Svidler leads in Aker Chess Challenge in Gjøvik

Chess Festival in Gjøvik, Norway

One of the greatest chess festivals ever in Norway is being held from December 29th to January 7th, on occasion of the 100th anniversary of Gjøvik Chess Club. The semiopen anniversary Swiss tournament has six grandmasters rated 2600+, with the reigning European champion on top: Tiviakov (NED) 2686, Savschenko (RUS) 2648, Malakhato (BEL) 2633, Korneev (RUS) 2623, Mchedlishvili (GEO) 2615 and Bartel (POL) 2602, followed by GMs Kulaots (EST) 2556, Gopal (IND) 2548, de Firmian (USA) 2545 and Kveinys (LTU) 2533. The highest rated IM of the field is Norway's own Jon Ludvig Hammer (18), who at 2522 runs for his final GM norm.

Hammer is a class mate of Magnus Carlsen, who is facing Peter Svidler (Russia), Hikaru Nakamura (USA) and Kjetil Lie (Norway) in the rapid tournament "Aker Chess Challenge" from January 2nd. The big international Norwegian company Aker has become the main sponsor of the Gjøvik chess festival. The numerous Aker companies are active within the oil and gas industry, in marine technology and fishing.

At the press conference: Hikaru Nakamura, Magnus Carlsen, Peter Svidler and Kjetil Lie

The Aker Chess Challenge will be played in the main auditorium of Gjøvik cinema, under the same roof as Thon Hotel, where Simen Agdestein in 1991 played a 2-2 drawn match with classic time controls against the long reigning world champion Anatolij Karpov. The event consists of a double-round robin tournament, followed by a bronze final and a final. That is a total of eight rounds, plus if necessary sudden death blitz games. Time controls are 25 minutes per game, with 5 seconds increment per move. The games have a running commentary for spectators in an adjoining auditorium, by IM Jesper Hall (2/1), GM Leif Erlend Johannessen (3 & 4/1) and GM Rune Djurhuus (5/1), as well as be transmitted live on Playchess and by the official web site (link below).

Schedule

Results of rounds 1–4

Magnus Carlsen playing Kjetil Lie in round one (Carlsen won)

Peter Svidler vs Hikaru Nakamura in round one (Svidler won)

Carlsen,M (2776) - Nakamura,Hi (2699) [E92]
Aker CC Rapid Gjovik NOR (3), 03.01.2009
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.e4 Bg7 4.Nf3 d6 5.d4 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.Be3 Na6 8.0-0 Ng4 9.Bg5 Qe8 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.Qc1 c6 12.Rd1 f6 13.Bd2 f5 14.h3 Nf6 15.exf5 Bxf5 16.Bh6 Bxh6 17.Qxh6 e4 18.Nh4 Qe5 19.g4 Be6 20.Qe3 Rae8 21.f4 Qc5 22.Ng2 h5 23.Qxc5 Nxc5 24.Ne3 hxg4 25.hxg4 Nfd7 26.Rf1 Re7 27.Kg2 Nd3 28.Kg3 N7c5 29.b3 a6 30.Rad1 b5 31.Bxd3 exd3 32.b4 Bf7 33.Rf3 Rfe8 34.Kf2 Ne4+ 35.Nxe4 Rxe4 36.Rxd3 bxc4 37.Rd6 R4e6 38.Rd4 Re4 39.Rd6 Rc8 40.Nd1 Bd5 41.Nc3 Rd4 42.Kg3 Kf7

There should not be any real danger for White in this position, unless it is self-inflicted: 43.Nxd5? Rxd5 44.Rxd5 cxd5. Black has two dangerous connected passed pawns. 45.Kf2?? c3 0-1.

Nakamura,Hi (2699) - Lie,K (2539) [A36]
Aker CC Rapid Gjovik NOR (2), 02.01.2009
1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.a3 d6 6.b4 cxb4 7.axb4 Nxb4 8.Qa4+ Nc6 9.Rb1 Nf6 10.Bb2 0-0 11.Nf3 Bd7 12.0-0 a6 13.Ba1 Rb8 14.d3 Nd4 15.Qa2 Nxf3+ 16.Bxf3 Qc8 17.Rfc1 Bc6 18.e4 Nd7 19.d4 Bxd4 20.Nd5 Bxd5 21.cxd5 Bc5 22.Kg2 Qd8 23.Qb2 f6 24.Bg4 b5 25.h4 Ne5 26.Be6+ Kg7 27.Qe2 Qb6 28.f4 Nf7 29.h5 Rb7 30.hxg6 hxg6 31.Rh1 Bd4 32.f5

Lie is not worse with black against Nakamura – he just needs to play 32...Ng5 to thwart the white mating threat. [IM Malcolm Pein notes that White’s attack is very strong for example after 32…Ng5 33.Rh5!! Rbb8 34.Rxg5 fxg5 35.Qe3! Bxa1 36.Qxg5 Rf6 37.Rh1 mates. After 32…Ng5 33.Rh5!! Qc5 34.fxg6 is strong. Also 32…Ng5 33.Rh5!! Rh8 34.Rxg5 fxg5 35.Qe3 Bxa1 36.Qxg5 Rh8 37.Rh1! wins]. But: 32...Bxa1?? 33.Qg4 Ng5 34.Qh4 and mate to follow. 1-0.

Lie,K (2539) - Svidler,P (2723) [A00]
Aker CC Rapid Gjovik NOR (3), 03.01.2009
1.g3 e5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.a3 a6 6.e3 0-0 7.Nge2 d6 8.d3 Ba7 9.0-0 h6 10.h3 Ne7 11.Kh2 c6 12.d4 exd4 13.Nxd4 Ng6 14.b3 Re8 15.Ra2 Qa5 16.b4 Qc7 17.Rd2 Bd7 18.Bb2 Ne5 19.Qe2 b5 20.cxb5 axb5 21.Rc1 Nc4 22.Bxc6 Bxd4 23.Nxb5 Qxc6 24.Nxd4 Qd5 25.Rxc4 Bxh3 26.Nf3 Qe6 27.Bxf6 gxf6 28.Nd4 Qd7 29.Qh5 Bg4

The Norwegian GM has a winning position against his Russian opponent, rated almost 200 points above him. All he had to do was pick up two additional pawns with 30.Qxh6 and 31.Qxf6. But he tries to be too clever: 30.Rc7? Re5 31.Qh4 Qxc7 32.Qxg4+. Now instead of being three pawns up Lie has a knight and pawn for a rook. Still, the game should be a draw. 32...Rg5 33.Qf3 Rxa3 34.Nf5 Qc1 35.Rxd6 Ra1 36.Nxh6+ Kh7

37.Rxf6?? Rh5+ and mate in one. 0-1.

Lie,K (2539) - Carlsen,M (2776) [A11]
Aker CC Rapid Gjovik NOR (4), 03.01.2009
1.c4 c6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.Ne5 Be6 6.cxd5 Bxd5 7.Nf3 c5 8.Nc3 Bc6 9.0-0 e6 10.d3 Be7 11.a3 0-0 12.Qc2 Nbd7 13.Rd1 b5 14.b3 Qb6 15.Bb2 Rac8 16.Rac1 Rfd8 17.Qb1 c4 18.dxc4 bxc4 19.bxc4 Bc5 20.Rf1 Ng4 21.e3 Ndf6 22.Qc2?

White was just about hanging on, but his last move gave Magnus Carlsen the chance he was waiting for: 22...Bxe3 23.Rcd1? Into the fire. The fork 23.fxe3 Nxe3 was the frying pan. 23...Nxf2 24.Rxf2 Ng4. Yes, he had another one in reserve. 25.Rdf1 Nxf2 26.Rxf2 Bxf3 27.Bxf3 Rd2 28.c5 Bxf2+ 0-1.

Current standings

Schedule and results

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse the PGN games.