The Swedish Championship, part 2 | CHESS AT THE BAG OF CATS

So, as I stared to write the second and last part about the Swedish Championship, my computer decided to have a little bit of a breakdown. And, you have to respect that. My computer had a lot to do lately. The get-yourself-together –speech did not bite and in the end I just had to do a lot of uploads, downloads and whatnots’. Now, we are back on track.

The Swedish Championship was won by Hans Tikkanen after a dramatic playoff with Nils Grandelius. What struck me during that playoff was the consistency shown by both players, as they persisted in playing the same line again and again, with Nils as White and Hans as Black. One might well say that this is the line that won Hans the championship:

   [Event "ch-SWE"]  [Site "Örebro"]  [Date "2013.07.06"]  [Round "1"]  [White "Grandelius, N."]  [Black "Tikkanen, H."]  [Result "1/2-1/2"]  [ECO "B00"]  [WhiteElo "2570"]  [BlackElo "2525"]  [PlyCount "80"]   1. e4 Nc6 $5 {This uncommon move used to be played with the idea to continue  with e6-e5, or d7-d5 in the next move. Hans has something else in mind.} ({  There is a line in the modern that is a good reference line:} 1... g6 2. d4 Bg7  3. Nf3 d6 4. c3 Nf6 5. Bd3 O-O 6. O-O Nc6 {Compare this with the game and the  comments to move 2.} 7. d5 Nb8 8. c4 {Compared to the 2.d4-line (see below),  White had to play two moves with the c-pawn and the bishop is not optimal on  d3 when Black starts playing moves like c6 and d5. Compared to the actual game,  there are both pros and cons to not having a knight on c3...}) 2. Nf3 ({This  is a slight surprise to me, but Nils must have had a good reason for playing  it since he repeated it in four games! The standard move is} 2. d4 {when I  expect Hans had planned} d6 (2... d5 {and}) (2... e5 {are also possible, but  slightly inferior for Black.}) 3. d5 Nb8 {Now} 4. c4 {seems like a good  alternative. The idea to provoke d4-d5 with an early Nc6 is quite common in  the Kings Indian (which this will soon turn into). Now Black's plan is to  continue with c6, cxd5 and then e6. I'd rather be White here though.}) 2... d6  3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 g6 {After the opening moves we have ourselves a slightly  offbeat Pirc Defence. Hans stated that his preparations were close to non  existing and I guess that is he reason for why he went for this strange line  again and again.} 5. d5 {This is principled in the sense that it is likely  that White will have to play it sooner or later anyway, so why not do it  immediately?} ({It is also possible to play} 5. Bb5 {when} a6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7.  h3 Bg7 8. Be3 Bb7 $1 {intending c6-c5, should be fine for Black.}) (5. h3 Bg7  6. Bc4 O-O 7. O-O Nxe4 8. Bxf7+ Rxf7 9. Nxe4 d5 {leads to a line from the  Bc4-Modern, that is nice for Black.}) 5... Nb8 6. h3 $1 {This move stops  Bc8-g4 and prepares to play Bf1-anywhere-else-but-e2.} ({If White is planning  to play Be2, then this is the moment for it. However, after:} 6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O  Bg4 8. h3 Bxf3 9. Bxf3 O-O 10. Be3 c6 {we are playing a line from the  Classical Pirc that is quite respectable.}) 6... Bg7 7. Be2 $6 {Instinctively  I would like to attach an "?" to this move. The main reason why I do not like  it is that it does nothing to address Black's plan, which is e7-e5; a move  must surely be met with dxe6, since it is would not be very attractive for  Black to enter a KI-structure when Nc3 is blocking the natural battering ram,  the c-pawn. Another detail that speaks against this move is that h3 and Be2  are doubling the effort to avoid a pin (with Bg4). So what do I believe Black  should do then?} (7. Bc4 $1 {must surely be the best move here. The point is  that e7-e5 can now always be met with dxe6, when the position opens up and the  tempi Black lost earlier, surely starts to count. A possible continuation is}  O-O 8. O-O (8. Qe2 $5 {is another prophylactic move...} e5 9. dxe6 Bxe6 10.  Bxe6 fxe6 11. e5 dxe5 12. Qxe5 $1 Qd7 13. Qe2 {and the pawn structure is  clearly to White's advantage.}) 8... e5 $5 (8... c6 9. a4 Nbd7 10. Be3 {with a  clear advantage for White. In this kind of structure it is bad news for Black  to be stuck with the bishop on c8. If you compare it to the line after 6.Be2,  then you will see the difference. Here White's pieces are too short on space.})  9. dxe6 Bxe6 10. Bb3 (10. Bxe6 fxe6 11. e5 dxe5 {is unclear.}) 10... Nc6 11.  Re1 {is a little better for White, since d6-d5 has been stopped.}) 7... O-O 8.  O-O e5 9. dxe6 {This is necessary. With the knight on c3 it will take White  too long to make progress on the queenside.} Bxe6 10. Bf4 {Hans chooses a very  direct approach. It was also possible to play} d5 (10... Nc6 $5 {intending} 11.  Qd2 d5 $1) 11. exd5 ({In two of  the three playoff games Nils went for} 11. Ng5  {a move that - according to Axel Smith - the engine recommends. Still it seems  to me that Black is doing well here.} c6 $1 12. Nxe6 (12. Be3) 12... fxe6 13.  Be3 Nbd7 14. Qd2 Nxe4 $6 {(It seems illogical to allow White to exchange the  knight on c3 which is clearly dominated by the Black pawns)} (14... Qe7 $1 15.  Rad1 Rad8 16. exd5 exd5 17. Bg5 Nc5 18. Qe3 Ne6 19. Bxf6 Qxf6 20. Qxa7 Nf4 21.  Kh1 Qg5 22. Bf3 Nxh3 23. Qe3 Nf4 24. Ne2 Rde8 25. Qd2 Rxe2 {was played in the  third playoff game (first blitz game).}) 15. Nxe4 dxe4 16. Qd6 Qe8 17. Rad1 Nf6  18. c4 Rd8 19. Qa3 a6 20. Rxd8 Qxd8 21. Rd1 Qc7 22. Qb4 Re8 23. b3 $14 {was  played in the first playoff game (second rapid game).}) ({The last Armageddon  game went} 11. e5 Ne4 12. Nxe4 dxe4 13. Qxd8 Rxd8 14. Ng5 Nd7 15. Nxe6 fxe6 16.  Bc4 Kf7 17. Bg5 $1 Re8 18. Rfe1 (18. Rae1 $1 h6 19. Bc1 Nxe5 20. Bb3 b5 21.  Rxe4 {is clearly better for White.}) 18... Nxe5 19. Bb3 h6 20. Bf4 g5 21. Bg3  Nd7 22. c3 c6 23. Bc2 Nc5 24. Bd6 Bf8 25. Bg3 a5 26. Rad1 Red8 27. Bc7 Rxd1 28.  Rxd1 Be7 29. Kf1 a4 30. Ke2 a3 31. b3 Bf6 32. Bb6 Nd3 33. Bxd3 exd3+ 34. Rxd3  Ke8 35. Rd6 Bxc3 36. Rxe6+ Kf7 37. Rxh6 Re8+ 38. Be3 Bg7 39. Rd6 Re7 40. Kd3  Bf6 41. Bc5 Re1 42. Bxa3 $4 Be7 {and Hans won the game and the title, since}  43. Rd7 $2 {loses to} Rd1+) 11... Nxd5 12. Nxd5 Qxd5 13. c3 {White is  marginally better developed here, but the reduced material and the symmetrical  pawn structure make it quite defensible for Black.} Qc5 14. Nd4 $1 Bc4 $1 {  Black is consistently striving for exchanges.} 15. Nb3 Qb5 16. Bxc4 Qxc4 17.  Qf3 Nd7 18. Rad1 {After this move Hans manages to equalize. Instead} (18. Rfd1  {might be better, in order to be able to play Nd2, without giving up the  a2-pawn.}) 18... Nb6 19. Be3 c6 20. Bd4 Rfe8 21. Bxg7 Kxg7 22. Rd6 (22. Na5 Qe2  ) 22... Re6 23. Rfd1 Rae8 24. Rxe6 Rxe6 25. Na5 Qa6 26. b4 Nc4 27. Nxc4 Qxc4  28. Rd7 Rf6 29. Qe3 Re6 30. Qd4+ Qxd4 31. cxd4 Re1+ 32. Kh2 Ra1 33. Rxb7 Rxa2 {  This year the Swedish Championship was played with the "Sofia rules" and draw  by agreement was not allowed until after move 40. When you play one game a day,  then I believe this is a good rule.} 34. Kg3 Rd2 35. Rxa7 Rxd4 36. Ra6 Rxb4 37.  Rxc6 h5 38. h4 Rg4+ 39. Kh3 Rf4 40. f3 Ra4 1/2-1/2

Ari Ziegler has written an excellent article about the Championship on the Chessbase site.