Monday 18 March 2013

Drama in Västerås

When driving Christopher Krantz and me to Husqvarna respective a train station in Nässjö, Håkan Åkvist, Alfa and Omega of Eksjö chess club, said something very interesting.
He said that there is no words or a good way to describe a dramatic of the last round of Swedish league in Västerås.
You can describe a drama in two or five minutes, but it lasted for more than hour.
He had a point there, but I have to try at least, in order to inform my readers on what actually happened in Västerås.
Fot those who wants to know the main things, Limhamn from Malmö won the league and Eksjö secured a place in highest division for the next year. Let´s do it chronologically....


Friday 15th March  6,00 pm

It was equally dramatic at the top of the table as at the relegation battle.
Due to Team Viking´s defeat by administrative mistake against Västerås S.K. it seemed that this club was out of the battle for the first place.
I will not write about protest and all this things which basically decided the outcome of the Elitserien, as you can read it on other chess sites and official web of Swedish chess federation.
Under the conditions in which clubs involved in title race played, the huge victory was made by Limhamn S.K. against Rockaden Stockolm.
LASK from Lund won their match as did Team Viking from Stockholm.
In that moment it looked as it will be the battle between LASK and Limhamn.

At the opposite end of the table, almost already relegated Rockaden Umeå won against Manhem from Gothengurg and it was the huge blow for Manhem.

Örgryte and Burgsvik played 4-4 and it seemed that they secured their position because of unexpected loss for Manhem.

Eksjö played against Team Viking, undoubted the strongest team in Sweden.
I played against strong Grandmaster Vasilios Kotronias and managed to win the game, one more time showing that I am in a really good form.
The third Grandmaster in a very short time.
However, we were not to good for one more surprise, and we lost with 5-3.

Here, I want to point out one thing.
Against the top four teams Eksjö lost against Limhamn and LASK with 4,5-3,5 in completely open matches, and played 4-4 with Rockaden.
We lost 5-3 with Team Viking.

Eksjö SK - Team Viking  3-5

GM Shimanov Alexandr - GM Gdanski Jacek          1-0
IM Bejtovic Jasmin - GM Kotronias Vasilios             1-0
GM Agrest Evgenij - GM Cicak Slavko                   draw
FM Malesevic Nedeljko - FM Carlsson Pontus        0-1 
GM Ivanov Sergej - Krantz Christopher                  1-0
Vernersson Per - GM Berg Emanuel                      0-1
FM Bergström Peter - IM Ornstein Axel                 draw
Thörnert Håkan - Pettersson Anders                      1-0

(Eksjö S.K. players are highlighted)


Saturday 16th March 2,00 pm

That Team Viking means serious they showed in eight round.
They won against Limhamn and in that moment it was a huge help for LASK from Lund.
LASK won against Rockaden Stockolm and Rockaden was definitely out of the race.
In that moment LASK took a lead, by one point in front of Limhamn and two points in front of Team Viking.
In the last round LASK and Team Viking played against each other, while Limhamn played against completely relaxed team of Rockaden Umeå at the time of the match already relegated.

In the relegation battle Manhem did not managed to take more then 4-4 against Västerås, and Örgryte won against Rockaden Umeå to definitely send them in Superettan, while at the same time securing their place in Elitserien.

Eksjö played against Burgsvik and we were clear favourites.
I played for a GM norm, as I needed to win the last two games (in some cases to make 1,5 out of 2).

If I had to win two games against opponents rated around 2240 in average in order to make a GM norm, I considered this as a penalty in football.

I played against Danish FIDE master Niels Fries Nielsen, and got a very promising position.
My opponent is mainly tactical player, and in a strategic battle he quickly got an inferior position.
When he exchanged the queens my advantage became very serious.
I was near to winning.
However, under psychological pressure I made one mistake which neutralised my advantage, and later on one more which put me in an inferior position.
Despite very strong resistance I was forced to resign at the end.
We had 4-3 in that moment, and with a victory in that match, we would secure our place for the next year (only theoretically in a case of large defeat for us and large victory for Manhem in the last round we could go out).
However in the position when he could take a draw with several moves, Grandmaster Gdanski Jacek misplayed his position and went down.
The match ended in a draw 4-4.

Burgsvik Alva SK - Eksjö SK  4-4

GM Cicak Slavko - IM Jens-Ove Fries Nielsen     1-0
FM Andersson Tommy - GM Gdanski Jacek        1-0
IM Bejtovic Jasmin - FM Niels Fries Nielsen          0-1
Krupenski Juri - Vernersson Per                          1-0
GM Schussler Harry - Larsson Victor                   1-0
FM Andersson Björn - IM Ornstein Axel                   draw
Krantz Christopher - Fraenkel Mikael                  draw
Åkerman Axel - FM Malesevic Nedeljko                0-1

Very unlucky match for us.
Everything has to be decided in the last round.

Sunday 17th March 10,00 am

At the end there were so dramatic moments that it is not possible to describe with a words, but I will provide some information.
On the paper the two strongest team played against each other, and Team Viking proved to be to hard nut to crack for LASK and a team from Stockholm won with 5-3.
They overtook a lead, and they were waiting if Limhamn can ruin their match (and title) against the club from the botom of the table, Rockaden Umeå.
Drama was complete, as Limham won but smallest possible margin, 4,5-3,5.

It means that after 30 years of waiting, Limhamn won Swedish league.

Team Viking ended in the second place and LASK from Lund in the third place.

In the relegation battle, Eksjö survived by a miracle.
In order to secure our place, we needed to play 4-4 (in that case Manhem could survive by winning 7,5-0,5 which was far from realistic).
In the case that we lose our match, and Manhem do not win their match we would still stay in the league.
The third scenario was that we lose and Manhem wins, which would mean relegation for us.
I will not write a lot about Manhem´s match, as they had 4-3 in one moment and the clearly better position on the last game (board two), in more or less simple endgame.

In our match, nothing worked well.
Very early we went 2-0 down by straightforward defeats by Christopher Krantz and Slavko Cicak.
Axel Ornstein was on his way to win the game, and Jacek Gdanski played a draw on the second table.
We could count on Harry Schussler and his position, while Per Vernersson had pleasant version of Volga Gambit, my misplayed his position, just to accept a draw in a very sensitive position.
I spent a lot of time and energy trying to crack my opponent, but forcing the matters I found myself in a completely lost position after the time trouble.
In that moment we were clearly on our way to Superettan (the second rank of Swedish team competition).
Malesevic had some winning chances against Mladen Gajic, but to say that he would win that position was just a wishful thinking. It was very clear that it is around draw.
My only goal in my game was to at least create some chances, something out of nothing.
My opponent already got the second time trouble, when the result was 3-3.
I got some cheap tricks work for me, and my position improved dramatically.
I could play on, or play for a draw by perpetual.
In that moment I didn´t seen that my opponent can go out from my checks, and Neno Malesevic only looked what would happen.
Surprised by sudden twist, my opponent did not risked anything and decided to take a draw, and in that moment, Malesevic offered a draw to Mladen Gajic in a queen endgame with a pawn more (probably draw), that he accepted and all of the sudden in the last seconds we got our draw 4-4 !

We did it!

That was not the end of the whole drama, as in that moment Peter Vas from Manhem blundered a piece in the almost winning position, and Danish player who won against me, got one more present.
So even Manhem ended 4-4, so it looks comfortable at the final table, but it is not possible to describe how near was that.
I wish Manhem to go back to Elitserien as soon as possible, and Eksjö S.K. to not repeat so dramatical finish with such a strong team.

Eksjö S.K. - Örgryte S.K.  4-4

FM Frisk Kockum Anton - GM Cicak Slavko       1-0
GM Gdanski Jacek - GM Tukhaev Adam           draw
Kumar Rahul - GM Schussler Harry                    0-1
Vernersson Per - IM Ziegler Ari                          draw
Arnelind Mikael - IM Bejtovic Jasmin                   draw
FM Malesevic Nedeljko - Gajic Mladen               draw
Fransson Patrick - Krantz Christopher               1-0
IM Ornstein Axel - Eksmyr Johan                       1-0


The final table and all other details can be seen on: FINAL TABLE AND ALL DETAILS

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