Chess News
How to crack the Berlin Wall with 5.Re1
Alexei Shirov shows on this DVD how White can develop pressure and seize the initiative with 5.Re1 against the Berlin Wall.
At the Cellavision Cup — August 3rd to 5th in Lund in southern Sweden — rounds one to four are played with 15 minutes plus 5 seconds, i.e. quick chess time control, followed by rounds five to eight with a longer thinking time of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds. 185 mostly Scandinavian chess fans found their way to the Swedish traditional tournament, including 16 grandmasters and numerous other champions.
The former world-class grandmaster Alexei Shirov has now declined on the Elo list significantly and is currently not even in the top 100 with his current 2631, but in Lund, he remains one of the favourites in the race and is regardless of rating still Shirov's tactical flair can flare up at any time. The Latvian grandmaster is now once again playing for Spain and was second on the starting list for the tournament after Nils Grandelius at 2658.
After the eight rounds, two players scored seven points, Alexei Shirov and Jonny Hector, who defeated Grandelius in the final round. Thanks to the better Buchholz tiebreak, the first place fell to Shirov. Shirov lost to Grandelius but won the remaining seven of his eight games, including against Hector.
Shirov-Hector | Photo: Lars OA Hedlund
Shirov played 25.Rfe1 here, setting up the ugly threat 26.Bf4. Black can not take f4 because of Qh8#. Hector tried 25...Re6, but after just 26.Bf5 he faced the problem that the rook does not have a good square due to the same threat. The Swede had to give up the exchange.
Shirov's only defeat came against Nils Grandelius. Behind the top two scorers were three more Swedish grandmasters with Grandelius, Tiger Hillarp Persson and Pia Cramling each finishing with 6½ points and shared 3rd-6th with the Ukrainian Vitaly Sivuk.
In the "family rivalry" category Pia Cramling scored ahead of her husband GM Juan Lopez Bellon finished who came 22nd with 5½. Daughter Anna reached 76th place with 4½ points.
Pia Cramling led her family | Photo: Lars OA Hedlund
| Rk | Name | Club/Country | Rating | + | = | - | Pts | |||
| 1 | GM Alexei Shirov | Wasa SK | 2631 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 7.0 | |||
| 2 | GM Jonny Hector | Limhamns SK | 2491 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 7.0 | |||
| 3 | GM Nils Grandelius | Malmö AS | 2658 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 6.5 | |||
| 4 | GM Tiger Hillarp Persson | Lunds ASK | 2542 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 6.5 | |||
| 5 | GM Vitaly Sivuk | Ukraine | 2535 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 6.5 | |||
| 6 | GM Pia Cramling | Wasa SK | 2453 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 6.5 | |||
| 7 | GM Andrey Sumets | Ukraine | 2575 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 6.0 | |||
| 8 | GM Frode Urkedal | Farsta SK | 2537 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 6.0 | |||
| 9 | GM Nikita Maiorov | Belarus | 2504 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 6.0 | |||
| 10 | IM Pontus Sjödahl | Västerås SK | 2404 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 6.0 | |||
| 11 | GM Carsten Høi | Denmark | 2380 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 6.0 | |||
| 12 | IM Björn Ahlander | Lunds ASK | 2433 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 6.0 | |||
| 13 | GM Sharma Himanshu | India | 2436 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 6.0 | |||
| 14 | Dusan Schwarz | Slovakia | 2274 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 6.0 | |||
| 15 | GM Jens Kristiansen | Denmark | 2366 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 6.0 | |||
| 16 | GM Torbjorn Ringdal Hansen | Norway | 2422 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 6.0 | |||
| 17 | IM Linus Johansson | Limhamns SK | 2457 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 6.0 | |||
| 18 | GM Sune Berg Hansen | Lunds ASK | 2589 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 5.5 | |||
| 19 | FM Kåre Hove Kristensen | Helsingborgs ASK | 2342 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 5.5 | |||
| 20 | FM Mikkel Strange | Denmark | 2370 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 5.5 |
...185 Players
In addition to the main tournament, a children's tournament was played, the Lilla Cellavison Cup.
Translation from German: Macauley Peterson
