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The Finnish mathematic school Helsinki Matematiikkalukio arrived to the Swedish capital Stockholm without tickets to Lund. Lund is more than 600 kilometres away and for some hours it seemed impossible to continue the journey. Finally they found a strange train route and arrived exhausted but happy. The games could begin.
The third board of Finland, Heine Rinne,
preparing for a tough game
Some Swedish newspapers covered the event. The first day they interviewed the Swedish team captain. He was quite sure that his team should win. The next day a Norwegian player counter attacked saying that their team was the favourite. Oh, this beautiful psychological battle!
The Icelanders lived at Lund’s most expensive hotel and travelled by taxi
to the playing hall, but it didn’t help their result. Here Gardar Sveinbjörnsson
loses against Nada Gjoreska.
The brilliancy prize was won by a very innovative player:
Sofiev,Alexey (2136) – FM Kjartansson,Gudmundur (2335) [D00]
Trieste Master (3), 02.09.2007, Nordic School Team Championship Lund (2.1),
07.09.2007
1.a3. White doesn't want a theoretical discussion and instead settles for a quiet move of mainly psychological nature. Black is now doing great with 1...a6 but there is also other moves... 1...d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.Bf4 e6 4.e3 Be7 5.Nf3 0–0 6.Bd3 Nbd7 7.Nbd2 c5 8.c3. White plays the London System with the not so useful move a3, but on the other hand black has left his white squared bishop inside the pawn chain. 8...b6 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Ne5 c4 11.Be2 Nxe5 12.Bxe5 Nd7 13.Bg3 Bf6 14.0–0 Qe7 15.Rad1 b5 16.b4 a5 17.Bf3 Ra6 18.e4 axb4 19.axb4 Rfa8 20.exd5. Black has handled the early middle game well and with 20...Bxd5 he has a small advantage. Instead he tries to be clever and gain a tempo with a threat against the white queen. 20...Ra2
21.Qxa2!! A queen sacrifice, we like that! And it's good too! 21...Rxa2 22.d6 Qd8 23.Bxb7. White has a rook, bishop and pawn for the queen but more importantly black lacks a good plan. White now aims to either gain the a-file or break the blockade of the passed d-pawn. 23...Nb8 24.Ne4 Ra7 25.Nc5 Qb6. Instead black had to try for counter play with 25...Ra3 26.Rc1 Bg5!? 26.Bf3 g6 27.Ra1 h5 28.h4 Kf8 29.Rfe1 Kg8 30.Kh2. Where is the white king going? 30...Kf8 31.Kh3 Kg8 32.Bf4 Kf8 33.g3 Kg8 34.Kg2 Kf8 35.Kf1 Kg8 36.Ke2! Kf8 37.Kd2 Nd7 38.Kc2 Kg8 39.Kb2
The king went all the way to b2! Now Black cannot stop white from invading through the a-file. Kjartansson makes a last desperate try. 39...e5 40.Rxa7 exd4 41.Rb7 dxc3+ 42.Kc2 Nxc5 43.Rxb6 Nd3 44.Rb1 Bd4 45.Rb8+ Kh7 46.d7 1-0. [Click to replay]
Mr. Sofiev had more than one attacking game:
Forså, Espen (2234) – Sofiev, Alexey (2136) [C05]
Nordic School Team Championship Lund (2.1), 07.09.2007
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ndf3 Qb6 8.a3
c4 9.h4 Be7 10.h5 Nf8 11.h6 g6 12.g4 Bd7 13.Bh3 f5 14.exf6 Bxf6 15.Kf1 0-0-0
16.Rh2 Rg8 17.Ne5 Nxe5 18.dxe5 Be7 19.Nf3 g5 20.fxg5 Ng6 21.Re2 Rdf8 22.Kg2
White has an extra pawn but his king is exposed. Sofiev doesn't want to give White a moment of rest. 22...Rxf3!? 23.Kxf3 Rf8+ 24.Kg3? There is a tactical reason why 24.Kg2 is better. Then black has excellent compensation after 24...Bc6, but at least the fight continues. 24...Nxe5! 25.Rxe5 fails to 25...Qf2 check mate! 25.Bg2 Bd6 26.Kh3 Nd3 27.Be3 Bc5 28.Qd2 Bxe3 29.Rxe3? Losing immediately, but the position was very hard anyway. 29...Rf2 30.Rxd3 Rxd2 31.Rf3 e5 0-1. [Click to replay]
Lin Jin Jørgensen beating Riku Koivunen in the game that guaranteed
the win to NTG Bærum
The Swedish chess gymnasium Metapontum has recently been founded. Under the supervision of GM Lars Karlsson the students has improved a lot the last year. The second place is a good receipt that hard training pays of. Here we see a bold and brutal execution by Daniel Larsson.
Thorsteinsson, Hilmar (1865) – Larsson, Daniel (1920) [C01]
Nordic School Team Championship Lund (4.3), 08.09.2007
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Bd6 5.c4 c6 6.Nc3 Ne7 7.Bg5 0-0 8.cxd5
f6 9.dxc6 fxg5 10.Qb3+ Kh8 11.cxb7 Bxb7 12.Qxb7 Nbc6 13.Qb3 Rb8 14.Qc2 Nf5 15.d5
Ncd4 16.Nxd4 Nxd4 17.Qd2 Qf6.
Black has sacrificed two pawns to get development and a huge attack. White can't get his king away from the centre but at least has to develop the bishop from f1. 18.f3? White prepares an escape square on f2, but it's not safe. 18...Rbe8+ 19.Ne4 Of course 19.Kf2 loses to 19...Nxf3! 19...Rxe4+! This cute combination finishes white of. 20.fxe4 Bb4 21.Qxb4 Nc2+ 22.Kd2 Nxb4 0-1. [Click to replay]
