Grandelius and Westerberg lead at Swedish Championships

by ChessBase
7/20/2016 – The Swedish Championship in Uppsala is a real chess festival. From 15th to 24th July more than 1,000 players will take part in the various tournaments and enjoy themselves with classical chess but also with other forms of chess such as bughouse. The "Mästarklassen", the Master Class, is a strong ten-player round-robin event with eight Grandmasters. After four rounds GM Nils Grandelius and IM Jonathan Westerborg lead with 3.0/4 each.
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Swedish Championship 2016

By IM Ari Ziegler

Some years ago the Swedish Championship changed its format. Instead of playing for sixteen days now everything is done in twelve. But now the event is more fully packed than ever. Among the novelties the organizers introduced are tournament for kids, problem solving competitions and even a bughouse competition! So far 900 players have registered but by the end of the week we will probably pass the mark of a thousand registered players!

This year we play in Uppsala, one of the oldest towns in Sweden. The archbishop has his residence here and since the late 1100s Uppsala has been an important town for the Swedish Church. With about 140,000 inhabitants it is Sweden’s fourth largest city and its famous university attracts a lot of students.

The university was built in 1477 as Sweden’s first university. However, the university is maybe best known for refusing the doctoral thesis of French philosopher Michel Foucault, one of the most influential thinkers after World War II. (The University of Paris later accepted Foucault’s thesis titled Folie et déraison: Histoire de la folie à l'âge classique. An abridged version later appeared in English under the title Madness and Insanity: History of Madness in the Classical Age and became an influential work). To this day many people feel that Uppsala is a bit bureaucratic and lacks color.

Back to chess: the top group in the Championship is supported by Erik Penser, a down-to-earth, chess loving Banker who respects the efforts of the chess professionals in Sweden and wants to honor them through better prizes. A welcome change for Sweden’s elite players.

After four rounds GM Nils Grandelius and IM Jonathan Westerberg share the lead with 3.0/4. In Grandelius won a crucial, wild and important game against Jonny Hector.

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.0-0 0-0 6.Nbd2 d6 7.c3 a6 8.Bb3 Ba7 9.h3 Be6 10.Re1 Bxb3 11.Qxb3 Qd7 12.Nf1 h6 13.Ng3
The position can be regarded as fairly equal, even though it is easrier to find moves for White (plan d3-d4). Grandelius played 13...Tfe8 against Hillarp 2009. But now he deviates. 13...Kh7 It is certainly not clear that this move is an improvement. Jonny has a keen eye for tactics and spots the oppurtunity to seize a small initiative. 14.d4! Rfe8 14...exd4 15.cxd4 Nxd4 16.Nxd4 Bxd4 17.Qd3 Threatening e4-e5+. Be5 18.f4 and White is very much better. 15.Be3 Kg8 Again, it is fatal to grab the pawn. 15...exd4 16.cxd4 Nxe4 17.d5! Nd8 18.Bxa7 Nxg3 19.Rxe8 Qxe8 20.fxg3 Rxa7 21.Qc2+ Kg8 22.Qxc7 And White will emerge with a superior coordination and a helthy pawn (d5) up. 16.Rad1 exd4 16...b5 finally threating the pawn was the alternative. 17.cxd4 Nxe4 The waiting strategy by 17...Ne7 did not appeal to Grandelius. 18.Nxe4 Rxe4 19.Qxb7 Rb8 A human move which gives White a clear edge. 19...Ree8 20.Rc1 Bc5! was a tricky way to keep White's advantage to a minimum. 21.Qb3 21.dxc5? Reb8 21...Bb6 22.d5 Ne5 23.Nxe5 Rxe5 24.Bxb6 Rxe1+ 25.Rxe1 Rb8 20.Qxa6 Rxb2 21.Rc1 Rb6 22.Qa3 A nice little Zwischenzug, aiming at gaining an important tempi. Rb8 22...Rb7 23.d5 Nb8 24.Bxa7 Ra4 25.Qd3 Raxa7 26.Nd4 is depressing. 23.Qa4! Rb6 24.Nd2! Rh4 25.Rc3 Rh5 So far Hector has played a perfect game and I can imagine that in his mind there was a sence of harmony. 26.d5 Perhaps White could improve te position even a little bit further before playing d5. 26.Nb3 it is not easy to see how black can prevent d4-d5 as d5 27.Rec1 is winning the piece. 26...Rxd5 27.Bxb6 Bxb6 28.Nb3 Rf5 29.Re2 Ne5 30.Qa8+?! Hector is clearly very good at endgames, and many topplayers would probably not give many seconds of thought to 30.Qxd7 simply exhanging the Queen and then slowly grind Black down. Nxd7 31.a4! heading for a ending with an clear exchange up due to the weak c7-d6-pawns. g6 32.a5 Bxa5 33.Nxa5 Rxa5 34.Rxc7 Ne5 35.Rd2 d5 36.Rc8+ Kg7 37.Rd8 wrapping up the pawn. 30...Kh7 31.Qe4 Now, on the other hand the picture is not so clear. Ng6 Putting up resistance with a advanced frontier by playing 31...d5 32.Qc2 g6 was better. Black has interesting possibilities as Q-d6-g3 (when circumstances allow it), and d4-d3 which gives White some problems. 32.Rf3 Re5 33.Qc2 Kg8 34.Rxe5 Nxe5 35.Rc3
If we compare this position to the one with Queens exhanged one can see that this one demands an exceptional level of technique for White. 35...d5 36.Qe2 Qf5 37.Nd2! I still like the idea of playing 37.a4 Perhaps Jonny was preoccupied with d4 38.Rc1 d3 39.Qd2 37...d4 Jonny finds a clever way to activate the rook. 38.Ra3 d3 39.Qe1?! Again Jonny disregards the exchange of Queens. This time it was not as obvious as last time: 39.Ra8+ Kh7 40.Qe4 Bxf2+ 41.Kf1 Black is temporarely winning a pawn. Qxe4 42.Nxe4 Bb6 43.Nd2 But now he can't prevent the a-pawn without giving something back: Nc6 44.Nc4 Bd4 45.a4 Nb4 46.Rd8 Bc3 47.Rd7 c6 48.Rxf7 and White is winning. 39...g6 40.Ra4 Kg7 41.Re4 f6 42.Kf1 h5 The psychological momentum is now on Black's side. 43.Ra4 Qd7 44.Qd1 Qc6 45.Rf4 g5 46.Re4 Qc5 47.Qe1 Qd5 Centralization. 48.Ra4 Qc6 49.Qd1 Qc5 50.Qe1 Qc2 50...Ba5! 51.Re4? 51.Nb3 The sad news for White is that he now has to find "only moves". 51...Ba5 curtains. 52.Rxe5 Bxd2 53.Re7+ Kh6 54.Rh7+ Kxh7 55.Qe7+ Kg6 56.Qe8+ Kf5 57.Qd7+ Ke5 58.Qe7+ Kd5 59.Qd7+ Kc5 60.Qxc7+ Kb4 61.Qe7+ Ka4 62.Qa7+ Ba5 63.Qd4+ Ka3 64.Qd6+ Bb4 This game might indicate that Grandelius will win this year. Despite weak play in the initial phase of the middlegame and inadequate creativity in the defence he ended up winning by oppotunistic play in a losing position. And Nils will probably not end up in many more losing positions in the tournament. Jonny on the other hand might consider to forget about the audience once and a while. His preformance up to move 29 was absolutely world class. It is allowed to finnishing of games boringly... 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Hector,J-Grandelius,N-0–12016C54Schack-SM 2016: Svergiemästarklassen2.2

 

Nils Grandelius (Photo: Lars O A Hedlund)

Standings after four rounds

    Name   Club   SP   +   =   -   Points
1   GM Nils Grandelius   Eksjö SK   4   2   2   0   3.0  
2   IM Jonathan Westerberg   SK Team Viking   4   2   2   0   3.0  
3   GM Erik Blomqvist   SK Rockaden, Sthlm   4   1   3   0   2.5  
4   GM Jonny Hector   Limhamns SK   4   2   1   1   2.5  
5   GM Tiger Hillarp Persson   Malmö AS   4   1   2   1   2.0  
6   GM Daniel Semcesen   Lunds ASK   4   1   2   1   2.0  
7   GM Axel Smith   Lunds ASK   4   1   2   1   2.0  
8   GM Hans Tikkanen   Lunds ASK   4   0   3   1   1.5  
9   GM Pia Cramling   SK Team Viking   4   0   2   2   1.0  
10   FM Tom Rydström   Växjö SK   4   0   1   3   0.5  

Games - rounds 1 to 3

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Nf3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Bd6 6.Nc3 c6 7.Qc2 Nbd7 8.e4 Nxe4 9.Nxe4 dxe4 10.Qxe4 Nf6 11.Qc2 Qe7 12.Bg2 0-0 13.c5 Bc7 14.0-0 Nd5 15.Ng5 g6 16.Rfe1 Bd7 17.Re2 Rad8 18.Rae1 Rfe8 19.h4 Qf8 20.b4 Bc8 21.a4 Qg7 22.Nf3 f6 23.b5 Qf7 24.Bh3 Re7 25.Qb3 Rde8 26.Re4 Kg7 27.Bf1 h6 28.Qb2 Kh7 29.Bd3 e5 30.h5 Kg8 31.hxg6 Qxg6 32.dxe5 fxe5 33.Nh4 Qf6 34.Qc1 Nf4 35.Bc4+ Kf8 36.Rf1 Bh3 37.Qc3 Kg7 38.Rfe1 Nd5 39.Qd3 Rd8 40.Qe2 Bc8 41.Rg4+ Bxg4 42.Qxg4+ Kf7 43.Nf5 Rh8 44.Qh5+ Ke6 45.Nxe7 Qxe7 46.Bxh6 Qf6 47.Qg4+ Qf5 48.Qxf5+ Kxf5 49.Bd3+ Ke6 50.Bd2 Rd8 51.Kf1 Ne7 52.Bc4+ Kf5 53.Bc3 Nd5 54.Bb2 Nb4 55.b6 axb6 56.cxb6 Bb8 57.Ke2 Rd7 58.Rh1 Nd5 59.a5 Bd6 60.f3 Rg7 61.Rh6 Rxg3 62.Bd3+ e4 63.Bxe4+ Kg5 64.Rg6+ Kh4 65.Rxd6 Rg2+ 66.Kd3 Rxb2 67.Bxd5 cxd5 68.Rxd5 Kg3 69.Rd7 Rb5 70.Rxb7 Rxa5 71.Rf7 Rb5 72.b7 Kh4 73.Kc4 Rb1 74.Kc5 Kg5 75.Kc6 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Hillarp Persson,T-Cramling,P-1–02016A40Schack-SM 2016: Svergiemästarklassen1.1
Grandelius,N-Semcesen,D-1–02016A20Schack-SM 2016: Svergiemästarklassen1.2
Tikkanen,H-Smith,A-½–½2016C67Schack-SM 2016: Svergiemästarklassen1.3
Hector,J-Blomqvist,E-½–½2016B81Schack-SM 2016: Svergiemästarklassen1.4
Rydström,T-Westerberg,J-0–12016B42Schack-SM 2016: Svergiemästarklassen1.5
Cramling,P-Rydström,T-½–½2016A14Schack-SM 2016: Svergiemästarklassen2.1
Hector,J-Grandelius,N-0–12016C54Schack-SM 2016: Svergiemästarklassen2.2
Blomqvist,E-Westerberg,J-½–½2016E32Schack-SM 2016: Svergiemästarklassen2.3
Semcesen,D-Tikkanen,H-½–½2016D00Schack-SM 2016: Svergiemästarklassen2.4
Smith,A-Hillarp Persson,T-½–½2016D25Schack-SM 2016: Svergiemästarklassen2.5
Grandelius,N-Blomqvist,E-½–½2016A04Schack-SM 2016: Svergiemästarklassen3.1
Westerberg,J-Cramling,P-½–½2016E32Schack-SM 2016: Svergiemästarklassen3.2
Tikkanen,H-Hector,J-0–12016C78Schack-SM 2016: Svergiemästarklassen3.3
Rydström,T-Smith,A-0–12016C48Schack-SM 2016: Svergiemästarklassen3.4
Hillarp Persson,T-Semcesen,D-½–½2016D15Schack-SM 2016: Svergiemästarklassen3.5

Impressions from Uppsala

Uppsala is a green city

The castle

The university attracts many students to come to Uppsala

Modern and old

 

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