21st Heart of Finland Chess Tournament
Finnish veteran Yrjö Rantanen convincing winner
Chessclub Jyväs-Shakki organized the 21st Open Heart of Finland in Jyväskylä, Finland, on 11-17th July, 2011. The playing venue was Harju Building of Jyväskylä College, Sepänkatu 3, Jyväskylä. The Heart of Finland tournament is the biggest annual chess event in Finland.
128 players from eight countries took participation. Six Grandmasters and six International Masters were in the field.
Finnish veteran GM Yrjö Rantanen won the tournament, convincingly and in the most curious fashion. He started with a loss against Teemu Pudas in the first round, but then entered the winning streak and scored in the remaining eight games, leaving the nearest followers full point behind. He takes 1000 EUR home.
The untitled local Jari Järvenpää led the race until the 7th round and a defeat against GM Vorotnikov. Earlier he beat three Grandmasters – Jouni Yrjölä, Maxim Novik and Sarunas Sulskis. That was sufficient for an IM norm.
Is he the Finnish champ?