Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
The first Rilton Cup in Stockholm was played in 1971. It is named after Tore Rilton, a Swedish doctor who was a passionate chessplayer and supported the tournament. He died in 1983 and left part of his fortune to the Rilton foundation which uses the money to organise the Rilton Cup each year. The well-organised tournament usually attracts a number of strong players to come to Stockholm in winter.
This year the Polish GM Michal Krasenkow had the best start into the tournament scoring no less than five points from the first five rounds. In round six Krasenkow had to play with White against the Norwegian GM Jon Ludvig Hammer, who had half a point less than Krasenkow and shared second and third place with GM Maxim Rodshtein from Israel. Hammer beat Krasenkow by crowning a well-played game with a nice tactical blow.
Michal Krasenkow
An impressive performance by Hammer, who had every reason to be proud on this game. The Norwegian shared his feelings via twitter:
Jon Ludvig Hammer
With this win Hammer took the sole lead but in round seven had to content himself with a draw against the young German GM Alexander Donchenko, allowing Rodshtein to catch up with Hammer. In round eight Rodshtein had to play Donchenko and managed to surprise the German in the opening. Donchenko failed to find the right answer, soon ended up in a bad position and lost the game.
Maxim Rodshtein during his game Hammer
Maxim Rodshtein
Hammer had to content himself with a draw against American talent Samuel Sevian and thus Hammer was trailing Rodshtein by half a point before the last round.
In the final round Hammer outplayed Martin Zumsande but this was not enough because in a double-rook-endgame Rodshtein persistently posed problems to his opponent Hans Tikkanen. Eventually time-trouble took its toll and Tikkanen lost.
With this win Maxim Rodshtein also won the tournament. Via twitter Hammer complained tongue in cheek about becoming second despite playing a fine tournament but at least he managed to jump the 2700+ Elo-barrier. Incidentally, Maxim Rodshtein also jumped this barrier in this tournament.
The best women player was Monika Socko from Poland. She finished sixth - half a point and nine places ahead of her husband, the Polish GM Bartosz Socko.
German IM Hagen Poetsch
| Rg. | Snr | Name | Land | Elo | Pkt. | Wtg1 | Wtg2 | Rp | K | rtg+/- | |
| 1 | 2 | GM | Rodshtein Maxim | ISR | 2678 | 8,0 | 48,0 | 53,0 | 2876 | 10 | 17,8 |
| 2 | 1 | GM | Hammer Jon Ludvig | NOR | 2695 | 7,5 | 51,0 | 55,5 | 2790 | 10 | 10,2 |
| 3 | 17 | GM | Blomqvist Erik | SWE | 2493 | 7,0 | 45,5 | 50,5 | 2695 | 10 | 23,0 |
| 4 | 12 | GM | Hillarp-Persson Tiger | SWE | 2521 | 6,5 | 47,0 | 51,0 | 2636 | 10 | 14,1 |
| 5 | 8 | GM | Sevian Samuel | USA | 2578 | 6,5 | 46,0 | 50,5 | 2600 | 10 | 3,4 |
| 6 | 22 | GM | Socko Monika | POL | 2437 | 6,5 | 36,0 | 39,0 | 2432 | 10 | 0,8 |
| 7 | 4 | GM | Krasenkow Michal | POL | 2610 | 6,0 | 49,0 | 53,5 | 2618 | 10 | 1,7 |
| 6 | GM | Donchenko Alexander | GER | 2588 | 6,0 | 49,0 | 53,5 | 2622 | 10 | 4,7 | |
| 9 | 13 | GM | Tikkanen Hans | SWE | 2515 | 6,0 | 44,5 | 47,5 | 2590 | 10 | 9,4 |
| 10 | 20 | IM | Zumsande Martin Dr. | GER | 2442 | 6,0 | 42,5 | 45,5 | 2567 | 10 | 14,9 |
| 11 | 5 | GM | Goganov Aleksey | RUS | 2597 | 6,0 | 41,5 | 44,0 | 2521 | 10 | -7,6 |
| 12 | 15 | IM | Poetsch Hagen | GER | 2509 | 6,0 | 40,0 | 44,0 | 2452 | 10 | -1,2 |
| 13 | 10 | IM | Tari Aryan | NOR | 2556 | 6,0 | 40,0 | 42,0 | 2429 | 10 | -11,5 |
| 14 | 14 | IM | Nikita Meskovs | LAT | 2511 | 6,0 | 39,5 | 40,0 | 2530 | 10 | 3,3 |
| 15 | 7 | GM | Socko Bartosz | POL | 2587 | 5,5 | 48,0 | 51,5 | 2542 | 10 | -4,5 |
| 16 | 3 | GM | Alekseev Evgeny | RUS | 2642 | 5,5 | 46,0 | 50,5 | 2535 | 10 | -11,2 |
| 17 | 19 | IM | Andersen Mads | DEN | 2474 | 5,5 | 45,0 | 48,5 | 2518 | 10 | 6,0 |
| 18 | 37 | FM | Sagit Rauan | SWE | 2375 | 5,5 | 44,5 | 48,0 | 2503 | 10 | 15,7 |
| 19 | 23 | GM | Semcesen Daniel | SWE | 2431 | 5,5 | 43,5 | 47,5 | 2466 | 10 | 5,3 |
| 20 | 30 | IM | Sjödahl Pontus | SWE | 2404 | 5,5 | 43,5 | 46,5 | 2508 | 10 | 12,7 |
| 21 | 21 | IM | Salomon Johan | NOR | 2438 | 5,5 | 42,0 | 46,0 | 2491 | 10 | 7,4 |
| 22 | 54 | FM | Sadeh Shahin | IRI | 2284 | 5,5 | 42,0 | 45,0 | 2456 | 20 | 41,4 |
| 23 | 9 | GM | Ivanov Sergey | RUS | 2556 | 5,5 | 41,5 | 44,5 | 2495 | 10 | -6,0 |
| 24 | 11 | GM | Cramling Pia | SWE | 2523 | 5,5 | 41,0 | 44,0 | 2501 | 10 | -2,1 |
| 25 | 35 | FM | Martynov Pavel | RUS | 2380 | 5,5 | 40,0 | 44,0 | 2427 | 10 | 6,3 |
| 26 | 33 | FM | Nilsen Joachim B | NOR | 2382 | 5,5 | 39,5 | 43,5 | 2384 | 10 | 1,1 |
| 27 | 42 | IM | Vuilleumier Alexandre | SUI | 2342 | 5,5 | 39,5 | 41,0 | 2337 | 10 | -0,1 |
| 28 | 25 | IM | Kolosowski Mateusz | POL | 2423 | 5,5 | 39,0 | 42,0 | 2408 | 10 | 2,1 |
| 29 | 18 | GM | Miezis Normunds | LAT | 2493 | 5,5 | 36,0 | 39,5 | 2388 | 10 | -11,2 |
| 30 | 16 | IM | Westerberg Jonathan | SWE | 2497 | 5,5 | 36,0 | 39,0 | 2418 | 10 | -8,6 |
... 94 players
Chairman Ingemar Falk congratulates the winner
Swedish chess legend Pia Cramling
Co-favorite Evgeny Alexeev finished 16th
Organiser Ingemar Falk
Potos: Lars OA Hedlund
