Manhem Chess Week, part 1.

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Only two days left until the start of “Manhems Schackvecka” (Manhem Chess Week), where I will participate in the round-robin GM-tournament. The top rated players are Eduardas Rozentalis, Emanuel Berg and me. Then there are a pack of young upcoming IM’s. It will be especially interesting to follow Erik Blomqvist, who is rated in fourth place. This young Swede made his last GM-norm earlier this summer and has continued to impress me with his mature playing style. In the Visma Chess Tournament he played an interesting game, against Axel Smith, that well illustrates his strengths:

Will Erik score another success in Gothenburg?

Politiken Cup, part 2.

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In round 4 of Politiken Cup Jonny Hector played a very entertaining game against the top rated Ivan Cheparinov. Today I thought I would have new things to think about, but somehow the game lingered in my mind. I just had to find out what went on there:

With this game Cheparinov took the lead and has kept it so far. I hope Jonny gives me reason to publish more of his games; especially if he is on the winning side of them.

Politiken Cup, part 1.

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It is not exactly raining big, annually arranged, International Opens in the Scandinavian Countries. In Sweden there is the Rilton Cup around New Year and in Denmark there is the Politiken Cup, which is now under way. For those of you who have never been to “LO-skolen”, in Helsingör (Elsinore, the city of “Hamlet”), where Politiken Cup is played, I can heartily recommend it. The playing hall is situated at a walking distance from the centre of the city, there is plenty of nature around the corner, and the food is excellent. Personally, I’m a great fan of the billiard tables in the basement. As is usual at these events, there is a lot of blood spilled in the early rounds and this year is no exception. However, I have chosen to comment on a game that fits with one of the themes I have promised to promote this summer; the Stonewall. The Black side is played by none less than the current World Champion for Seniors, Jens Kristiansen, who has a reputation for playing very sharp chess. Here is how he handles the Stonewall against an opponent who is much higher rated:

The Swedish Championship, part 2

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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:

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