The 2015 Swedish Chess Festival took place from 11-19th July, at the Selma Spa Hotel****, in Sunne, Sweden.
The highlight of the festival was the 2015 Swedish Championship GM-Group, which was played in a 10-player round-robin tournament.
For the third time in the last four years, the champion was decided by a playoff match and it is no surprise that Swedish #1 player GM Nils Grandelius was involved for the second time. In 2013 he lost against GM Hans Tikkanen in a duel that went all the way to the final Armageddon.
This time Grandelius maintained a full point advantage after the penultimate round, being ahead of GM Emanuel Berg, the other pretender for the title. Only the last-round duel between them should have decided the title. Berg needed to win and chose a “must win” strategy with the sharpest approach after 1.e4 e5, King’s Gambit Variation. After a complicated game he managed to secure the victory and take it all the way to playoff.
Nevertheless, Grandelius outplayed his opponent in the match to clinch the title.
– I’m a different player now and it did not feel like I had any advantage of having played a playoff in the Swedish GM championship earlier. But understandably it hurts not to have done it before. And it could probably be good training for the future to play a playoff in a tight situation. Many champions are determined this way nowadays”, Grandelius says.
Tournament website/ LIVE games with analysis/ Standings and statistics
Swedish Elite Master 2015/ Swedish Master 2015/ Swedish Junior Championship 2015/ Swedish Senior Championship 2015/ Swedish U16 Championship 2015/ Swedish U13 Championship 2015
Final standings:
1. GM Nils Grandelius (2623) – 6.5
2. GM Emanuel Berg (2553) – 6.5
3. GM Erik Blomqvist (2487) – 5.5
4. IM Axel Smith (2449) – 4.5
5.GM Jonny Hector (2485) – 4.5
6. GM Pia Cramling (2512) – 4.5
7. GM Hans Tikkanen (2529) – 4.0
8. GM Daniel Semcesen (2437) – 4.0
9. GM Tiger Hillarp Persson (2564) – 3.0
10. GM Pontus Carlsson (2451) – 2.0