The next Magnus Carlsen in Molde?

The Norwegian Championship for Children and Juniors 2022

The championship was played in Molde from 18-20 November. Although the city on the Romsdalsfjord, not far from the Atlantic Ocean, is not exactly the most central venue, 248 players turned up.

Hotel Seilet – The Sail

The venue in the Bjørnsonhuset.

Parents and coaches had to leave the playing hall after 5 minutes (rapid chess) or 10 minutes (standard games).

The championship was played in eight age groups, with the youngest and the oldest four age groups playing different systems.

The older players in the groups U26 (20-26 years) and A-C (17-19, 15-16 and 13-14 years) first played two rounds of rapid chess (15 min. + 5 sec.) on Friday evening and then another round with standard time control (90 min. + 30 sec.). On Saturday and Sunday there were two rounds each with standard time control.

The younger players in the groups D-G (12, 11, 10, 9 years and younger) played nine rounds. They started on Friday with three rounds of rapid chess. On Saturday, they continued with one round of rapid chess, followed by three rounds with shorter standard time control (60 min. + 30 sec.). On Sunday, the last two rounds were also played with the shorter standard time control.

As the flight options from Oslo to Molde were limited, we arrived on Friday morning with a plane full of chess players. We played and stayed at the Hotel Seilet. We were able to check in there as early as 10.00 in the morning, which left us still enough time to take a walk through the little town before the tournament started.

We visited the Romsdal Museum, where we learned that Norway's first bus line opened in Molde in 1908. But most importantly, there is a room in this museum that shows parts of the work of the German artist Kurt Schwitters, a prominent member of the Dada and Surrealist movement. In the 190s Schwitters had to flee from the Nazis and was often in Norway, where he had a small hut on the island of Hjertøya.

The first round started on Friday at 17.30. The venue was in the hotel's conference room Bjørnsonhuset - named after the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, who went to school in Molde in the 1840s.

Already at the beginning of the tournament, it became clear that not everything had gone smoothly when the dice were thrown to plan the schedule. Eating and playing times overlapped, to the point where it was impossible to combine the two.In addition, on Friday evening the hotel kitchen was surprised by requests for gluten-free or vegetarian food, but on the other days they had this under control. Since all eight groups played in one hall, but started at different times, there were disturbances when the youngest (with their parents in tow) stormed the hall while the older ones were already playing. Probably the Norwegian Junior Chess Federation should rethink the concept. Five rounds with standard time control, plus two or four rounds of rapid chess within 48 hours is simply too much.

On Sunday afternoon, one could congratulate the new Norwegian champions:

U26: GM Johan-Sebastian Christiansen

Organiser Tor Wetle Wetlesen Hoem and GM Johan-Sebastian Christiansen

A: Mathias Lind Schouten

B: Saad Abobaker Elmi

Photo: Anniken Vestby, Source: https://bergensjakk.no

C: FM Aksel Bu Kvaløy

D: Evsuld Myagmarsuren

E: David Myrseth Nilsen

F: Eivind Jiabao Ji

G: Noah Jullum Amundsen

Perhaps some of these names will become familiar to us. If you look at older lists of winners you'll find names like Aryan Tari, Jon Ludvig Hammer or Magnus Carlsen.

Standings and games

U26

Group A

Group B

Group C

45 players

Gruppe D

36 players