Five rounds of competitive chess were played in Malmo, Sweden, from May 4th-8th. The event featured six talented players from five different countries. The defending champion Nils Grandelius had his work cut out for him starting as the third seed. The results in the tournament were quite interesting as each round there was always just one decisive game and two draws. Grandelius has been competing in the prestigious event since 2009. This was the first time playing in the event for each of the other competitors.
Vidit (left) & Grandelius (right) co-champions of the event | Photo: Macauley Peterson
The round-robin tournament started with Grandelius racking up the first win of the event over Benjamin Gledura. The other two games ended in draws. GM Tiger Hillarp-Persson annotated that game in our earlier report.
In the second round, it was Norway's up-and-coming talent Aryan Tari who scored the only win of the round. By move 20 the game was already looking good for Black. His queenside majority was plenty to press and after the seemingly innocuous 28.Kg1 Black's advantage was obvious. 16 moves later Tari had won and with this joined Grandelius in the lead.
In the third round, Grandelius again showed his strength by taking out the young IM Linus Johannson. Johannson came out strong the first twenty moves of the game. Only after leaving the g7-pawn hanging did he find himself in deep trouble. The other two games ended in draws.
In the fourth round, it was Vidit who showed his top seed strength against second-seeded (and former world number two) Alexander Morozevich. In what seemed like an easily drawn endgame Vidit managed to find Morozevich's late-game mistake and pull out the full point.
The beautiful move 35...f2 won the game in style
In the fifth and final round, Vidit pulled out a miracle. He managed to catch tournament leader Grandelius with an endgame win over Johannson. This led to a first-place tie between Grandelius and Vidit since Grandelius could only draw against Morozevich. Replay both games with annotations by GM Mikhail Golubev below.
Click or tap on the second game in the list to switch games
The tournament was played at the Hipp Theater in Malmo from May 4th–8th. It was organised by the Limhamns SK chess club and sponsored by the law firm Sigeman & Co, and the company TePe — Sweden’s leading manufacturer of dental products.
