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| Reports by Rod McShane (also at:
http://icechess.com/Hrokur2003/reports.php):
Round 6 February 24, 2003 Sokolov caught up with Shirov today in round 6 of the Category XV Stormot Hroksins tournament in Reykjavik by beating the 20-year old local IM Stefan Kristjansson, while the Latvian could only draw with White against Viktor Korchnoi. The two leaders have 4.5/6 with Macieja in third place with four points. Sokolov-Kristjansson followed Avrukh-Morozevich(Bled,2002), a game which was drawn after White’s 17th move, until the Icelander diverged with 16...0-0. Stefan, habitually in time trouble against stronger players, played 25...Qxa2? too quickly. Better was 25...b4 followed by 26…Qxa2 with a probable draw. Ivan’s 26.h6? missed 26.Qd1 followed by 27.Ra1 when the black queen falls. Still, there was some comfort for Kristjansson here. Sokolov had to work hard to win against Stefan´s very solid Slav Defence. A pawn up, Ivan eventually ground out the win in the bishop ending. Shirov-Korchnoi´s Open Spanish provided more than its share of body language for the audience. With less than a minute left on his clock Viktor had to make his last eight moves at a blinding pace to reach a drawn rook ending at move 41 where the players were left with only a and h pawns still standing. Watching the time scramble on the Internet Chess Club coverage in the analysis room, Bacrot thought, with Shirov, that 38.Re7 was winning, but Macieja spotted Viktor´s beautiful queen sacrifice 39.Qxf2. In fact, Shirov´s 38.Re7 was a mistake as 38.Ree6 is winning immediately. Shirov adopted Rodin´s “Thinker” pose at one stage in the middle game in disgust at his own play. Later Korchnoi´s hands clearly showed his nerves as he raced to make those eight moves. Shirov commented afterwards, “This was a terrible game. I was lost, and in the time scramble I was almost winning. There´s nothing more to say. If I had won it would have been a scandal and Viktor was very happy with the draw.” Bartek Macieja tried an Italian Opening against Mickey Adams: "In January I played 4.Bb5 in the Bundesliga with him and didn´t get any advantage. It was a draw. This time I decided to change the line. I was very slightly better but with few chances to win. At one moment I offered him a draw and he declined. I was surprised. The he played a risky move, 20...Be4 and on 28. he offered draw. It was possible to play on with opposite coloured bishops but it would have been a draw whatever we played.” Etienne Bacrot has failed to find any form since arriving in Reykjavik on his first visit here. He last lost to the Russian member of Hrokurinn’s winning 2001/2 league team, Vladimir Malakhov, in the European Club Cup as long ago as July. The French champion today lost his third game of the tournament. In a sideline of the Grunfeld, his 7.Ba3 held few terrors for Luke McShane. Etienne confessed afterwards that he anticipated hardly any of Luke´s moves, particularly the fairly obvious 16...Qc3. After the enforced exchange of queens the result was in little doubt as Luke wreaked havoc with Etienne´s pawn structure. Luke thinks his 10…Qd7 may have been an interesting new move in this line: “Maybe I am being optimistic, but perhaps this is a strong novelty. I decided on it over the board, of course. I was slightly concerned by his possible exchange sacrifice, till I spotted 12...Nd7, maintaining all the same threats.” Oddly enough, the pair last played as long ago as 1992 in the World Under 10s in Duisburg when Etienne was 9 and Luke just 8. They´ve become pretty friendly during this tournament, though, lunching together with Bartek on most days, and playing backgammon in the pub in the evenings. Etienne at least leads with the dice, but really needs his first win soon. The encounter between the two Icelandic grandmasters from Hellir Club, Stefansson-Gretarsson, was fairly uneventful. At move 41 Hannes Hlifar and Helgi Ass exchanged the second pair of rooks and Whites bishop was soon swapped for Black´s knight and the pawn ending agreed drawn at move 54. Rest day 2,000 hot dogs and over 3,000 cans of soft drink. Those are the numbers served and consumed at the Chess Festival held on the Sunday rest day between Rounds 5 and 6 of the Category XV Stormot Hroksins. Certainly, there were too many heads to count at the Reykjavik Art Museum which was as crowded as a shopping mall on Christmas Eve. However many people passed through the building today, the number far exceeded Hrokurinn Club President Hrafn Jokulsson´s hopes: "Never in my wildest dreams did I expect so many people. I was expecting maybe a thousand - something like that." It was fitting that on the chess day for the family two brothers, Ingvar and Sverrir Asbjornsson should contest the final for the Youth Championship of the Hrokurinn and Edda Chess School. Ingvar was the winner on the day and received a Kasparov Chess Computer for his efforts while Sverrir won a chess clock. Ingvar told the daily newspaper “Morgunbladid” afterwards, “My toughest competition was playing against fellow Icelanders Grandmaster Margeir Petursson and IM Stefan Kristjansson in the simuls.” He put up a tough fight again Stefan. 10 year old Julia Ros Hafsteinsdottir treated the crowd to a match agains Gudmundur Dadason, still pushing pawns at the age of 102! But then life expectancy in Iceland is one of the highest in the world. In the Kjarval Room beside the museum´s coffee shop, named after Icelandic artist Johannes Kjarval, Iceland´s first grandmaster Fridrik Olafssson, now 68, gave a simul to 13 senior players. He won ten games, conceding three draws. Senior players even have their own chess club here in Iceland. Many people also showed interest in the tandem chess games, particularly where writer Einar Karason and GM Ivan Sokolov squared off against the singer-songwriter Kristjan Kristjansson (known here simply as KK and very popular) and GM Luke McShane. In this match the Karason/Sokolov team was eventually victorious. Local GMs Helgi Olafsson and Margeir Petursson were assisted in the simuls by Ivan Sokolov, Alexei Shirov, Bartlomiej Macieja, Halgi Ass Gretarsson and Stefan Kristjansson. After his tandem match, Luke McShane stayed on his feet for over two hours giving a simul to all comers. All in all then a pretty extraordinary day which makes it difficult to believe that the Chess School initiative won´t pay huge dividends for the national game in the future. But of course the Hrokurinn Chess School needs money to continue to grow and donors are being asked to support the initiative. By phoning 904-2003 their telephone account is billed for 1000Kr. This amount then goes to the Chess School to help build a chess life for the next generation. |
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| All material © Mark Crowther |
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