all possibilities to stabilize as a master player when realizing that he can defeat players above 2200 as well. I think that was his main lesson from this tournament; it remains to be tested whether it becomes a blitz or a permanent change in his career. Before trying to defend his ELO at this level, he would do wise to look over his openings and probably specialize them a little bit more: Except from the jackpot against Simonsen, he earned his success this time despite his black openings and not because of his white openings. A person of few words and a chess player of small steps, he fits well as a 10000 meter runner.

33) Øystein BØYUM FOSSUM (Drammens SK, Norway - born 23.03.1987 - seeded 35)

Results:
  1. Loss as white against IM Mathias Womacka 2496.
  2. Loss as black against Per Johansson 2016.
  3. Draw as white against Terje Torgersen (1790).
  4. Win as black against Stefan Hörbing (2038).
  5. Win as white against Ragnar Knudsen (1817).
  6. Draw as black against Martin Poulsen 2244.
  7. Draw as white against Glenn Charleshouse 2284.
  8. Draw as black against Boris Berning 2240.
  9. Loss as white against Hans Krogh Harestad 2236.
  10. Win as black against Terje Nilsen (1794).
Current ELO :2167
Average of rated opponents : 2253 3
Expected score against rated opponents :2.3/6
Actual score against rated opponents :1.5/6
Performance :2060
Change of ELO :-20

I have some difficulties about what to compare Bøyum boy with, as he has one FIDE-ELO of 2167 and one of 1989. He probably should have a "2" compared to the first ELO, and a "4" compared to the second one. The truth of course is to be find somewhere in between, hence a "3" is the obvious verdict. The start was promising but bitter, as Øystein during mutual time trouble fought back from an inferior middlegame to reach a drawn endgame against IM Womacka - but only to lose it after six hours and more than 100 moves. Outplayed by Johansson in the second round Bøyum Fossum suddenly had a hard start, which did not become much softer because he drew from a more or less winning attacking position against Torgersen. The stepping stone became the game against Hörbing in the fourth round, when the 15 year old Norwegian first got an attack and then a point more or less for free within 20 moves. He went on with a sound victory against Knudsen, safely fulfilling the win in the bishop endgame after winning a pawn in the middlegame. He looked about to create himself an excellent tournament by registering three solid draws against 2200-players Poulsen, Charleshouse and Berning during the next three rounds - the only disappointment being that he did not dare to test his advantages against Poulsen and Charleshouse. Unfortunately for him Bøyum Fossum's white openings first did not fire and then backfired into his face against an inspired Harestad in round nine, but following a working day win against Terje Nilsen in round 10 he still landed on 50 % and a nice plus regarding national rating.

As demonstrated during this tournament too, Bøyum Fossum at his best is a light handed and very elegant chess gymnastics. Unfortunately he is still falling down from the apparatus and/or missing to complete his program a little bit too often. But he did much better now than in Bergen last summer, and has stabilized as the hegemon of his age group (= born after 1985 and before 1990!) in Norwegian chess. Hence I was waiting with excitement for his next move when I left Gausdal. That turned out to be winning NTG Grand Prix after defeating Magnus Carlsen; no doubt about the potential for future occasions.

34) Eydun NOLSØE (København TF, Faroe Islands - born 11.08.1966 - seeded 27)

Results:
  1. Win as white against Tor Kristian Larsen (1747).
  2. Loss as black against FM Craig Hanley 2359.
  3. Loss as white against Stig K Martinsen 2085.
  4. Win as black against Gunnar Bue 1991.
  5. Win as white against Kai-Roger Johansen 2084.
  6. Loss as black against GM Heikki Westerinen 2374.
  7. Draw as white against Kjetil Stokke 2136.
  8. Draw as black against Tobias Lönngren 2122.
  9. Loss as white against Alf Roger Andersen 2142.
  10. Win as black against Stefan Hörbing (2038).
Current ELO :2236
Average of rated opponents : 2162 2
Expected score against rated opponents :4.8/8
Actual score against rated opponents :3.0/8
Performance :2075
Change of ELO :-27

The uncle within the young delegation of Faroe players, Nolsøe demonstrated himself as a positive and nice person during his nine days at Gausdal. He however failed to demonstrate himself as the upcoming 2200-player he reportedly is, and as he won two of his victories against unrateds and the other two against players below 2100, the result became a medium disaster seen from his ELO's point of view. The basic problem was simply that he played well below his best: Against all qualified opponents he did not hit in with the openings, and developing strained relations with all available chess clocks he had a pole out tournament later in the games too.

Nolsøe got away with the shock in the first round, as Larsen blundered away from a clearly better position. In the second round Nolsøe for once had a (relative) success with a black opening against a titleholder, but then he instead ran short of time and lost a drawish queen endgame. (Yes, it was against Hanley!) In the third round Eydun for once did not run short of time himself, but then he instead blundered a piece when Stig K Martinsen ran short of time. Despite this heavy start Nolsøe demonstrated what a gifted attacking player he can be when stunning Bue with a brilliant sacrifice in the fourth round and when blowing up the kingside of Kai-Roger Johansen in the fifth round. When he seemed about to turn the tide, Nolsøe however instead drowned: His black weaknesses again were demonstrated when he stumbled from a painful opening into a killing queen sacrifice before 25 moves against Westerinen, and following two long but shaky draws against 2100-players Stokke and Lönngren, he finally bankrupted his tournament by dying in flames against Alf Roger Andersen - very typically he in the second mutual time trouble was then caught within the burning ruins of what once had been a much better position.

A patient win against Hörbing in the last round saved a respectable sum of points, but as his 50 % is hiding eight lower rated opponents and none above 2400, Nolsøe is closer to a "1" than a "3" this time. I still had the feeling that we are talking about small margins in his case, and that he might be a 2300-player if only able to a) make a more practical use of his time and b) either to complete his openings or to be more lucky about what opening to get.... For now he was the beach volleyball player of the tournament: Brilliant when smashing on a sunny day, but nothing but depressing when trying to block anyone on his rainy days....

35) Björn GAMBÄCK (Kristallens SK, Sweden - born 13.02.1964 - seeded 30)

Results:
  1. Win as black against Ida Lahlum (1438).
  2. Draw as white against FM Riku Molander 2291.
  3. Win as black against Olavur Simonsen 2265.
  4. Loss as white agianst WGM Evgenija Kovalevskaya 2452.
  5. Draw as black against Daniel Bisby 2283.
  6. Loss as white against WGM Tatiana Shumiakina 2364.
  7. Win as black against Jan-Arne Bjørgvik (1609).
  8. Loss as white against IM Mikael Agopov 2376.
  9. Draw as black against Tobias Lönngren 2122.
  10. Loss as white against Tarjei Svensen 2074.
Current ELO :2213
Average of rated opponents : 2278 2
Expected score against rated opponents :3.3/8
Actual score against rated opponents :2.5/8
Performance :2137
Change of ELO :-12

Among all Dr Jekylls and Mr Hydes of this tournament, professor Gambäck was probably the one most difficult to explain. The start with 2.5/3 was an excellent one, as he won two nice black games and in between made a correct theoretical draw against FM Molander. He again looked like an IM-candidate when outplaying surprise man Bjørgvik as black in round seven, but apart from that and not counting two boring draws against Bisby and Lönngren, everything which could possibly fail did so from round four on. From the start he just seemed to have some kind of lady problems, as he was crushed by Kovalevskaya in round four and during mystical circumstances managed to lose against Shumiakina a seemingly dead drawn ending (rook, knight and four on the kingside against rook, knight and four on the kingside). That problem should be less serious, as Gambäck had met all lady participants within the first six rounds. He however tricked down to a minus result by finding himself mated at the end of his try to trick Agopov in the ending of round eight, and unwilling to accept a draw he suddenly collapsed totally against Svensen in the final round. Following this loss Gambäck not too well timed found himself below 50 % for the first time after round ten....

His result was better than the sum of points, and ending 35 is no disaster for a player seeded 30 - hence he is close to a "3". But all discounts counted he is not close enough: As demonstrated by the first three rounds, Gambäck's capacity ranges far above this point - and having been close to an IM-norm two times, he was of course dissatisfied to fall down nearly to 2200. I got the feeling that he is a chess skiing jumper with capacity to go long, but during these ten jumps he too often did not have the wind - and too often became too shaky in the air.

36) Giuseppe VALENTI (Italy - born 22.09.1950 - seeded 28)

Results:
  1. Draw as black against Askild Bryn (1616).
  2. Win as white against Bjørn-Erik Glenne 2203.
  3. Win as black against FM Riku Molander 2291.
  4. Loss on walk over (against GM Heikki Kallio 2474).
  5. Draw as white against Magnus Fäldt 2252.
  6. Draw as black against Geir Sune Tallaksen 2258.
  7. Loss as white against IM Mark Bluvshtein 2461.
  8. Loss as white against Josef Ask 2128.
  9. Win as black against Jan-Arne Bjørgvik (1609).
  10. Loss on walk over.
Current ELO :2230
Average of rated opponents : 2266 4
Expected score against rated opponents :2.7/6
Actual score against rated opponents :3.0/6
Performance :2266
Change of ELO :+5

This obviously was the strongest result below 50 %, as Valenti having the shortest tournament of all participants actually made a +1 score: Having to give walk over due to illness during round four and unable to play round ten due to his travel schedule, he played only eight games. The first round draw against Bryn junior of course was a disappointment, even when/especially as Valenti was an exchange down when a draw was agreed before 20 moves. Regarding FIDE-ELO Valenti nevertheless made a promising start, winning a nice attacking game against Glenne in round two and a nice technical marathon against Molander in the third round. Following his physical breakdown Valenti still looked convincing when drawing Fäldt and Tallaksen in round five and six after having the initiative in both games. His last two games however were much less impressing, as Valenti was crushed in 25 moves against Bluvshtein and never was better when losing a sharp tactical battle to Ask.

Having assured himself an ELO plus before his final round, he then gave himself a score plus too by taking a piece and winning against Bjørgvik. Because of his walk over losses Valenti was never an IM-candidate in his first Gausdal start, but aged 52 he introduced himself as a sound but dynamic 2200-player. His black openings worked better than the white ones this time, but that reportedly was just an accident. Valenti was an elegant but solid chess gymnastic - until he suddenly fell down twice.

37) Nils-Johan OHLZON (K-H-Alliansen, Sweden - born 26.02.1974 - seeded 33)

Results:
  1. Loss as white against GM Normunds Miezis 2523.
  2. Win as black against Tarjei Svensen 2074.
  3. Draw as white against Ragnar Knudsen (1817).
  4. Loss as white against Paul Johansen 2239.
  5. Loss as black against Tobias Lönngren 2122.
  6. Win as white against Terje Nilsen (1794).
  7. Draw as black against Terje Torgersen (1790).
  8. Loss as black against Alf Roger Andersen 2142.
  9. Draw as white against Jon Ludvig Hammer (1752).
  10. Win as black against Tor Kristian Larsen (1747).
Current ELO :2176
Average of rated opponents : 2220 2
Expected score against rated opponents :2.2/5
Actual score against rated opponents :1.0/5
Performance :1980
Change of ELO :-18

Ohlzon in his first Gausdal start overconfirmed everything I suspected after having studied his earlier games: He probably has a strength above 2400 in his sharp openings and might be dangerous in tactical positions, but still is not a 2200-player as he lacks the positional understanding to complete his positions. He was (understandably, but still depressingly) outplayed by Miezis within a few moves of his own after the theory, and later failed to catch up with the middlegames against Paul Johansen and Alf Roger Andersen. The fifth round loss to Lönngren on the other hand was a bitter one, as this probably was Ohlzon's best positional game of the tournament: Having equalized in a Catalan he went on to keep a positional pressure through the middle game, and still was clearly better when losing on time at move 39. Ohlzon's first two draws were very short ones against unrated opponents, in the third he scraped a draw against Litle Hammer after giving a pawn. The wins against Nilsen and Larsen on the other hand came convincingly enough. And even when Ohlzon's second round win against Svensen was lucky as he had been under fire most of the middle game, he in that game too demonstrated a lack of fear and a tactical strength, which mixed up with his hard openings of course might be dangerous even for players on a titleholder level.

Still I got the feeling that he needs to work with chess in a different way if interested in advancing further - sooner or later (preferrably sooner) he will then have to widen his scope. For now he is a chess tennis player armed with a hard first serve and a possibly killing smash, but too soon losing patience and technique in case of long battles. 4.5/10 and place 37 of course is no disaster for seeeded number 33, but a performance below 2000 against the rated opponents is still too far below his ambitions for anything but a "2".

38) Glenn CHARLESHOUSE (Northwest Eagles CC, England - born 21.05.1963 - seeded 16)

Results:
  1. Loss as black against Olaf Berg 2065.
  2. Win as white against Rolf Sander 2048.
  3. Loss as black against Kjetil Stokke 2136.
  4. Win as white against Per Johansson 2016.
  5. Draw as black against Josef Ask 2128.
  6. Draw as white against Bjørn-Erik Glenne 2203.
  7. Draw against Øystein Bøyum Fossum 2167.
  8. Loss as white against Tarjei Svensen 2074.
  9. Win as white against Stefan Hörbing (2038).
  10. Loss as black against Alf Roger Andersen 2142.
Current ELO :2284
Average of rated opponents : 2109 1
Expected score against rated opponents :6.6/9
Actual score against rated opponents :3.5/9
Performance :2029
Change of ELO :-47

This dice is actually a compliment: The result and this play of course would have been fine enough for many players in the second part of the field, but for a player like Charleshouse, a strong IM-candidate seeded sixteenth, it was nothing but the ultimate nightmare. Despite arriving the day before the tournament to be fit for the first round our new English friend got a troublesome start, as he lost his two first black games against underrated small devils Berg and Stokke in an ugly fashion. Following convincing white victories against Sander and Johansson he was still swimming behind the boat after fours rounds. Gradually losing it out of sight during three toothless draws against Ask, Glenne and Fossum, he finally fell below the surface when pressing a drawish endgame too hard against Svensen in the eight round. Having raised his head above the water one last time when defeating Hörbing in round nine, he sank deeper than ever before when losing on time in a still living position against Alf Roger Andersen in the tenth round.

One part of the truth was of course that Charleshouse was unlucky with the opponents, as Berg, Ask, Svensen and Andersen obviously was not the four-leaf to meet this tournament. One reason of that truth however was their successfull results against Charleshouse, and the problem more basically was related to his own play. Doing best as a patient technician with a small advantage, Charleshouse this time way too often landed in sharp open positions he did not seem to enjoy - and consequently the clock too became his enemy instead of his friend. It just was not Glenn's tournament this time - very typically he ended up to overpress it when finally getting a patient endgame a la Charleshouse against Svensen. Keeping that endgame aside Charleshouse's white openings scoring 3.5/4 did fine, but 1/5 against only lower rated opponents of course was a disaster. Having produced a minus score against ten lower rated opponents, Charleshouse fortunately demonstrated a great mental strength by smiling for the organiser and the excellent results of the other English players. Have no doubt that he will return next time as the technically excellent length jumper he used to be at his best. This time he was a length jumper trying to be a high jumper in half of his games, and missing the plank in most of the remaining.

39) Pasi KORHONEN (Ita-Helsingin SK, Finland - born 05.09.1968 - seeded 41)

Results:
  1. Loss as white against FM Craig Hanley 2359.
  2. Win as black against Terje Torgersen (1790).
  3. Loss as white against Øystein Hole 2252.
  4. Loss as white against Jan-Arne Bjørgvik (1609).
  5. Loss as black against Jon Ludvig Hammer (1752).
  6. Win as black against Ida Lahlum (1438).
  7. Loss as white against Øyvind Pedersen 2054.
  8. Win as black against Gunnar Bue 1991.
  9. Draw as white against Tor Kristian Larsen (1747).
  10. Win as white against Per Johansson 2016.
Current ELO :2115
Average of rated opponents : 2134 2
Expected score against rated opponents :2.4/5
Actual score against rated opponents :2.0/5
Performance :2062
Change of ELO :-5

Our new and jovial Finn friend turned out to be colourful and humorous on the board as well as outside it, and definitely gave the tournament as well as the hotel more colours during his stay. Even more than most other players below 50 %, he however was too uneven in his play to gain any ground. During the first half of the tournament his play clearly was below the usual currency, probably much because he came straight from an intensive tournament in Helsinki. Just outplayed positionally by his three H's (Hanley, Hole & Hammer!), Korhonen won a turbulent game as Torgersen resigned in a messy position - but lost an even more turbulent one as he instead of making a decisive sacrifice himself allowed Bjørgvik to get an extra queen. Both his score and his play improved markedly during the second half of the tournament. True enough Korhonen lost another chaos game against Pedersen during time trouble in round seven, but he demonstrated himself as a gifted iniative and attcker player when defeating Lahlum, Bue and Johansson. If anyone wonder about the draw against Larsen that was a dead drawn endgame, as Korhonen despite his extra pawn could not win because of different coloured bishops.

Although two final wins against rated opponents saved much Korhonen still lost a little ELO weight, and losing against two unrateds he would hardly have given himself more than a "2". To move the other way from 2100 he should probably specialize and strengthen his openings, as "varied" is the best thing I can say about them for now. Definitely he should join a "widen your positional play"-lecture. If insisting upon still playing like Texas, he should at least a) chose white openings being a little less Alaska and/or b) becoming a little more German in his calculations. Rallycross (without helmet and/or a map reader) of course is the given chess sport for Korhonen, even before I was told that he actually is a taxi driver....

40) Matts UNANDER (Caissa SK, Sweden - born 15.08.1956 - seeded 29)

Results:
  1. Loss as white against Jan-Arne Bjørgvik (1609).
  2. Draw as black against Ragnar Knudsen (1817).
  3. Draw as white against Øyvind Pedersen 2054.
  4. Win as black against Tor Kristian Larsen (1747).
  5. Loss as white against Olaf Berg 2065.
  6. Draw as white against Terje Torgersen (1790).
  7. Loss as white against Tobias Lönngren 2122.
  8. Draw as black against Jon Ludvig Hammer (1752).
  9. Draw as white against Rolf Sander 2048.
  10. Win as black against Terje Karlsen 2135.
Current ELO :2214
Average of rated opponents : 2085 2
Expected score against rated opponents :3.4/5
Actual score against rated opponents :2.5/5
Performance :2085
Change of ELO :-20

This is actually close to a "1": Unander has the understanding of the great correspondence chess master, and clearly demonstrated his capacity over the board too during Gausdal Classics of last year. This time he got a depressing start, as he following eight hours of driving lost a long endgame against surprise man Bjørgvik in the first round. Following this shock, Unander's tournament never really got on track. Finding skiing all the more inspiring than chess as the week went on, he came to accept short draws against Pedersen, Torgersen and Sander. Against Knudsen he was better for 40 moves without ever finding anything decisive, and against Hammer he having been worse gently refused to play on time in a drawish double rook endgame. He was of course unlucky to meet the underrated sharks Berg and Lönngren, but nevertheless was playing well below his usual standard when losing to them as white.

Unander's white Trompovsky overall was a disaster, in the end "giving" him =2-3 against five lower rated opponents. 3.5/5 as black on the other hand was solid: Against Larsen Unander efficiently used his chances against a much too loose opponent, while the tenth round win against Karlsen came somewhat luckily but very efficiently from an inferior position. Avoiding a total disaster by winning that game, a player like Unander still does not deserve more than a "2" for ending below 50 % with only lower rated opponents and falling below 2200. I however got the feeling that there is not that much he has to repair - apart from of course sacking the Trompovsky from next Monday. At his best a harmonious and elegant chess swimmer he simply got a difficult start on this tournament, and not getting much help from the margins he lacked the inspiration to swim against this tide.

41) Kjetil STOKKE (Fana SK, Norway - born 21.06.1983 - seeded 37)

Results:
  1. Loss as white against IM Mark Bluvshtein 2461.
  2. Win as black against Stefan Hörbing (2038).
  3. Win as white against Glenn Charleshouse 2284.
  4. Loss as black against Geir Sune Tallaksen 2258.
  5. Draw as white against Boris Berning 2240.
  6. Win as white against Paul Johansen 2239.
  7. Draw as black against Eydun Nolsøe 2236.
  8. Loss as black against FM Bjarte Leer-Salvesen 2329.
  9. Loss as white against Martin Poulsen 2244.
  10. Loss as black against Kim Nygren 2202.
Current ELO :2136
Average of rated opponents : 2277 4
Expected score against rated opponents :2.8/9
Actual score against rated opponents :3.0/9
Performance :2152
Change of ELO :+3

For seven rounds everything looked fine from a Stokke point of view. True enough he having died in flames against Bluvshtein in the first round (of course after being clearly better from the opening) and blundered when finally having a draw within reach against Tallaksen in the fourth round, never really was in the run for an IM-norm. But he never expected to be, even when he probably was the best prepared participant of the tournament. He just hoped for a good result, following his traumatic nine rounds without a win last year. Having won his last Gausdal game during the Norwegian championships of 1999, he was obviously happy after getting a win as Hörbing blundered in the second round. The third and fifth round later saw Stokke at his best, running out from the starting blocks to outplay 2200-players Charleshouse and Paul Johansen in the middlegame. His nerves again created problems for him against Berning and Nolsøe, but he demonstrated a new mental strength by fighting back to save half of the point after blundering. 4/7 still was a 2300-performance before the last third of the tournament. But although having improved much Kjetil still has problems to keep his play up for the game, not to mention a ten rounds tournament: He ended up with a "long castle" against Leer-Salvesen, Poulsen and Nygren in the final rounds, wasting promising chances at least against the two latter.

The conclusion then became a very slight plus in both rating systems, and just above expected actually was below expected as Kjetil is still universally recognized as underrated. I still think he deserves a "4" for several reasons. Firstly Kjetil demonstrated beyond doubt that he is a 2100-player, and I know no 2100-player having walked a more long and thorny road to reach that mark - I still remembered Kjetil Stokke aged 14 and proclaimed completely unable ever to reach 1750..... Secondly he reached a plus result without much help from the margins - no one could complain about his wins, while he had promising positions in nearly all his losing games. Thirdly Kjetil by returning to Gausdal and fighting back the nightmares of last year, demonstrated that he has developed on the board as well as from a chess mental point of view. The last point might be the most important one, as Kjetil will be a 2200-player within weeks if able to cure the mystical blackouts which still destroy at least two games for him each tournament. He still suffered from this weaknesses at Gausdal, and blundered more than any other 2100-player. But he is closer to the day of overcoming it now, and I will be happy to be present as an arbiter and not as a player that day. I have called him a chess water canon and still think that is a telling description regarding his opening strength: He is still a chess sprinter enjoying the starts too much to complete the runs. But he was better to complete this year, and I still know only one 2100-player having complete repertoires for 1.c4, 1.d4 and 1.e4...

42) Corrado ASTENGO (Circolo Scacchi Mendrisio, Italy - born 01.03.1959 - seeded 34)

Results:
  1. Draw as black against GM Sergei Ovsejewitch 2517.
  2. Loss as white against IM Mikael Agopov 2376.
  3. Win as black against Terje Nilsen (1794).
  4. Loss as white against GM Aleksei Lugovoi 2540.
  5. Draw as black against Tarjei Svensen 2074.
  6. Win as white against Tobias Lönngren 2122.
  7. Loss as black against Olaf Berg 2065.
  8. Draw as white against Jan-Arne Bjørgvik (1609).
  9. Draw as white against Kim Nygren 2202.
  10. Loss on walk over.
Current ELO :2172
Average of rated opponents : 2268 4
Expected score against rated opponents :2.6/7
Actual score against rated opponents :2.5/7
Performance :2166
Change of ELO :-1

Like Valenti losing the last round due to his travel schedule, Astengo's result too was better than his sum of points indicates. He presented himself as a sound positional player, but lacking the tactical strength and dynamics to decide games and to catch up with the better players. The obvious exception and highlight came in the first round, when Astengo despite being one and for some moves even two pawns down, hung on to save a long endgame as black against GM Ovsejewitch. Later he became just a little bit too light when losing to IM Agopov and GM Lugovoi, even when both losses were honest enough. Having won a nice positional one against Nilsen and a mysterious one against Lönngren he had a clear plus result until being the one to lose the last and most important thread in a messy tactical game against Berg in round seven. Astengo's two final white draws against Bjørgvik and Nygren came without too much blood, so did his black draw against Svensen.

Having made a modest ELO-gain recently Astengo at the moment probably is a player just below 2170, needing more ambitions to win games and more tactical strength to advance further. He is chess ice dancer, who would get more result on the ice if becoming a little bit more an ice hockey player. For now it was an approximately zero result, but I will round off to a "4" as Astengo drew a GM, and as he was outplayed by no man.

43) Jan Arne BJØRGVIK (Moss SK, Norway - born 24.05.1947 - seeded 58)

Results:
  1. Win as black against Matts Unander 2214.
  2. Loss as white against GM Sergei Ovsejewitch 2517.
  3. Loss as white against Alf Roger Andersen 2142.
  4. Win as black against Pasi Korhonen 2115.
  5. Loss as white against Hans Krogh Harestad 2236.
  6. Win as black against Kai-Roger Johansen 2084.
  7. Loss as white against Björn Gambäck 2213.
  8. Draw as black against Corrado Astengo 2172.
  9. Loss as white against Giuseppe Valenti 2230.
  10. Draw as black against Rolf Sander 2048.
Current ELO :Unrated. (Norwegian rating 1609)
Average of rated opponents : 2197 5
Score against rated opponents :4.0/10
Performance :2125
ELO-norm :2125 (10 games = sufficient for an ELO).

This is actually closer to a "6" than a "4", despite the modest place on the final list: Seeded 58 out of 60 participants and being a class 2-player aged 55, Bjørgvik probably would have accepted any ELO-norm above 2000 before the first round. The start of course was a great inspiration, as an awake Bjørgvik picked up and safely fulfilled the endgame win against 2200-player Matts Unander in the first round. True enough this clearly was his best game of the tournament, but although the games were more shaky, his surprising wins against Korhonen in round four and Kai-Roger Johansen in round six too were very well deserved. Even when he succeeded to save a draw by active counterplay against Astengo in round eight and got a short one for free against Sander in the last round, Bjørgvik's play however was less impressing during the second half of the tournament. Losing his two last white games without (m)any chances against Gämbäck and Valenti he did not succeed to fulfill the dream goal about qualifying for the Norwegian master class by getting an ELO above 2100. Hence I think a "5" is sufficient even when Bjørgvik aged 55 made his clearly best result ever.

Even when black for mysterious reasons had a positive score in Troll Masters 2003 (!?), Bjørgvik's colour gap is bizarre: He was undefeated while taking 4.0/5 as black, logically meaning that he lost all his five white games! Obviously his white openings has a great potential to improve from this score, but I think his main problem was lack of accuracy more than lack of opening knowledge: With an exception for the Unander game, Bjørgvik either became too inaccurate positionally or just blundered when meeting opponents above 2200. A practical and tactical fighter much more than any subtle positional master, Bjørgvik definitely was the energic chess table tennis player of this tournament. He was impressingly successful this time, but I still got the feeling that he needs to deepen and complete his play in all stages if having ambitions to reach the master class.

44) Stefan HÖRBING (Degerfors SS, Sweden - born 11.08.1979 - seeded 50)

Results:
  1. Loss as black against Magnus Fäldt 2252.
  2. Loss as white against Kjetil Stokke 2136.
  3. Draw as black against Ida Lahlum (1438).
  4. Loss as white against Øystein Bøyum Fossum 2167.
  5. Win as black against Jean Saulnier (1880).
  6. Win as white against Jon Ludvig Hammer (1752).
  7. Win as black against Olavur Simonsen 2265.
  8. Draw as white against Bjørn-Erik Glenne 2203.
  9. Loss as black against Glenn Charleshouse 2284.
  10. Loss as white against Eydun Nolsøe 2236.
Current ELO :Unrated. (Swedish rating 2038)
Average of rated opponents : 2220 3
Score against rated opponents :1.5/7
Performance :1990
ELO-norm :1990 (7 games)

Probably tired after playing nine rounds in Stockholm the week before this tournament, Hörbing had a troublesome start of his Gausdal career: Just outplayed by Fäldt in the first round, he blundered when about to get chances against Stokke in the second round, failed to win with two pieces for a rook against Lahlum in the third, and went down in 15 moves against Fossum in the fourth round. But although looking more depressed than ever before, Hörbing from the fifth round suddenly started to produce much more fun on the board, winning three nice attacking games in a row against Saulnier, Hammer and Simonsen. The sensational win against Simonsen in the seventh round however was the beginning of the end for his happy days: Following a careful draw against Glenne in the eight round, Hörbing missed his last chance for a plus result when sacrificing the big piece which lost instead of the smaller ones which forced a draw against Charleshouse. Losing to Nolsøe without too many chances in the tenth round, he following a jumpy tournament landed on -2 and a performance just below 2000.

An ambitious young man having made an ambitious try for FIDE-ELO in Stockholm and Gausdal, Hörbing will hardly be satisfied if starting up below 2000 on the april list of FIDE. As his Swedish rating is just above 2000 he however could not expect to be guaranteed much more, and his U-turn from round five for me was enough to save a thin "3". Clearly better when attacking than defending, Hörbing overall needs to complete his play to reach a 2100-2200-level. In tactical positions he however should very well defend such a strength already. Hörbing was the downhill skiing runner of Gausdal this week and made a too turbulent run to reach the final group, but having missed the first four posts he still made much out of it.

45) Boris BERNING (Brett vor'm Kopp Frankfurt am Main, Germany - born 09.11.1972 - seeded 24)

Results:
  1. Win as black against Terje Nilsen (1794).
  2. Loss as white against WGM Tatiana Shumiakina 2364.
  3. Loss as black against Olaf Berg 2065.
  4. Win as white against Rolf Sander 2048.
  5. Draw as black against Kjetil Stokke 2136.
  6. Loss as white against Kim Nygren 2202.
  7. Win as black against Terje Karlsen 2135.
  8. Draw as white against Øystein Bøyum Fossum 2167.
  9. Loss as black against Terje Torgersen (1790).
  10. Loss as white against Tobias Lönngren 2122.
Current ELO :2240
Average of rated opponents : 2155 2
Expected score against rated opponents :5.0/8
Actual score against rated opponents :3.0/8
Performance :2068
Change of ELO :-29

Berning appeared to be a solid and technical player of the German chess school, but his first Gausdal week still became a jumpy happening for the very social and symphatetic Stuttgart player. His starting win against Nilsen was a sound attacking one, while his endgame technique saved the day against Sander in round three and Karlsen in round seven - true enough following many waves against Karlsen. Berning's draws against Stokke and Fossum both were short, but if taking a security check you will still wonder about the Stokke game, in which Berning managed to give back material within a few moves after getting it for free following an opening blunder by Stokke (!?). The problem for Berning (true enough like for most other participants) was his losses: The critical point of his tournament probably came in the second round, when he playing much too carefully slipped down from a probably winning middlegame to a drawn ending which he lost. At least he never recovered after being hit down by the thunder of Olaf Berg in the third round. Later he was not dynamic enough to catch on with more ambitious opponents, and was fought down by Nygren as well as Torgersen and Lönngren. Before the final losses 4.0/8 was still a nearly satisfying result, but having played 18 games in 16 days Berning was obvisouly tired and played well below his usual strength during the two most important rounds of his tournament....

As far as I know, Berning was the only participant claiming to be overrated before the tournament. He definitely did much to prove himself right later, but when I am still in doubt whether he is overrated after the tournament, it is not only because the demands are lower for 2211 than 2240. I have the feeling that he might be a fine technical player ranking high in the 2200s, but then he needs more inspiration and fighting will than he had available this time. A sound player with well established openings, his main problem now was a lack of killing instinct which might be permanent, and inaccuracies which I think were just temporarily - as he was tired before the tournament and put the wrong foot first when entering it. As things went he participated in a walking race while his competitiors where running, and although having a fine technique he then needed more help than he got to win games. 4/10 with nine rated opponents and nearly two points below expected score is closer to a "1" than a "3", but still definitely a "2".

46) Olavur SIMONSEN (København TF, Faroe Islands - born 29.01.1977 - seeded 19)

Results:
  1. Win as white against Per Johansson 2016.
  2. Loss as black against GM Normunds Miezis 2523.
  3. Loss as white against Björn Gambäck 2213.
  4. Win as black against Øyvind Pedersen 2054
  5. Draw as white against Kim Nygren 2202.
  6. Loss as black against Hans Krogh Harestad 2236.
  7. Loss as white against Stefan Hörbing (2038).
  8. Loss as white against Terje Torgersen (1790)
  9. Draw as black against Ragnar Knudsen (1817).
  10. Win as white against Steinar Bryn (1561).
Current ELO :2265
Average of rated opponents : 2207 2
Expected score against rated opponents :3.5/6
Actual score against rated opponents :2.5/6
Performance :2150
Change of ELO :-15

Cheerfully applauding himself after reaching 4/10 against nine lower rated opponents by winning in the last round, Simonsen probably would give himself a "1" for his play in this tournament. His wins against Johansson, Pedersen and Bryn senior were deserved, but still his play was not too convincing - Simonsen did not make any advance before in a drawish endgame against Johansson, and was shaky in the middle game against Pedersen. Simonsen was a toothless bear in his relatively quiet drawish games against Nygren and Knudsen, and an ice hockey player without skates in all his five losses. Losing as black to Miezis of course is socially respectable, but being crushed from the opening actually is not! Looking all the more uninterested and playing all the more inaccurate, Simonsen later lost in an all the more ugly fashion against Gämbäck, Harestad, Hörbing and Torgersen - overlooking a decisive blow at f2 against Torgersen in the eight round was only the final blow to his tournament.

Simonsen's style and strength of course should not be judged based upon this result, as it was obviously untypical. The careless will to inaccuracies which developed into the extreme this tournament, however might be a problem even during the good tournaments for this potentially dangerous attacking player. Not wanting to make his first Gausdal start any lasting trauma, I will round off 1.8 upwards - for this time.

47) Rolf SANDER (Barmbeker SK, Germany - born 02.08.1962 - seeded 47)

Results:
  1. Loss as white against FM Magnus Carlsen 2279.
  2. Loss as black against Glenn Charleshouse 2284.
  3. Win as white against Jean Saulnier (1880).
  4. Loss as black against Boris Berning 2240.
  5. Win as white against Gunnar Bue 1991.
  6. Loss as black against Alf Roger Andersen 2142.
  7. Draw as white against Jon Ludvig Hammer (1752).
  8. Draw as black against Øyvind Pedersen 2054.
  9. Draw as black against Matts Unander 2214.
  10. Draw as white against Jan-Arne Bjørgvik (1609).
Current ELO :2048
Average of rated opponents : 2172 4
Expected score against rated opponents :2.3/7
Actual score against rated opponents :2.0/7
Performance :2014
Change of ELO :-5

Even when 2/6 was a fairly typical score the first six rounds were very untypical from a Sander point of view, as he had not yet drawn a single game. Crushed in a miniature game by a miniature opponent in the first round of course was a hard start, and even when Sander was in the games during his losses against Charleshouse, Berning and Andersen, he failed to keep up his play as black against his better opponents. Much more convincing as white against lower rated opponents, he got the full points without too much quarreling against Saulnier and Bue. In the second part of the tournament the Hamburg organiser was back on his solid track, when he for a few moments was not out to test the skiing tracks: He drew four games with an average length around 12 moves, as white against two unrated opponents and as black against two higher rated players. His equalizing as black in a Russian opening against Unander in round nine reportedly was of theoretical interest, but apart from that Sander's black openings did not really look convincing at this level - while his white ones were solid apart from the disaster against Carlsen in round one.

Being a marathon runner and a handball trainer on his spare time, Sander definitely is a softball chess player, and during the second part of the tournament he preferred to go skiing instead of fighting for a plus result in the tournament. Finishing 47 when seeded 47 truly is German accuracy, and having trimmed away some more ELO-points he should probably have only a "3". But I declare it a "4" for several reaons: Sander is a very social and helpful guest, he did fine for "three players and one organiser" in the teamtalkingchess, and most important he has obviously become better to win games - winning none in his first tournament in Norway three years ago, he won one in Bergen last summer and two this time....

48) Øyvind PEDERSEN (Sjakkameratene, Norway - born 19.09.1964 - seeded 46)

Results:
  1. Draw as black against Daniel Bisby 2283.
  2. Loss as white against Martin Poulsen 2244.
  3. Draw as black against Matts Unander 2214.
  4. Loss as white against Olavur Simonsen 2265.
  5. Loss as black against Terje Torgersen (1790).
  6. Draw as white against Gunnar Bue 1991.
  7. Win as black against Pasi Korhonen 2115.
  8. Draw as white against Rolf Sander 2048.
  9. Loss as black against Terje Nilsen (1794).
  10. Win as white against Askild Bryn (1616).
Current ELO :2054
Average of rated opponents : 2166 3
Expected score against rated opponents :2.5/7
Actual score against rated opponents :3.0/7
Performance :2116
Change of ELO :+8

Above 2000 in Norwegian rating for the first time, Pedersen entered his favourite chess scene with some more expectations. They were fulfilled from the start as he drew 2200-players Bisby and Unander in his first two black games - even though he in between lost a turbulent game against Poulsen, and even though he was probably lost along the road against Bisby. When he was mated in the second turbulent game against a Faroese player in the fourth round, that however was to become the beginning to the end of his plus result. He went down well below the waterline after developing strong time trouble and giving away pawns against a rising Terje Torgersen in round five, and by drawing in a worse position against Bue. He fought back by proving himself the more practical player in a messy attacking battle against Korhonen in round seven, when Pedersen for once got and used the advantage of being ahead on the clock. Following an unambitious white draw against Sander in round eight, he however definitely slipped below 2000 again by running short of time and into an attack against Nilsen (too) in round nine. His will was more impressing than his play when he fought on to limit the rating loss against Bryn junior in the final round. As he was lucky to win that game on time in a still drawish position at move 40, and as he losing for two unrateds still slipped below 2000, he is closer to a "2" than a "4" this time.

But overall it was a result slightly above his earlier average, confirming only that he is about to become a master player. To stabilize as one he should first avoid the time troubles which again was a bad habit this tournament, and second he needs to become a little bit tougher from the openings and all around a) when facing opponents above 2200 and b) when having to win as black against lower rated opponents. A hard working and patient player relatively seldom involved in the spectacular battles, he qualifies as the rower of the tournament.

49) Terje NILSEN (Strømmen SK, Norway – born 20.08.1971 – Seeded 53)

Results:
  1. Loss as white against Boris Berning 2240.
  2. Draw as black against Terje Karlsen 2135.
  3. Loss as white against Corrado Astengo 2172.
  4. Loss as black against Tarjei Svensen 2074.
  5. Win as white against Askild Bryn (1616).
  6. Loss as black against Nils-Johan Ohlzon 2176.
  7. Draw as white against Steinar Bryn (1561).
  8. Win as black against Kai-Roger Johansen 2084.
  9. Win as white against Øyvind Pedersen 2054.
  10. Loss as white agianst Øystein Bøyum Fossum 2167.
Current ELO :Unrated. (Norwegian rating 1794).
Average of rated opponents : 2138 3
Score against rated opponents :2.5/8
Performance :1997
ELO-norm :1997 (8 games).

Terje Nilsen definitely had some problems to acclimatize to the thin chess air of Gausdal: He was lucky (but stubborn) to save a draw in a totally lost rook endgame against Terje Karlsen in the second round, and was just positionally outplayed by Berning, Astengo and Svensen. From then on his score improved somewhat, but his play still was shaky - having won convincingly against Bryn junior in the fifth round, he was lucky to get a draw in a still lost endgame against Bryn senior two rounds later - and having lost against Ohlzon in round six, Nilsen having 2/7 still had 0.5/5 against rated opponents. He suddenly became the surprise man he was expected to be, when registering nice victories against Kai-Roger Johansen and Øyvind Pedersen in round eight and nine. He had chances to reach 50 % and a FIDE-ELO close to 2100 when starting up his sixth white game against Bøyum Fossum in the tenth round. Having sacrificed an exchange much too loose, he instead landed on -2 and an ELO-norm just below 2000. All taken together it was still a little above his expected place and score, but as he is now qualified for the master class following a sudden rise through class 3, 2 and 1, and as Johansen and Pedersen are only slightly ahead him in Norwegian rating, I expected at ' least nothing less from him at this stage

Probably this was a very useful tournament for Terje N. before his try in the master class of the Norwegian Championship this summer, and I will actually be surprised if he does not stabilize in that class within 2006. But the spring of 2003 he still suffers from some of the chess diseases from class 2, too often being incomplete in his openings, inaccurate in his variations, too optimistic when attacking and too pessimistic when defending. Many small steps still to be taken to stabilize in the master class for this patient chess mountain climber, but on the other hand none too big to be more than a question about time. I had the feeling that he became a little bit too light in his play at Gausdal during this first try, but still was practical enough to get a plus out of it. Probably it should be a "4". But I have to round off someone downwards too, and actually I already consider him to be a little better than this result.

50) Jon Ludvig HAMMER (Oslo SS, Norway - born 02.06.1990 - seeded 55)

Results:
  1. Loss as white against Hans Krogh Harestad 2236.
  2. Loss as black against against Tobias Lönngren 2122.
  3. Loss as black against Gunnar Bue 1991.
  4. Win as white against Steinar Bryn (1561).
  5. Win as white against Pasi Korhonen 2115.
  6. Loss as black against Stefan Hörbing (2038).
  7. Draw as black against Rolf Sander 2048.
  8. Draw as white against Matts Unander 2214.
  9. Draw as black against Nils-Johan Ohlzon 2176.
  10. Draw as white against Ragnar Knudsen (1817).
Current ELO :Unrated. (Norwegian rating: 1752)
Average of rated opponents : 2129 4
Score against rated opponents :2.5/7
Performance :2027
ELO-norm :2027 (7 games).

Always optimistic and ambitious by nature, "Lille Hammer" beyond doubt had a hard time during the first third of this tournament. In his first two games he played like a 2100-2200-player for five hours, but failing to keep up his play when running short of time in the sixth hour, he still lost to Harestad as well as Lönngren. The third round gave a further set-back, as Hammer surprisingly went mate in his first time trouble against Bue. At that stage I seriously wondered whether he had played too much recently, and feared that this could end up like a ten episodes "little boy lost in the mountain"-trauma. Jon Ludvig however keept his energy and demonstrated a great mental strength, coming back to outplay Bryn senior in round four and Korhonen in round five. He however suffered another set-back when improvizing too much in the opening against Hörbing, and became sacrificed to death without ever getting his pieces out. For the rest of the tournament Jon Ludvig was rock solid, but without (m)any ambitons to win games. He could have played harder for a win in advantagous positions against Unander and Ohlzon, and he could have played against Sander and/or Knudsen.

Ten rounds however might be too many when you are 12 and starting with a triple loss, especially when you played your previous tournament less than one week ago. And the conclusion still was another plus result, bringing Jon Ludvig a FIDE-ELO around 2000 and advancing his national rating across the 1850-mark too. I find his advances all the more remarkable as Jon Ludvig still has much to win simply by staying at his chair before running short of time too.... (A safety belt might have improved his strength some 150 points.) Of course his openings too can be improved, but I think his will to improvize will pay off in a longer run. A great intelligence and a remarkable personality for his age at age 12, Jon Ludvig of course should have every chance to reach 2400 before age 18. To reach 2200 before age 14, he probably needs only to discipline himself to spend more energy upon his games and the preparations for them, and less upon everything else taking place during his games. As he is still even better to tell others what to do than do it himself, he is for now nominated as the captain in rowing with captain.

51) Tor Kristian LARSEN (Bergens SK, Norway - born 03.08.1979 - seeded 56)

Results:
  1. Loss as black against Eydun Nolsøe 2236.
  2. Win as white against Kai-Roger Johansen 2084.
  3. Loss as black against Bjørn-Erik Glenne 2203.
  4. Loss as white against Matts Unander 2214.
  5. Win as black against Per Johansson 2016.
  6. Draw as white against Tarjei Svensen 2074.
  7. Win as black against Paul Johnasen 2239.
  8. Draw as white against Terje Karlsen 2135.
  9. Draw as black against Pasi Korhonen 2115.
  10. Loss as white against Nils-Johan Ohlzon 2176.
Current ELO :Unrated. (Norwegian rating 1747).
Average of rated opponents : 2149 4
Score against rated opponents :3.5/10
Performance :2039
ELO-norm :2039 (10 games = sufficient for an ELO).

Tor Kristian Larsen's first Gausdal tournament became a somewhat schizophrenic one: In his drawn or won games he appeared like a solid and patient player on 2100-2200, at his best tiring Kai-Roger Johansen and Per Johansson out of long and drawish endgames. He saved a long endgame with a pawn less against Korhonen in round nine, but could have played on with a clear middle game advantage against Terje Karlsen in round eight. His five losses however all were poor ones: Larsen never really entered his black games against Glenne and Paul Johansen, sacrificed into the air against Unander, and just blundered away from interesting positions against Nolsøe and Ohlzon. From the opening theory he did fine in almost all of his games, but various kinds of blackouts later made him much too uneven ever to reach 50 %.

For Larsen like for Terje Nilsen it is partly a question about acclimatizing for a player having marched fast through class 3 and 2 - the question now being whether he can complete and stabilize his play to be a master player. No doubt about the chess interest of the young mathematician, but probably he is a little bit too interested (and a little bit too mathematic!?) - his habit of sudden collapse definitely became the factor to destroy his tournament this time. Despite the black outs he however demonstrated capacity by a performance just above 2000, and having only rated opponents he definitely made his best FIDE-result ever. A FIDE-norm above 2000 is not that bad and finishing 51 when seeded 56 is a thin "4" from a result point of view - even when I felt that his play was too uneven to deserve more than a "3". Tor Kristian Larsen might become a great skiing jumper, but this time he collapsed before landing in five out his ten jumps.

52) Ragnar KNUDSEN (Sarpsborg SK, Norway - born 12.06.1967 - seeded 52)

Results:
  1. Draw as black against Martin Poulsen 2244.
  2. Draw as white against Matts Unander 2214.
  3. Draw as black against Nils-Johan Ohlzon 2176.
  4. Loss as white against Magnus Fäldt 2252.
  5. Loss as black against Øystein Bøyum Fossum 2167.
  6. Loss as white against Terje Karlsen 2135.
  7. Draw as black against Per Johansson 2016.
  8. Draw as white against Jean Saulnier (1880).
  9. Draw as white against Olavur Simonsen 2265.
  10. Draw as black against Jon Ludvig Hammer (1817).
Current ELO :Unrated. (Norwegian rating 1817)
Average of rated opponents : 2184 3
Score against rated opponents :2.5/8
Performance :2043
ELO-norm :2043 (8 games).

The start of Knudsen's first Gausdal tournament was like he hoped it all to become, as he had 1.5/3 and was still unbeaten after facing three players around 2200. A long and dramatic first round game against Poulsen finally ended in a draw as Knudsen having saved a lost endgame sportily refused to win it on time. Following a long draw against Unander and a short one against Ohlzon, Knudsen seemingly had the start needed to make at least a 2100-result. However he collapsed during the next three rounds, becoming much too careful, slow and courteous when losing against Fäldt, Fossum and Karlsen. Having done away the double round he however returned to his solid track, drawing three short games against Johansson, Saulnier and Hammer, and a long one against Simonsen. His ELO-norm landed well above his minimum goal of 2000, but well below his main goal of 2100 - hence he was nothing but happy to avoid getting his ninth rated opponent in the final round.

As he made a clear plus result compared to his national rating and achieved a satisfying ELO-norm, I should probably declare it a "4". But Ragnar at his best should be better than 3.5/10 and/or 52 in this field, and his will to win games was even lower than expected - he accepted four short draws, and as far as known was not unwilling to accept a draw at any stage during any of his six remaining games.... For now he is a for his level relatively solid positional player, whose strength in a field like this should vary around 3-4.5/10 and 2000-2100 in performance. Ragnar himself explained the collapse during round 4-6 with his bad chess condition, and might have a point, as this was his first try to play chess for more than three days in a row for more than five years. As he had no serious problems woth his time spending, his basic problems to solve are about getting more speed in his games and more will to win them. For now synchronous swimming might fit as his chess sport: His game-mate definitely decides the speed and direction, and Ragnar has no ambitions to do anything on his own.

53) Terje KARLSEN (Bergens SK, Norway - born 13.02.1968 - seeded 38)

Results:
  1. Loss as black against Evgenija Kovalevskaya 2452.
  2. Draw as white against Terje Nilsen (1794).
  3. Loss as black against Josef Ask 2128.
  4. Win as white against Ida Lahlum (1438).
  5. Loss as white against Bjørn-Erik Glenne 2203.
  6. Win as black against Ragnar Knudsen (1817).
  7. Loss as white against Boris Berning 2240.
  8. Draw as black against Tor Kristian Larsen (1747).
  9. Draw as black against Per Johansson 2016.
  10. Loss as white against Matts Unander 2214.
Current ELO :2136
Average of rated opponents : 2209 2
Expected score against rated opponents :2.4/6
Actual score against rated opponents :0.5/6
Performance :1808
Change of ELO :-29

Probably I should give him a "1" - two points below expected score is dramatic for a 2100-player in FIDE, and nationally Terje even fell below 2000 due to this result. But still 2.5/6 leading to 3.5/9 cannot be a total disaster for a 2100-player in this field, and Terje deserved much better than he got out of these nine days. Actually he was only outplayed against Kovalevskaya in the first round.

Maybe his tournament got lost when he slipped a totally winning rook endgame against Terje Nilsen in the second round, or when he running short of time blundered first everything except the queen and then the queen too, in a promising position against Josef Ask in the third round. But probably it happened after his convincing win against Lahlum in the fourth round - when Karlsen having outplayed Glenne in the first part of the middlegame, suddenly started to outplay himself in the second part of it. As things went on his attacking win against Knudsen in the sixth round became only a temporarily improvement: Having spoiled the drawing chances he finally got in his second time troble against Berning, a desillusioned Karlsen was lucky to save draws against Larsen and Johansson in round eight and nine, and again ruined a promising position against Unander in the final round.

Things just did not work out for him this tournament, but his problem was the clock much more than the pieces: He ran seriously short of time in almost every game, and all his losses expect the Kovalevskaya one followed from this. And while Knudsen had too few ambitions Karlsen definitely had too many, hence he consequently refused to accept draws until being clearly worse or clearly empty of pieces. The ambitions might very well work for him in the next Gausdal episode, but then he definitely needs to do something about his time spending. For now he was a wrestler with a lot of power but no balance.

54) Per JOHANSSON (Södra SASS, Sweden - born 04.05.1940 - seeded 48)

Results:
  1. Loss as black against Olavur Simonsen 2265.
  2. Win as white against Øystein Bøyum Fossum 2167.
  3. Loss as white against Kim Nygren 2202.
  4. Loss as black against Glennn Charleshouse 2284.
  5. Loss as white against Tor Kristian Larsen (1747).
  6. Draw as black against Askild Bryn (1616).
  7. Draw as white against Ragnar Knudsen (1817).
  8. Win as black against Ida Lahlum (1438).
  9. Draw as white against Terje Karlsen 2135.
  10. Loss as black against Pasi Korhonen 2115.
Current ELO :2016
Average of rated opponents : 2195 3
Expected score against rated opponents :1.6/6
Actual score against rated opponents :1.5/6
Performance :2002
Change of ELO :-2

This year was the other way around compared to the mountain adventures of Johansson from the later years, as he this time made a satisfying result out of a difficult start with 1/5. The first two rounds still were satisfying, as Johansson had drawing chances until running short of time in the endgame against Simonsen in the first round, and surprisingly outplayed Bøyum Fossum & his Dutch in the second. Johansson did not have the margins during the next three rounds, losing drawn endgames against Nygren in round three and Larsen in round five. He however managed to save himself this year, as he following a short draw against Bryn junior and a very short draw against Knudsen won convincingly against Lahlum, and came close to winning in a long game against Karlsen. Per even had a plus result before the tenth round, but then he suffered another last round tragedy: Eager to get away on the long drive home he went a long way down against Korhonen in round ten, after doing fine from the opening.

The Swedish gentleman bitterly lost the "4" by losing that game - even when it is well done by a 62 year old approximately to defend his ELO against a hungry young crowd like this, Johansson losing to one and drawing two opponents still made a result just below expected, and although becoming crushed only as black against Charleshouse in the fourth round, he missed too many chances in the final stages of his games. As Johansson has established a sound if somewhat predictable repertoire and still is a sensible player, his main challenge seems to be to keeping his concentration for six hours and ten games during a demanding tournament like this - his unneccessary endgame losses this tournament came much more due to lack of concentration than lack of endgame experience. Still a vital and ambulatory man with great intellectual capacity, Johansson having left his demanding job as a journalist a few months ago, hopefully will be able to improve his chess condition and to turn his ELO-curve within his two next Gausdal starts. At his best he still is a nice tehnical chess golf player. But he has never had any strong birdies, and too often loses his concentration somewhere in between holes 14-18.

55) Gunnar BUE (Tønsberg SK, Norway - born 23.05.1943 - seeded 49)

Results:
  1. Loss as white against Geir Sune Tallaksen 2258.
  2. Loss as black against Kim Nygren 2202.
  3. Win as white against Jon Ludvig Hammer (1752).
  4. Loss as white against Eydun Nolsøe 2236.
  5. Loss as black against Rolf Sander 2048.
  6. Draw as black against Øyvind Pedersen 2054.
  7. Draw as white against Askild Bryn (1616).
  8. Loss as white against Pasi Korhonen 2115.
  9. Draw as black against Steinar Bryn (1561).
  10. Win as white against Ida Lahlum (1438).
Current ELO :1991
Average of rated opponents : 2152 3
Expected score against rated opponents :1.7/6
Actual score against rated opponents :0.5/6
Performance :1751
Change of ELO :-31

Placed just next to the ELO-calculations, this grade might seem a little bit generous. But firstly the ELO loss much follows from the coefficient, as Bue (paradoxially) still is an unestablished player within FIDE - his poor score against the rated opponents this time still was only just above one point below expected. And secondly he did fine when taking 3/4 against his unrated opponents, including nice attacking wins against Hammer and Lahlum. Compared to national rating he actually did a solid plus result, but still I think we will stop the dice at "3" - his play was too uneven for more, as he went down before 30 moves and without too many chances against Tallaksen, Nygren, Nolsøe, Sander and Korhonen.

Bue lacked the power to produce surprises against better opponents this year - the closest he came was being clearly better in the final positon against Pedersen in round six. He might be too egocentric in his openings and too approximate in his play ever to become a master player, but a few months before his 60th birthday he is still an optimist with a great joy of play. He appears better and more motivated than for many years, and this might continue as he having got his pension a few weeks after Troll Masters now will have more time to play tournaments and more time to relax inbetween them. As "archer" makes sense only for readers understanding Norwegian, I think actually I will nominate Bue as the rugby player of this tournament: True enough he does not often take the straightest run, but he is a stubborn optimist and a messy fighter still keeping a hard grip around the ball when getting it....

56) Steinar BRYN (Lillehammer SS, Norway - born 18.10.1954 - seeded 59)

Results:
  1. Loss as black against IM Mikael Agopov 2376.
  2. Loss as white against Daniel Bisby 2283.
  3. Loss as black against Kai-Roger Johansen 2084.
  4. Loss as black against Jon Ludvig Hammer (1752).
  5. Draw as white against Ida Lahlum (1438).
  6. Draw as white against Jean Saulnier (1880).
  7. Draw as black against Terje Nilsen (1794).
  8. Win as white against Askild Bryn (1616).
  9. Draw as white against Gunnar Bue 1991.
  10. Loss as black against Olavur Simonsen 2265.
Current ELO :Unrated. (Norwegian rating 1561)
Average of rated opponents : 2200 4
Score against rated opponents :0.5/5
Performance :1834
ELO-norm :1834 (5 games).

Getting a "4" for finishing 56th with 3/10 might sound generous too, but seeded 59 and starting up one day delayed, odd number substitute Bryn had most odds against him in his first international title tournament. True enough the start also became a difficult one, as Steinar Bryn lost his first two games without any chances against Agopov and Bisby, and the two next ones without any chances worth to be mentioned against Kai-Roger Johansen and Hammer. He however improved his play clearly during the next three rounds, drawing Lahlum, Saulnier and Nilsen after being won from the opening against Lahlum and in the final position against Nilsen. Being a good father Bryn senior was probably not too happy to get his one win of the tournament against Bryn junior in the eight round, but he still fulfilled the win safely when getting the chance. Bryn senior missed his chance to win a second game and get a really good result when missing a won endgame against Bue in the ninth round, but true enough he was lucky not to lose earlier in that turbulent game. He still did not have much to say about the game when presented for a 2200-player in the tenth round, and was more or less lost from the opening then.

The conclusion still became an ELO-norm and a clear plus on national rating, hence I think a "4" is well deserved following the difficult start. Bryn senior probably thought so too, as he looked much more inspired for a new tournament than Bryn junior did on the final afternoon of Troll Masters 2003. An active player not afraid to attack even against better opponents, he should be able to complete his FIDE-ELO and reach class 1 without difficulties if able to cure his two main problems from this tournament: He lost all his five games because he lacked knowledge of his openings and/or because he became too loose and inaccurate in his calculations during his middlegames. None of those weaknesses are permanent by nature, hence I expect him to better on the next occasion. At his best Bryn senior is a powerful chess hammer thrower, but he is too unbalanced and butterfingered to get the full reward at this level - yet.

57) Ida LAHLUM (Alta SK, Norway - born 24.02.1977 - seeded 60)

Results:
  1. Loss as white against Björn Gambäck 2213.
  2. Loss as black against Stig K Martinsen 2085.
  3. Draw as white against Stefan Hörbing 2038.
  4. Loss as black against Terje Karlsen 2135.
  5. Draw as black against Steinar Bryn (1561).
  6. Loss as white against Pasi Korhonen 2115.
  7. Win as black against Jean Saulnier (1880).
  8. Loss as white against Per Johansson 2016.
  9. Win as white against Kai-Roger Johansen 2084.
  10. Loss as black against Gunnar Bue 1991.
Current ELO :Unrated. (Norwegian rating: 1438)
Average of rated opponents : 2091 4
Score against rated opponents :1.0/7
Performance :1782
ELO-norm :Not this time....

This too is a thin "4", as finishing 57 out of 60 without getting any ELO-norm is hardly ever a tremendous result. But still Ida started up as clearly the lowest rated player - and taking 2/3 against unrated opponents with an average well above her own, she made a solid plus score compared to her national rating. Overall she also played better than last year, even though she produced more sensations then.

The first half with 1 out of 5 was a normal one, but did not leave much hope that Ida could win a game. Although always making games out of it she lost without any real chances against Gambäck, Martinsen and Karlsen, and despite her good fighting needed some help to save half a point with rook and pawn for two bishops against Hörbing and an exchange down against Steinar Bryn. Having lost her sixth round to an attacking Korhonen, her only goals seems to be winning a game and avoiding the last place. She overqualified for both by defeating Saulnier in round seven and Kai-Roger Johansen in round nine. Luckily allowed to come back from another inferior opening to win a drawn pawn endgame against Saulnier, she convincingly kept the upper hand from the opening to defeat Johansen in 30 moves. Having blundered a piece against Johansson in between her winning games, she finally blundered away from a sensational result and an ELO-norm in a promising position against Bue in round 10.

Still a clear plus result compared to the starting point deserves a "4". Ida is steadily improving her positional understanding, but still has a way to go with her opening repertoire - and partly following this she still spends too much time on her openings and still blunders too often to succeed on this level. She has been a patient chess long distance runner for several years now. Speed still is the main difference between her and a class 1-player, but I have got the feeling that she is about to accelerate

58) Askild BRYN (Lillehammer SS, Norway - born 07.11.1987 - seeded 57)

Results:
  1. Draw as white against Giuseppe Valenti 2230.
  2. Loss as white against GM Heikki Westerinen 2374.
  3. Draw as white against Tarjei Svensen 2074.
  4. Loss as white against Kai-Roger Johansen 2084.
  5. Loss as black against Terje Nilsen (1794).
  6. Draw as white against Per Johansson 2016.
  7. Draw as black against Gunnar Bue 1991.
  8. Loss as black against Steinar Bryn (1561).
  9. Draw as white against Jean Saulnier (1880).
  10. Loss as black against Øyvind Pedersen 2054.
Current ELO :Unrated (Norwegian rating 1595)
Average of rated opponents : 2118 2
Score against rated opponents :2.0/7
Performance :1960
ELO-norm :1960 (7 games).

This was a paradoxical result I find a little bit difficult to judge: Bryn junior was crushed only against Westerinen and achieved a satisfying ELO-norm by drawing four out of his seven rated opponents. But managing only 0.5/3 against his unrated opponents he still finished at 2.5/10 without winning any game, hardly added anything to his low national rating and finished one place below his too low seeding. As I consider Askild a great talent and as I have seen him playing better than this several years ago, he will probably not complain for once to get a "2".

This year like last year I still left with the feeling that he was unlucky with the small margins necessary to succeed on this level - to be concrete he of course destroyed much by losing on time at move 40 in a drawish position against Pedersen in the last round. But related to this Askild from the start was not tough enough to get his breakthrough on this level: He did not play on with an extra exchange against Valenti in round one, looked like he had no hope when meeting Westerinen in round two - and later used what chances he had to get short draws. To be certain of doing better at next occasion, the local hope needs to prepare himself better mentally as well as theoretically: His white openings still gives little and his blacks often trouble at this level. Askild is a great chess down slope skier when being inspired and having the tournament, but for some mysterious reason he has so far only found the uphills at Gausdal.

59) Kai-Roger JOHANSEN (Sjakkameratene, Norway - born 19.10.1962 - seeded 43)

Results:
  1. Loss as white against FM Helge A Nordahl 2303.
  2. Loss as black against Tor Kristian Larsen (1747).
  3. Win as white against Steinar Bryn (1561).
  4. Win as black against Askild Bryn (1616).
  5. Loss as white against Eydun Nolsøe 2236.
  6. Loss as white against Jan-Arne Bjørgvik (1609).
  7. Loss as black against Tarjei Svensen 2074.
  8. Loss as white against Terje Nilsen (1794).
  9. Loss as black against Ida Lahlum (1438).
  10. Draw as black against Jean Saulnier (1880).
Current ELO :2084
Average of rated opponents : 2204 1
Expected score against rated opponents :1.0/3
Actual score against rated opponents :0.0/3
Performance :Impossible to calculate.
Change of ELO :-15

I probably should not have that much to say about this below bottom result - it was a tragedy to see a fine player like Kai-Roger Johansen playing like he did during the second part of this tournament. Johansen missed some drawing chances which might have given a very different story for both players against Nordahl in the opening round, and looked truly depressed when missing a tactical hit to lose a drawn endgame against Larsen in the second round. Still not overwhelming in his play, he still was back in his favourite role as a patient technician against Bryn & Bryn in the two next rounds.

From then on nothing however worked for Johansen: He ran straight into a killing attack against Nolsøe, resigned in a drawn position against Bjørgvik, and blundered just after the opening against Svensen, Nilsen and Lahlum, before settling for an early middlegame draw and a shared last place in round ten. Something similar actually happened in Troll Masters 2001, but as Kai-Roger has done fine in between I still do not have any acceptable explanation of this collapse.

A fine chess skier at his best, he at latest during round five suddenly lost all technique, missed his wax for all kinds of weather, and even worse completely failed to find the right speed for himself. In almost all his losing games he decided the games against himself by making grave errors without any kind of pressure from the clock, simply playing too fast, too naive and too carelessly. I am surprised that such an intelligent person should be unable to correct his course during such a long tournament, even when chess skier Kai-Roger Johansen is known to be much better downhill than uphill. His openings too collapsed during the second part of this tournament, but I think that was a symptom more than the reason of this failure. To say something positive about it Kai-Roger did not lose fatally much FIDE-ELO as he met only three rated opponents, and he returned from a nightmare tournament in 2001 to make a clear plus result in 2002....

60) Jean SAULNIER (Philidor Massy EC, France - born 25.02.1958 - seeded 51)

Results:
  1. Loss as white against Øystein Hole 2252.
  2. Loss as black against Alf Roger Andersen 2142.
  3. Loss as black against Rolf Sander 2048.
  4. Draw as white against Terje Torgersen (1790).
  5. Loss as white against Stefan Hörbing (2038).
  6. Draw as black against Steinar Bryn (1561).
  7. Loss as white against Ida Lahlum (1438).
  8. Draw as black against Ragnar Knudsen (1817).
  9. Draw as black against Askild bryn (1616).
  10. Draw as white against Kai-Roger Johansen 2084.
Current ELO :Unrated (French rating 1880)
Average of rated opponents : 2132 2
Score against rated opponents :0.5/4
Performance :1810
ELO-norm :1810 (4 games).

One out of very few French Gausdal friends, Saulnier following far too many years of absence was extremely happy to return to his favourite chess battlefield. That however was before the first round: Even when he is much too gentle and objective to blame anyone except himself for the failure, Saulnier understandably became disappointed as his tournament started like a nightmare and gradually turned worse. He got the wrong foot out in the snow when losing his first three games to Hole, Andersen and Sander due to grave blunders, and even though his blunder percent later improved somewhat, he never came even close to his best play.

More than most of the players on the bottom quarter Saulnier kept up his will to win games, but his inaccurate and uneven play still denied him to complete his games. Lucky to save a draw from a lost endgame (in a true enough turbulent game) against Torgersen in round four he lost fair enough to an inspired Hörbing in round five, but following a safe draw against Bryn senior, Saulnier was definitely unlucky to lose a drawn pawn endgame against Lahlum after being better all the way through the middle game. He still refused a draw to play for a win against Knudsen in round eight, but not getting anything from the opening then he finally resigned the hope to win games, and made a premature landing on 2.5/10 after drawing his three final games against Knudsen, Bryn jr and an even more depressed Kai-Roger Johansen.

Saulnier would have been more happy to leave Gausdal without the ELO-norm of 1810. But still 2.5/10 is much less a disaster for an unrated player, and Saulnier after all managed to repair much after a difficult start. Hence I make a distinction between him and Kai-Roger Johansen, even when Saulnier for now was a bobsleigh driver losing his bobsleigh in the first curve and landing on his stomach.

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