The closing ceremony was also a celebration party for Lunds ASK who won the Swedish league this year.

Nils Grandelius and Daan Brandenburg get their prizes (and Daans norm!) from Calle Erlandsson (foto: Sebastian Nilsson)

Traditional swedish, delicious, eastern food was served by Marie Nilsson, thank you so much!


The cake with a chess king (foto: Sebastian Nilsson)

Daan is happy after having secured his last GM-norm

The limit for the GM-norm in Schackstudion GM-tournament was 6½ points. Daan has been playing very solid in and he´s the only player who avoided a loss. With +4 after seven rounds he could slow down a bit with two draws in the last rounds.

We congratulate Daan and wish him good luck with his future chess tournaments!

Brandenburg – Wendt ½-½

Brandenburg needed a draw to make his last GM-norm. In true Stellan-style he played the safe c3-Sicilian. The knights and one rook were exchanged but otherwise it didn´t happen much. In a symmetrical position the players agreed on a draw by repetition of moves.

 
Grandelius – Smith 1-0

In a Queen´s gambit accepted Smith used a lot of time in the opening but got a good position. Black limited the white light coloured bishop by putting alomost all his pawns on white. Finally Grandelius exchanged the bishop for a knight but Smith still seemed to have the better chances in the endgame. However, he played the unfortunate move 44...g5 which leads to mate. Grandelius´ comment after the game: ”I thought I was unlucky in the game against Brynell but in this game I got it back many times!”

 
Fries-Nielsen – Brynell 0-1

In an unusual opening white sacrificed a pawn but got some compensation for it with active piece play. According to Brynell, the position is won for black when he plays the counter move 28...d4. White got some checks with his rooks but black tactically exchanged the queens with a won endgame. 



Bejtovic – Schmidt-Schäffer 1-0

Bejtovic was very happy that he finally won a game. Black had a comfortably position in the beginning with his knights on the third rank and even in the endgame Schmidt´s pawns looked more dangerous than white´s. However, Bejtovic said after the game that the position was won and the game proved him right since his knight efficiently stopped the black pawns while his own pawns ran very quickly on the kingside.

 
Tikkanen – Semcesen ½-½

For Semcesen, a win was necessary in order to get his last GM-norm. From this point of view he can´t have been dissatisfied with how the game went: white castled kingside and black queenside with chances for both sides. According to one of the spectators, Tikkanen should have placed his knight on e2 instead of f3 where it got attacked easily by the bishop. The endgame was slightly better for black because of his better bishop. However, Tikkanen secured the draw quite easily and Semcesen will have to wait for his last norm...

Statistics

In the tournament, 40% of the games ended in a draw. This can be compared to Manhems GM-tournament that was played in Gothenburg in 2010 where 51% of the games were draws. The reason to the difference between the tournaments is that the Sofia Rules were used in Lund.

In tital, 2031 moves were made in the tournament which means that the avarage game lasted for 45 moves. The longest game was Wendt-Grandelius (75 moves) from round two and the shortest Smith-Brandenburg (14 moves) from round eight. The fastest win was the game Tikkanen-Brynell (18 moves) from round two.  

Thanks to Schackbutiken who is the sponsor of the brilliancy prize!

The motivation for the prize is written by Jens Karlsson as follows:

"A highly exciting game, where white starts off aggresively on the kingside, castling queenside. Black also castles queenside, creating a very sharp set-up with opposing rooks on the d-file. After the smart exchange of white bishops, the black knight on c4 is very dangerously placed, covering b2, aiming at d2 with a check, as well as keeping an eye on the white queen on h2, three jumps away! Placing the other knight on f4, black unleashes a beautiful Morphy-style tactical shot with 22...Nxd5!, leaving his own queen en prise for several moves, with constant mating threats involving the knights and the rook on the d-file! The resulting endgame is very accurately calculated by black, finally arriving with the king to d5, just in time to escort the last pawn down to the 8th rank for the metamorphosis! A highly creative game from Brandenburg in his last tournament as IM!"


Fries-Nielsen - Brandenburg

In this position, white has just played 22. Re1, hoping to chase the queen. But Brandenburg replied with the cool 22...Nxd5 when white can´t take the queen because of 23...Nxc3+ and mate on the first rank. The game continued 23. Nxd5 Rxd5 24. exd5 Nd2+ 25. Kc1 Nxf3+ 26. Rxe3 Nxh2 27. Rxe7 Nf1 and black is a piece up. 

As was pointed out on the closing ceremony, white could have trapped the knight by playing 27. Re1. But ever here black is winning, for example: 27...Kd7 28. Rh1 Kd6 29. Rxh2 Kxd5 with a won endgame for black.

Fries-Nielsen didn´t have much luck in this tournament but his games are always entertaining and he won the spectators hearts by many original ideas and spectacular moves. It´s not a coincidence that he appeares in two of the most beautiful combinations of the tournament.
In the fifth round, he was on the right side of the board:


Fries-Nielsen - Bejtovic

The two last moves were 28. Nf6+ Kh8. Here Fries-Nielsen found the nice blow 29. Rxh5! after which black resigned, since 29...gxh5 is met by 30. Qh6++

Axel Smith isn´t dissatisfied with his result, although he had hoped
his new strategy would bring him some more points...

What happened in your game against Nils?

He had a slightly more pleasant position in the middle game with a clear strategic plan in the minority attack b4-b5. I know Nils thinks this picture is unfair, but as I saw it he didn´t play for this strategic break but only played to get some tactical tricks, mostly based on knight forks. I avoided all of them and got an ending where I wanted to press for a win. It was a little bit too optimistic, and then I blundered into mate in three.
I beat Nils a lot of times when he was young but the last years I have lost every time. In two of the last three games we had quite equal positions where I just blundered in time trouble. To avoid the time trouble I tried to play fast, but apparantely a bit too fast...

Are you satisfied with the tournament?

In the last fifteen years I have been breaking my morning eggs against my head – my grandfather told me to do this. A few weeks ago I stopped doing it, and thought that I had found the key to success. It was not that easy...
Actually, I am not that dissatisfied. Strategically I think seven of my games were ok, but of course you want to win more than one.

Before the start I was afraid that I shouldn´t be able to concentrate, but I managed. It was a very nice tournament to play with many friendly players. And it was a nice closing party yesterday – many thanks to Marie for the delicious food!

What are your chess plans for the rest of the spring?

If there is one thing I hate more than losing, it´s to lose in the last round of a tournament. Until you play next time you can´t stop thinking about the loss. Therefore, I want to play as soon as possible, but unfortunately I have nothing planned the next weeks. I´ll play Copenhagen Chess Challenge in the end of May, and Fynmesterskapet in the beginning of June.

What do you think about the Sofia rules?
It was my idea to use them here, and even if I played the most number of draws I really like it! Especially in this tournament, where we had five players from the home club, I guess it´s important. I think all tournaments that want to have spectators should use this rule.

Is there something you would like to learn?

Maybe how to win against Nils. But no, that´s not anything I want to learn – I just want to win against him – never mind how I do it. Otherwise, Norwegian would be nice to learn!

Semcesen – Bejtovic ½-½

The game could have ended quickly after the strange looking repetition of moves 5. Nb1 Ng8 6. Nc3 Nf6 but here Semcesen played 7. h3 and again played the Makagonov. But Bejtovic wasn´t unprepared and didn´t have much problem in the opening. In the time trouble, white went in with his rook a bit too far and by attacking it constantly with his queen, black secured the draw. In the guest book Axel Smith discusses an interesting way for white to avoid the draw by the spectacular move 42. Rh8?! Give your opinion of this move in the guest book!

Schmidt-Schäffer – Fries-Nielsen 1-0

Schmidt-Schäffer found an interesting knight sacrifice (13. Nxd5) which gave him two pawns and eventually a rook for two pieces. Black had a hard time with the king in the center and soon had to give up more material. Fries-Nielsen got some conterplay in the mutual time trouble but it wasn´t enough to resist.

Brynell – Grandelius ½-½

Again Brynell met the Ragozin but this time Grandelius had prepared the novelty 10... c4 which gives black a pawn majority on the queen side. It seemed like Grandelius had the better chances in a queen+knight ending thanks to his protected passed pawn. However, Brynell didn´t fear the attack on the kingside and took tha a7-pawn. Black didn´t get much for the pawn and a draw was agreed by repetition of moves. After the round, Nils said that black could have improved upon the game by 22... Bf5 instead of Bg4.

Smith – Brandenburg ½-½

This was the easiest game to commentate as it only lasted fourteen moves by a repetition of moves. However, the players are excused as they played a very tough game of football this morning. For Brandenburg, it also means that he´s one step closer to his final GM-norm. A draw tomorrow and he´s GM!

Wendt – Tikkanen 0-1

In an English game Wendt put three of his minor pieces on the kingside and had to sacrifice a pawn in order not to lose one of them. Wendt has said that ”sometimes I don´t know what my pieces are doing” [see the interview with Jan!] and in this opening you can understand what he means. Although Tikkanen had some problems with his king in the middle-game, he kept the extra pawn and won rather comfortably.

Standings after round 8

1. Brandenburg 6
2-4. Semcesen, Grandelius, Tikkanen 5½
5. Brynell 4½
6. Smith 4
7-8. Schmidt-Schäffer, Wendt 3
9. Bejtovic 2
10. Fries-Nielsen 1

Jan-Dietrich Wendt likes to combine chess and vacation. Photo: Calle Erlandsson

How has your tournament been?

It has been a bit tough for me but interesting. I like the organization and I hope I can come back next year :) We need more tournaments like this in Berlin. There are a lot of open tournaments but quite few round robins. It has also been nice to combine chess and vacation.

Yes, you were in Lomma yesterday, how was that?

Actually we were there today too! We even took a swim in the sea though it´s difficult since it´s very flat in Lomma. We have also been in Malmö were we visited the Turning Tourso and maybe we´ll go to Copenhagen on Saturday. There are some architecture I would like to see.

Wow, you are very ambitious tourists! I have never been in the Turning Tourso even though I have lived here all my life...What do you do besides chess?

I work with computer hardware on a computer company in Berlin.

Do you have much time to play chess?

Now I mostly play in the league, the second division of the Bundesliga. Normally I only play one tournament each year which is too little if you want to improve. I think you need at least five tournaments. In this tournament I have mainly had two problems: the time and the fact that I´ve missed some tactics. Probably, these are both consequenses of having played too little.

When Jasmin asked you to write some lines about yourself you said that you can beat strong guys like Caruana but that sometimes you don´t know what your pieces are doing. Have you felt like this in the tournament?

Yeah, the opening today is one example. And also the game against Jasmin were I probably missed four or five winning moves. But I´ve also had interesting ideas in some games and that is important.

Axel Smith - Jens Ove Fries Nielsen
Schackstudion GM-tournament, round 1

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.c4 e6
Before the tournament I had noticed that Fries Nielsen had played in a small tournament in Denmark, and on the tournament homepage it was possible to download the games. In one of these games he had played this 3...e6. It doesn´t look so good, but I had a lot of problems preparing against it!
4.Nc3 Ne7 5.Nf3 d5 6.cxd5
In the end I decided to go for 6.cxd5, not the most critical move, but a concrete one where it´s easy to analyse with Houdini.
5...exd5 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.Bg5 Qd6 9.Bc4 Nxc3 10.bxc3 0-0 11.0-0 c5 12.Te1 Nc3 13.Rb1

It seems to be Grunfeld, but without the e-pawns. Principially that should favour black, but white has active pieces and can sometimes threaten Be7.
13...Bg4
13...cxd4 was the move I expected during the preparations.
14.Rxb7
This was an easy one. Houdini hadn´t approved 13...Bg4, and 14.Rxb7 was the only possible reason.
14...cxd4
14...Na5 15.Be7 Qf4! (15...Qc6 16.Bxf8 Rxf8 17.Bxf7+! Rxf7 18.Rxf7 Kxf7 19.Ng5+ and white wins) 16.Rxf8 Rxf8 and has sacrificed a pawn and an exchange. The double threat against the rook on b7 and the bishop on c4 isn´t easy to parry. White can now give back the material with 17.Bd5 and a draw, or give away a piece with 17.Bxf7+ Rxf7 18.Rxf7 Kxf7 19.dxc5. During the game I hadn´t decided which option to go for.
15.Be7! Nxe7 16.Rexe7

White threatens 17.Bxf7+ followed by Bf7-anywhere and disaster on the seventh rank.
16...Kh8! 17.cxd4
Black didn´t threaten to take on c3, but white has to take this pawn sooner or later, so why not immediately?
17...Rac8 18.Bxf7
Possibly a bit gready.
18...Bxf3?
18...Bf6! 19.Re1 Bxf3 and white will be one pawn up, but I think black has decent compensation here.
19.gxf3 Qf4
Creating the threat 20...Rc1. It´s possible to defend with 20.Re4, but white has a better move...

20.Bc4!
Parrying the threat with tempo - that´s more important than the bishop.
20...Rxc4 21.Rxg7 Rf5
21...Rfc8 22.Rh7+ Kg8 23.Rbg7+ Kf8 24.Rf7+ should win for white. If black makes the intermediate move Qg5+ before Rfc8, white has h4! winning tempo.
22.Rxh7+
No white´s rook goes bananas on the seventh rank.
22...Kg8 23.Rbg7+ Kf8 24.Rxa7 Kg8 25.Rhg7+

25...Kf8
I was expecting 25...Kh8 26.Rgb7+ with the trap 26...Qg5+ 27.Kh1?? Qxf3+! and black wins. Well, I was planning 27.Kf1 with a winning position. In the game this trap doesn´t work at all because I take back on f3 with check.
26.Rgb7 Kg8 27.Ra8+
The easiest option, exchanging the rooks and remaining four pawns up.
27...Rf8 28.Rxf8 Kxf8 29.Rb1

29...Kg7 30.Qe2 Rxd4 31.Rxb7 Kh6 32.Qe3 Kg5 33.Rb5+ 1-0

Axel Smith - Sebastian Schmidt Schäffer
Schackstudion GM-tournament, round 2


Here black has some positional advantage with the e-file and white´s weak pawn on d5. Black´s plan is to exchange the queen and rook and play and endgame with minor pieces. I found a tactical way out:
37.Re1 Qc2 38.Bc5!
The bishop is sacrificed for a tempo. Last time it openend the seventh rank, this time the e-file.
38...Rxe1 39.Qxe1 dxc5?
39...h6 is black´s best option, but then I win a pawn with 40.Bxd6


40.Qe6+? Kf8 41.Qc8+ Kf7 42.Qe6+ Kf8 43.Qc8+ Kf7 44.Qe6+ ½-½

In move 40 I wanted to play 40.d6, but didn´t have time to calculate all variations and went for the safe choice. It happens to win immediately:
40.d6! and
a) 40...Nxf4 41.Qe8#
b) 40...Qe4 41.Qxe4 fxe4 42.d7 and the pawn promoves
c) 40...Qd3 41.Qe6+ Kf8 42.Qc8+ Kf7 43.d7
d) 40...Nf8 41.bxc5! and white plays Qe5 and then advances with the pawns.

Tomas had (goalkeeper) gloves and got the not so funny job of collecting the ball from the briers.

Tikkanen and Brandenburg are watching when Linus Johansson is on the way to score - the defender seems to be to far away...

The winning team: Hans Tikkanen, Daan Brandenburg, Ellinor Frisk, Linus Johansson, Tomas Olsson, Aditya Subramanian and Axel Smith.

 
 Jasmin is both playing and organizing
 Photo: Calle Erlandsson

You´re both player and organizer in this tournament. I have tried this combination a few times with horrible result. What do you think about it?

In the first round it was disturbing because I kept thinking about other things like: ”Are the players satisfied?” ”Are there too much sound in the playing hall?” things like this. So it was difficult to focus on chess. To win games like these you need a lot of energy. I was close to win in the two first rounds but didn´t have the mental strength to do it. I also think that organizing Mragel Open [an open tournament that was a qualification for the GM-tournament, played 8-10 of April] took a lot of energy. However, I feel I have more energy now so maybe I´ll be able to win a game before the tournament ends.
 
How do you work on chess?

My problem right now is that I have made a lot of progress these two last years but still I score very few points against higher rated players. A french proverb says that if you want to take a step forward you first need to take some steps backwards. This is what I´m trying to do now. I need to learn more different types of postitions. For example, I have realised that I play very few games with an isolated pawn and therefore I have decided to play more with this structure.
 
Has the tournament come up to your expectations?
 
I´m very happy with the playing hall and very greatful to Wickmanska gården that we can be here. I´m also very pleased with the players and I think there has been a lot of interesting games. However, I had hoped for a bit more spectators. There are 4000 watching the live games but in the playing hall there have only been about 10 spectators every day. I think more people should take the chance and watch the games in the playing hall because you learn more if you see the players faces and body language during the games instead of analysing with computers. There could have been more publicity about the tournament, but that is also the fault of the organizers.
 
In which ways could the organization have been improved?
 
Maybe more spectators would have come if we have had a special room with a commentator, but of course we´re limited by the playing hall. Also, the qualification rules for Mragel Open were a bit strange when the winner couldn´t play in the GM-tournament and Drazen, who finished second, didn´t get to play either. But ok, everyone knew about the rules so it wasn´t a problem, but that could be changed to next year.
 
Will you organize a GM-tournament in Lund next year?
 
I hope so, but I would like to change certain things. First, I´m not happy with my result in the tournament so next year I want more time to prepare. Mragel Open can be played earlier so that I have more energy for the GM-tournament. The good thing with the GM-tournament is that the players seem satisfied and also that I have gotten a lot of contacts with foreigner players. So next year I think it´ll be easier to organize.
   Schackstudions GM-tournament will be one of the strongest in Sweden this year, only Sigeman chess tournament and maybe Manhems GM-tournament can compete. I hope the tournament in Manhem will be stronger than this in Lund, then we can compete in a positive way to get stronger and stronger tournaments. I think Swedish chess needs more tournaments like this in general.

We think so too! Good luck with your future projects!

Smith – Wendt ½-½

In a King´s Indian white got good control of the d-file but otherwise the position was quite symmetrical. Finally, black managed to exchange one rook but white still had some pressure on the queen side with his king. But the black pawn on b7 was difficult to attack and a draw was agreed when no one could make any progresses.

Brandenburg – Brynell 1-0

Brandenburg won again and for the first time in this tournament against a GM. However, Brynell predicted yesterday that he would loose this game so maybe it wasn´t so surprising. One of Brandenburg´s big advantage is that he seems very well prepared and uses little time in the opening. Despite the fact that Brynell is a specialist of the French, he used more time in the opening than his opponent. From a position that looked pretty equal (though white had a pawn majority on the queen side) Brandenburg played very convincingly (for example 24. Rd6 was a very nice move!) and in the end Brynell had to sacrifice his bishop to prevent white from promoting his pawn.

Grandelius – Schmidt-Schäffer 1-0

In this Dutch game black grabbed a pawn with the cost of some weakeness around the king. White put a lot of pressure on the black position and eventually won back the pawn. After some shadow-boxing and an exchange of the rooks Grandelius got in with his queen and mated the black king.

Fries-Nielsen – Semcesen 0-1

Black got the bishop pair but gave it back in order to win a piece. However, Semcesen didn´t take the piece but got two minor pieces for a rook. Fries-Nielsen fought heroicly and also got two passed pawns. But in the end, Semcesen succeded to coordinate his minor pieces and the pressure on the white king became irresistible.

Bejtovic – Tikkanen ½-½

The spectators were confused by Tikkanen´s opening choice since Bejtovic is known to be very solide in the Scotch endgame. The only thing I know about this endgame is that you should never exchange the rooks as white. Without even knowing I was playing this famous endgame I traded off my rook and died a slow but certain death. In this game, none of the players made much progress and a draw by repetition was agreed.

In Partier we also put the reports for each round and the interviews.

Sebastian in the first round. Photo: Calle Erlandsson
 
Are you happy with your tournament so far?

Not really, but it´s not too bad either.

Have you been in Sweden before?

No, this is my first time and I like Lund! We´ve seen the cathedral [Domkyrkan] where they prepared for the easter.

You´re not a FM, though you have over 2400 in elo. I thought Germans liked titels? :)

No, for me the titels are not so important, that´s why I have not bought the FM-titel. I also thought I would be an IM soon anyway but there have always been some problem. For example, in Pula Open 2009 I had a 2600 performance but I had only played against three titel players so I didn´t get a norm. Another time, I didn´t play against enough foreigner players. So no norms yet...

I have noticed that you smile a lot during the games...

I suppose it´s because I like playing chess! And I don´t think it makes any sense to be angry :)

 
 Semcesen beat the leader of the tournament

Semcesen – Grandelius 1-0

Grandelius got good control of the c-file in an opening that looked like a mixture of the Queen´s gambit and Nimzoindian but he spent to much time. Black sacrificed an exchange but got some pawns and seemed to be better. But Semcesen managed to get in with his queen and rook and Grandelius resigned when he was about to loose his queen.

Schmidt-Schaeffer – Brandenburg 0-1

White got a big pawn center but black had good play on the queenside. Schmidt-Schaeffer sacrificed a pawn but Brandenburg imediately sacrificed it back (22...e4) in order to open for the bishop and get the knight to e5. With two pawns against one on the queenside Brandenburg got a passed pawn that was too strong in the end.

Brynell – Smith ½-½

Smith surprised with a Nimzoindian and Brynell thought he had to play something unusual to avoid the preparation. He played 11. Bb5 but this happened to be the most common move according to Smith. However, Smith hadn´t analysed it either and had to start thinking. In an endgame with an extra pawn for black on the queenside and one for white on the kingside the minor pieces were exchanged. Smith then exchanged the rooks and seemed to be better in the queen endgame. After the game, endgame expert Nils found many promising lines for black but in the game the queens were traded with a drawn pawn ending as a result.

Tikkanen – Fries-Nielsen 1-0

Tikkanen recovered well after the loss yesterday and won quite comfortably against Fries-Nielsen. White won a pawn in the middle-game and this, in combination with a weak black king, brought the victory to white.

Wendt – Bejtovic ½-½

This was probably the most complicated game today. In a Makagonov white took some pawns but black got conterplay with is queen as the white king was stuck in the middle. To avoid the dangerous black queen white decided to exhange it. In the end black had an extra pawn but the white pawns in front of black´s king were dangerous and a draw was agreed by repetition of moves.

Standings after six rounds

1. Brandenburg 4½
2-5. Semcesen, Brynell, Grandelius, Tikkanen 4
6. Smith 3
7. Wendt 2½
8. Schmidt-Schaeffer 2
9-10. Fries-Nielsen, Bejtovic 1

 
 Jens Ove before the start of the first round

You are the only player with no draws. Have you always played this uncompromising?

No, I play more aggressively in this tournament. I have changed my style a bit because of the Sofia Rules. I like the rules, it´s an interesting concept but I think this is the first time I have started a tournament with four losses. But it´s my own fault, I had a lot of chances in those games but didn´t take them. Maybe I shall try to make no draws at all. If that happens It´ll be the first time.

I have the impression that Denmark is much better than Sweden when it comes to organize chess tournaments. Do you agree and if yes, what is the reason?

It´s true that there are a lot of tournaments in Denmark. This year, for example, there is a new one in Fyn that I´ll play. But I don´t know why Denmark organize more tournaments than Sweden, it´s probably just a coincidence.

How come you play for Burgsvik in the Swedish league?

My brothers play there so it was natural for me. We should have rised up to Elitserien [the highest division in the Swedish league] this year but we lost an important match against Majorna. But we have a nice atmosphere in the team!