1/1/2019 – The traditional Rilton Cup in Stockholm is currently in its 48th edition. The nine-round tournament started on December 27th and runs through January 5th. The New Year is celebrated in Stockholm and New Year's Day is the lone free day. The event routinely attracts a strong field of GMs — at least those not interested in Rapid or Blitz championships, and it even has its own mobile app for iOS and Android! | Photo: Lars OA Hedlund
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Lagarde leads at half-time in Stockholm
French Grandmaster Maxime Lagarde is the pace-setter at the traditional Rilton Cup, with 4½ out of five rounds played. He is joined at the top of the leaderboard by Gopal G.N. whose only draw was against the top-seeded Israeli GM Tamir Nabaty. Nabaty trails by half a point, leading a group of 15 players with 4.0/5. Among them are some well-known veteran names, such as GM Sergey Volkov from Russia, GM Bartlomiej Heberla from Poland and Spanish GM (now living in Sweden) Juan Manuel Bellon Lopez, but also relative newcomers like 15-year old GM Awonder Liang from the USA.
GM Maxime Lagarde | Photo: Lars OA Hedlund
On New Year's Eve, Lagarde converted an advantageous rook endgame against Spain's Miguel Santos Ruiz, which illustrates a useful concept:
Rook endings are amongst the most frequently encountered endgames there are, and so your training effort will be quickly repaid in the form of half and full points. Knowing even a few rules of thumb and key methods makes life a great deal easier and provides a guiding light even in complex positions. This DVD focuses on the important themes which are to be found in common rook endings.
Santos Ruiz vs Lagarde, Round 5
Position after 41.Ra6+
At first glance, you might think it makes sense to advance to b3 to support the b-pawn's advance from c2, but this merely loses time. 41...Kb5 is correct, pacifying the white rook after 42.Ra1 b343.Ke3b2 44.Rb1 Ka4 and the king soon arrives on a2.
A 19-year-old Danish IM, Jesper Sondergaard Thybo (already rated 2519), was surprisingly among the players leading the tournament after four rounds. The 22nd seed played a nice attack in Round 2 against the 16-year-old Norwegian FM Tryggestad. The game between them showed a common theme in open tournaments: in the face of a fierce attack it takes a cool head to mount a successful defence — possible in this case but extremely difficult:
White has a strong centre and has already positioned his forces
against the black King, although an breakthrough is not immediately
evident. Better but not winning is often a difficult spot to be in.14.0-0c515.d5Nc416.Bg5Nde5?!Exchanging a piece to relieve the
pressure is tempting, but this only helps White. The f3-knight had
nowhere meaningful to go, but its disappearance, on the other hand,
makes way for f2-f4, reinforcing the attack.16...Nxb2was
possible.17.Nxe5Nxe518.Rad1Consequently, White now has18.f4!available.Nd319.Qxd3hxg520.fxg5would have kept a strong
position up a pawn.18...c4!Black gives his knight a secure base on d3,
which, if it could be maintained, might be enough to keep the game
balanced.19.b3Naturally, White has other ideas.Qc720.Kh1
White would like to play f2-f4 without worrying about any queen checks along the g1-a7 diagonal.20...Rfe8With this move Black completely loses the thread. Because white plans to open the f-file at any moment, it would have been much more useful to guard the f-file and prevent an incursion on f7.
The e7-pawn could have been covered by the a-rook. A plan to activate that rook via the c-file would both been too slow and not directed
against meaningful targets.Important was20...b5!to hold the d3-square at all costs. Together with the queen (and supported by the g7-bishop) Black's knight would have significant claim to key dark squares, which might tie down White's forces to defensive rolls.21.f4Nd3?Now
he returns ruefully to his original plan, but it's no longer working and the black position soon collapses.22.bxc4!This simple move makes a big statement.Nb223.Rc1Nxc424.f5fxg6+ is coming with threats of Rf7.Rf825.d6!1–0
Williams main teaching method behind this set of two DVDs is to teach you some simple yet effective set ups, without the need to rely on memorising numerous complicated variations.
Jesper Sondergaard Thybo and Andreas Garberg Tryggestad | Photo: Lars OA Hedlund
The tournament takes a New Years Day pause before the final round rounds, ending on January 5th. Each round is accompanied by daily live commentary with the legendary GM Ulf Andersson and WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni. Replay the 5th round webcast below:
Macauley PetersonMacauley served as the Editor in Chief of ChessBase News from July 2017 to March 2020. He is the producer of The Full English Breakfast chess podcast, and was an Associate Producer of the 2016 feature documentary, Magnus.
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