Chess Trap: Norway uses Houdini to Force Magnus Carlsen to a Draw!

Hello everyone, chess is happening big time in Norway thanks to World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen's appeal. As always, The Week in Chess was right on top of the live action!

Mark Crowther's report: Magnus Carlsen took on the rest of Norway in a match on the VG website on Thursday 8th May 2014 . The presenter was Mads Andersen. A team of three wise men Simen Agdestein, Jon Ludvig Hammer and Leif Erlend Johannessen suggested moves and Hans Olav Lahlum enforced the rules and was on the sofa. Members of the Norwegian public voted on the moves on the VG website. The event took place in the Oslo City shopping center. 

A "Mystiske Nordmannen" dressed in red made the moves at the board. The audience had to guess who it is. He is "Not good at chess" and had to be prompted some times to play the right moves. It turned out to be skier Oddvar Bra who is extremely famous in Norway. Carlsen was well on top at one stage but each of the helpers could ask for help from Houdini three times during the game by ringing a bell and a counter-attack eventually forced Carlsen to take a draw.

Stormester and Stormester Facebook Page has lots of more photos. You can expect more updates later on World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen's Facebook Page as well. Check out the hash tag #vgsjakk for all the fun.

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Rilton Chess Cup: Jon Ludvig Hammer wins Title

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

 

The Stockholm Chess Federation organised the 43rd Rilton Cup from 27th December 2013 to 5th January 2014. The tournament was played in three groups: Rilton Cup, Rilton Elo and Rilton Open (the Open was only for Nordic players with a national rating lower than 1800).

Rilton Cup and Rilton Elo are rated with FIDE and played over 9 rounds of Swiss system. The playing venue was the Clarion Hotel Stockholm, Ringvägen 98, 111 20 Stockholm.

Norwegian Grandmaster Jon Ludvig Hammer crowned his excellent form with a clear first place after concluding the Rilton Cup with 7,5/9 points. Only few weeks ago Hammer won the London Chess Classic FIDE Open.

GM Sergey Volkov, winner of the 40th Rilton Cup in 2011, was in position to overtake Hammer in the direct last-round encounter, but he decided to be on the safe side with a quick 8-move draw.

Volkov is clear second with 7,0 points, while six players shared the third place with 6,5 points each, among them being the last year Rilton Cup winner Michal Krasenkow. (FIDE)

Official website

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World Chess Championship Chennai: Carlsen Preparing with Hammer, Fressinet

Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013

Hi everyone, 

The World No. 1 has posted interesting photos and even a video on his Facebook page about his preparation for the World Chess Championship 2013 to be held in Chennai this November. Carlsen is preparing with Grandmasters Jon Ludvig Hammer and Laurent Fressinet in Kragerø.

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Norway Chess Super Tournament 2013 Round 6: Carlsen Wins, Karjakin Leads

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

Just like in previous rounds of Norway Chess 2013, round 6 offered a lot of entertainment for the audience. We saw one pretty brutal win, one pretty boring draw, one exciting draw where none of the players ever seemed to get the upper hand, one nail biting draw where the worse side held on by the slimmest of margins and finally a totally exhausting end game squeeze where the relentless pressure eventually became too much for the defending side. 

In other words, Hammer lost rather brutally to Aronian, Topalov and Wang Hao played a peaceful draw, Nakamura and Svidler both stayed in control in their sharp battle, Karjakin barely saved a draw against World Chess Champion Anand and Carlsen managed to bank another full point in a long grind against Radjabov.

In the first game to finish, Hammer ventured down a daring path in his Grünfeld game against Aronian, giving up a pawn in the hope that his a-passer should provide sufficient counterplay, only to realize that it simply wasn’t enough. Topalov vs Wang Hao was a Queen’s gambit where the tension in the center was resolved early with queens coming off resulted in a symmetrical pawn structure with no weaknesses in either camp. The game never became very exciting, and it finished uneventfully with a repetition and a draw on move 32.

Nakamura’s Ponziani against Svidler turned into a sharp, tactical battle already in the opening, leaving the mainlines. The game was a draw. Anand vs Karjakin started rather quietly, but sharpened up as the time control approached. Anand found a way to open the h-file and was close to beating Karjakin at some point, but the game went for a draw.

The last game to finish was another Carlsen vs Radjabov marathon, reminiscent of their 13th round battle in the London Candidates. The game saw yet one rather unassuming setup with white by Carlsen, with black taking on an isolani in the d-file quite early on, seemingly without any kind of problems. The isolani turned into two hanging pawns in the c- and d-file when white exchanged off his bishop for a knight on c6, and the battleground was set. However, Carlsen went for the long haul and eventually beat Radjabov.

Karjakin is still in the lead after 6 rounds, now only half a point ahead of Carlsen, who’s been going full steam ahead since round 4. Aronian’s win brought him up to shared 3rd with Nakamura, a full point off the pace of Karjakin, but half a point ahead of Anand and Svidler, who still have some chances to catch up with the guys in front. The rest of the field is probably too far behind by now to be considered real contenders for the tournament victory. (Read the full report by Hans Arild Runde at the official website.)


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Norway Chess Super Tournament 2013 Round 5: Karjakin Loses to Carlsen, but Leads

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

The fifth round started relatively quiet, as the games Svidler-Anand, Nakamura-Topalov and Radjabov-Aronian all were drawn before 40 moves and without too many exciting moments. But then the round suddenly accelerated, as the games left were two very entertaining and interesting attacking battles. The remaining home spectators spontaneously applauded when the last game finished, as Norway after winning none out of eight games in the first four rounds had won two out of two games! Magnus Carlsen looked like the world’s top rated chess player again when he by firework tactics decided the games against the former tournament leader Sergey Karjakin, true enough after the Russian as white first had a better position. After Carlsen left the scene Jon Ludvig Hammer, by far the lowest rated player in this tournament, created his great moment as he following a mutual time trouble drama and safely won the endgame against Hao Wang. (The full report by Hans Olav Lahlum is available at the official website.)

Here is also a personal note by Hans Olav Lahlum who has given us great coverage of the Norway Chess Super Tournament 2013. 

As agreed with the tournament organizer and the president of the Norwegian Chess Federation long time ago, I would be arbiter only for the first half of this tournament. In accordance with that agreement, and of course without any kind of controversies, I have already left this tournament and this city when you are reading this my fifth and final round report. I was happy to accept writing the first five round reports in between my arbiter working, when the excellent and hardworking president of our chess federation asked me to do so a few days before the start of tournament. And I feel today happy and somewhat relieved now having finished this work. Writing round reports from an intensive super tournament of course is a very interesting possibility, but also a demanding challenge for an almost retired chess player at my low international level. If the results have disappointed some of my readers I can only apologize to you, and then say to myself what a former leader of the political opposition so much more than a long time ago said to a former prime minister in Norway: “You did the best you were able to do. That is both your judgment and your excuse.”
I was most happy yesterday to learn that my chess friend Hans Arild Runde has agreed to write reports about the four final rounds, and wish him all the best of luck with this work. Also of course best of luck to another chess friend, Arild Rimestad, who will take over my duties as deputy arbiter for the rest of the tournament.
I plan to return both as arbiter and round report writer first during the Norwegian Championships at Lillehammer in June-July, and then during the Oslo Chess International 28.09-06.10 (if interested to be a participant, you can find much more information about that tournament on www.bergensjakk.no/oslointernational/).
Meanwhile: Many thanks for now to my wonderful arbiter colleagues Anémone Kulczak and Karl-Johan Rist, and of course also to all the ten players for producing so many interesting and exciting games. In my very last lines for now, I feel that we all owe numerous thanks to the organizer for making this historic super tournament in Norway possible! I much hope there will be another one in 2014 or 2015, with or without a World Champion from Norway in the field – and if so I will be most happy to return.

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Norway Chess 2013 Round 1: Karjakin, Nakamura, Svidler Begin with Wins

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

History was in the Norwegian air when the French chief arbiter Anémone Kulczak exactly as scheduled at 15.00, May 8 2013, started the first round in the Super Group of Norway Chess 2013. Including this year’s World Champion, this year’s World Challenger and five other players from the world’s top ten list, this is not only by far the strongest chess tournament in the history of this country – but also one of the strongest round robin tournaments in the history of this game! Here is the full report by Hans Olav Lahlum

As the tournament will be played with nine rounds in eleven days and true quality time limits, Norway and the rest of the chess world for sure can look forward to many great games this week. The tournament made a fresh start this afternoon, with four of out five games lasting more than four hours – and three of them getting a winner.

To tell the truth, World Champion Viswanathan Anand made a very solid but not very frightening start on this Norwegian chess adventure. Playing white in a closed Ruy Lopez against second seeded Levon Aronian, the chess star from India played a rather slow and closed set up with an early c4. The ambitious Armenian (of course) did not hesitate to jump in at the outpost d4 with one of his knights before move 10. Three set of minor pieces were exchanged within five moves afterwards, leaving a fairly balanced position with queen, rooks, different colored bishops and eight pawns on each side. Something finally seemed about to happen as Aronian played 22.— Bh6!?, intending to answer 23.Qh4 with a tactical 23.— Bxf4 – as played. Some spectators wondered (creatively) whether the World Champion was planning to sacrifice his queen for rook and bishop, but Anand instead (wisely) exchanged some more pieces to regain the pawn he gave up on f4. In the endgame with rook and six pawns versus rook and six pawns, Aronian at move 29 placed his rook on the seventh rank and for a few minutes seemed close to something. Anand however remained laidback and still was not in any real danger. As black could never accept to exchange rooks, it all dried out with two rooks following each other around to a repetition of moves after 33 moves.

The second game to finish was the slowest start, as Sergey Karjakin spent much time as white and Teimour Radjabov even much more time as black in their internal youngster meeting. Only 14 moves were made on the board after two and a half hours had passed on the clock, and continuing in the same slow speed, Radjabov two moves later had only eight minutes left to reach the time control after 40 moves. 

On the board was a closed Sicilian line with 4.Bb5, in which white came a little better after black played 5.— e5 followed by 7.— h6. Although black got a nice outpost for his knight on d4, white playing with a guarded passed pawn at d5 appeared somewhat better after 20 moves. While Karjakin methodically increased the pressure with a queenside attack, Radjabov somehow somewhere mixed up the critical lines and lost a pawn just before 30 moves. Defending with rook and bishop versus rook and knight, black still had some drawing chances, but having only seconds left he lost another pawn just before 40 moves. In the end Radjabov threw out his move 39 with two seconds left and his move 40 with nine seconds left on the clock – only to resign instead of making his move 41, as Karjakin’s 41.c5! demonstrated the rook endgame on the board to be won. No way a promising start for Radjabov on the third tournament following two nightmare results, while Karjakin looked relaxed and inspired at the same time today.

Less relaxed but all the more inspired (as usual) was the United States representative, colorful Hikaru Nakamura. Facing a solid Russian opening from Chinese opponent Hao Wang, white bravely castled long to go for a kingside attack. Objectively speaking black was perfectly fine from the opening, but white still got an initiative following a probably inaccurate manoeuver with 15.— Re4 and 16.— Re6. Having weakened his kingside with h6, Wang felt forced to exchange queens at the cost of a pawn. Sacrificing two minor pieces for a rook later on was a creative try from a Chinese point of view. Although the computer programs gave black some drawing chances, the endgame with rook and six pawns versus knight, bishop and six pawns for most present human beings still looked difficult at best. Anyway Wang too lost the thread on the board when running short of time on the clock, and the outcome became obvious as white got an octopus knight on e6 while black still had no open line for his rook. Wang too survived the time trouble, having seven seconds left after making his move 40 – but the new time only helped him to realize that his position was lost behind all reasonable doubt. Nakamura definitely is a potential hit man also in this tournament, remaining to test out whether he will hit only his opponents or also himself in later rounds…
 

Much too few home country spectators were observed in the playing hall today, but those present got a lot of excitement as the Norwegian players both played long and interesting games. Most of the heat of course turned on a tight and heavyweight positional battle between top rated Magnus Carlsen and former World Champion Veselin Topalov. Carlsen handling the white stones (as usual) did not get much of an advantage, this time in an English fianchetto line. Having played d5 and exchanged the queens at d1 before 10 moves, Topalov equalized as black without any known difficulties. Carlsen however played on with his usual optimism, and although his king appeared a little awkward on c2, white kept a slight initiative in the middle game. A balanced position with rook, bishop, knight and five pawns on each side became more interesting as Magnus established a stronghold on d5. Then it became even more interesting as Topalov kicked out the bishops to reach a highly double edged rook and knight endgame. 

An isolani pawn on d5 gave white some more chances, but at the same time he had to watch out not to overstretch. Some Norwegian spectators claimed they saw some light just before 40 moves, as white apparently was about to get a dangerous attack in the h-file (which black had been helpful to open up a few moves earlier on). A top concentrated Topalov however walked confidently around on the water, and it turned out white had nothing better than exchanging rooks. Just after 40 moves some Bulgarian chess fans on internet claimed they saw some light, as Topalov won the d5-pawn in the knight endgame. It however soon turned out that white’s active king was too disturbing for black to reach any winning chances even with an extra pawn, and Topalov returned the pawn while offering a draw after 51 moves. A waiting start both for the former rating king and the former World Champion, but still under the surface a very interesting game.

Seeded more than 100 points below the ninth rated player in this field, Jon Ludvig Hammer obviously is the underdog among the wolves this week. Still he started barking immediately, being ahead on the clock and probably equal on the board after 15 moves as black against Russian chess star Peter Svidler in a well known Grünfeld exchange line. Without the queens white kept a slight queenside initiative, but black defended creatively when sacrificing a pawn on b6 to win back another pawn on e4. Being a patient player with a magnificent technique, Svidler still played on for a win as white. He was partially rewarded as Hammer made some inaccuracies when entering the rook and minor piece endgame, forcing himself to give up a pawn in the rook endgame. Still these rook endgames, with three kingside pawns for both players and an extra a-pawn for white, usually is drawn if black can place his rook beside the a-pawn and cut off the white king – like Hammer did from the start in this endgame. 

Still there was some play left in the position, and Hammer probably made the decisive mistake when he just before 40 moves put his king out in the thin air at f6 instead of just waiting and smoking on g8. Svidler (of course) used his chance, instructively opening up the kingside with h4-h5 to win another pawn and the game before 60 moves. A very honest loss still was a difficult start for Hammer. While Svidler following a slow but successful start, no way should be underestimated by anyone in this tournament either…

In short: Karjakin, Nakamura and Svidler are sharing the lead at +1 – so far. Still much to learn and discuss from the games from round one while we are waiting for round two – including the much expected game between World Chess Challanger Carlsen and World Chess Champion Anand!!

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Norway Chess 2013: Ready for Battle versus Magnus Carlsen says Jon Ludvig Hammer

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

The Norway Chess 2013 tournament will be played from May 7-18 in Stavanger, Norway. Sponsors and local authorities are investing 5 million NOK (approx 672,000 EUR) for the prize fund and organizational costs.

GM Jon Ludvig Hammer has decided to come back to top level chess and participate in the strongest closed tournament ever in his country. Right after the official announcement of Norway Chess 2013 participants list, he gave an exclusive interview for the international version of Chessdom.com.

Jon Ludvig Hammer, congratulations for playing Norway Chess 2013, and thank you for promptly agreeing on an interview for Chessdom.com. The event in May will be probably the strongest in history, chasing the record of Tal Memorial. What are your expectations?
- My goal is to have fun, win at least one game, and not finish last. I think I can do it!

You closely followed the process of the creation of the tournament, were you surprised the Norway Chess 2013 organizers managed to collect such a field?
-Honestly? Yes. When they announced they wanted the top 10 from the rating list, I thought it was the ambitions of inexperienced organizers. Boy, did they prove me wrong. They set the bar at the top, and got all the players they wanted. I’m impressed!

Minutes after the official announcement, you revealed some of your secret preparation in a tweet today, where you said “I’ve already started my preparation. First up: getting myself a decent suit for the opening ceremony.” After getting elegant for the opening ceremony, what will be your next key step?
- I’ve been focusing mostly on school the past year. I have an exam in March, but after that, pretty much all my attention will be on chess and the Norway Chess tournament. Compared to these guys, my game has some flaws – but I’ll work on all of them. I’m highly motivated by this challenge.

Are you going to beat Magnus Carlsen, as you did it in NTG Quick Grand Prix? :)
-I actually have two consecutive wins against Magnus – and three is a lucky number, right? Magnus doesn’t like losing, so he will bring his A-game. It’ll be one hell of a battle!

Read more »

NTG Chess Quick Grand Prix: Carlsen, Hammer Share First

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

There's plenty of blitz and rapid chess happening out there this December. The latest chess news comes from the NTG Quick Chess Grand Prix organised by the NTG Chess Club on 15th December. The 15-min rapid tournament was played in two groups and over seven rounds of Swiss system, according to a Chessdom report.

Top Norwegian Grandmasters Magnus Carlsen and Jon Ludvig Hammer shared the first place with 6,0/7 points each. Hammer defeated Carlsen but lost to the third-placed Aryan Tari. Carlsen took the first prize thanks to the slightly better tie-break.
B Group had 22 players, Henrik Storesund and Andreas G Tryggestad are tied on first place with 5,5/7 each.

Final standings A Group:
1-2. GM Magnus Carlsen 2849 and GM Jon Ludvig Hammer 2643 – 6,0
3. Aryan Tari 2295 – 5,5
4. Johan Salomon 2100 – 5,0
5. IM Frode Elsness 2468 – 4,5
6-9. Lars Oskar Hauge 2176, FM Kristian Stuvik Holm 2291, Anders Hobber 2244 and Johan-Sebastian Christiansen 2126 – 4,0
10-14. GM Simen Agdestein 2535, FM Andreas G.R. Moen 2386, Svetoslav Mihajlov 2056, FM Brede Alex. Kvisvik 2315 and Sebastian Mihajlov 2090 – 3,5
15-16. Francisco Silva Gonzàlez 1743 and Jens Hjorth Kjølberg 1897 – 3,0
17-20. Henrik Sjøl 1800, Arnt-Ole Johansen 1845, Sondre Merkesvik 1920 and Christian Harstad 1949 – 2,0
21. Johannes Haug 1942 – 1,5
22. Øystein Brekke 1923 – 1,0

Replay the Magnus Carlsen – Jon Ludvig Hammer, round 4 game with Chess King.

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Andorra Chess Open: Jon Ludvig Hammer Wins on Tiebreak

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

Grandmaster Jon Ludvig Hammer has won on tiebreak the 30th Andorra Chess Open that took place from July 21-29, 2012 at the Hotel Sant Gothard, Ctra. d’Arinsal s/n. Erts (La Massana), Andorra. The 9-round Swiss event was organized by the Federació d’Escacs Valls d’Andorra. Grandmasters Jon Ludvig Hammer, Kiril Georgiev, Miguel Illescas and Julen Luis Arizmendi Martinez shared the first place with 7 points each.

Hammer narrowly edged defending champion Georgiev on tie-break (2699 vs 2695 elo performance) to be declared the tournament winner. More details can be found at the official website

Final top standings:1. Hammer Jon Ludvig NOR 2638 – 7
2. Georgiev Kiril BUL 2680 – 7
3. Illescas Cordoba Miguel ESP 2601 – 7
4. Arizmendi Martinez Julen Luis ESP 2559 – 7
5. Iturrizaga Eduardo VEN 2628 – 6.5
6. Alonso Rosell Alvar ESP 2502 – 6.5
7. Granda Zuniga Julio E PER 2657 – 6.5
8. Negi Parimarjan IND 2661 – 6.5
9. Kogan Artur ISR 2587 – 6.5
10. Szabo Krisztian HUN 2548 – 6.5
11. Narciso Dublan Marc ESP 2539 – 6.5
12. Prasca Sosa Rafael VEN 2415 – 6.5
13. Berczes David HUN 2530 – 6.5
14. Fernandez Reyes Lisandro CUB 2367 – 6.5
15. Burg Twan NED 2470 – 6
16. Marin Mihail ROU 2548 – 6
17. Demuth Adrien FRA 2460 – 6
18. Solodovnichenko Yuri UKR 2598 – 6
19. Peralta Fernando ARG 2602 – 6
20. Comas Fabrego Lluis ESP 2514 – 6
21. Norwood David R AND 2494 – 6
22. Del Rio De Angelis Salvador G. ESP 2547 – 6
23. Valdes Leonardo CRC 2380 – 6
24. Berkovich Mark A ISR 2366 – 6
25. Getz Nicolai NOR 2354 – 6
26. Silva Rodriguez Fernando ESP 2179 – 6

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