Vetle och Ben Samuel spelade bra i Fagernes International Autumn 2022!

Mellan den 9-16 oktober spelades det en mycket intensiv schackvecka i Fagernes Chess International Autumn (”Höstupplagan”). Vetle Bjørge Strand (2053), Tanums Schacksällskap och Fredriksstad Schakselskap var på plats i Fagernes och deltog i GM gruppen och Ben Samuel Groth Skaar (1704), Tanums Schacksällskap och Fredriksstad Schakselskap deltog i den öppna gruppen. Fagernes som är beläget ca 185 km norr om Oslo i Oppland fylke i Nord-Aurdals kommun. Turneringen spelades över nio ronder med den stipulerade betänketiden 100 minuter på 40 drag + 40 minuter för resten av partiet och till detta tillkom 30 sekunders inkrement från det första draget. Båda turneringarna ingår i Norges Grand Prix 2022-23.

Här följer några av deltagarna i Fagernes Chess Internationals GM-grupp i urval:

Nr:	Titel:	Namn:	Nation:	Klubb:	Rating:
01	GM	R Praggnanandhaa	IND	–	2687
02	GM	Sunilduth L Naranyan	IND	–	2663
03	GM	Anton Demchenko	FID	–	2645
04	GM	Sethuraman Sethuraman	IND	–	2645
05	GM	Krishnan Sasikiran	IND	–	2636
06	GM	Mads Andersen	DEN	Skanderborg	2604
07	GM	Abhimanyu Puranik	IND	–	2603
08	GM	Allan Stig Rasmussen	DEN	Jetsmark	2531
09	GM	Frode Urkedal	NOR	Offerspill SK	2523
10	GM	Kaido Kualots	EST	Pühajärve	2515
50		Vetle Bjørge Strand	NOR	TSS/FSS	2053

Här följer några av deltagarna i Fagernes Chess Internationals öppna grupp i urval:

Nr:	Titel:	Namn:	Nation:	Klubb:	Rating:
01	FM	Joachim Solberg	NOR	Hønefoss SK	2167
02		Mikael Arovén	SWE	Kungstornet	1997
03		Raul Abrahamsson	NOR	Vålerenga SK	1904
04		Kristoffer Wang Strømhaug	NOR	Hell SK	1893
19		Ben Samuel Groth Skaar	NOR	TSS/FSS	1704

IA* Hans Olav Lahlum (f. 1973). Foto: Wikimedia.

Den norske store schackvännen Hans Olav Lahlum är internationell schackdomare (FIDE – *International Arbiter) och organisatör av Fagernes Chess International, samt känd som bland annat schackkommentator på Norska TV 2, historiker och kriminalförfattare.

Skribenten låter här Lahlum själv komma till tals via sina dagliga nyhetsbulletiner.

Vetle Bjørge Strand (2053), Tanums SS och Fredriksstad SS – FM Viktor Haarmark Nielsen (2384), Danmark, 0-1. Foto: Tom Eriksen.

The Lahlum round report 1:

”Well back above 2000 following a strong result in the World Youth Championship, 14 year old Vetle Bjørge Strand (2053) gave his Veresov system with 1.d4 2.Nc3 and 3.Bf4 another try as wite against Danish FM Viktor Haarmark Nielsen (2384). The Veresov (again) gave white no advantage. A black failed to invent something frightening, a drawish endgame with queen, knight and five pawns on each side was on the board after 25 moves. Black still had the much better practical chances, with 30 minutes against 10 on the clock. Nielsen first rejected an offer for an exchange of queens, but happily accepted as Strand next time offered to destroy his own queenside pawn structure. White still had some chances for a draw in the materially balanced knight endgame, but his poor structure made this painful at best. Running short of time and moves, Strand became too passive in the final moves before the time control. Nielsen following this got the help needed to mobilize his remaining forces, and after winning one of the weak white c-pawn he soon reached a won pawn endgame.”

Se: Vetle Bjørge Strand (2053) – FM Viktor Haarmark Nielsen (2384), 0-1.

Open Group:

Se: Daniel O Vollheim (1334) – Ben Samuel Groth Skaar (1704), 0-1.

The Lahlum round report 2:

”FM Mathias Unneland (2185) as white against Vetle Bjørge Strand (2053) went for an English fianchetto, transposing into some kind of King´s Indian Advance. After white exchanged with 9.cxd5, black strangely took back with the c-pawn – allowing white to win a pawn with 10.Qc8+ Qd8 11.Qxb7. As black found nothing better than to exchange off the queens afterwards, white after 15 moves was a very sound pawn up with a two against one majority on the queenside. Unneland later took his time to complete the win, but still had it well under control in the rooks and minor pieces endgame. White first had an extra pawn plus a pair of bishops, then after move 27 an exchange more. Still a «tactical and practical» player, Unneland after 50 moves gave back the exhange to force a rook endgame in which his passed a-pawn was absolutely decisive.”

Se: Unneland, Mathias (2185) – Vetle Bjørge Strand (2053), 1-0.

Open Group:

”Third board was a highly entertaining attacking battle and junior duel with a surprising Høyforsslett vs Arovén outcome, as 15 year old Ben Samuel Groth Skaar (1704) after 40 moves captured the black king of fourth rated Kristoffer Wang Strømhaug (1893) at g2 (!).”

Se: Ben Samuel Groth Skaar (1704) – Kristoffer Wang Strømhaug (1893), 1-0.

The Lahlum round report 3:

”Vetle Bjørge Strand (2053) versus Evsuld Myagmarsuren (1952) was a Slav Exchange opening in which black played much too fast and carelessly in the opening – allowing white to win a sound pawn by playing 7.Qb3 followed by Ne5 and Qxd5. 12 year old Myagmarsuren however fought on stubbornly following this disasterous start. He was rewarded as white after 24 moves gave up his strong light- Strand vs Myagmarsuren squared bishop for a knight at c6, without finding any of the best continuations on the next move. Black´s position improved a lot as he could exchange off the rooks. Despite his extra pawn, white later had difficulties winning the double minor piece endgame due to black´s barking bishops. Myagmarsuren later efficiently used his chance to exchange the darksquared bishop for white´s knight, leaving an opposited coloured bishop endgame in which white´s extra pawn was completely worthless.”

Se: Vetle Bjørge Strand (2053) – Evsuld Myagmarsuren (1952), ½-½.

Open Group 3:

”Fourth board instead was an exciting junior duel between Vinjar Hammari (1853) and Ben Samuel Groth Skaar (1704), in which white wasted promising chances in the early middle game, while black efficiently used his chances for a counterattack during mutual time pressure before 40 moves.”

Se: Vinjar Hammari (1853) – Ben Samuel Groth Skaar (1704), 0-1.

The Lahlum round report 4:

”Young teenagers Shadi Sian (2108) and Vetle Bjørge Strand (2053) discussed a rare and tactical Caro-Kann line, in which white after hesitating with his kingside development had to place his king a little awkward at f1. Black could castle long with a fairly healthy position. He however had an inferior pawn structure and lagged some 20–25 minutes behind on the clock, after spending 90 minutes for his first 16 moves. White at move 18 invited a queen exchange at b5. Black accepted the invitation and at Sian vs Strand the same time offered a draw. This was accepted in an appoximately equal, but still far from dead position, with two rooks, two knights and six pawns against two rooks, bishop, knight and six pawns.”

Se: Shadi Sian (2108) – Vetle Bjørge Strand (2053), ½-½.

Open Group 4:

”Second rated Mikael Arovén (1997) got a tough and tight five-hour battle as black against the underrated junior Ben Samuel Groth Skaar (1704), but succeeded in winning a drawish endgame with bishop and five pawns against knight and five pawns.”

Se: Mikael Arovén (1997) – Ben Samuel Groth Skaar (1704), 1-0.

The Lahlum round report 5:

”14 year old Vetle Bjørge Strand (2053) gave his Veresov system with 1.d4 2.Nc3 and 3.Bf4 another try against 12 year old Nicolai Østensen (2136). Today it worked out much better, and Strand got a clear advantage as black was helpful giving white an open a-file and the pair of bishops. White in turn made a strange decision to exchange off his light-squared bishop at a6, after which black could hit back in the center with d5 and reach an approximately balanced position. Around move 20–30, the position with queen, two rooks, knight and seven pawns on each side varied between equal and slightly better for white. Black was some 40 minutes ahead on the clock, and following this chances were considered more or less balanced. Black however played too fast, and 30.--- Qd7? was a blunder as white due to a d-file pin could play 31.Nc4! and 32.Nd6! with a strong initiative. Strand despite time shortage soon found a decisive knight sacrifice at f7, and crushed the black kingside completely well before 40 moves.”

Se: Vetle Bjørge Strand (2053) – Nicolai Østensen (2136), 1-0.

Open Group 5:

”Fifth board duel between Amadeus Hestvik Evenshaug (1785) and Ben Samuel Groth Skaar (1704) was an interesting Sicilian battle, in which black gradually took over the initiative and then won by a rather massive heavy pieces kingside attack.”

Se: Amadeus Hestvik Evenshaug (1785) – Ben Samuel Groth Skaar (1704), 0-1.

The Lahlum round report 6:

”Matan Prilleltensky (2222) and Vetle Bjørge Strand (2053) started up with a Slav opening today, but ended up in the neighbourhood of a closed Catalan. Material was balanced, after white won back at b5 the pawn he had sacrificed at c4. Chances later were approximately balanced, as white had a pair of bishops and black a two against one queenside pawn majority. As white was able to exchange the black pawn at c4 he came better due to his active pair of bishops, although black after forcing an exchange of queens was rather solid in the endgame. The double minor piece endgame with four pawns on each side was testing for black, as white had both a pair of bishops and the more active king. Strand however kept his concentration well today. Helped by Prilleltensky´s obligatory time shortage, the 14 year old succeeded in exchanging all the remaining pawns and pieces before 60 moves.”

Se: Matan Prilleltensky (2222) – Vetle Bjørge Strand (2053), ½-½.

Open Group 6:

”15 year old Ben Samuel Groth Skaar (1704) needed only 19 moves to defeat Karim Ali (1696), true enough as the unpredictable veteran blundered gravely in a messy position. Eriksen and Skaar following this are sharing the second place with Solberg at 5.0/6, only half a point behind Arovén.”

Se: Ben Samuel Groth Skaar (1704) – Karim Ali (1696), 1-0.

The Lahlum round report 7:

”The game between 14 year old Norwegian talent Vetle Bjørge Strand (2053) and Dutch IM Gerard Welling (2272) first was a rather pancake Modern opening, as black within the first 6 moves played g6–d6–a6–b6– h6. Black´s strategy later was first to exchange the bishop at c3, disrupting white´s queenside pawn structure, then to place a strong knight on the c5 square, and then to close off the position. White in turn exchanged off his dark-squared Strand vs Welling bishop for the knight at c5 and then helped black to close off the position. As both had completed their strategy, a draw was agreed in a bank box type of position after 34 moves – still with all 16 pawns on the board.”

Se: Vetle Bjørge Strand (2053) – IM Gerard Welling (2272), ½-½.

Open Group 7:

”The second board junior duel between 16 year old Olai Dyrhaug Eriksen (1767) and 15 year old Ben Samuel Groth Skaar (1704) was a fairly balanced Sicilian duel, agreed a draw after 24 moves.”

Se: Olai Dyrhaug Eriksen (1767) – Ben Samuel Groth Skaar (1704), ½-½.

The Lahlum round report 8:

”The talented Norwegian teenager duel between Shazil Shehzad (2224) and Vetle Bjørge Strand (2053) started up with a Caro-Kann in which black played 1.--- c6 and 3.--- c5?!. Not unexpectedly this gave a French-like position under favourable circumstances. Strand later spent very much time without finding any very good plans. Consequently white after 19 moves had a promising kingside attack with 47 against 5 minutes on the clock. Both players made some mistakes later on, but white was in the driving seat all of the time and before 40 moves landed in a won position with queen, rook, bishop and five pawns against queen, rook, bishop and three pawns. Black after 40 moves got new time but no new pieces, and resigned as he after 46 moves was four pawns down and still under attack.”

Se: Shazil Shehzad (2224) – Vetle Bjørge Strand (2053), 1-0.

Ben Samuel Groth Skaar (1704), Tanums SS och Fredriksstad SS – Max Moe Pedersen (1881), Hell SK, ½-½. Foto: Tom Eriksen.

Open Group 8:

”Third board was a teenager duel between Ben Samuel Groth Skaar (1704) and Max Moe Pedersen (1881), in which a winner could also reach 6.5/8. The game made a rather original start with 1.Nc3 d5 2.e4 d4. White for a while later was clearly better due to his pair of bishops, but helpfully exchanged it all down to a rook and bishop endgame which was an easy draw due to the opposite-coloured bishops. Solberg following this remained an unshared second before the last round, while a winner on board four could join Skaar and Pedersen at shared third place with 6.0/8.”

Se: Ben Samuel Groth Skaar (1704) and Max Moe Pedersen (1881), ½-½.

The Lahlum round report 9:

”The 14 year old Norwegian Vetle Bjørge Strand (2053) stayed true to his Veresov system with 1.d4 2.Nc3 3.Bf4 also in his last white game against Laurin Perkampus (2123). That however was no success as the German junior obviously arrived very well prepared, and much due to his c-file pressure came better from the opening. As white defended creatively but loosely with 16.Na2?, black could just have played 16.--- Nxc2!! 17.Rac1 Bh4! > 18.--- Ng3+ with a more or less winning attack. Black instead exhanged the knights and still had a promising kingside attack running. This increased as white allowed a strong exchange sacrifice at c5. Black following this anyway had a winning attack when white overlooked 28.--- Be4! with the decisive threat of 29.--- Qxh3 mate. Perkampus at 3,5/8 finished exactly at his expected score, while Strand at 3.0/9 had a performance equal to his current Elo of 2053. This qualifies as a good result, as he following a very good result in the World Youth Championship now had to defend an Elo above 2050 for the first time.”

Se: Vetle Bjørge Strand (2053) – Laurin Perkampus (2123), 1-0.

Open Group 9:

The struggle for the top prizes in the Open was decided within three hours. Second rated Swedish player Mikael Arovén (1997) was in the lead with 7.0/8, half a point ahead of top rated Norwegian FM Joachim Solberg (2167). Arovén on the first board had black against 18 year old Max Moe Pedersen (1881), while Solberg on the second board had black against 15 year old Ben Samuel Groth Skaar (1704). Solberg under pressure to win went for a Sicilian duel, but facing a solid Maroczy set up he found nothing better than a stream of exchanges. A draw following this was agreed upon black´s suggestion after 18 moves, Top-3 in the Open: Helland, Solberg and Arovén as the players were about to enter a drawish endgame with two rooks, one minor pieces and four pawns in each camp. Arovén in the meantime was not successful with his black Modern opening, as white after exchanging off the queens at d8 got the d-file and a notable initiative from the opening. As white failed to find the most critical lines black however somehow was able to stabilize the postion. White was slightly better due to his pair of bishops and space advantage, but neither of them gave much in a rather closed postion. The first board duel between Pedersen and Arovén following this was drawn by a fairly sound repetition after 35 moves, confirming a well deserved and unshared first prize for our Swedish chessfriend Arovén at 7.5/9.

Se: FM Joachim Solberg (2167) – Ben Samuel Groth Skaar (1704), ½-½.

Fagernes International Autumn GM gruppen 2022:

Plac:	Titel:	Namn:	Klubb/Nation:	Rating:	Poäng:	Elo-prestation:
01	GM	Narayanan S L	Indien	2663	7,0	2737
02	GM	Abhimanyu Puranik	Indien	2603	7,0	2721
03	GM	Anton Demchenko	FIDE (RUS)	2645	7,0	2629
54		Vetle Bjørge Strand	TSS/FSS	2053	3,0

Totalt deltog det 60 deltagare.

Vi kan konstatera att Vetle stod för en habil insats mot starkt motstånd, när han gick minus 2,4 Elo-poäng.

Fagernes International Autumn den öppna gruppen 2022:

Plac:	Titel:	Namn:	Klubb/Nation:	Rating:	Poäng:	Kvp:
01		Mikael Arovén	Kungstornet	1997	7,5	40,5
02	FM	Joachim Solberg	Hønefoss SK	2167	7,0	44,0
03		Philip Z Helland	Porsgrunn SK	1710	7,0	34,0
04		Ben Samuel Groth Skaar	TSS/FSS	1704	6,5	40,0

Totalt deltog det 55 deltagare.

Här kan vi konstatera att Ben Samuel spelade mycket bra när han endast förlorade en enda match och det var då mot den slutlige segraren Mikael Arovén, Kungstornet och i övrigt gick Ben Samuel obesegrad. I sista ronden spelade han till exempel remi mot FM Joachim Solberg. Å totalt gick Ben Samuel plus hela 129,6 Elo-poäng!

Fagernes Slow Blitz II:

Fredagen den 14:e oktober avgjordes Fagernes Slow Blitz II över sju ronder. Tävlingen avgjordes i två grupper (över och under 1800 i blixt-Elo) med den stipulerade betänketiden: 5 minuter +3 sekunders inkrement per drag. Turneringen ingår i Norges Grand Prix 2022-23.

Fagernes slow Blitz II grupp-B 2022:

Plac:	Titel:	Namn:	Klubb/Nation:	Rating B:	Poäng:	Kvp:
01		Ben Samuel Groth Skaar	TSS/FSS	1755	6,0	21,5
02		Vinjar Hammari	Alta SK	1776	5,5	21,0
03		Simen Nikolai Storlid	Porsgrunn SK	1566	5,0	20,0

Totalt deltog det 22 deltagare.

Ben Samuel manifesterade sin synnerligen goda form genom att vinna B-gruppen i det långsammar blixtformatet (5 minuter +3 sekunder)!

Fagernes Autumn Blitz II 2022:

Lördagen den 15:e oktober avgjordes Fagernes Autumn Blitz II över nio ronder. Tävlingen spelades med den stipulerade betänketiden: 3 minuter +2 sekunders inkrement per drag. Turneringen ingår i Norges Grand Prix 2022-23.

Fagernes Autumn Blitz II 2022:

Plac:	Titel:	Namn:	Klubb/Nation:	Rating B:	Poäng:	Kvp:
01	IM	Elham Abdulrauf	Oslo SS	2434	9,0	39,0
02	GM	Keith Arkell	Bærum SK	2336	7,0	40,5
03	FM	Ward Al-Tarboush	Oslo SS	2269	7,0	37,5
04		Vetle Bjørge Strand	TSS/FSS	1953	6,0	41,5
17		Ben Samuel Groth Skaar	TSS/FSS	1755	4,0	31,0