Hans Tikkanen is Swedish Champion 2011

by ChessBase
7/27/2011 – The last round of this year's Swedish Championship was fraught with drama and excitement. Player A was in the lead and needed a draw, player B was set for a GM norm if he drew his final game against player C. Both A and B lost, and player C, newly titled GM Hans Tikkanen, finished first. We have some wonderful analysis by Ari Ziegler to play through in our final report.
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Hans Tikkanen is Swedish Champion 2011

This year’s Swedish Championships has been a roller coaster ride, with plenty of exciting and hard fought games being played and an unusual low draw percentage. Jonny Hector took an early lead but then unexpectedly lost to Bengt Lindberg. After eight rounds of play Hector was in the lead with 6.0/8, followed by Lindberg and Hans Tikkanen, half a point behind. Lindberg was set for a GM norm – if he drew his final round game against Tikkanen. This is what happened in round nine, which was a real thriller:

IM Lindberg Bengt
-
 GM Tikkanen Hans
0-1
GM Cramling Pia
-
 FM Westerberg Jonathan   
1-0
IM Eriksson Johan
-
 GM Hillarp Persson Tiger
0-1
GM Grandelius Nils
-
 GM Berg Emanuel
½-½
GM Carlsson Pontus
-
 GM Hector Jonny
1-0

Hector lost against Pontus Carlsson, who had offered him a draw very early in the game. Meanwhile Tikkanen beat Lindberg, which meant that Jonny Hector could bury his hopes of winning the tournament, and Bengt Lindberg his of getting a GM norm. The winner was Hans Tikkanen, who is the 2011 Swedish Champion.


Newly titled grandmaster Hans Tikkanen, who won the Swedish Championship

Final standings (after nine rounds)

Pl. Ti. Player
Rating
Points
 TB
1 GM Tikkanen Hans
2596
6.5
24.75
2 GM Hector Jonny
2568
6.0
24.25
3 GM Cramling Pia
2472
5.5
22.25
4 IM Lindberg Bengt
2391
5.5
22.25
5 GM Grandelius Nils
2542
5.0
22.50
6 GM Hillarp Persson Tiger
2547
5.0
19.00
7 GM Carlsson Pontus
2496
4.0
15.25
8 GM Berg Emanuel
2604
3.5
12.50
9 IM Eriksson Johan
2401
2.5
11.25
10 FM Westerberg Jonathan
2313
1.5
5.50

Here's an important game Hans Tikkanen played in the penultimate round, annotated for us by Ari Ziegler.

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nc3 g6 7.e4 a6 8.a4 Bg4 9.Qb3?! This looks tempting, but as I see it White is risking too much here. The best he can hope for is a draw. 9.Be2 is the strongest move here, which gives White serious hopes for a small advantage. 9...Bxf3 10.Qxb7 Nbd7 11.gxf3 Bg7 Lindberg played this line last year in the Swedish Championship. At the time Anton Frisk Kockum (actually a team mate of mine) played 12.Be2 and Black gradually improved his pieces and won rather effortlessly. 12.Qc6 12.Be2 0-0 13.0-0 Qe7 14.Qb3 Nh5 15.f4 Ndf6 16.Qc2 Rfe8 17.Re1 Qd7 18.Qd3 Bh6 19.Qf3 Qb7 20.Bf1 Re7 21.a5 Rae8 22.Ra4 Nd7 23.Re2 Bg7 24.Bg2 Qb8 25.Qd3 Bh6 26.Qf3 Ne5 27.fxe5 Bxc1 28.exd6 Qxd6 29.e5 Rxe5 30.Rae4 Bf4 31.Rxe5 Bxe5 32.h3 f5 33.Re1 Nf6 34.Rd1 Rb8 35.Qe2 Rb4 36.Re1 Nd7 37.Bf1 c4 38.f4 Bd4+ 39.Kh1 Nf8 40.Qe7 Bc5 41.Qxd6 Bxd6 42.Nd1 Ra4 43.Re8 Rxa5 44.Bxc4 Ra1 45.Bb3 Kf7 46.Ra8 Nd7 0-1 Frisk Kockum,A-Lindberg,B 12...0-0! This is how to do it. Black plays without anxiety. In case Black is not comfortable with sacrificing two pawns just like that, he might play 12...Qb8 which should be enough for equality: 13.Bxa6 13.Bf4? 0-0 14.0-0-0 14.Bxd6 Qxb2 14.Rb1 Qb4 And now Black has two deadly threats: trap the queen and Nxe4. White can't protect them both. 14.Qxd6 Qxb2 15.Rc1 Ne8 16.Qxd7 Bxc3+ 17.Kd1 Nf6 And White has a hopeless situation. 18.Qh3 Qb3+ 19.Rc2 Rfd8! 20.Bd3 Nxd5 21.exd5 Rxd5 22.Ke2 Rxd3 A beautiful example of how dangerous it is with a king in the centre. 23.Rhc1 Qc4 24.Kf1 Rxf3+ 25.Kg2 Rxh3 14...Qb3 13.a5 0-0 13...0-0 14.Qb7 Qd8 14...Ne5 15.Qxb8 Nxf3+ 16.Kd1 Rfxb8 17.Be2 Nd4 18.Ra2 Deep Frtiz's suggestion. Nxe2 19.Kxe2 Ra6 20.Bf4 Nd7 21.a5 c4 22.Be3 Ne5 23.Rd1 Nd3 24.Rxd3 cxd3+ 25.Kxd3 Rb4= 15.Be2 Nh5 16.f4 Bxc3+ 17.bxc3 Rb8 18.Qa6 Qh4 19.Qxd6 Ndf6 20.Qxc5 Rfe8 21.e5 21.0-0 Ng4= 21...Nxf4 22.Bxf4 Qxf4 23.Qd4 Qxe5 24.Qxe5 Rxe5 and Black is not worse. 13.Qxd6 Nh5 Here I thought starting with 13...Re8 was a little bit more principled, but we can see that Black seems to cope very well without the rook on e8. Actually the rook move is recommended in my forthcoming DVD about the Modern Benoni. Here I give a sample line: 14.Be2 14.Bg2 Nh5 15.0-0 Bf8 16.Qc6 Ne5 17.Qb7 Qf6 And Black has compensation. 14...Nh5 15.h4 preventing Qh4. Be5 16.Qc6 Bxc3+ 17.bxc3 Qa5 18.Ra3 Ne5 19.Qb7 c4 20.Qb2 Rab8 21.Qd2 Qd8 22.Ra1 Qf6 23.Rh3 Rb3 24.Qd4 Reb8 25.Kd1 Rb1 26.Rxb1 Rxb1 27.Kc2 Rxc1+ 28.Kxc1 Nf4 29.Bf1 Qd6 White is paralysed. 14.f4? This move seriously weakens the e4-pawn. White will later have to play f3 to protect this square, and White can't afford playing two pawn moves in this position. He needs to develop his pieces. 14.Be2 Re8 15.a5 Bf8 16.Qc6 Ne5 17.Qa4 Qh4 and Black is doing fine, but at least White has survival chances. 14...Qa5 15.Qxd7? Losing on the spot. White's last chance to develop a piece was: 15.Bd2 Qb4 16.f3 Qxb2 17.Rb1 Qa3 18.Rc1 Rfd8 and Black's chances are preferable. 15...Bxc3+ 16.Ke2 Qb4 17.f3 Here Lindberg thought for a long while. 16...Bxb2 wins easily, but he had a lot of time on the clock and he does his work very thoroughly. He calculates until the end before he makes his move. Nxf4+! Kasparov class! 18.Bxf4 Qxb2+ 19.Kd3 c4+ 20.Kxc4 Rfc8+ 21.Bc7 Be5 22.d6 Qd4+ With this win Lindberg approached his third norm and a place among the top three in the Swedish Chamiponship. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Westerberg,J-Lindberg,B-0–12011A70Swedish Championship8


Eric Vaarala is the winner of this year’s Junior Championship, playing top rated Inna
Agrest, daughter of the well known GM Evgenij Agrest


Berg Emanuel vs Bengt Lindberg in round six (draw in 49 moves)


Tiger Hillarp Persson analyzing with Westerberg Jonathan after their game


Club mates Hans Tikkanen and Nils Grandelius battling it out


Pia Cramling fought hard and was the only player to remain undefeated


Laid back Bengt Lindberg made a miracle escape against Tiger Hillarp Persson and
won in the endgame despite being an exchange down

Lindberg,Be (2391) - Hillarp Persson,T (2547) [B43]
ch-SWE Master Elite Vasteras SWE (7), 22.07.2011
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 b5 6.Bd3 Qb6 7.Nf3 Qc7 8.0-0 Bb7 9.Re1 Be7 10.e5 f5 11.a4 b4 12.Nb1 Nc6 13.Nbd2 Na5 14.Nd4 Nh6 15.N2f3 0-0 16.Bxh6 gxh6 17.Qd2 Kh8 18.Qxh6 Rg8 19.g3 Nc6 20.Nb3 Rg6 21.Qh5 Rag8 22.Rad1 Bf8 23.Be2 Ne7 24.Rd4 Bd5 25.Bd1 a5 26.Nh4 Rh6 27.Qf7 Qd8 28.Rxd5 Nxd5 29.Nxf5 Rhg6 30.Bh5 Rg5 31.Nfd4 Bg7 32.Qf3 Bxe5 33.Re4 Nf6 34.Rh4

34...Nxh5? Tiger (yep, and he isn't into golf!) should have played 34...Bxd4 35.Nxd4 Rf8 36.Qd1 Nxh5 37.Rxh5 Rxh5 38.Qxh5 Qf6 and the knight is lost. Black is a rook for a pawn up and will win quite easily. 35.Rxh5 Rxh5 36.Qxh5 Bxd4 37.Nxd4 Qf6 38.c3 bxc3 39.bxc3 e5 40.Nb3 Rb8 41.Nxa5 d5 42.Nc6 Rf8 43.Qxe5 Qxe5 44.Nxe5 Rc8 45.Kf1 Rxc3. Now Black has a rook for a knight and two pawns and a difficult win at best. 46.Ke2 Kg7 47.Nd3 Kf6 48.Ke3 Ke6 49.h4 Kd6 50.h5 Ra3 51.g4 Rxa4 52.f4 Re4+ 53.Kf3 Re8 54.g5 d4 55.Ne5 Kd5 56.Ng4 Kc4 57.g6 hxg6 58.hxg6.

58...Kc3? The "only" move to lose the game: Black could have played ...d3, ...Rg8, ...Rf8, ...Rd8, ...Ra8, ...Kc5 and other moves to hold the position. 59.f5 d3 60.g7 d2 61.Nf2 Kd4 (61...Kc2 is a better try but also loses) 62.f6 Re6 63.g8Q Rxf6+ 64.Ke2 Rxf2+ 65.Kxf2 1-0.

Photos by Stefan Alenius


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