Photo by Mikael Svensson
Abdusattorov-Grandelius
Abdusattorov played an unusual opening variation, which caused Grandelius to use up a lot of time. By playing very fast, Abdusattorov managed to put a lot of pressure on his opponent, which was probably exactly what he had planned. At the critical moments around move 20, Nils failed to find the correct moves, and at move 30, Abdusattorov had built a strong attacking position. He broke through with a series of forceful moves, and right before move 40, black was mated.
Keymer-Ju
With the white pieces in the exchange version in the Queen’s Gambit, Keymer seemed to have a promising position. However, he made a serious mistake at move 27, costing him a piece, with only a pawn as compensation. Perhaps he had missed 29.- Ng5, which prevented mate on h7, while threatening the queen at the same time. Keymer kept fighting, and after a while, it was obvious that it was not going to be easy for Ju to win the game. At last, Keymer had managed to reach a drawn position, but with very little time left, it was hard for him to find the right moves. His final mistake was 64.Kc5, which let the black king out, since he could not play 65.Kc4, due to the the strong 65.- Ng4, and white’s f-pawn falls.
Korobov-Erigaisi
In an initially calm version of the Semi-Slav Defense, things heated up when Erigaisi played the dangerous looking 14.- Dd6, followed by 15.- Bxh2. However, the situation was under control, and when Korobov regained his pawn on d4, this lead to a number of exchanges, and an endgame that nobody could win.
Maurizzi-Svidler
In a long variation in the Anti-Marshall, white had the easier game, but Svidler defended well and safely made it through all problems. After 29 moves, the game ended in a draw by repetition. This game was very interesting from an opening theory point of view.