Krasenkow wins the XLII Rilton Cup with 7.5/9

The Rilton Cup is Sweden's biggest and most famous international chess tournament. It was originally initiated by a donation from a doctor, Tore Rilton, and since 1985 the tournament is financially secure. A special challenge prize, donated by SEB Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, is the Rilton-medal in genuine gold. The tournament has over the years been very helpful for talented Swedish juniors. This year the Rilton tournament is part of the 100th anniversary celebrations of the 1912 Stockholm Summer Olympics. Every Rilton participant will receive a copy of the medal that the Olympic medal winners received in 1912.

The 42nd Rilton Cup (XLII according to our calculations is Latin for 42) is being held as a a nine-round FIDE Swiss from December 27, 2012 to January 5, 2013, at the Clarion Hotel Stockholm, Ringvägen 98, Stockholm. The event was open for players with a FIDE or national rating of at least 2200, with exemptions granted to players who applied before November 15th, and priority given to juniors. Time controls were 40 moves in 90 minutes, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move from move one. Prizes ranged from 20,000 SEK for first to 3,000 SEK for tenth (one SEK is 12 Euro cents, or 15 US cents). There were also prizes of 1,000-3,000 SEK for the different rating groups.

Final standings (after nine rounds)

...or as the Swedes so nicely put it: "Slutställning efter 9 ronder"

The winner of the event was Polish GM Michal Krasenkow (above), rated 2628, who scored 7.5/9 points and had a performance rating of 2769. The success was achieved by winning all of his first four games, as previously reported, then drawing three (against Shimanov, Smirin and Socko), and then winning the last two games, against Volodin with white and Rombaldoni with black.

Michal Krasenkow vs Ilya Smirin in round six: draw in 27 moves

The critical final round in which Krasenkow defeated Italian IM Axel Rombaldoni (left)

Two rounds before the end Krasenkow was trailing Aleksandr Shimanov by half a point, and after the penultimate round he was tied for first with Ilya Smirin. But the Israeli GM lost to Erwin L'Ami in the final round and ended in place four.

Pictorial impressions from Stockholm by Alina L'Ami

Sunset in Stockholm – at 2 p.m. in the afternoon!

The Nobel Museum, which provides information on the the life of the founder of the
Prize, Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) and on the Nobel Laureates from 1901 to the present.

The Bistro Nobel in the Nobel Museum, in which, believe it or not...

Every Laureate who visits the Nobel Museum is asked to sign the underside of the wooden chairs used at the Bistro Nobel. So, while you’re sitting back and enjoying your delicious beverages, you never know what great chemist, physicist, peacemaker, or literary genius may have sat in the very same seat! I was literally turning over every empty chair I could find, in search of Mario Vargas Llosa's autograph. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2010. Without any luck though...

Like anyone else, on New Year's Eve I intended to have some alcohol in my glass, keeping the traditions alive. So, in my naivety, I thought I could just grab something in the supermarket. Once there, I actually realized I will never find anything stronger than 3%. I even found some 'wine' with 2%, which clearly convinced me I should try my luck somewhere else. No sooner said and done, I searched a bit, asked, did my homework and voila: soon I was in a queue, waiting for my turn! But the shop was so inrcedibly crowded that I even stopped wondering if the line is all the way till Norway or not. I am sure it was.

A round under way in the Rilton Cup

Critical game in round seven: Bartosz Socko vs Michal Krasenkow, draw in 52 moves

Commentary was provided by the legendary Ulf Andersson (who is avery nice person)

The revelation of this year's Rilton Cup: IM Vilka Sipilä from Finland, who had six
wins and a performance of 2679. Naturally he earned a GM norm.

Second place for the Russian GM Aleksandr Shimanov, here playing Pia Cramling

Dutch GM Erwin l'Ami (who happens to be my husband) staged a beautiful finish,
with 4.5 points out of five games in the second half of the tournament

Next-gen players: the daughters of Monika Socko and Pia Cramling (middle)

Monika Socko with her lovely daughters

All pictures by Alina L'Ami

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN (250 KB – or 76 KB as a zip file) The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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