Following in the order of place, you will here find a motivated throw of dice for each participant in the Arnold J Eikrem Memorial 2000. It should be pointed out, that all opinions given here are subjective ones from the strange mind of organizer Hans Olav Lahlum, who of course has just a limited knowledge to most of the players and their games. The dice are related to relative strength, but despite this there will of course still be a tendency for upper dice in the top and lower in the bottom of the list. Not using this kind of evaluation for anything except some international title tournaments, Lahlum hopes to be believed when assuring that he has no intention to frighten any of the participants from coming back.

1) GM SERGEI TIVIAKOV, NETHERLANDS 2608 7,5 / 9:

Seemingly very confident with the atmosphere at Gausdal, a relaxed Tiviakov soon turned out to be the dominating top seeded he was expected to be in Bergen. Black against Agopov looked like a dangerous start, and that Tiviakov got the necessary help to win then and against Salmensuu probably was decisive for his good tournament. After keeping his nerves best under pressure in an extremly tense and complicated game against Lobzhanidze in the fifth round, Tiviakov's unshared first place never was in serious doubt. His three draws all were short ones against other GMs - Tiviakov apologized for them to the organizer, but had no reason to do so since they obviously fell in with his plans for winning the tournament. A few times unclear but hardly ever obviously worse, Tiviakov with the possible exception of the worst fire against Lobzhanidze never came close to losing any game here. Comparing this year’s Tiviakov with the young one who took 7,5 / 9 in Peer Gynt International 1992, he looks like a much more complete player now. If doing as well in his upcoming tournaments as at Gausdal, Tiviakov could very well be above 2650 soon. Refusing a draw which would have secured him an unshared first prize in the last round clearly indicates such ambitions.

2) IM DAVIT LOBZHANIDZE, GEORGIA 2493 6,5 / 9:

Even more than in Bergen, the cup of triumph at Gausdal got a taste of bitterness for the farthest travelling participant. He again missed the GM-norm by just half a point after drawing to Volzhin in the last round, but still could cash in both ELO and money for a performance above 2550 and an unshared second place. The start was not very promising : Since never finding anything decisive against Westerinen in the first round and spending a long adjournment on defeating Wiedermann in the third, Lobzhanidze got three opponents around 2150-2200 in a row. Finally en route with 3,5 / 4 he lost the hurricane game of the tournament to Tiviakov in the fifth round, and then needed the "only theoretical" (according to everyone except Lobzhanidze himself) 3,5 / 4 against four titleholders for making his norm. Clearly the participant spending most hours by the board he won a six-hour in the sixth round, but running out of pieces finally had to accept a draw in the seventh. Once more playing the last game of the round, Lobzhanidze made another come-back when defeating the otherwise solid Yakovich in the eighth round - this time as Black, and again by help of counterplay in a very difficult position. More impressing now than in Troll Masters, Lobzhanidze against was a tough all-rounder willing to work on for hours even with seemingly dead endgames. Finishing ahead of four GMs this time he will obviously receive the title sooner or later, but so far still illustrates the difference between having a GM-strength and taking the necessary norms. Having learned to say both "God Kveld" and "Tusen takk" now, he almost certainly did not make his last appearance on the small Norwegian chess scene here.

3) GM ALEXANDER VOLZHIN, RUSSIA 2556 6 / 9:

As an almost complete all-rounder who never enters sharp openings without knowing them better than his opponent, Volzhin looks about impossible to defeat at the moment. Compared to Bergen he however looked a little less willing to fight now, and hardly spent more than one hour on his clock upon any game. Apart from the friendly atmosphere and good fish at Gausdal however, this can be explained by his demanding schedule of the last months. After careful draws in the first and third round Volzhin looked like a candidate for a new first place after taking a "double Finn" in the fourth and fifth round - outplaying Lampen in the middlegame and Salmensuu in the opening. Having three victories on his account, he later looked satisfied when sailing into a safe third place with four relatively short draws. Against Davies he first refused an exchange and a pawn up, but then finally lost Tiviakov out of sight when accepting afterwards. Only a hungry Lobzhanidze tried to defeat Volzhin, but then the Russian again appeared impressive with his cool and fast defence as Black. Still not losing any ELO on taking few chances here, he might very well be found above 2600 on the January list. Still having free capacity as he is playing at the moment, Volzhin to advance even further probably will have to run at least some risks. Not very much of a surprise, he now became the only foreign guest not to lose any game during 18 tries in Norway.

4) GM YURI YAKOVICH, RUSSIA 2586 6 / 9:

Taken all together probably the most impressive player during the first half of the tournament, Yakovich of course was very dissatisfied once more to destroy his tournament by losing to his personal Nemesis Lobzhanidze in the eighth round. At one stage being both a sound pawn and a positional advantage up, he this time considered his position as "totally winning" (opposed to the just "winning" one in Bergen). Still earning a money prize after winning a nice game disguised as a 1.e4-player in the last round, he in spite of losing a few ELO points can be proud of his play here. All his four winning games might be worth a detailed study, illustrating how to play positionally sound and deep chess without losing the tactical sting. All his opponents here had above 2300, but still seemed unable to understand what happened on their board. Since Yakovich seemingly has both the best openings and the best nerves of the GMs present here, I find it difficult to explain why he has established just below instead of above 2600. It is easier to explain why he was left out of top three here : Playing his forth tournament in a row, and developing a strange complex for Davit Lobzhanidze.

5) GM NIGEL R DAVIES, ENGLAND 2486 6 / 9:

As always a social, colourful and popular guest at the summer-tournament, Davies despite being below 2500 for this occasion looked about as solid and sound as he used to do on the board. As heartless against everyone below 2300 in the playing room as he was friendly to them outside of it, the English representative now drew after playing against his opponents between 2300 and 2400, and almost without playing against everyone above 2400. As his try to be creative in the opening against Volzhin ("Inventing some shit, with the idea of inventing some more shit afterwards" - code for giving up exchange and pawn within 12 moves for a compensation no one except the involved players were able to understand) just brought him in his only danger of losing, his grey suit probably was the best for his result this time. Still I hope to be able to witness more of Davies' creative gifts by the next crossroad at Gausdal. My guess is that he then will be back on his usual strength above 2500, but to climb higher he will probably have to improve his openings - even the White ones looked harmless against other titleholders this time.

6) IM OLLI SALMENSUU, FINLAND 2458 6 / 9:

Salmensuu officially played for a GM-norm, but got an early set-back when losing a probably drawn endgame to Tiviakov in the second round. After two early knock-outs against players below 2200, he finally missed his main goal when being beaten up during the opening against Volzhin in the fifth round. The young Finn however showed capacity also as a master of defence against strong players, when holding a difficult position against Lobzhanidze and revealing various sacrifices from Holmsten as bluffs. Never to be underestimated as a practical fighter and a gifted counter-attacker, Salmensuu seems to add a still deeper understanding. Extremly effective against weaker players, he however still has to work with both openings, technique and time consumption compared to those above 2500. This tournament altogether gave a small plus - proving beyond doubt that Salmensuu is a strong IM, but not that he will be a GM before 25.

7) FM TIMO LAMPEN, FINLAND 2308 6 / 9:

As the final sum of points is a little misleading for his play here this should probably be just a strong 4, but although his losses were ugly Lampen had several memorable wins. Getting a performance above 2400 by jumping down the throat of his countryman Agopov in the last round, Lampen finally got recognition from the crowd as an upcoming IM-candidate. The only player among the top ten to fulfil the tournament without any draw, Lampen’s style of play indeed seems inspired by his second hobby (Thai-boxing!). This resulted in some rather turbulent "ups and downs à la Swiss" in the first six rounds, but still eager to fight for a money prize Lampen then stabilized to win three in a row. Of course much better when attacking than defending, Lampen should join Salmensuu on the course "How to play against better players". Unlucky both to get an unrated in the first round and regarding the colours later here, he is already tough enough to get an IM-norm if a little luck is included on the next occasion.

8) GM Heikki WESTERINEN, FINLAND 2370 5,5 / 9:

Probably a weak "5" too, but here the play was better than the final sum of points. After playing the wrong kind of chess against the wrong man in the last round Westerinen suffered his first loss, and so was left with just a small envelope. The latest of his XX(X) Gausdal results however suggests a strength between 2400 and 2450, and so it seemed for most of this tournament too. Nearly 20 years older than any other present titleholder Westerinen chose a rational plan for the tournament, including two short draws as Black. By a combination of stubborn defence and active counterplay able to save difficult positions against both Lobzhanidze and Volzhin, Westerinen played just as eagerly as ever for a win against lower rated players. Seemingly depressed after drawing a 100-moves drama against Engelbert in round 7, a smile again was observed in Westerinen's beard after a nice win against Agopov in the eighth. Despite his heavy loss to Tiviakov in the last round, Westerinen once more was satisfied with his stay at Gausdal. Having played almost 50 tournaments here since the very first one in 1970, he is as the only one already registered as a participant for Gausdal Troll Masters 2001.

9) FM ALEKSEI HOLMSTEN, FINLAND 2383 5,5 / 9:

A strong "4" which probably should be a weak "5", but with his IM-title being a formality and his Finnish championship a fact Holmsten must be prepared for increased demands. Draw in the first round against Volzhin and later 2,5 / 3, suggested that Holmsten already could make a try for a GM-norm here. After a hard-fought 60 moves draw against Davies, he was however just outplayed by Yakovich. Although two patient endgame wins later saved a symbolic moneyprize, an overambitious try for attacking chess against Salmensuu prevented Holmsten from obtaining his fifth IM-norm here. A "slow giant" often reaching his peak in closed positions and / or endgames, Holmsten now shall be allowed time to stabilize as an IM. Varying his openings more than usual at the moment, he will probably need both more depth in them and more speed on the clock as well as in open positions really to fight for a GM-norm. Improving considerably during his late 20s to be an IM at 30 now however, I would not swear that he is not a GM at 40.

10) FM MATTHIAS BACH, GERMANY 2348 5,5 / 9:

"A totally mad player" according to a frustrated (and defeated) opponent, Bach indeed produced an entertaining mix of strange positional play, attacks, counterattacks and time-troubles in his first tournament at Gausdal. Satisfied with a draw against Davies in the first round, he as far as it is known never again offered anyone. Travelling with his family and testing many new openings Bach did not pretend to be an IM-candidate, and in the end settled for an average result. Reaching his bottom with 2,5 / 6 after blundering mate in the sixth round, he was still able to save himself and his ELO by three nice victories against weaker opponents in the end. It is too early to compare Bach’s new openings with the old ones, but of course more difficult to predict now he cannot expect to avoid all children’s diseases with such a sudden change. Never lacking creativity or courage, he would improve his security net if able to avoid the worst time trouble. Saying anything about his endgame strength is very difficult, since he hardly ever allows queen exchanges.

11) FLEMMING CHRISTENSON, NORWAY 2193 5,5 / 9:

"5,5 / 9, best Norwegian and best player below 2300" sounds attractive, but for 8 rounds young Flemming not entirely without reason was dissatisfied with his points as well as his play. Unhappily getting the wrong unrated one in the first round he proved unable to win then, and all dreams for an IM-norm disappeared when he lost without too many chances against Lobzhanidze and Bach. In the later rounds he impressed with four fast and clean victories against lower rated players, but was positionally outplayed by the only above 2200. Finally successfull with an opening, Christenson in the ninth round showed his potential by outplaying Simon Bekker-Jensen as Black in a classic Notebom game. This of course helped a lot regarding both money and ELO, but friends of Norwegian chess are still waiting for the great breakthrough of Flemming Christenson - proclaimed a talent worth a title since about ten years now. At the moment a 2300-player with a 1900-repertoire of openings, he can be a serious IM-candidate within two years if that is his will. I just doubt that it is.

12) DAVID BEKKER-JENSEN, DENMARK 2320 5 / 9:

On the edge of a "3" - receiving his first IM-norm and establishing himself above 2300 last year, David now should be considered a serious candidate in every tournament. Fairly untypically he finished off this tournament without a single draw, but five points were fair enough for describing his play here. Otherwise too good for the weaker players and not good enough against the best, David got a good start when defeating Agopov in the second round, but in reality lost his chances for another norm when within few moves ruining a promising positon against Østtveit. After a new up against Lampen in the sixth round it immediately followed another down against Holmsten. More willing to attack here than earlier, David still remains a basically sound and technical player, against everyone below 2400 having his main strength in the openings. He might very well reach his IM-title along that line, but will later have to follow the small steps road of improving his general chess understanding and creativity.

13) KIM SKAANNING, DENMARK 2082 5 / 9:

Also fulfilling without a single draw, the Danish leader Skaanning too looked much more impressive as attacker against weaker players than as defender against better. Fairly typical he finished as the best player below 2100 after defeating five lower rated players, but not getting any points against the better ones he still lost a few points of ELO. Losing his chances for something more twice with a very chaotic game against Østtveit in the second round and a seemingly very drawish closed one against Lampen in the eighth, Skaaning still saved a good result by picking up three short victories during the last four rounds. At the moment a tough all-rounder around 2100, Skaanning will first and foremost need more accuracy and deeper openings to climb above 2200. Tactically he appeared more dangerous than the Fyn average here.

14) STEIN KRISTIAN BRU, NORWAY (1637) 5 / 9:

Bru of course had more within reach in several of his losing games, and having an ELO-performance below 2000 this time he should probably just have a "5" here. It is however very impressing for a bottom-rated player normally playing in the middle of Norwegian class 2, to finish above 50 % and earn a shared first prize below 2100 in an international title tournament. Finishing with 3 / 4 Bru had a much lower average of opponents than the other players at 5 points, and although many surprises his result do not hide any real sensational game. 5-1 versus the opponents between 1700 and 2075 still appears very convincing, when your first goal is to establish yourself among the 1700s. Although Bru was generally acknowledged as a criminal example of Norwegian underrating, someone added that this was less obvious when he had to defend. Some sharper White openings should be the principal Christmas wish from Bru, who is clearly at his best when allowed to attack. Hopefully his success can inspire other Norwegian club players to accept the challenges of international tournament next year; in the meantime I am waiting with excitement for his next move(s).

15) IM SIMON BEKKER-JENSEN, DENMARK 2388 4,5 / 9:

As a natural opposite to Christenson, the tournament of "Better-Jensen" was no catastrophe until he lost to the Norwegian in the last round. He was revealed as an average IM against the three wise men among his opponents (Yakovich, Lobzhanidze and Tiviakov), but defeated his 2300-opponents 1,5 - 0,5 and the rest of the bunch 3-0 without great difficulties. The loss of the last round of course destroyed much, but overall he is still close to a "3". With a few exceptions (compare last round) he looks confident with his opening up to a 2500-level, but above this may suffer from coming into the variations but not out of them. Seldom losing a game out of technical reasons or in time-trouble, Simon still needs a little more creativity and understanding to fight for a GM-norm. Such a kind and nice person of course will have to work hard to achieve that title, but who knows - he is more serious and patient than most other IMs.

16) CHRISTOPH ENGELBERT, GERMANY 2227 4,5 / 9:

The only 2200-player of the field, Engelbert for seven rounds seemed closer in strength to the players above 2300 than to those below 2200. After being closer to lose than win against an unrated in the first round he was outplayed by Davies, but then pulled together 3,5 / 4 - most notably including a nice positional win as Black against Christenson. Engelbert reached his peak of the tournament with a highly dramatic 100-moves draw against GM Westerinen in the seventh round, in the end again saving himself by his endgame abilities. After this demanding game however, he never recovered for the two last rounds. In the eighth round Engelbert started up worse and ended a rook down against David Bekker-Jensen, and in the ninth he lost a nightmare 103-mover to the even more reliable Holmsten. Despite this tragic end he gained a few points of ELO, and that is more than expected for a 49-year-old without ambitions in such a young field. Having the pleasure to introduce Gausdal to two younger players from Hamburg, Engelbert himself almost certainly did not play here for the last time.

17) TIMO PORRASMAA, FINLAND 2163 4,5 / 9:

Arriving at Gausdal as the driver of Finland’s young stars, Porrasmaa with 2,5 / 3 and a sensational draw against Yakovich shone more than any of them during the first rounds. The reaction came with a "long castling" during the next three rounds, including an awful miniature as White against Lobzhanidze. With his play still varying considerably in strength both within and inbetween the rounds, Porrasmaa was able to pull himself together enough to win two out of the last three games. Always uncompromising and clearly among the top entertainers here, he at best won in 12 moves (as Black!) and at worst lost in 14 (as White!). All taken together, picking up both rating and a small money prize is a nice performance for the oldest participant in such a demanding tournament. Soon to celebrate his 57th birthday Porrasmaa will almost certainly never be a candidate for any title, but never afraid to die he in a single game can be a dangerous opponent for all kinds of titleholders. Hopefully he has not done it for the last time at Gausdal yet, since "Uncle Finn"s jovial smile and friendly remarks excellently fitted in with the general atmosphere here.

18) MORTEN RUD, DENMARK 2148 4,5 / 9:

This dice actually is still rotating around between "3" and "4", but as a player Rud seems capable of more than he was able to demonstrate at his spare time as leader for 10 youngsters this time. Clean well into the clinical against nearly all unrated players, he was overall not particularly lucky against the rated ones this time. The exception of course was his win by mate in a chaotic game against the chaotic Bach, but otherwise Rud looked too nervous and respectful when facing higher rated opponents - typically resigning very early after blundering an exchange against both Lampen and Christenson. If believing a little more in himself, having a little more time to prepare his own games and (due to the two mentioned factors) playing a little faster, he will soon be above 2200. As most of his pupils, Rud too basically appears more convincing positionally than tactically.

19) Martin HINTZ, GERMANY (1856) 4,5 / 9:

Getting the top grade for 50 % is of course unusual, but opponents as well as expectations must of course be included in the calculations here. Hintz hoped for a FIDE-ELO norm, and with a performance close to 2200 he in that regard distanced all the 11 other unrateds by an ocean or so. Starting with 1,5 / 2 he met 8 rated opponents, but still lost only to three titleholders. Blundering away two out of those games, Hintz' main reparations after this tournament should be tactical and not strategical. More obviously intelligent than talented, the youngest German having just two years behind him in a club may very well have the potential to establish himself above 2300. Speaking some of the dining room’s better English and being a more than average helpful participant, he too fell excellently in with the Gausdal environment on the very first (and according to promise not last) try.

20) IM MIKAEL AGOPOV, FINLAND 2399 4,5 / 9:

Never blaming anyone else, Agopov would probably have given himself -1 here. The only participant to lose both the two first and the two last rounds he however still produced some memorale games inbetween, and 50 % cannot be that bad with four opponents above 2300. Agopov however lost to all of them, and taking three out of his points against unrated opponents the tournament indeed was a medium disaster for his FIDE-ELO. The simplest explanation given by one of his opponents ("Agopov is totally overplayed") might very well be valid : The young Finn arrived directly from Bergen by a 10-hours train, and got a crushing meeting with Gausdal when he lost interesting games to both GM Tiviakov and David Bekker-Jensen. Later playing up himself until the fatal end, he still played too fast and much less accurate than he used to do. As it turned out fighting against most odds most of the time, Agopov still deserves honour for never giving up the attempts to win his games - the draw in that case was a working accident.

21) MARTIN ØSTTVEIT, NORWAY 2079 4 / 9:

I am probably a little too kind again, but after winning his two first games Østtveit met opponents above 2300 all the way from round 3 until round 8. Fighting heroicly against the time and all natural forces when meeting Tiviakov, he reached his peak when getting a jackpot of a counterattack against David Bekker-Jensen in the fourth round. Later able to produce interesting positions against both GM Davies and IM Salmensuu, Østtveit yet lacked the strength and / or luck to fulfil them against such opponents. Never let into more than the first three ranks against Bach in the seventh round, the youngest Norwegian settled for two relatively short draws in the end. Having a small down last year, Østtveit by this result confirmed his return among the best Norwegian players below 18. Still having a for his age well-developed understanding of chess, Østtveits main challenge still is to keep up his play during the whole game - not to mention the whole tournament.

22) FRANZ WIEDERMANN, AUSTRIA 2169 4 / 9:

Learning about the tournament just a few days in advance, the first Austrian at Gausdal since the time of Arnold did not have the best possibility to prepare. Since his strength used to be above 2200 the outcome is probably only worth a "2", but his play deserved better. Always eager to meet titleholders, he was happy for finally getting two in a row after starting up with 1,5 / 2 against unrateds. The results of the double round however was traumatic : Wiedermann in the morning succeeded to reach a very drawish endgame against Lobzhanidze, but exhausted by the hard work it required went down without any real fight to Salmensuu in the afternoon. The evening too turned into a nightmare, when Lobzhanidze insisted upon and (even worse) after nearly seven hours succeeded to win a materially equal queen endgame. Among other missing an opportunity to demand draw due to repetition during this game Wiedermann still managed to fight down two more unrateds, but got his final cold shower for the tournament when losing another long game to Agopov. Against Hintz in the eighth round pawns just disappeared between his fingers, and so saving the plane by a short draw came by itself in the ninth. Probably best described as a technical all-rounder, Wiedermann only has to play a little faster, get rid of the few remaining holes in his opening repertoire, and hope for the small margins to be with him in the next tournament.

23) ØYVIND PEDERSEN, NORWAY 2061 4 / 9:

When judging Pedersen’s result, it should be taken into consideration that his Norwegian rating use to be around 1850-1900. Although winning Skei Grand Prix promised more, his result in the main tournament here thus was about average. After defeating one lower rated and losing to two above 2300 he went below the water line by losing to a (true enough at stage well-doing) unrated, but crawled himself above again by taking 3 / 4 against opponents of his own size. Losing on time after refusing two draws (and blundering a pawn, true enough) to the lowest rated in the last round of course was a tragic end, but regarding the tournament overall we can still call it a draw. A sound all-rounder improving slowly during the last ten years, Pedersen needs a little more time and a little less respect for getting his real breakthrough against better players. I expect him to end up somewhere around 2100 in FIDE and 2000 in Norway, but steadily improving his openings and understanding he may have capacity for more.

24) TERJE KARLSEN, NORWAY (1858) 4 / 9:

If not a star so at least upcoming in national tournaments during the last year(s), Karlsen should now finally get his FIDE-ELO. Not particularly lucky against his rated opponents this time (either), he will appear in the FIDE list as just another underrated Norwegian. Making a good start with a draw after being better most of the game against Engelbert, Karlsen immediately got a hard hit in his nose when blundering a bishop in the second. Never coming above 50 % he later got a tournament of great turbulence and time-trouble, taking 3,5 / 4 against his opponents below 2100 but losing to everyone above. Creative by nature and never outplayed by anyone here, Karlsen will probably be of a 2100-strength if he can get rid of 50 % of his blunders and inaccuracies. Still ambitious and improving considerably after getting a beard, he will hopefully be able to slough this within a year or so.

25) MARKUS LØMO, NORWAY 2043 4 / 9:

Lacking matching at this level for the last two years, Lømo at the start in his Gausdal come-back appeared rusty. 2 / 4 sounds OK, but as a victim of acceleration and an early loss Lømo had met four unrated opponents. When finally allowed stronger opposition Lømo’s openings turned out to need some maintenance, and left with 2 / 7 he seemed at the brink of disaster. Despite depressed opponents two final victories helped a lot regarding place as well as rating, and reinforced the image of Lømo as a sensible technical player. Getting better matching since his team will play in the 1st league this season, my guess is that Lømo will return to his old strength before next year’s summer tournament at Gausdal. If during the meantime spending some hours to update his demanding opening repertoire, he should be able to establish at least above 2100 in FIDE-ELO.

26) RUDI SERSCH, NORWAY (((1800))) 4 / 9:

Since he started as the tournament’s "dark knight" even without a Norwegian rating, it is difficult to say something about Sersch's relative performance here. But despite recent matching from ICC and various rapid- and blitz-tournaments, it is very impressing to achieve both a FIDE-ELO-norm and a national rating above 1900 in his first two hours tournament for more than ten years. Never above 1700 in the late 1980s, Sersch clearly is back on a higher level now. He indeed had problems with the new hot chess climate during the first rounds - with 0 / 3 including a 10 moves loss to Agopov, his tournament seemed like at least a potential trauma. Sersch however proved mental strength by winning four out of the next five rounds, and during those revealed himself as a hyper-active and dangerous tactician on the board. Still inexperienced in the art of defence and inaccurate in his calculating of variations, he might very well have the capacity both to achieve a FIDE-ELO and to establish above 2000 in Norway. I am not impressed by all his openings, but at least they fit in well with his style of play.

27) MIKKEL CLAUSEN, DENMARK (1824) 4 / 9:

Getting an uninspiring start by first losing a promising position in the first round, then drawing against two other Danes and then being packed for a long time deposit by Christenson, the youngest participant too showed mental strength when striking back to make himself a good result. Starting the fall of Ranft by mating him during mutual time-trouble in the fifth round, Clausen left the bottom boards and never returned. Inbetween two solid draws against rated opponents, he added an at least entertaining win against Anders Olsen. An ill-smelling loss to teacher Skaanning in the last round deprived Clausen of both a rating prize and a FIDE-ELO-norm above 2000, but achieving the last should be just a question of time. Having a sound understanding for squares and such difficult positional things, he is not always able to speed up when his games become sharper. As white Clausen seemed confident with his openings, but some of his black ones still appear uneven at best.

28) ANDERS OLSEN, NORWAY (1814) 3,5 / 9:

Probably deserving a "5" due to his strong opponents and FIDE-ELO-norm, Olsen however should be good enough for a FIDE-ELO now, and was not particularly impressive during the later part of the tournament. He indeed looked all the more promising as the second best Norwegian with 2,5 / 4, recently having outplayed Pedersen in his best game of the tournament. After being bombed back to the stone age by Lampen, Olsen early came under pressure against both Agopov and Clausen, but survived just to miss his chances when they occurred in the endgames. Making a smooth landing with two draws against slightly higher rated opponents, Olsen was probably better against both but lacked the sting to defeat them. On the way up regarding courage to win his games, Olsen still suffers from an inability to fulfil his promising positions and a black opening repertoire reminding about a strainer. Good enough to get a FIDE-ELO above 2000 despite those weaknesses, he is still a very interested player steadily improving his understanding.

29) ROLF SANDER, GERMANY 2054 3,5 / 9:

Sander’s tournament is a little paradoxical. Having no reason to be satisfied with being one out of two players not to win any game, Sander stilll reached his main goal of winning FIDE-ELO. He had clearly the lowest performance of the German players, but still lost fewer games than any of the other. His much celebrated highlight was the first draw against a titleholder, the victim being Agopov in a very varied fourth round game. Close to keeping together his position against Lampen too, Sander should be most dissatisfied with losing a tactical game (after refusing a draw!) against Sersch in the eighth round. Already having promised both to return and to be armed with sharper openings then, Sander should have all possibilities sooner or later to win games at Gausdal too. As nearly all Hamburg players (except Bach!) already having a solid repertoire, a sound strategical understanding and an adequate technique, Sander to become a 2100-player needs just a little more tactical punch and will to win. Thinking about rating between the tournaments instead of between the games may also be a helpful idea for improving it. Running risks probably goes too much against Sander’s nature, but it might be a better idea for him to try it as a chess player than as a bookkeeper.

30) BART STAM, NETHERLANDS (1852) 3,5 / 9:

Obviously starting with great ambitions, Stam when leaving his home country had to pay a small fortune for overweight at the plane due to many chess books. Probably just further inspired by this troublesome start on the travel, he made a good one in the tournament with 1,5 / 2 against rated opponents. For a long while he seemed able to assure himself a satisfying (new) FIDE-ELO on this tournament alone, but this hope turned into a dream due to poor play and 0 / 3 against three Finns in round 3, 5 and 7 - especially since Stam proved unable to win any more games. To make sure avoiding both further losses and further Finns, he in the end settled for two short and sound draws against two unrated young Danes. Stam may be recommended to join Sander on the "How to win chess games"-course, but this reportedly was more of a problem on this level this time than it use to be for him. Meeting seven rated opponents, Stam should not be too dissatisfied neither with a norm around 2100 nor with his five draws. Having won great sympathy as the only foreign participant able to converse in Norwegian (the Danes are excluded here due to repeated problems of understanding. The Swedes? Which Swedes?), Stam made a wholehearted try to be elected "Gausdal friend of the year" by trying to get a subscription including all memorial tournaments up to 2010.

31) HENRIK CARLSEN, NORWAY (1737) 3,5 / 9:

Aware of both the sum of points and his national rating, I am still closer to giving a "2" than "4" here. Having a 4-game norm from an earlier Gausdal tournament, Carlsen returned now to get 5 rated opponents and fulfill his ELO. Three solid draws made a promising start, but then Carlsen suddenly lost all touch with his pieces. Speeding up passivity and several inaccuracies with time-trouble, he fell through by losing four games in a row. Having no reason to spend any more time thinking about his eventual FIDE-ELO, he again was quite a different player when outplaying his two last (unrated) opponents. Lacking matching from this level might be a partial explanation for Carlsen’s collapse in the middle of the tournament, but overall a little more tactical sting will be welcome. Although never kicking his openings seldom made any disasters, but except during the last two rounds he was not awake enough later in the middle game. Showing considerable strength during the finish and due to growing children (hopefully) getting still more time to play chess himself, Carlsen will almost certainly make stronger results than this at Gausdal later. Bigger chess scenes may be waiting for his charming and very interested son Magnus, who won his first Norwegian Championship below 10 a few weeks ago (see the open results for further details).

32) MADS BILDE SVENDSEN, DENMARK 2071 3 / 9:

Another "3" with a bitter taste of "2", but a) Svendsen’s Danish rating is still below 1900 b) his play was better than the points here for most of the tournament. Showing up his ELO for the first time, Svendsen tragically ended up giving away much of it due to nervous play and 0 / 3 against rated opponents. Losing to Holmsten and drawing with three opponents around his own strength did not sound that bad as a start, but Svendsen had been better most of the time even against Holmsten and hardly ever worse (except of course in the final position against Holmsten). After blundering away a promising position in time trouble in the fifth round and hesitating away a winning opening in the next, he competed only with Ranft about being the most unlucky member of the tournament. Demonstrating what an excellent player he can be when able to keep his concentration during the whole, Svendsen showed strength when dismantling Jørgensen completely in what probably was among the best games of round 7. Suddenly returning from "Yes!" to "NO!!" he fell apart altogether against Pedersen in the eighth round, and left the ninth early after blundering an exchange in the opening. Having an excellent understanding to build his chess career upon, Svendsen when playing on this level first and foremost needs a radar to warn him for tactics. If he is in addition able either to master his time-troubles or get rid of them, my predicition is that he will be above 2200 in 2002.

33) JESPER BRUUN, DENMARK (1711) 3 / 9:

With a Danish rating just above 1700 Bruun probably deserved a little better, but he looks more impressing on the results list than he did on the board. After making a good start against stronger opponents with 0,5 / 1 and 1,5 / 4 Bruun made his probably best game against Wiedermann in the fifth round, but still lost a marathon of nearly 90 moves. Getting back more than he had payed for this disappointment during the next two rounds, Bruun first managed to save a position lost from the opening against Svendsen and then to win a completely lost endgame against Ranft. More fortunate than deserved? Probably, but Bruun was one out of very few players on the bottom half knowing how to grip when suddenly offered a chance to do. His result suffered a degradation from "very surprising" until "just a slight plus" when he lost both the two last rounds within three hours, but all taken together Bruun still should be satisfied with his first international tournament. Having just about two years behind him as a club player and having much space left both in his openings and general understanding, Bruun aged 23 still may have all possibilites to get a FIDE-ELO and establish above 2000 in Denmark. By nature a theoretician, he by the board so far appears more impressive as a practical fighter awake for counterplay.

34) NIELS HENRIK SØRENSEN, DENMARK (1784) 2,5 / 9:

Below 1800 in Danish rating too, Sørensen might also deserve a "3". Unable to stop wasting his chances however he never recovered completely after starting up with 0,5 / 4, including drawing chances against Engelbert and a clear advantage after the opening against Bruun. Still balancing on the edge of disaster when having 1 / 6 he repaired much by defeating Carlsen, and impressed at least during the last part of the game. Later missing both a pawn win in the final position against Stam and a winning exchange (as well as a losing queen exchange) against Karlsen, Sørensen ended up on 2,5 first and foremost due to being half-asleep tactically. Combining Sørensen and Bruun into one player would have resulted at least in a master-player, because only Østtveit in the first round was able to outplay Sørensen this time. If first joining Svendsen on a "How to use your chances"-course, Sørensen (too) may very well return above 2000 next year. Seldom if ever much worse from his opening variations, he should prefer training up his accuracy in calculating variations later.

35) MARTIN JØRGENSEN, DENMARK (1720) 2,5 / 9:

As the third lowest rated, Jørgensen should not feel very depressed about his sum of points here either. He too had a very difficult start with 0,5 / 4, losing three games without getting any real chances after being clearly second from the opening. Still showing a great will to fight he drew against Sørensen in the fifth round only after 54 moves, having refused a draw twice during a sharp attacking game. Being at his best as a practical and fast-playing fighter, he then saved his tournament by help of a counterattack in a difficult position against Ranft. That Jørgensen's achilles-heel clearly is the openings, was demonstrated again when they resulted in a chapter of accidents during round seven and eight. Finally showing that he can be a positional player too, Jørgensen however produced a solid draw against Stam in the ninth. Naturally an all-rounder happy to counter-attack, he will soon improve his strength if spending some hours on the openings before his games, and some minutes to treat his positions more accurate during them.

36) HANS RANFT, NETHERLANDS (1894) 1 / 9:

or maybe

Soon after arriving, Ranft found the playing conditions at Gausdal so attractive that he registered for the Memorial instead of Peer Gynt Open. The road from being a strong club player into an international level however can be very thorny, even for an intelligent and mentally strong player like Ranft. After making an average start with 1 / 4, everything which could go wrong (and a few things which could not) went totally wrong for the last five rounds of his first international try. Being better most of the time in all three games against his unrated Danish opponents, Ranft blundered a mate in one against Clausen, an exchange against Jørgensen and the queen against Bruun - the latter in a totally winning position. Keeping pressure most of the time against Lømo Ranft finally lost a drawish rook endgame too, and after another honest try against Carlsen he finally collapsed away even the last round. Although he thus finished clearly last regarding points, Ranft was hardly ever mentioned as the weakest player of this tournament. He usually came at least satisfying from his openings, and achieved the initiative in most of his games - on several occasions by help of interesting pawn sacrifices. This tournament just turned out to be the one in which he proved unable to fulfill his positions, often due to losing concentration when getting short of time. Still he proved himself to be a winner by playing for the whole point until the last round, and by keeping his good humour until departure. Satisfied with everything except his own play Ranft will almost certainly make a second try at Gausdal, and I will be happy to make a bet upon that he will not finish last then.