Swedish Championship, part 1

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Two rounds of the Swedish Championship played so far. I quite like the hosting city, Örebro and today I went for a long walk along “Svartån”, lost track of time and suddenly had to half run back to town. After that I had to defend a worse position against Stellan Brynell, so instead of commenting on that game, I prefer to show yesterdays scuffle. Not a perfect game, but a very interesting opening:

Tomorrow I am playing Hans Tikkanen, the winner from the two last years, with the White pieces. It should be possible to follow it here.

Visma Chess Tournament

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It is not every day that you encounter a new GM tournament in Sweden, but last week we witnessed a minor miracle. The Visma Chess Tournament, in Växjö, Sweden, not only featured a GM-group, but also two IM-groups. In the end the GM-group was won by the dangerous Finn, Vilka Sipilä, who managed to score a GM-norm with half a point to spare. What made me even happier was that the talented junior Linus Johansson scored an IM-norm and that my neighbor Daniel Semcesen scored his last GM-norm. In the fourth round Semcesen and Blomqvist produced a battle that I think is well worth looking closer at:

Now, all Daniel has to do is to cross the 2500 line, in order to be a fully fledged GM.

The creative way of remembering.

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One of the questions I get asked most frequently is: “How am I to remember theory better?”. Although this is a tricky question, with no simple answer, I usually say something like: “Focus on the ideas and it will be easier to find the right track over the board.” I have heard myself say this so many times, that I think it is a good idea that I define what I mean by “focus on the ideas”. (This article starts at a 1300-1700 level and finishes on a 2000+ level.)

Let’s say that we are studying the Meran Variation of the Semi Slav. First we get our hands on a good book or DVD (preferably recommended by someone we can rely on) on the subject and we read it through. A good book should either have a chapter on general ideas or there should be something in every chapter about general ideas. Read this part/these parts through twice, before doing anything else. Then read it once more. The reason for this is that; knowing the general ideas will improve your understanding and improve your memory.

Here is a very basic example of the basic plans in the Meran:

Knowing what the basic plans are for Black in this position it will be much easier to take the next step: Which are the basic White plans?

These games are on a very basic level indeed, but you must build from the bottom and up. The next step is to take one of the positions that arise and do the same thing again, but with a bigger magnifying glass. When I think “basic”, then I first think primarily about pawn structure and how it can be changed. This not only helps my memory, it is also a stepping stone for creative thinking:

Remember that 8:th move by Black? Make it into a postcard and stick it on your pawn-dynamics wall. I did that and a few years later I was happy to have remembered it:

…and conquered.

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Are you familiar with the feeling of having totally forgotten how to play chess? This was how I felt at the beginning of Sveins 6. Minnesturnering, and therefore, in the end, it came as something of a shock to me that I managed to win it. To start from the beginning; it all began well. The weather forecast was depressing, yes, but I did not lose the first game, although I was very close to. We enter the stage after my 24:th move:

In the next round I was in a bit of trouble again, but this time I was saved by a heightened tactical sensibility. Black has just played his 18:th move:

That could also have gone worse, but now I started to feel a bit better. In round 3 an 7 I played the Black side of the Modern.  One game will be published under “coaching” later and both games will probably figure in the coming “Modern Tiger” (the follow up to “Tiger’s Modern”). After 8 rounds I had 6½ points, but still had not played a really good game. In the last round I was hoping to change that:

If I forget about not seeing the “simple” 22:nd move, then I can be almost happy with this game. In the end I scored 7½/9 and that I cannot be unhappy with, result-wise. More interesting chess than that I played was seen in the games of 13 year old Aryan Tari, who was very close to make a Grand Master norm again. My next post will be about the Visma Chess Tournament, that starts tomorrow, but then I will show an example of one of his games.