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The first board meeting between third rated Tarjei Svensen (2082) and first rated FM Daniel Jakobsen Kovachev (2289) was the big drama in the Elo group today.
The clock from the start was ignored by both players, but got all the more attention from spectators. When making his move 13 white had spent a remarkable 90 minutes
on this Catalan opening – and still he had ten more minutes than black! Three moves later on Kovachev had succeeded to keep his extra Catalan queenside pawn on the board,
but had only five minutes left on the clock for the next 25 moves. Having one minute left for 13 moves Kovachev again speeded up just in time – as he had one second
left on the clock both after his move 39 and his move 40. Svensen, passing the time control with a somewhat safer margin of three seconds, at that stage still was a
pawn down on the board.
The position with queen, rook and four pawns versus queen, rook and five pawns balanced on the edge between a draw and a win for black. After black helpfully
exchanged queens, the rook endgame due to white’s active king and rook first looked drawish. Kovachev however played stubbornly on for a win, and during the
second time control gave up his remaining queenside pawn to win both white’s kingside pawns. Black probably was in control on the following passed pawn race,
but new dramatic moments followed as he suddenly had less than one minute left to complete the game. Also short of time, Svensen for all practical purposes
made the decisive mistake as he at move 76 offered a rook exchange. While both players promoted within a few moves, black could check white’s king in the
b-file to win the new white queen at b8 – and still had 23 seconds left to mate with king and queen versus king.
Winning this key game today, Kovachev finally got a grip around the first prize – as second seeded Johannes Kvisla (2096) meantime lost several pawns and
landed in a lost endgame against Eivind Risting (2032). White true enough had the better kingside pawn structure from this Trompovsky opening, but that did
not help him much as black got all the necessary time to crash through on the queenside. Playing much too passive today, Kvisla following his first loss
is still in the run for top three, but out of the fight for the first place.
On the other hand Risting, having had five wins and one walk over win after his first round loss, is now sharing the lead with Kovachev at 6.0/7.
Kovachev and Risting however cannot play each other in round eight, as they both have played black two rounds in a row. Instead Risting will play
white against Svensen, and Kovachev white against the Italian surprise woman Sonia Sirletti (1843). Sirletti tonight made her best game result in
the tournament so far, as she picked up two pawns in the middle game and safely completed the win in the endgame against veteran Ole Smeby (2042).
Smeby probably was fine from the opening as black, but admitted he was instructively punished for his overoptimistic play in the middle game.
Being mentioned as a possible challenger for the top prizes obviously was no good sign for former Elo-group winner Per Omtvedt (1948), as he today lost
within 17 moves and one hour against rising young Fredrik Beer-Jacobsen (2046). Black suddenly blundered his vital d5-pawn by overlooking a tactical Nxd5
in a Sicilian Grand Prix attack, and about to lose the pawn at c5 too Omtvedt resigned without further complains. Beer-Jacobsen following this qualified for
another day on board three, and tomorrow will play 12 year old Andreas Garberg Tryggestad (2019).
Tryggestad will get another chance to fight for top three, as he today won another long game against the strongly underrated Amir Keadana (1628).
Keadana strangely blundered an exchange at b1 just after the opening, and Tryggestad safely realized his extra material with two rooks versus rook and bishop in the endgame.
“Johansen versus Johansen” might sounds like a family tragedy in some American court case, but actually was an interesting and important game between two
non-related chessplayers in Oslo today. The virtually blind player Kai-Roger Johansen (1995) after his unfortunate walk over loss yesterday returned to
the playing venue today, but had to give up decisive material before 25 moves following a too greedy queen maneuver in a Sicilian Scheveningen.
The b2-pawn truly was a testimony pawn in this game, as black had lost a piece and resigned within five moves after taking it. Curiously Kai-Roger’s
opponent Pål Hermunn Johansen (1919) is chairman of the organizing club Akademisk plus responsible for the live coverage from this tournament. Before
the tournament Pål gently offered to play the rounds with an uneven number of players in the Elo group, only to avoid unnecessary walk-overs for our guests.
Having made 4.5/5 at his games so far, he might now even candidate for top three – despite starting up with 0.5/2 from two walk-over games.
The fighting spirit of this GM-group by the way reached another top this round, as all the first ten boards got a winner.
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