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THE LAHLUM ROUND REPORT GM-A Six GMs and one WGM are sharing the lead after this second round, as the sensation on the top board was WGM Marsel Efroimsky efficiently using her chance to turn the board from a difficult black position against GM Erik Blomqvist. IM Lars Oskar Hauge is on schedule for a GM norm following a highly entertaining draw against second seeded GM Evgeny Alekseev, while all the other GMs rated within top seven has won both their first games. First rated GM Anton Demchenko (2661) as white against GM Benjamin Arvola Notkevich (2495) made a slow start with 1.d4 2.Nf3 3.Bf4 and a standard London system, but still came better as black exchanged his c5-pawn at d4 and spent too much time tricking his knight around via h5 and g7 to f5. White’s kingside play later looked more promising than black’s counter play on the queenside, but the position still probably was in dynamic balance around GM Anton Demchenko move 25-30. Intervening with 29.--- Nd2!? might have been fine from a black point of view, but if so 31.--- Rh8? was to overstretch as white came much better after a tactical 32.Nxg5! fxg5 33.Qxd2 Qxg3+ 34.Qg2. White following this anyway was better in the endgame with two rooks, knight and five pawns on each side, but the game remained exciting until black at move 39 blundered an exchange. 1 IM Lars Oskar Hauge (2472) as white showed no respect for second seeded GM Evgeny Alekseev (2649), and went for an ambitious Sicilian Grand Prix attack with 2.Nc3 and 3.f4. Alekseev apparently was not prepared for this and became too passive. White around move 25 had a promising position with a loose extra pawn at c5. Returning the pawn at c6 to play for an attack with queen and two active knights was interesting, but 29.c4? proved inaccurate as black could exchange the pawn and then active his bishop on the d5 square. Both players looked fairly satisfied as the game was then drawn by an airy repetition of checks with 31.Nd6+ Kd8 32.Nf7+ Ke8 33.Nd6 etc. IM Lars Oskar Hauge GM Andriy Vovk (2616) versus IM Erik Santarius (2411) was a provocative Caro-Kann Advance line with 3.--- c5, in which white came better partly due to his active bishops and partly due to black’s slightly awkward king on f8. Snatching a pawn a5 with the queen might have been inaccurate from a white point of view, but if so black in turn was wrong to exchange queens – as the remaining rooks and minor pieces endgame was very unpleasant at best for him. The position with two rooks, bishop and five pawns versus two rooks, knight and four after 25 moves probably was just winning for white, more due to his active pieces than the extra pawn at f2. Having no other plan black bravely went for counter play with Nf3-Nxh2-Nf1, but it could not work out – and did not, as white’s attack before 40 moves won decisive material. IM Sebastian Mihajlov (2361) came much closer to a sensation as white against GM Evgeny Postny (2612). White got a lot of compensation after black greedily snatched a pawn at e4 in an Italian opening. Black hang on to the extra pawn, but his position looked like a pancake and white was reported close to winning as he opened the board for his pair of bishops with 24.d6. Sacrificing an exchange for a second pawn probably was Postny’s best try at this stage, but Mihajlov still had a strong initiative. His position looked close to winning with queen, two rooks and four pawns against queen, rook, knight and six pawns after 30 moves. Not for the first time Postny however defended stubbornly, and was rewarded as he just before the time control succeeded to activate his queen via b8 to b5. Mihajlov was hit by a boomerang as he suddenly had the more exposed king. After picking up the advanced white pawn at h5, Postny some mutual mistakes later went on to win a complex endgame with queen, knight and six pawns versus queen, rook and three pawns. 56.Ra7? (instead of 56.Rb1! covering the h1 square) was a blunder as black could (and did) decide by a brilliant tactical 56.--- Nxf4+! > 57.gxf4 Qxf3 or 57.Qxf4 Qh1 mate, but black anyway was winning then. 2 Russian GM Maxim Turov (2584) a few years ago worked as a chess coach in Tromsø, and met one of his pupils again as he today played white against FM Mads Vestby-Ellingsen (2333). White first appeared better in this Symmetrical English, but although black had an ugly isolated pawn at c6, he could balance the chances by sufficient counter play against white’s isolated pawn at d4. GM Maxim Turov vs FM Mads Vestby-Ellingsen (2333) Exchanging the d4-pawn probably was inaccurate as white for some moves kept an extra pawn at e5 with chances for an advantage. Vestby-Ellingsen however played hardball as he undermined the white e5 pawn by a g5-break, and after 31 moves he had exchanged of the queens and won back the pawn. The GM was impressed enough to offer a draw, without playing out a very balanced minor piece endgame with knight and four pawns versus bishop and four pawns. FM Anders Hobber (2295) and GM Evgeny Romanov (2576) meanwhile discussed a slow Queen’s Pawn opening variation with e3 and b3, giving white a solid position and black no problems. Although 9.cxd5 exd5 looked misunderstood from a white point of view, chances were roughly balanced around move 15-20. The following position with hanging black pawn at d5 and c5 looked slightly better for white, FM Anders Hobber vs GM Evgeny Romanov but anyway offered more chances for both players. Although black got some kingside attack, the position remained double-edged until white much too naïve went for an exchange win with 35.Ne6? – overlooking or underestimating 35.--- h3!, with a highly dangerous attack which smashed through immediately after the time control. GM Evgeny Vorobiov (2565) probably played a very good white game today, although his young opponent Jens Evang Ingebretsen (2300) was definitely in the ring after 12 moves of a positional Queen’s Indian. Due to the pawns on e4 and d4 white got a space advantage, which he following some inaccuracies from black instructively increased by 18.g3! followed by 19.d5! and 20.dxe6. Later black had a hard time to defend his weak e6-pawn and the king, and he threw in the scoresheets after 28 moves as white intervened on the seventh rank to win decisive material. 3 Norwegian GM Frode Urkedal (2513) also looked convincing in a 34 moves win as black against Olli Sisättö (2276). Black reached a sound position from the Nimzo-Indian opening, and instructively hit back in the center when white went for a too ambitious kingside pawn storm. 16.--- Ne6?! and 19.--- Nd4?! in turn was an overambitious black plan inviting white back into the game, and the position was messy when white in this too ambitious game went for a too loose knight sacrifice with 22.e4? (instead of saving the knight on g5 with 22.Ne4!). Urkedal cashed in the piece with 22.--- g6 23.Qb5 hxg5, and helped by his extra piece he had no real problems to defend afterwards. Today’s sensation came on board eight, as WGM Marsel Efroimsky (2287) won as black against GM Erik Blomqvist (2496). It came a bit unexpected following the opening, a Caro Kann Exchange line in which white first had a slight edge from his better pawn structure. Having parked his knight on d4, ahead of the isolated black pawn at d5, white still appeared slightly better with queen, rook, knight and six pawns on each side around 25 moves. It was expected to end up with another long working day win for the GM, as black too easy gave up her pawn on b4 after 30 moves. Black had some counter play on the kingside, but white was a pawn up with two passed queenside pawns. 36.Kf2?? however was a way too careless blunder, as white with his queen misplaced on b7 suddenly was unable to handle the double threat GM Erik Blomqvist of 37.--- Nf4 and 37.--- Qe3+ after 36.--- Qe5!. This time, for a change, the GM made a one move blunder and the lower rated opponent immediately user her chance. Fair enough and well deserved according to the iron laws of chess. Efroimsky has had a great start on the tournament following this win, and the Israel delegation is still at 100 % with 6/6. IM Erlend Mikalsen (2397) was the first player to win in the GM A today, as he succeeded in less than 90 minutes. Meaning opponent Sigve Hølleland (2024) was brought efficiently back to earth following his draw against an IM yesterday. Still black probably was fine from this Sicilian Najdorf opening after 10 moves.13.--- b4? however was a much too naïve move, really asking for the thematic 14.Nd5! exd5 15.exd5 with a crushing e-file pressure against the black king on e8. If the position was not already lost for black, it definitely became so after 15.--- Bxd5? 16.Qxg7, and Mikalsen efficiently smashed through with 17.Rxe7+! - to win decisive material and attack within two more moves. 4 Eirik T.
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