The Swedish Championship 2013 took place from 6th-14th July in Örebro, Sweden. It was a ten-player round robin with time controls of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, 30 minutes to finish the game, and a 30-second increments per move. Prizes were 1st: 25,000 Kr (US $4,000), 2nd: 21,000 Kr, 3rd: 17,000 Kr, 4th: 13,000 Kr, etc.
The championship brought together strong grandmasters and talented young players
The SM group was the strongest in history, with top seed Nils Grandelius dominating ...
... until in last round he was caught by defending champion Hans Tikkanen.
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pts. | TB3 |
| 1 | Tikkanen Hans | 2528 | * | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 6.5 | 27.25 |
| 2 | Grandelius Nils | 2573 | ½ | * | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 6.5 | 26.75 |
| 3 | Hillarp Persson T. | 2528 | 0 | 1 | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 5.0 | 22.25 |
| 4 | Smith Axel | 2461 | 0 | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 5.0 | 18.75 |
| 5 | Cramling Pia | 2524 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | * | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4.5 | 18.25 |
| 6 | Wiedenkeller M. | 2475 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | * | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.5 | 16.75 |
| 7 | Brynell Stellan | 2484 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | 0 | 4.0 | 19.00 |
| 8 | Carlsson Pontus | 2516 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | * | 1 | ½ | 3.0 | 12.25 |
| 9 | Hector Jonny | 2509 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | * | 1 | 3.0 | 12.75 |
| 10 | Lindberg Bengt | 2410 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | * | 3.0 | 13.00 |
Tie Break1: Manually input (after Tie-Break matches)
Tie Break2: Direct Encounter (The results of the players in the same point
group)
Tie Break3: Sonneborn-Berger-Tie-Break variable
Grandelius dominated the playoff as well. He could have won either of the rapid games. In first blitz game he snatched a pawn and was severly punished, but he struck back in next game. In the Armageddon he had a winning position but missed a zwischenzug and could not win anymore. A draw in the game meant that Tikkanen was decided champion.
Grandelius was very upset. He did not congratulate his club mate ...
... and left the tournament hall as quickly
as he could. Tikkanen said that he would have
been satisfied with second place (last year he also became champion after
a playoff).
The first four players came from the same club: Lunds Akademiska Schackklubb. Never before has a club dominated the event in such fashion. The club's president Carl Erik Erlandsson called the event the LASK Open Club Championship.
Grandelius dominated the championship and won his games fairly easy. IMs and GMs visiting the tournament hall were all very impressed by his play. In round 4 his win against the comeback kid Widenkeller (SWE Champion 1990!) was awarded the game of the round. The following games are annotated by ChessBase author Ari Ziegler:
Thanks to the nice weather one of the promotional tournaments ...
... for kids from all over Sweden was held outdoors
Örebro literally translates to "bridge over gravel banks". The town, which bridges the Svartån river, became a natural seat of commerce in medieval times, and is mentioned in the 13th century (the above woodcut is from around 1700). Today it has a population of 100,000 and is the sixth largest city in Sweden.
Örebro Castle is a medieval castle fortification which kept a watchful eye on everyone crossing the bridge on the River Svartån. The oldest part, a defence tower, was erected in the latter half of the 13th century, and the castle was added towards the end of the 16th century. Some of the rooms are used as classrooms for pupils from the Karolinska school.
Information provided by Ari Ziegler, photos by Joakim Sparv
