The Lahlum Round Report
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THE LAHLUM ROUND REPORT GM group The GM group includes nine GMs, eleven IMs and two WGMs among 44 players, with only four players below 2100 and none below 2000, and offers remarkable chances for all kinds of title norms. Fairly illustrating, the first game between two GMs came already in the first round, and an ELO of 2350 was needed to get a place on the top half of the seedings. Most of the players from the first half, including 2600-GMs Igors Rausis, Matthieu Cornette and Yuri Vovk, of course won (more or less convincingly) in the first round. Three out of the six top seeded GMs still had to accept a draw, while the eight seeded GM lost the last game of round one after playing way too hard for a win. All taken together, the 22 outsiders got five draws and two wins out of this entertaining and hard-fought round one. The first board meeting between Czech GM Igors Rausis (2635) and Swedish IM Ari Ziegler (2330) started like a Reti opening in which white’s stronghold on d5 gave him a positional edge. Black anyway was under pressure when giving up his light squared bishop for the knight after 22 moves, but white afterwards got a dominating pair of bishops and went on to win an exchange within a few moves. Ari Ziegler Ziegler fought on well into the fifth hour, but Rausis with a sound exchange more appeared to be in reasonable control all the time. 1 The second board game between IM Justin Sarkar (2322) and GM Matthieu Cornette (2620) made a slow start as Sarkar arrived 40 minutes delayed. Our new American chess friend decided to play the tournament only two dags ago, had of course checked the local time after arriving Norway yesterday, but forgot to check it again today – and so understandably missed daylight saving time. When white finally arrived he bravely ran into a sharp Nimzo-Indian line with 4.a3, in which 9.g4? however was an overambitious attack - running into a strong counterblow with a tactical 9.--- Nxg4!. After 14 moves black was a sound pawn up with an extra hour on the clock. A passed pawn down in the rooks and minor piece endgame, white anyway was in deep trouble when blundering with 32.Bxc3? and resigning on the next move. Sarkar understandably played below his usual strength today, but the still young French GM Cornette definitely looked strong in his first Fagernes game. GM Maxim Turov (2615) versus FM Erik Santarius (2317) was a tight battle in the border area between Reti and English, in which chances appeared balanced after 20 moves. As Turov accelerated with 21.e4!? Santarius went astray with 21.--- Nc3? and 21.--- Bh3?, allowing white to accelerate further with f4-f5 and win an exchange within five more moves. Turov became so thankful that he closed off Maxim Turov his own kingside attack, and as black’s knight became all the more disturbing he in the fourth hour balanced the chances with a queenside counterattack. White felt forced first to return the exchange and then to invite for a repetition of moves in a tense queen and rook position, in which both kings balanced around on the kingside. Santarius at move 40 bravely left a repetition of checks to play on for a win, but as Turov defended very well it dried up with another repetition a few moves later on. WIM Mai Narva (2314) as white against GM Yuri Vovk (2600) Sicilian went for an Alapin set up, in which white after e5 got some space advantage. Black however had some counterplay against white’s c3-pawn, and white became too ambitious when she went for a kingside attack with Ng5 and Qh4. Narva still appeared to have a dangerous attack after sacrificing her bishop on h5 in move 24, but Vovk defended brilliantly and after 40 moves had won two bishops for some air. Vovk vs Narva 2 The first GM meeting, between 42 year old Kaido Kulaots (2579) and 73 year old Heikki Westerinen (2305), was a fascinating generation duel. It was in fact also a duel between two friends and teammates, as they play for the same club in the Finnish League. The game anyway was a French Advance duel in which black got a pair of bishop, but white’s strong e5 square and more active pieces still gave him an advantage. The position was loaded and both players after 28 moves had only four minutes left on the clock. Kulaots looked confident when sacrificing his bishop on g7 the next move, but then much less confident when he tried to find out what to do after black accepted the offer… Kaido somehow missed something very important, and Westerinen sure was winning in a still complex position after 35 moves - playing with queen, two bishops and three pawns against queen, knight and four pawns. Both players had less than one minute left for the next five moves, but found good moves and passed the time control with a winning advantage for black. White came up with some counterplay due to his passed pawn on d5, and after thinking for some 30 minutes on move 42 Westerinen sacrificed back one of the bishops to force a draw by repetition of checks. The young FM Cagatay Burcu (2301) of Turkey also came up with a surprise draw against GM Dmitry Kryakvin (2567). The opening was a rather unorthodox London system transposing into a Queen’s Pawn, in which black first could be well satisfied with his position. Following a number of exchanging the outcome however was a rook endgame in which white was closer to winning chances, before a dead drawn rook endgame with two g-pawns versus one g-pawn came on board after the first time control. The top rated Norwegian, GM Frode Urkedal (2563), on the other hand won in very convincing style within 22 moves as white against (all the more British) Polish WGM Katarzyna Toma (2280). Why white delayed castling in this mysterious King’s Indian attack suddenly became less mysterious as he went for a bayonet attack on the kingside with 15.h4 17.h5 – especially as black’s king died in the h-file within five more moves. The Norwegian duel between FM Anders Hobber (2280) and GM Johan Salomon (2505) was a slow and about equal Colle system, in which black first qualized for free and then got a slight edge due to his pair of bishops. After 40 moves white sacrificed a pawn, to reach an endgame with queen, bishop and three kingside pawns against queen, bishop and four kingside pawns – very drawish due to the different coloured bishops. The better player with the better position, Salomon understandably played on for a win in the fifth and sixth hour. As the position otherwise remained very drawish, sacrificing the bishop for a pawn with 60.--- Bxg3!? qualifies as a creative winning try from black. Although a good practical try on the board it was not a good practical try on the clock, as black had only three minutes left against 20, and still many variations to calculate. Rather shockingly, it turned out that the GM had played 60 moves without noting there was no incremental time in this game. Black lost on time after 68 moves, but then the question was whether he due to his passed g-pawn could still save a draw with queen and three pawns versus queen, bishop and two pawns. Probably he still could. 3 Salomon was understandably disappointed to lose this game, but sportily congratulated the opponent and admitted it was all his own fault. Hobber fair enough used the chances he got to turn a long and demanding game against a GM, and so gave himself a brilliant start on his IM norm run. Notkevich - Dahl In another duel between two young Norwegians, IM Benjamin Arvola Notkevich (2451) and FM Trygve Dahl (2199) discussed a Sicilian Reti line which first appeared to be a standard double edge position. Black’s thematic center push with 20.--- d5? however came with a bad timing as the isolated pawn on d5 became a weakness, while white had a passed pawn on c5 and a strong knight square on d4. Giving up the dark squared bishop for the knight on d4 was understandable, but still gave white a dominating pair of bishops, and although black’s resignation after 28 moves came a little early he was in deep trouble then. The Danish delegation this year consists of Morten Andersen (2186), who started with an honest loss as white against Norwegian IM Kristian Stuvik Holm (2450). The opening was a hyperaccelerated Sicilian Dragon in which black soon demonstrated the better understanding of a complex position. Although white after the queen exchanged had a pair of bishops, black had all the more active pieces. If the endgame with rooks and knight versus rooks and bishop was not just winning, black efficiently made it look like it was, and after cashing in two pawns he won safely in the fifth hour. 4 Creative IM Lars Oskar Hauge (2435) as white against WGM Olga Dolzhikova (2183) went for a Trompovsky, in which white’s center soon proved more important than black’s pair of bishops. Whether it was correct to sacrifice the e5- pawn remains a bit unclear, but anyway it worked out very well as black took the pawn in the wrong way and ran into tactical problems. 1-0 came very sudden after 25.Ne6, but Olga Dolzhikova true enough black in addition to other problems was about to lose at least an exchange.