Stockholm Chess Challenge 01: Young Talents compete in Sweden

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 07/03/2017

The Stockholm Chess Challenge began in Sweden on 6 March 2017 with four grandmasters competing for 30,000 SEK. The field includes three Indians and 24 hungry and talented young players. We have an illustrated report with beautiful portraits by Lars OA Hedlund.

Stockholm Chess Challenge 01: Young Talents compete in Sweden

Photos by Lars OA Hedlund

The first round of Stockholm Chess Challenge started on 6th March at the Memory Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden. The tournament is being organized by Stockholm's Chess Society and Stockholm Chess Federation. The event is sponsored by technology company Data Respons and co-sponsored by Memory Hotel, the host of the tournament.

The time control is the spacious 40 moves in 90 minutes, then the rest of the game 15 minutes, 30 secs. per move from move 1. The prize fund is 30,000 SEK, which roughly translates to Rs. 2,22,000, which is very good for a 24-player tournament.

GM Erik Blomqvist (2554) of Sweden is the top seed. There are 4 GMs in the fray.

The first round already had some upsets.

The major one: The Swedish talent Milton Pantzar (2257) beat IM Aman Hambleton.

Andreas Tryggestad managed to hold a draw...

...against GM Adam Tukhaev, who recently won two tournaments in India.

The Russian talent Stefan Pogosyan beat...

...his higher rated opponent Hemant Sharma, India.

Eivind Olav Risting, Norway, won also surprisingly against Tor Fredrik Kaasen.

FM Rakesh Kumar Jena suffered a defeat in the first round against IM Jonathan Westerberg.

As did Sahil Tickoo, the lowest seed in the tournament.

See the games from Round 01 with analysis by ChessBase 14:

Round 2 on 2017/03/07 at 10:00

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	9	IM	Lindgren Philip	2421	1		1	GM	Blomqvist Erik	2554	1
2	12	IM	Haubro Martin	2347	1		1	GM	Maiorov Nikita	2518	3
3	4	IM	Westerberg Jonathan	2475	1		1	FM	Stefansson Vignir Vatnar	2353	11
4	19	FM	Risting Eivind Olav	2283	1		1	GM	Bajarani Ulvi	2466	5
5	6	IM	Hansen Mads	2446	1		1		Pantzar Milton	2257	20
6	2	GM	Tukhaev Adam	2541	½		1	CM	Pogosyan Stefan	2215	22
7	8	IM	Hambleton Aman	2441	0		½	FM	Garberg Tryggestad Andreas	2324	14
8	17		Tuomainen Felix	2297	0		0	FM	Kaasen Tor Fredrik	2442	7
9	10		Hemant Sharma	2399	0		0	FM	Thorn Eric	2284	18
10	13	FM	Mihajlov Sebastian	2346	0		0	FM	Erdene Baasansuren	2221	21
11	15	FM	Kenneskog Theodor	2323	0		0		Sahil Tickoo	2180	24
12	23		Sorensen Hampus	2192	0		0	FM	Rakesh Jena Kumar	2315	16

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