Gausdal Classics 2005
GM-GROUP A - ROUND 1
The GM A group unfortunately got a troublesome start as the new technical system of the hotel despite repeated demands from the organisers refused to cooperate for the live coverage of the games. Pedersen-Williams unexpectedly was a short draw, and Nordahl-Vidonyak although reportedly well played and lasting into the endgame neither were too exciting for the present onlookers. From a Norwegian point of view no live coverage became a little less a disaster as Korneev demonstrated an understanding much superior to Lie’s in a complex Sicilian position, while Carlsen having ran into opening problems failed to save a difficult bishop endgame against top seeded Tiviakov. Bogner-Kulaots was an intense battle in which Kulaots seemed in control following a dubious piece sacrifice from white, but later analysis demonstrated that white had actually missed a win during the heat of the battle.
Sebastian
BOGNER 2409 – GM Kaido KULAOTS 2572 0 - 1
This was a Sicilian Najdorf-duel in which white spent much time from the opening, and then came up with a thematic but still loose knight sacrifice at d5. Black reportedly was right to cash in the piece at d5, but wrong to take the pawn on d5 afterwards. White however missed his chance to turn the tide with a quiet and probably winning Bh4!!, and later black again was in control. Bogner true enough found a flashy Ne6-trick which won queen for rook and bishop, but playing with two rooks and two bishops for queen and rook Kaido was winning even before Bogner short of time captured his own queen at h6.
IM Helge A NORDAHL 2402 – IM Roman VIDONYAK 2417 ½ - ½
This meeting between the seventh and ninth seeded made a promising start as a Four Pawn Benoni, but following some early exchanges soon went into an approximately balanced ending. White refused a draw with a rook and bishop against rook and knight after 22 moves, but offered at 32 in a blocked minor piece ending - reportedly following accurate defence play from black. Reportedly a well played start for two solid IMs both waiting for more exciting challengers to come.
FM Christian K. PEDERSEN 2396 – IM Simon WILLIAMS 2466 ½ - ½
11 moves, French Advance. Having finished his last tournament only two days ago, Pedersen somewhat inconsequently first advanced his h-pawn to h5 and then offered a draw. Williams accepted as he had prepared for the wrong colours in all his games, and discovering that when entering the scene for round one he found himself without any preparation for round one as well as short of time to reprepare the remaining eight L. Chicken start for both the young lions anyway.
IM Kjetil A. LIE 2495 – GM Oleg KORNEEV 2611 0 - 1
GM-elect Lie should be praised for challenging Korneev in a Kan Sicilian instead of in his usual boring English fianchetto. Unfortunately it was not much of a success from a result point of view, as Lie first sacrificed a pawn and then realized his opponent had much the better understanding of the resulting position. Having one bishop stuck on h1 and the other one hanging in the air at a7 white for some moves played with two minor pieces for a rook, but as demonstrated by Korneev white was unable to save all his badly coordinated pieces. 0-1 at move 41, as white then was one exchange and several pawns down in a much too quiet endgame. Korneev in his first Gausdal game looked impressing in a difficult black game following a long day of travelling; Lie fortunately has got all his necessary GM-norms already.
GM Sergei
TIVIAKOV 2631 – GM Magnus CARLSEN 2548 1-0
Tiviakov unexpectedly refused a main line Sicilian duel to go for a more modest Alapin line. He was fully rewarded as Magnus mixed together some lines and/or forgot about an earlier game to find himself under pressure before 15 moves. Magnus thought Tiviakov later should have something better than exchanging down to a bishop endgame with an extra pawn. Having active pieces black was given good drawing chances after 40 moves, but even in retrospect it is hard to find anything black could do to stop white’s plan for slowly advancing his queenside majority. Tiviakov slowly hurried on to promote the passed c-pawn and win the game after 61 moves, when the best thing to say about Magnus’ situation was that he had less than one minute left for the game. “Everything fine, chess would not have been a fair game if I had got a draw in that game”, was Magnus comment to his bad start on this tournament – with Kulaots and Korneev coming up for the next rounds. Tiviakov disappeared without comments, but winning well deserved following a successful preparation the top seeded obviously had a very promising start.
GM-GROUP B - ROUND 1
GM B had a dramatic start as (snowblinded?) FM Andrew Greet went down to his neck before 20 moves against ninth seeded FM Geir Sune Tallaksen. Much more promising start then for the French hope IM Marie Sebag, winning an inspired attacking game against the 14 year old Norwegian hope Jon Ludvig Hammer. Howell-Åkesson and Ward-Barkhagen both saw Swedes moving under pressure as black, but both got the necessary help to reach the draw. More help was needed to save top seeded GM Dimitri Reinderman as white, but having played up an overwhelming position FM Thomas Michalczak played it all down to a drawn ending during mutual time trouble. All taken together this was a tense start on what will probably be a very tense GM B.
GM Dmitri REINDERMAN 2509 – FM Thomas MICHALCZAK 2369 ½ - ½
Starting as a slow Classical Nimzo with 4.--- d5, this became a Queen’s isolani position which seemed fine for black even before he was allowed to realize d4 followed by dxe3 and exf2. Playing with an extra pawn and the more active piece black later should be winning, but while Michalczak spent much time without finding anything decisive, Reinderman by spending equally much time managed to keep himself afloat until both players refound themselves in strong timetrouble. With both players doing about eight moves in about eighty seconds they exchanged down to a minor piece ending in which black had an extra pawn which was a passed pawn on the seventh rank. Within a few moves after the time control, black however came to realize he could not come across white’s active knight and king. Reinderman looked satisfied after all to escape with half of this cake, while Michalczak although somewhat confused still could show up a cramped smile for a draw as black against a 2500-GM.
IM David HOWELL 2416 – GM Ralf ÅKESSON 2461 ½ - ½
Born a Caro Kann Panno, this grew up to become a heavyweight closed positional struggle. Having a centre advantage white seemed better in the early queen endgame, but following a queen exchange draw was agreed in a position with balanced chances (but still chances) after 22 moves. Quiet (read: Boring) start for the GM as well as for the GM-norm candidate.
FM Geir Sune TALLAKSEN 2326 – FM Andrew GREET 2403 1 - 0
Not unexpectedly this started as a Queen’s Indian. White played a patient g3-line which gave an unexpected jackpot as black first chose one out of few available dubious lines, then allowed a strong c5-break and then just collapsed. Having an extra pawn which was a threatening passed pawn at d6 as well as the more active pieces white was winning anyway, but he still decided neatly by sacrificing his queen to complete the attack after just 21 moves. Solid Geir Sune might have got exactly the start he needed to reach his first IM-norm, while Greet has a long way to go for his third norm following this disasterous start.
IM/WGM
Marie SEBAG 2417 – Jon Ludvig HAMMER 2303 1 - 0
Via 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 this transposed into an Italian, which first seemed healthy from a black point of view. Having got the necessary help to open up the diagonal white’s bishop at b2 however came to dominate the board, and allowed to establish an octopus knight on e6 too white had a decisive attack when the players well before 30 moves ran into time trouble. Sebag efficiently cashed in the black pawn at d6 to advance her own d-pawn until d7, and this helped by black’s exposed king decided the queen, rook and knight ending within a few moves after the first time control. Not too promising a start for “Lille Hammer” needing +1 for an IM-norm, but Sebag played like a GM-norm candidate today.
GM Christopher WARD 2485 – IM Jonas BARKHAGEN 2461 ½ - ½
Ward made a slow start with a Trompovsky, but accelerated into an ambitious Pillsbury set up as Barkhagen remained waiting. In the later middlegame white had a centre advantage and seemingly some initiative, but with cool defending in a position without weaknesses Barkhagen probably was never really close to losing. Having exchanged down to a drawish knight endgame Ward lost the interest, and offered a draw himself after 36 moves.
IM-GROUP A - ROUND 1
IM A made a modest start: Ferkingstad-Johannessen was a short but entertaining draw, Westerinen-Andreasen only a short one. FM Øystein Hole’s black win in what might have been a key game against FM Marc Ghannoum was a very patient six hours one decided by the last pawn on the board, while a well trimmed and prepared Eric Moskow reintroduced himself with a nice attacking win as black against Håkon Bentsen. Finally Paul Cooksey in his first Gausdal game came close to a sensational draw against odds one favourite GM Aloyzas Kveinys, but finally getting the upper hand in a double rook ending Kveinys immediately smashed home the full point.
Paul COOKSEY 2252 – GM Aloyzas KVEINYS 2539 0 - 1
Cooksey’s Trompovsky probably was a relative success today, as white kept the middlegame roughly balanced while exchanging all the minor pieces. The remaining queen and rooks position even appeared better for white having the more active pieces and dominating the important e-file with some pressure against a backward e6-pawn. His inferior pawn structure in general and the isolani pawn at c4 in particular gave however turned out to give black sufficient counterplay. Kveinys demonstrated his strength by immediately snatching the chance to exchange first queens and then one set of rooks, leaving a rook endgame in which black’s queenside majority probably was decisive. As white failed to come up with any counterplay, black intervened with his king to decide after 45 moves. Laidback patient win for Kveinys, but that is a good start as black for the odds one favourite of IM A.
Sjur Ferkingstad 2237 – IM Svein JOHANNESSEN
2281 ½ - ½
This Norwegian generation battle was a declined King’s Gambit in which black ambitiously realised e4, but following two piece exchanges allowed an original repetition of checks between b5 and f5 before 15 moves. Johannessen is not too ambitious as black, while Ferkingstad seemed well enough satisfied to start up with an IM draw.
This meeting between seeded nine and ten made a slow start with a closed King’s Indian Advance Sicilian, which was roughly balanced until white weakened his queenside by an early a3 (which had actually been better if played one move earlier on). Probably he could still have made an interesting battle out of it by a thematic pawn sacrifice at e5, but instead went for a kingside pawnstorm which turned out to be a study in backfire as Moskow kept the better pawn structure and centralized his pieces by natural means. Having the more exposed king and a rook out of play at a2, white was probably lost anyway when he stumbled into decisive threats during time trouble. Moskow started up this Gausdal tournament much more convincingly than he ended the last one, while Bentsen still needs some time to acclimate to the thin air of the IM-groups.
FM Øystein HOLE 2329 – FM Marc GHANNOUM 2252 1 - 0
Via 1.Nf3 this transposed into a Dutch Leningrad, in which Hole’s double fianchetto set up probably gave him a sound edge. Refusing a draw in the middlegame white went on to enter a bishop versus knight ending, which including pawns on both wings was probably theoretically drawn, but still practically painful from a Canadian point of view. Complications for some moves raised doubts about the advantage, but Hole probably was ahead all of the time. The win was finally confirmed in the sixth hour with a slim margin as white played with one pawn and bishop against knight, but fair enough black playing with a trapped knight and an offside king proved unable to stop the pawn.
GM Heikki WESTERINEN 2365 – FM Per ANDREASEN 2323 ½ - ½
Westerinen did not come up with anything convincing against Andreasen’s sleazy Modern set up. The position gravitated around white’s centre pawn at d5, and worrying it might become weak Westerinen was satisfied with a draw after 13 moves. Awaiting start for both players, but Andreasen having a difficult drawing of lots is not behind schedule following this black draw.
IM-GROUP B - ROUND 1
No draws but no surprises from the start in IM B, as the ELO-favourites won all five games. Among the IMs Stefan Löffler and Sebastian Siebrecht looked convincing, although needing four respectively five hours to defeat Niemi and Bentsen. Top seeded IM Krzystof Jakubowski definitely looked much more shaken during a tight four hours battle with Ove Sævareid, but finally decided by introducing cunning mating threats in mutual time trouble. The one obvious challenger to the IMs is Swedish FM Simon Silseth, tonight reintroducing himself for Gausdal with a patient positional win against Canadian Gausdal debutant Nicolas Arsenault. The FM-duel between Ove Weiss Hartvig and Tor Kristian Schølseth was a tense Sicilian duel, in which Hartvig instructively demonstrated that the pawn structure actually might be of importance even in a Dragon.
Finally having arrived Löffler got a pleasant edge against Niemi’s double fianchetto set up. Having split black’s queenside pawns with an a5-break white methodically went on to win first the black c5-pawn and then the black a6-pawn too. Black’s counterplay in the f-file seemed threatening for some moves, but running short of time Niemi ended up exchanging down to a lost ending, in which white’s passed d6-pawn won a piece shortly after the first time control.
Øyvind BENTSEN 2185 – IM Sebastian SIEBRECHT 2438 0 - 1
Although black was given equalisation for free in this Kan Sicilian and successfully realized a thematic e5-break, chances remained approximately balanced until white went astray with a strange Na5-maneuvere which succeeded only to leave his knight out of play. When black picked up a pawn at c2 white was allowed some counterplay in the endgame, but Siebrecht probably remained in control until a won ending with rook, bishop and two connected pawns against rook and knight without any pawns. Working day win for second seeded Siebrecht, honest loss for ninth seeded Bentsen.
FM Simon SILSETH 2310 – Nicolas ARSENAULT 2159 1-0
Silseth’s Gausdal come-back started with a patient English Botvinnik, in which white came slightly ahead on the board and clearly ahead on the clock. After exchanging all the heavy pieces black still seemed to have the drawing chances in a double minor piece ending, but actually he was in deep trouble as his bishop was clearly inferior to both white knights. Having one minute left for 15 moves Arsenault lost his weak a-pawn within a few moves, and he was probably lame duck in the knight ending anyway when the flag decided at move 37.
Ove SÆVAREID 2206 – IM Krzystof JAKUBOWSKI 2479 0 - 1
This was an intense four hours battle dramatically decided in mutual time trouble. Jakubowski’s decision to establish a centre advantage with e4 did not seem entirely convincing, as the price was disrupting his queenside pawns. Having some pressure against black’s double isolani in the c-file white seemed better in the middle game, but he spent very much time without coming up with anything too convincing. Also having spent much time without achieving too much Jakubowski finally demonstrated his strength when the position opened up in the rook and knight ending: Giving up pawns to activate his pieces and play on mating threats against the white king, black had successfully intervened the eight rank to present decisive threats when Sævareid at move 40 lost on time.
FM Ove Weiss HARTVIG 2246 – FM Tor K. SCHOELSETH 2213 1 – 0
Scholseth twelve years after his IM-norm at Gausdal still stayed true to his Sicilian Dragon, but it worked less successful at the first test in this come-back. A razor blade duel seemed coming up as Hartvig castled long, but instead he went for a Nd5-exchange maneuvere probably leaving white with a small edge in the endgame. Playing with two rooks and six pawns on each side black still seemed to have fair drawing chances, but patient play from Hartvig demonstrated the advantage of his superior pawn structure. As the alternative was a cramp Schølseth seemingly searched for counterplay with his king, but instead landed in a neat mating net just before 40 moves.
ELO-GROUP - ROUND 1
Headed by top seeded Ralf Schnabel of
Facing a Pirc in his first Gausdal tournament, top seeded German Ralf Schnabel launched an Austrian attack which gave him a clear advantage, as black first game up his pair of bishops and then failed to find any real counterplay on the queenside. Having got all the necessary time to build up a kingside attack Schnabel simply crashed through without having to sacrifice anything before 30 moves. A convincing start from the friendly favourite of the ELO-group, although Bue was a too friendly opponent today.
Kristian AANDAL 1918 – Tarjei SVENSEN 2099 ½ - ½
White bravely entered a main line Meran, but not knowing what was the main line any more he at move 14 left it with a coward a3-line giving black no problems. Black following this could very well have played on instead of offering a draw at move 15, but first rounds at Gausdal never have been Tarjei’s strength and (for some strange reason) he felt unhappy about the pairing.
Thomas
NYLAND 2090 – Ellen Øen CARLSEN 1871 1 – 0
Black actually was fine from a tame Sicilian with 3.Bb5+, but allowed to exchange several set of pieces including the queens Nyland of course was fully satisfied. As late as in the endgame with two rooks and bishop against two rooks and knight black was only slightly worse, but Ellen fatally misunderstood her position when exchanging both the rooks instead of the one minor piece, as white’s knight easily outnumbered black’s bishop in the minor piece ending with many blocked pawns. Getting a won endgame of course was the best welcome gift Nyland could possibly get after several months touring abroad.
This game felt exciting in some way, but that was less because of the moves than because Valla ran short of time for the first time control and nearly for the second too. On the board he came better from a quasi-Benoni opening, as white destroyed his pawn structure on the queenside by exchanging queens on b3. Black later established a promising pressure against the backward b3-pawn, and got a clear endgame advantage after winning it. Under pressure on the clock Valla probably hesitated more than necessary in the resulting bishop endgame, but as Gupta missed what drawing chances he got before the time control, the win became all the more obvious as black’s king intervened in the sixth hour of play. Valla spent much time today but still had one minute left although black played on until getting mated at move 71. Fair loss for Gupta, working day win for Valla, but still 0-1 is a promising start only for black….
Per JOHANSSON 2048 – Levi Andre TALLAKSEN (1391) 0 - 1
White came slightly better from this Queen’s Indian line, and kept some
initiative until winning a pawn with queen, rook and one minor piece left on
each side. While white around
This Norwegian chess child disco started as a patient Dutch line in which black without feeling any pressure was allowed to play e5, f5 and g5 on the kingside. Although playing a bit passive white was still well in the game until she first overlooked a powerful e4-break, and then admitted it by blundering a piece instead of weakening her pawn structure.
Alexander SCHÄFER 2035 – Guttorm ANDERSEN (1284) 1 - 0
Andersen tried to play on a nationalistic mood with a Scandinavian opening, but as he first postponed his castling until he could no longer castle and then weakened his kingside by g5, white about to open the centre had a winning attack running before 15 moves. White should have had something much better than an endgame with an extra pawn somewhere, but having two connected pawns on the queenside he still won convincingly before 40 moves.
Via 2.Bg5 this gradually transposed into a Dutch Leningrad line much similar to a King’s Indian, with a white attacking on the queenside running against a black on the kingside. The run was dramatically decided with a long tactical variation when black hit in with the thematic Bxh3-sacrifice. Bryn’s calculation appeared to be the better one, as black seemingly had a decisive threat against the white king when the smoke left. In short it all looked very convincing until it was revealed that white did not have to go mate in the end, while black had no idea what to play later when taking at h3….
Paul Ayoub, a friendly hobbyplayer and cousin of Canadian FM Marc
Ghannoum, agreed to help the organiser minimizing the number of walk over by
playing some rounds before leaving Gausdal to check out more urban parts of