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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:
[Event "SM 2013"] [Site "?"] [Date "2013.07.09"] [Round "4.2"] [White "Grandelius, Nils"] [Black "Wiedenkeller, Michael"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C11"] [WhiteElo "2573"] [BlackElo "2475"] [Annotator "Ari,Ziegler"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "2013.??.??"] [WhiteClock "0:12:03"] [BlackClock "0:03:45"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 (3... Bb4 {In the eighties Wiedenkeller was one of our biggest connoisseur of the Winawer. It would have been very interesting to see him play it against the biggest star of the new generation of chess players in Sweden.}) 4. Bg5 dxe4 {I have never liked this move. Black has no hopes for any kind of strategic advantage. It is only about neutralising White. In case you like to play dxe4 against the French, then 3...dxe4 offers somewhat more flexibility.} 5. Nxe4 Nbd7 (5... Be7 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. Nf3 {Will most likely transpose.}) 6. Nf3 (6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. Nf3 h6 {gives Black an easier task.}) 6... Be7 7. Nxf6+ Bxf6 (7... Nxf6 {gives Black a very passive position. One of the most normal ideas is to play ...c5, and now it has to be associated with Qa5xc5 when White takes it, otherwise the pinBg5-d8 will be felt.} 8. Bd3 c5 9. dxc5 Qa5+ 10. c3 Qxc5 11. Qe2 $1 {White prepares castling on the queen's side.} Bd7 12. Ne5 Bc6 13. O-O-O O-O 14. Rhe1 {Mamedyarov-Makhar amedyarov-Makharadze, Batumi 2002. And here White is clearly better because Black can not advance with his a- and b-pawns with facing serious tactical problems.}) 8. h4 {White's position is slightly better. In a practical sense perhaps better. Black's problem here is the bishop on c8. It will take time to bring it into action. During this time White will be able to develop his pieces freely in order to exploit the way Black chooses to liberate the bishop. } a6 $6 {This move does not solve the problem described above, so in essence this is a loss of time.} 9. Bd3 c5 10. Qe2 {A very aggressive choice. White decides that his lead in development is massive enough to compensate for a centre pawn.} ({A more traditional way of meeting the ...c5 trust is:} 10. Bxf6 Nxf6 11. dxc5 Qa5+ 12. Qd2 Qxc5 13. O-O-O Bd7 14. Rhe1 O-O 15. Ne5 {with a comfortable edge for White. (g2-g4 is coming...)}) 10... cxd4 11. O-O-O {This concept of sacrificing the d4-pawn can also be seen in a pure form in the instructive: Vaganian-Pogonina, 2011. That game was a Queen's Gamit declined!} Nc5 (11... O-O 12. Nxd4 Bxg5+ 13. hxg5 Qxg5+ 14. Kb1 g6 15. Nf3 $1 {And White is about to invade on the black squares.}) 12. Be4 (12. Bc4 {gives Black the possibility to head for a more technical type of position:} b5 13. Rxd4 Qe7 14. Bxf6 gxf6 (14... Qxf6 15. Bd5) 15. Bb3 e5 16. Rd2 Nxb3+ 17. axb3 O-O {White is slightly better.}) 12... Bd7 (12... Qa5 {with the idea of Queen side castling was Black's last hope:} 13. Kb1 Bd7 14. Nxd4 Bxg5 15. hxg5 Nxe4 16. Qxe4 O-O-O {But as we can see White is nevertheless on top.}) 13. Rxd4 Rc8 {Black is hoping to solve his problems by tactical means. This is usually not a good recepy when your opponents pieces have better coordination.} 14. Rhd1 Qa5 $2 15. Bxf6 Qxa2 (15... gxf6 16. Kb1 Bb5 (16... e5 17. Nxe5 fxe5 18. Bc6 bxc6 19. Qxe5+ Be6 20. Qxh8+)) 16. Bd5 Qa1+ 17. Kd2 Qxb2 18. Bxg7 Rg8 {After 14...Qa5, this position was practically forced. White is winning.} 19. Bf6 Nb3+ 20. Ke1 Rxc2 21. Qxc2 {Artistic} (21. Qe5 Nxd4 22. Nxd4 Qc3+ 23. Kf1 Rc1 24. Qb8+ Qc8 25. Qxc8+ Rxc8 26. Bxb7 {is also winning.}) 21... Qxc2 22. Bxb3 Qxb3 23. Rc1 { Very beatiful!} (23. Rxd7 Qb4+ 24. Ke2 Qb5+ 25. R7d3 {wins.}) 23... Qb6 {only move, but it gives White the opportunity to win the queen back.} 24. Rxd7 Kxd7 25. Ne5+ Kd6 26. Nc4+ Kc6 27. Nxb6+ Kxb6 28. g3 {The bishop on f6 is a monster, displaying the one diagonal principle: helping White in the attack and stops the the queenside pawns from promoting.} a5 29. Kd2 h5 30. Kd3 Rg4 31. Bd4+ Ka6 32. Rc5 a4 33. Rxh5 f5 34. Rh6 Re4 35. f3 Re1 36. Kd2 1-0
[Event "SM 2013"] [Site "?"] [Date "2013.07.14"] [Round "9.5"] [White "Tikkanen, Hans"] [Black "Lindberg, Bengt"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E46"] [WhiteElo "2528"] [BlackElo "2410"] [Annotator "Ari Ziegler"] [PlyCount "93"] [EventDate "2013.??.??"] [WhiteClock "0:17:54"] [BlackClock "0:18:36"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Nge2 (5. Nf3 {is of course better, but when you play tournaments the practical view is more valuable than the purely academic.}) 5... d5 6. a3 Be7 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Nf4 {Black has different ways to handle the position. When the knight goes to g3 it is far away from the centre, and Black's best choice is then often ...c5!} (8. b4 {Is the classical move.}) 8... c6 9. Bd3 {Black is balancing between maximum flexibility and reaction.} Re8 ({Is} 9... Nbd7 {somewhat more flexible?}) 10. O-O Bd6 ({more stable is} 10... Nbd7 11. f3 Nf8 12. b4 Ng6 {with equal play.}) ({Surprisingly the logical} 10... a5 {don't score well.}) 11. f3 Bxf4 12. exf4 {There are many positions nowadays with double pawns for the bishop pair. One could argue that White is risking very little here. Okay, his structure is weakened, but the the pair of bishops will compensate it without too many problems.} b6 {A very ambitious move. Black wants to trade the light coloured bishops leaving White with the guy on c1, which might have some problems finding good targets.} 13. b4 (13. f5 Ba6 14. Bxa6 Nxa6 15. Qd3 Nc7 16. Bf4 $14 ) 13... Ba6 14. b5 cxb5 15. f5 {A new inspired approach to the position. White is arguing that Black cannot seriously try to hold the b5-pawn, giving White carte blanche on the kingside.} Nc6 16. a4 (16. Nxb5) 16... Bc8 17. axb5 Nxd4 18. g4 {So the knight is trapped! We started out fairly classical, but now the players are completely on their own.} Qc7 19. Bd2 Bd7 (19... Bb7 {is better for Black according to Houdini 3. Maybe it is because the knight on d4 is trapped and must sooner or later sacrifice it self on f3, and with a bishop on b7 Black will have some serious business a long the diagonal.}) 20. Kg2 Qc5 ( 20... h5 {in order to save the knight on d4 might have been the last resort for not coming out worse.}) 21. Qb1 h6 22. Qb2 {Ra4 and Qb4 is coming.} Nxf3 23. Rxf3 Nxg4 (23... d4 24. Ne2 Nxg4) 24. Ne2 $6 (24. Na4 $1 Qd6 25. Rg3 h5 26. Qd4 {and thanks to White centralised pieces he is clearly better.}) 24... Ne3+ (24... Ne5 25. Rg3 f6 26. Bxh6 Kh7 $1 27. Qd2 gxh6 28. Ra4 Nc4 29. Bxc4 dxc4 30. Qxd7+ Re7 31. Qd2 Rd8 32. Qc2 {was difficult to access. How much is Black's counterplay worth?}) 25. Bxe3 {White heads for a technical position which looks winning or at least big practical winning chances.} (25. Kh1 $5) 25... Rxe3 26. Rc1 Qe7 27. Rxe3 Qxe3 28. Qd4 Re8 29. Qxe3 Rxe3 30. Rc7 Be8 ( 30... Rxd3 31. Rxd7 Ra3 {With the idea, exchanging of one or two of the pawns don't seems to work due to:} 32. Rd8+ $1 Kh7 33. Rxd5 g5 (33... a6 34. Rd7 Kg8 35. Ra7 $1) 34. fxg6+ fxg6 35. Rd7+ Kh8 36. Nd4) 31. Nf4 {White is winning.} g5 32. fxg6 fxg6 33. Kf2 d4 34. Bc4+ Kh8 35. Rc8 Kh7 36. Rc7+ Kh8 37. Ne6 Rc3 38. Nxd4 Bf7 39. Rxf7 Rxc4 40. Ke3 Ra4 41. Rb7 g5 42. Ke4 a6 43. Ke5 axb5 44. Ne6 g4 45. Rb8+ Kh7 46. Kf6 g3 47. Nf8+ 1-0
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
