In round five I played Hampus Sörensen, who I considered to be a top candidate to win the championship. I had to win with Black, I felt, so it was back to my old love, the King’s Indian Defence, and this time it delivered.
Category Archives: chess
Swedish Championship 2025
I have not published anything since the European Go Congress, last year, and the main reason why I have posted nothing about chess, is that I have been unhappy with my game. Sometimes I play badly, but worse – when I play well – I do not have the energy to finish the games. Immediately after the Chess Olympiad, in Budapest, last autumn, I told the team captain of the Swedish national team that I would not play for Sweden in 2025. There is more than one problem with my play that I have to deal with, but the main issue has been that I need to get in better physical form. It is a hard fact. My playing style takes a lot of energy, and it is mentally tiring to loose games due to lack of energy.
I finally feel that I am on the right track, and so it is time to write again.
The Swedish Championship did not go well for me, but I played some decent games, which is more than I have been able to say in a while. I tried to push my opponents to the limit in every game, and in the end I did not play a single draw. I will at least put that on the success account.
I lost two games in the middle of the tournament were I just ran out of energy. I had the initiative for a long time, and when I finally “forced a draw”, it turned out that there were some problems left for me, and I succumbed to them almost instantly.
I will post one of my games later on, but first I recommend you to play through this entertaining game, played between two youngsters in the Master-Elite group:
European Go Congress, Toulouse, game 4.
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.
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.