Hans Tikkanen is the Swedish Champion

Tikkanen triumphs

The Swedish Chess Federation celebrated its 100th birthday with a championship in Stockholm attended by 1052 players and hundreds of spectators. The top group was extremely competitive this year, and was won by Hans Tikkanen, who had won the Championships in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Hans Tikkanen | Photo: Lars O A Hedlund

Axel Smith had the best start, and led after four rounds, but then faltered against Nils Grandelius, who took over the lead. After back-to-back victories in rounds five and six, Tikanen tied Grandelius at the top and then toppled his rival in their direct encounter in round 8. In the 9th round, a draw against IM Jonathan Westerberg was enough to secure tournament victory.

Nils Grandelius | Photo: Pascal Simon 

Tiger bites

The Brilliancy prize went to Tiger Hillarp Persson after the following firecracker:

Tiger Hillarp Persson | Photo: Lars O A Hedlund

Stockholm charmed us with wonderful weather throughout the event. I have visited Stockholm a lot due to chess since 1985, and I am still stunned by its beauty. Nice buildings, clean streets, green areas whererever possible and water, water, water. Stockholm must be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. And the people are friendly too.

The Guardian wrote about a survey around the world (by Hostelworld 2017, based on 12,188 travellers' responses) which established that Stockholm has the second most sociable people in the world, behind only Gothenburg.

Stockholm is the largest archipelago in Sweden, unusual for a major metropolis | Photo: Lars O A Hedlund

All games from round 1 to 9:

Final standings:

Rk.		Name		Rtg.	Nt.	Pts.	n	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	TB	Perf.
1	GM	Tikkanen,H		2503		6.5	9		½	1	½	½	½	½	1	1	1	25.75	2658
2	GM	Hillarp Persson,T		2509		6.0	9	½		½	½	½	½	1	½	1	1	23.25	2616
3	GM	Grandelius,N		2642		6.0	9	0	½		½	1	½	½	1	1	1	22.50	2602
4	GM	Berg,E		2557		5.5	9	½	½	½		0	1	½	1	½	1	21.25	2566
4	GM	Smith,A		2505		5.5	9	½	½	0	1		½	½	½	1	1	21.25	2572
6	GM	Blomqvist,E		2552		4.5	9	½	½	½	0	½		½	1	0	1	18.00	2487
7	IM	Westerberg,J		2469		4.0	9	½	0	½	½	½	½		½	0	1	16.25	2453
8	IM	Sagit,R		2406		3.5	9	0	½	0	0	½	0	½		1	1	11.25	2423
9	GM	Hector,J		2497		3.0	9	0	0	0	½	0	1	1	0		½	11.50	2368
10	FM	Jogstad,M		2291		0.5	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	½		1.50	2072

Links:

• Official site
• On-demand reply of video commentary (in Swedish)