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: