Swedish Championship in Ronneby

by André Schulz
7/3/2018 – On Saturday, the Swedish Championship started in Ronneby, embedded in a big chess festival. Hans Tikkanen leads after three rounds with 2½ points and showed himself as a virtuoso of the defence yesterday in his game against Nils Grandelius. The tournament has a long history going back over a century to 1917! | Photo: Lars O. Hedlund
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Over a century of Swedish Champions

The Swedish Championships have a history going back to 1917. At this time, the championships were still held in match form and the first national champion was Gustav Nyholm, who had defeated Otto Loewenborg and Karl Berndtsson. Until 1938, there were national tournaments but they had no official status as championship tournaments. Only since 1939 has the championship been played as a tournament. Frequently, but not always, the names of the best Swedish players are among the winners of the championships: Gideon Stahlberg (first championship 1931), Gosta Stoltz or Erik Lundin. Ulf Andersson won the title only once, in 1969.

The 2018 Swedish Individual Championship takes place from June 30th to July 8th. Ten players take part in the round-robin, including most of the top Swedish players, like Nils Grandelius, Tiger Hillarp Persson and Pia Cramling. The Average rating is 2495. That also happens to be the rating of the leader through three rounds, Hans Tikkanen, who also won the last championship in 2017.

The host of the tournament is the Hotel Ronneby Brunn in the far south of the country, close to the Baltic Sea.

The Championship tournament is traditionally embedded in a large chess festival, alongside other tournaments for various rating groups.

Tikkanen scored 2½ points in the first three rounds, among them an important win against Nils Grandelius, the top seed. Tikkanen put up a tough defence in an unpleasant position which emerged from the Caro-Kann Advance variation and later won the endgame.

 
Grandelius vs Tikkanen
Position after 18...Bf5

Play through the moves on the live diagram

White played 19.Bd7 and is considerably better. But after exchanging on c3 with 19...Bxc3 20.Bxc3 Rc7, Grandelius could have kept strong pressure with 21.gxf6 gxf6 22.Ba4.

Instead, 21.Bc1 allowed Tikkanen to eliminate the bone on d7 with an exchange sacrifice 21...Rxd7 and hang on for a few moves until Grandelius gave him a further opening to equalise:

 
Position after 25.gxf6

25...g5! 26.Qe5 g4! got Black back into the game with gusto.

Pia Cramling, the only woman in the field, has had a difficult start. Together with Erik Blomqvist, she still graces the bottom of the table with ½ a point. Against Jonny Hector, Cramling missed a win:

 
Hector vs Cramling
Position after 21.Bh3

With 21...e3 Black could win here. On 22.Re1 there would follow 22...Bg2. Instead Black played 21...Bd5 and had nothing.

Standings after three rounds

Rk.NameRtg.Nt.Pts.n
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
TBPerf.
1
Tikkanen,H
2495
2.5
3
1
½
1
3.75
2832
2
Hillarp Persson,T
2534
2.0
3
½
½
1
2.50
2558
3
Seo,J
2347
2.0
3
½
½
1
2.00
2616
4
Hector,J
2499
2.0
3
½
½
1
1.75
2622
5
Grandelius,N
2668
2.0
3
0
1
1
1.50
2603
6
Smith,A
2491
1.5
3
½
½
½
2.00
2488
7
Von Bahr,O
2434
1.0
3
½
0
½
1.50
2386
8
Westerberg,J
2517
1.0
3
0
½
½
1.25
2348
9
Blomqvist,E
2505
0.5
3
0
½
0
1.00
2232
10
Cramling,P
2452
0.5
3
0
0
½
0.75
2235
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger

Live games and commentary of Round 4

 
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StWhiteEloWBlackEloBResRndid
Belke,F2235Schneider-Zinner,H23278.11269579
Heinbuch,D2263Loew,G21758.21269581
Pieper,T2178Cordts,I21518.31269582
Ernst,M2035Lindam,I21518.41269583
Schwarz,A2120Marentini,M20368.51269584
Oechslein,R2070Kannenberg,K21138.61269585
Miller,K1911Schoetzig,D21068.71269586
Wenner,T2078Kirszenberg,M20668.81269587
Wille,T2110Hafner,R20118.91269588
Hess,C2168Wegemund,H20188.101269590
Postlmayer,J2403Csonka,B24599.71212385
Kristoferitsch,D2282Sandhoefner,F22149.81212387
Hajnal,Z2325Dankhazi,A23389.91212390
Diermair,A2445Weber,S23028.181190325
Erdos,V2542Blohberger,F25118.211190328
Wagner,D2440Krasteva,B22575.161200844
Abrahamyan,T2310Lee,A23863.21279479
Chasin,N2435Creswell,C19791.11253128
Saxena,V1913Sarkar,J23051.21253129
Muthukumar,H2197Smith,D20061.31253130
Shen,L1998Hebbar,E21751.41253132
Hoffman,L2211Kozower,E19951.51253134
Pan,Z1955Klenoff,C21411.61253135
Mottola,M2121Shankar,P19661.71253136
Knowles,C1968Marsh,J20581.81253138
Dong,K2006Sukhiashvili,A19111.91253139
Zhao,A1806Schaefer,S20501.101253140
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Commentary in Swedish

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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d3 Bg7 6.h3 Nh6 B31: Sicilian: 2...Nc6 3 Bb5 g6 6...Nf6 7.Nc3 0-0 8.Be3 b6 9.Qd2 e5 10.Bh6 Qd6 11.0-0-0 a5 12.g4 a4 13.Kb1 Be6 14.Ne2 b5 15.Ng3 Rfd8 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.Qg5 Nd7 1-0 (30) Anand,V (2776)-Grischuk,A (2767) Moscow 2018 7.Nc3 f6 8.Be3 b6 9.a3       LiveBook: 8 Games e5 10.b4 cxb4 11.axb4 Nf7 12.0-0 0-0 13.Ra4N Predecessor: 13.Ra3 f5 14.exf5 gxf5 1-0 (35) Pridorozhni,A (2565)-Donskov,A (2308) St Petersburg 2017 13...f5 14.exf5 gxf5 White must now prevent ...e4. 15.Bd2 Bb7 16.Re1 Better is 16.Ne2= 16...Qd7 16...b5! 17.Ra2 c5 17.Nh4 Nd6 18.Qh5 Qf7 19.Qxf7+ Rxf7 20.Nf3 Re7 21.Ne2 e4 22.Ng3 Ree8 23.Nh4 exd3 24.Rxe8+ Rxe8 25.cxd3 a6 26.Be3 Re5 27.Bxb6 next Bc5 is good for White. 27.Nh5!? Rb5 28.Nxg7 Kxg7 29.Kf1 27...f4! 28.Nf1 Re1 29.Ra2 Nb5 30.Nf3 Rb1 31.Re2      
aiming for Re8+. White is pushing. 31...Bf8?       Black should try 31...Kf7! 32.Re8+- Nd6 33.Rb8 a5 34.Bc5 Precision: White = 70%, Black = 51%. 1–0
  • Start an analysis engine:
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Grandelius,N2668Blomqvist,E25051–02018B31SWE-ch 20181
Westerberg,J2517Von Bahr,O2432½–½2018D78SWE-ch 20181
Hector,J2499Cramling,P24521–02018B48SWE-ch 20181
Tikkanen,H2495Smith,A2491½–½2018D00SWE-ch 20181
Seo,J2347Hillarp Persson,T2546½–½2018A62SWE-ch 20181
Hillarp Persson,T2546Hector,J2499½–½2018A21SWE-ch 20182
Blomqvist,E2505Seo,J23470–12018B10SWE-ch 20182
Tikkanen,H2495Westerberg,J25171–02018D00SWE-ch 20182
Smith,A2491Cramling,P2452½–½2018A13SWE-ch 20182
Von Bahr,O2432Grandelius,N26680–12018A06SWE-ch 20182
Cramling,P-Hillarp Persson,T-0–12018A40SWE-ch 20183
Grandelius,N-Tikkanen,H-0–12018B12SWE-ch 20183
Hector,J-Blomqvist,E-½–½2018B35SWE-ch 20183
Seo,J-Von Bahr,O-½–½2018E10SWE-ch 20183
Westerberg,J-Smith,A-½–½2018C42SWE-ch 20183
Westerberg,J2517Grandelius,N26680–12018D02SWE-ch 20184
Blomqvist,E2505Cramling,P2452½–½2018B31SWE-ch 20184
Tikkanen,H2495Seo,J23471–02018D05SWE-ch 20184
Smith,A2491Hillarp Persson,T2534½–½2018B06SWE-ch 20184
Von Bahr,O2434Hector,J24990–12018C56SWE-ch 20184
Grandelius,N2668Smith,A2491½–½2018C43SWE-ch 20185
Hillarp Persson,T2534Blomqvist,E2505½–½2018A04SWE-ch 20185
Hector,J2499Tikkanen,H24950–12018B12SWE-ch 20185
Cramling,P2452Von Bahr,O2434½–½2018A38SWE-ch 20185
Seo,J2347Westerberg,J25170–12018D02SWE-ch 20185
Grandelius,N2668Seo,J2347½–½2018C43SWE-ch 20186
Westerberg,J2517Hector,J24991–02018C47SWE-ch 20186
Tikkanen,H2495Cramling,P2452½–½2018D02SWE-ch 20186
Smith,A2491Blomqvist,E2505½–½2018D31SWE-ch 20186
Von Bahr,O2434Hillarp Persson,T25340–12018A37SWE-ch 20186
Hillarp Persson,T2534Tikkanen,H24951–02018A48SWE-ch 20187
Blomqvist,E2505Von Bahr,O24341–02018C84SWE-ch 20187
Hector,J2499Grandelius,N2668½–½2018C56SWE-ch 20187
Cramling,P2452Westerberg,J2517½–½2018A05SWE-ch 20187
Seo,J2347Smith,A2491½–½2018C01SWE-ch 20187
Grandelius,N2668Cramling,P2452½–½2018C83SWE-ch 20188
Westerberg,J2517Hillarp Persson,T25340–12018B06SWE-ch 20188
Tikkanen,H2495Blomqvist,E25051–02018D00SWE-ch 20188
Smith,A2491Von Bahr,O2434½–½2018A45SWE-ch 20188
Seo,J2347Hector,J2499½–½2018D10SWE-ch 20188
Hillarp Persson,T2534Grandelius,N26680–12018A13SWE-ch 20189
Blomqvist,E2505Westerberg,J25171–02018C42SWE-ch 20189
Hector,J2499Smith,A2491½–½2018C21SWE-ch 20189
Cramling,P2452Seo,J23471–02018D10SWE-ch 20189
Von Bahr,O2434Tikkanen,H24950–12018B18SWE-ch 20189

Translation from German and additional reporting: Macauley Peterson

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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