Arctic Chess Challenge - Day six in pictures and text
This is "Prestvannet" on top of the Tromsø Island. It's popular for recreation and in a walking distance from the playing venue. It was some clouds today, but still sunshine all over the city of Tromsø. Temperatures were nice, and the action started at the playing venue already at 12 O'Clock. Friday the clouds will get thicker and the weather forecast predicts rain this weekend. Bad news for the Barbecue Party but the Chief Organizer has a plan B...
The 6th round of Arctic Chess Challenge saw the rise and fall of favorites. IM Ray Robson looks super strong and he has played some excellent chess so far! He is now tied for first together with the big sensation of the tournament - GM Monika Socko (2449) from Poland! If we get a winner in the game Robson - M. Socko Friday he/she can get a full point's lead - that would be amazing! 19 years Jon Ludvig Hammer also won in attack today and he is in the race for tournament victory - this is good news for the host nation Norway! A big upset today was GM Yuri Drozdovskij (2620) losing to IM Kalle Kiik (2620) as white. Also GM Bartosz Socko (2656) gave away points, and now we start to get used to it. The Norwegian FM Kjetil Stokke made a draw and he has excellent chances for an IM-norm now with a 2500+ performance so far. But let's look at some games.
GM Monika Socko (2449) from Poland played white at first board against GM Sarunas Sulskis (2559) - the clear leader after 4 rounds with 4/4 and a TPR above 3000! Sulskis slowed down with a draw in the fifth round but now he was eager to score again. He played the sharp Pin-variation of the Sicilian with 5...Bb4 and Monika went into the theoretical approach till move 10 where she played 10.Bd3?!. This is hardly ever played and the theory recommends 10.Bh6! which is supposed to give white an edge. The players then went into the territory of no preparation and I didn't quite like 11.f4 that lock in the important black squared Bishop. Since 11.Bh6! was possible, it also was very tempting. Sulskis continued 11...Nd7!? that allowed 12.exd6! from white. It does look odd at first glance to give up pawn-e5 since you just fortified it, but it's tactically justified since 12...Bxd6? allows the blow13.Nxe6!. Sulskis had the point 12...Bh4+! 12.g3 Bf6 instead and the position is complex. After 18.h4?! black could have got a clear edge with 18...Bb7, finishing his development and building up pressure in the long diagonal. Instead the Lithuanian GM blundered went for adventures with 19...e5? that turned out bad for him. Monika took over the play after further inaccuracies and when black traded of his important black squared Bishop with 22...Bxd4? it became a simple for the top seeded female player. GM Monika Socko showed her GM strength and didn't let anything slip and won in 42 moves. Not a perfect game, but a hard fight where both players took risk and where we got a winner. Monika Socko has now 5.5/6 and she moved into first place after 6 round with a TPR of 2779!!!
It was the day for the underdogs. At second board IM Ray Robson (2491) (right side) beat GM Allan Stig Rasmussen (2536) with the black pieces. OK, on paper at least the GM was favorite as white, but 14 years Robson played extremely convincing so far in Arctic Chess Challenge - and you hardly can be surprised that he won. Robson is simply hot in this tournament! I will be surprised if he don't take a GM-norm and he must be a clear favorite with white versus Monika Socko Friday. So far Robsons TPR is an amazing 2758 - and he got it with style! Especially the Malakhatko game was impressing I think. GM Rasmussen wasn't true to his style today and he abandoned his usual 1.e4 and played 1.d4 as a surprise weapon instead. Perhaps the Danish GM wanted a more positional game versus the tactical Wiz from US. Robson invited to the Queens Gambit Declined, but Rasmussen went for the Catalan instead. They played the same line with 6...c5!? that Robson played against FM Stokke in the third round. The Dane tried to improve with 7.Bb4 but Ray Robson seemed like he was well prepared. With the sharp 10...e5!? he went for a rare line that just lately (2009) got some attention. Robson continued to play active moves with 11...b5!? and his 14...Bg4! seems like a nice novelty. In the game continuation Rasmussen established a strong pawn at c7 that won a piece. But whites rook was locked in at a1, and black was active, so things was far from clear - black had strong compensation and it was hard to see how white could get piece play. From move 30 to 39 black made a King march from f8 to e1 towards the white King! Rasmussen never found a way to develop his pieces, or stop the black invasion, and went forced mate at move 40. At his point there was no defence anyway and Robson won an important victory over his second GM so far! He is now in a tie for first with Monika Socko!
GM Julian Radulski (2539) became far to strong for young Nicolai Getz (2219) in an Italian game. The Bulgarian GM won a convincing victory in only 23 moves. Getz has played an exceptional tournament anyway and with strong opposition he still has chances for an IM-norm. Radulski moved into third place with 5/6 with this victory.
GM Jon Ludvig Hammer (2586) presented himself as a candidate for the top spots today by an aggressive win over IM Luis Javier Bernal Moro (2446) with white. It started out as a Taimanov Sicilian which became sharp when white castled long. With opposite King positions the players conducted attacks at each flank. The game reached it's climax in a complicated position when white made a g6-break. Black didn't respond well and with moved like 21.Bg5! and 22.fxe6! Hammer won a nice attacking game in only 26 moves. 19 years old Hammer has now 5/6 with a TPR of 2603 in 4th place.
IM Kalle Kiik (2475) from Estland (right side) met his first strong Grandmaster when he faced GM Yuri Drozdovskij (2620) with the black pieces. The IM played active in the Tarrasch Defence of the Queens Gambit and with 20...h4 he started action at the K-side. This implied a pawn sac that white didn't accept right away. The game became complex and in the end IM Kalle Kiik played stronger and overplayed the Super GM in an attack on the white King where he got both his rooks in at the 7th rank. A nice game by Kiik - his best in the tournament so far. Kiik is in 5th place.
That concludes the top 5 place's at ACC 2009 after 6 rounds, but the action did not stop with this. In such a big open with approximately 14.000 Euros in cash prizes the fight spirit is always great compared to some of these dull Super Elite events with 60% draws, or even more...
This is IM Marijan Petrov (2479) from Bulgaria earlier during ACC. Today he beat WGM Natalia Zdebskaja (2412) from Ukraine with the white pieces in a Sicilian where he managed to win a long Rook ending. IM Petrov is one of only 4 players with 5/6 and he is hunting a GM-norm.
Story of the day seemed to be FM Kjetil Stokke (2347 & right) beating top seeded GM Bartosz Socko (2656) from Poland. Perhaps Bartosz do read my blog and noticed that I do believe Stokke is quite capable in opening theory. At least he went for 1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 today with a slow opening. We all remember how he got in big trouble, and actually was lost, against Frode Bull Jæger in a sharp Benoni in the first round. Socko told me he thinks the Norwegian ratings are low compared to other systems and he got into huge trouble today too. FM Stokke is reiging Norwegian Blitz Champion and is known to be a good coach and even a second for young Norwegian players when they are abroad. In the 6th round he overplayed his far stronger opponent with black. FM Stokke took over the initiative already at move 19 with e5!. Then he played consequent at the K-side with 22...f5! and when he sacrificed a piece with 26...Bxg3 he had an overwhelming attack on the white King! When Stokke didn't take his chance with 30...f4! Socko got defencive chances but before the time control at move 40 Stokke got in his 36...f4! and was completely winning! After 40...Qb1+ the game is resign-able but instead Stokke went into a variation with two Rooks and lot of pawns versus Queen and two pawns. With a wide open black King position, and not the best of play by Stokke, the GM was able to hold it and avoid a big upset! Anyway, the tournament is a nightmare for Bartosz and I do hope he is able to appreciate the success of his wife! FM Stokke has now 4/6 and a TPR of 2500+. He is seems to be on his way to his 2nd IM-norm in Tromsø!
The reigning Swedish Champion Emanuel Berg played IM Harald Groetz (2350) from Austria with the black pieces. GM Berg opted for his old pet defence, the French. As black he achieved his king side play and with the strong exchange sacrifice 15...Rxf3! he got his initiative and a broken structure to take advantage of. 18...e5!? was a stunning piece sacrifice when white could have tried 19.Kxh2. The aggressive Swedes point was 19...Qd6! and even though black is a whole Rook down - it's hard to defend! The Bishop at g6 is at stake and black also has the strong threat of 20...Nxd4. White's Bishop at h4 is also in danger of being trapped by g5 so white has a lot of consolidation to do. I did a few sample analyses with Rybka of this position and they indicate that Emanuel Berg's judgement was excellent as he would have strong compensation. I think this was Whites best try anyway cuz in the game IM Groetz got into lots of trouble. With brilliant attacking play GM Berg conducted the attack in the best possible fashion! With an attractive 21...Bh3! he got all his pieces into the attack. The sweet point was of course 22.Kxh2? Nxd4!! 23.Qxc7 Nf3 mate! GM Berg played it home in 31 moves in one of the most attractive games of the tournament so far!
IM Fabio Bruno (2455) from Italy here plays the white pieces against GM Igor Khenkin (2634) from Germany. In a Queen Pawns opening where black did a King's-side fianchetto IM Bruno got the better chances and even an Knight versus Bishop ending Pawn up. With doubled a-pawns for white blacks drawing chances was obvious, but IM Bruno didn't quite put his opponent to the test he deserved. A draw in a long hard fought game. This brought both players to 4.5/6.
IM Luca Shytaj (2455) won with black against Kaj Engstrøm (2274) from Sweden. In a sharp Najdorf IM Shytaj got the worst of it and struggled till he found a nice Knight maneuver on the Queen-side that ended up with a strong black Knight posted at c3. This was far from the end of the world for white and in what must have been mutual time trouble both players blundered. First Shytaj was winning and then Engstrøm got a shot with 39.fxe6! winning! Tartakower said: "Der verletzte fehler gewinnt" - an nothing could be more true in this game. IM Shytaj won and with 4.5/6 he is back on track for a GM-norm.
Here you see Peter Vas (2232) playing white against Tobias Pettersson (2138) - both from Sweden. Vas have done it extremely well so far with draws against both GM Radulski and GM Turner. Today he won against his compatriot and Vas has a strong 4/6.
The Polish FM Arkadiusz Leniart (2390) beat 17 years old Sondre Waage Tofte (2119) from Norway and he is one of 8 players with 4.5/6 when it is 3 rounds to go. He has met 4 titled players and an IM-norm is realistic for this young man.
Peter Flermoen played the white side of a Sicilian versus 7 times North Norwegian Champion Pål Røyset. Røyset got a pawn just before the time control at move 40 when Flermoen overlooked some cheap tactics with 39...Nxe4!. Røyset played the pawn home in a convincing way and even though Flermoen thought he got active and had some play blacks strong pawn at d2 combined with play against the white King became to much for the white position. A typical win by Røyset where his patience is his force. The home player Røyset has the impressive score 4/6 and will face top seed GM Bartosz Socko in the 7th round!
16 years old WFM Katrine Tjølsen wants to become at least an IM one day. The ambitious Norwegian top female Junior played the black side of a Caro Kann versus FM Espen Forså (2311). She obtained equality and even got better till she committed a clear mistake with 21...Bd5?. Forså could have started a strong attack with the natural 23.Qh4! with great chances for a win but fumbled and Katrine got away with a draw in 42 moves. With 3.5/6 she had a good start - now you got to finish with style Katrine!
North Norwegian Mikael Rølvåg (2196) from Narvik did defend well against GM Amon Simutowe from Zambia on the white side of a Bobo Indian after getting into real trouble quite early. He dropped the pawn at b2, but when GM Simutowe missed 29...Nc4! with still some winning chances. Rølvåg managed then to hold the draw in 61 moves. Rølvåg has 3.5/6 and did a bit over expected.
Several people came to town to watch the last weekend of exciting chess in Tromsø. One of them is Mr. Øystein Brekke as you probably hear about. He is a writer, chess store owner, tournament organizer and so on. He organized both the Karpov - Agdestein match in Gjøvik 1991 and the Aker Chess Challenge 2009. Here you see Brekke with his own production "Chess Traditions in Norway" which you can find a online version of at Tromsø 2014.
Today's social activity was another tour by boat around the Island of Tromsø - the first one got so popular that we had to set up another one! But the event of the day was Simen Agdestein's football tournament! Here you see Simen (in red) arrange it all. It was a 3 rounds Berger I've been told.
Photo provided by Mr. Bjørn Berg Johansen
Yes, those without shirts are a team and they actually won all their matches and won. It wasn't only Norwegians playing, but most of them was. You can read more from this football event and see more pictures at the Arctic Chess site. The winner's on Team Koi was: Vegard Koi Gandrud, Lasse Løvik, Espen Forså, Nikolai Getz, Kristoffer Madland and Anders Hagen.
Photo provided by Mr. Bjørn Berg Johansen
Talking about football I have a true Magnus Carlsen story I will share we you: Magnus is a gifted midfielder for his team "Lommedalen" where he lives. According to my source he don't follow the training at a regular basis due to his chess, but compared to his training he's quite good. When Lommedalen had a match Magnus showed up and entered the field. To his sudden surprise he did so without any football shoes! He simply had forgotten them at home. Magnus had to take a taxi home, and get his shoes, before he came back an played in the match to the amusement of his team mates.
No real football (soccer) match without a real audience! Chief Arbiter Panagiotis "Takis" Nikolopoulos (left) is a social guy and he has participated on several of the side activities. Even US Wonderboy Ray Robson played football (soccer) and he joined in on many social activities here too.
Photo provided by Mr. Bjørn Berg Johansen
The official homepage of Arctic Chess Challenge with results, table and games.
The entire text and all photos that not are credited others by Sven Wisløff-Nilssen (C) 2009
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