Today the weather was much better, and I strolled happily to the playing hall without risking a heat-stroke. I was paired against a finnish 4dan, and the game did not start well for me. I made lots of questionable decisions, but at least managed to keep the game complex. At the beginning of the middle game, I turned the game around, and had a sound lead, but for the rest of the game the lead slowly dwindled. My opponent was clearly much stronger at endgame than I am, and as we closed in on the end I counted that I would probably lose with half a point. We finished the game and started counting. First I thought he had won, but then realized that it was I who had won with half a point. I am not happy with how I messed up the latter part of the game, but winning with half a point makes it easier to take.
Category Archives: chess
European Go Congress, Toulouse, game 3.
The European Go Congress 2024 feels like it is played at the end of the earth. The venue is beautiful, but it is an oasis in a sea of industries. On Saturday and Sunday, you had to go by bus for about half an hour in order to encounter an open restaurant, and I am living relatively nearby, at a hotel in the middle of an industrial area that stretches on for… ever. Nah, I am exaggerating a bit, but things did not come off to a great start here. Circumstances conspired against the organizers, and they did not get a handful, but rather three. The first round was ninety minutes late, possibly due to the sabotage to the french telecom system, and the pairings were different on the lists that were posted compared to those on the web. First I thought I had not been paired at all, but I was (I expected to be lower down… in a rare moment of humbleness). A friend of mine was not paired at all, and somehow he was not paired in the second round either, but they solved that, and paired him against someone at the last moment. (Well done.) The streams have been struggling with the networks, and the microphones crackles like nothing I have ever heard before. The temperature has been hovering between 30 and 40 C. Yet, some things are amazingly good. Like the sandwich I bought yesterday. I am now twice as convinced that the French understand the concept of bread better than any other nation on earth. The staff is doing their best, and with a fair amount of competence too. The top group plays in two rooms, and one of them apparently smells like ****, but it seems to be the only room with this special feature.
In the third round I was paired against a 4dan that – I learnt later – is a ”legendary go teacher” in France. I played one of my best games to date:
On the Wednesday Sweden’s super-strong 7-dan, Fredrik Blomback, had to win against the top seed Dai Junfu 8d, in order to stay in the race for the European Championship, and he succeded. If he wins tomorrow he will reach the quarter-final of the European Championship. I will get another strong opponent and yet another wonderful game of go. Sleeping will be a challenge when there is so much to look forward to.
Longest break from chess in 30 years
I had not played a tournament game in three months when the Swedish Team Championship started last weekend, which meant coming back from my longest break from chess since 1993. My team, Växjö SK, played in the second league last year, and we won it, and thus we are back in the top group, “Elitserien”. In the first round we played against Wasa SK, and I managed to win with White against Nikita Meshkovs. After the game there were quite a few who expressed the opinion that the game looked very smooth on my part. Well, it was not. Judge for yourselves:
My team managed to draw the match, and also in the second round we drew against Stockholms SS, a team that was stronger than us on paper. In the third round we played against last years winners, and we got properly creamed, with 6-2. Still a good start to the season for us.
Swedish Team and a bit of Carlsbad
The Swedish team has been set for the European Team Championship later this year. Hampus Sorensen and Kaan Kucuksari will play for the first time on the National team, and with me, Erik Blomqvist and Nils Grandelius on the other boards it seems like a decent team. Nils went far in the World Cup, and in the fourth round he only needed a draw against Jaime Santos Latasa in order to get through to the next round. It was one of these reverse Carlsbad:s, where White pushed the a-pawn: