Uppsala GM – for the first time
Parallel to Uppsala Young Champions, this year also a grand master tournament – Uppsala GM – is played, where several Swedish players are given the opportunity to meet really strong opposition and also take norms in IM or GM titles.
Four players from Ukraine, one each from Russia and Belarus and four Swedes form the team and they a round robin tournament. The Swedes are GM Thomas Ernst from Uppsala, FM Theodor Kenneskog, Stockholm, FM Tom Rydström, Växjö and the joker Max Wahlund from Linköping.
Wahlund is one of Sweden’s most active players and regularly writes on the blog INTE BARA SCHACK. He is even doing that during this tournament!
Jung Min Seo won Uppsala Blitz 2019
As tradition offers, a strong blitz tournament was played on Sunday evening during the Uppsala Young Champions. Most of the players in the competition took part in the blitz, and together with some local players it became a very strong and exciting competition.
The winner, with 8 wins and just three draws in the eleven rounds, was FM Jung Min Seo from Stockholm. And second came IM Li Min Peng from Ukraine. Winners of the rating groups were Adrian Söderström and Gabriel Bergqvist. Congratulations!
Ukraine in the lead
After five rounds of this year’s Uppsala Young Champions, 18-year-old Yevgeniy Roshka from Ukraine is in the lead. In the fifth round, he defeated top-ranked Norwegian Sebastian Mihajlov, who had previously been unbeaten.
Roshka plays black and has sacrificed a pawn to open lines against Mihajlov’s king. And now he is sacrificing one more to finish the game!
21…f5! 22.exf5 exf5 23.Bxf5 If White doesn’t take the pawn, black continues with f5-f4 and the attack breaks through. But this move doesn’t work either. 23…Rde8! Elegant! 24.Be4 After, for example 24.Qd2 follows 24… Ne3 †! 24…Bxe4 25.Nxe4 Ndf6 26.c5 26.Nfd2 Nxe4 27.Nxe4 Qh7! doesn’t help either. 26…Nxe4 27.Qa6 † Kd8 28.cxb6 Ne3†! and Black won in a few moves.
Big surprise in round 2
In the second round of the Uppsala Young Champions, young Uppsala player Julia Östensson surprised the crowd. She entered the competition on a reserve spot, but did not show her clearly higher ranked opponent any respect. Her opponent was Axel Berglind from SK Rockaden in Stockholm and he has previously won, among other things, the Swedish youth championship.
Julia has tried to break through on the queens wing, and has a very dangerous passed pawn on c7. Axel’s counterplay has just been stopped and his latest move 34 … Rg6-g7 is a way to try to exchange one or some of Julia’s attacking pieces. But Julia has seen longer and finishes with elegance:
35.Rxe7 †! Rxe7 36.Rxd6 †! Kxd6 and now it is just for the pawn to take the last step after which the game is decided 37.c8Q Rd7 38.Bc5 † and black resigned.
We are started!
The first round of Uppsala Young Champions was played on Friday night, and went well. Some of the players came flying directly from other competitions and did not arrive on time, but they will play their first round later in the week instead.
Most of the results went according to plan, but some surprises are worth noting. For example, young Axel Falkevall with black won against Hampus Sörensen and Joar Östlund took a merit victory against significantly higher ranked Arvin Rasti.
As usual, we are happy to welcome players from many nationalities to Uppsala, this year they come from Norway, Denmark, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Italy, Ukraine and Belarus.
6th Uppsala Young Champions is played 25-30 October 2019
The invitation to this years tournament is now published. Very welcome to submit your entry!
Icelandic victory in Uppsala Young Champions 2018
Hilmir Freyr Heimisson took the lead in the tournament and never let it go. He won half a point before Jere Lindholm from Finland and another half point before five Swedish players, where Kaan Küçüksarı got the 3rd prize.
Heimisson remained undefeated during the tournament, but his games were not cautious. As in the game from the first round against Jere Lindholm.
Heimisson (white) has seemingly got his own rook trapped. But he knows what he is doing. After 19.Rxc6! bxc6 20.Nxc6 has whites remaining pieces a lot of life and the a-pawn looks dangerous. 20…Qd6 21.a4 Rb6 22.Ra1 Re8 23.a5 Ra6 24.Dc4 Raa8 25.Ne5! and the threats against a8 and f7 decided the game.
Congratulations to Hilmir and Iceland!
Interview with Collin and Stephan
Hard fight to the end
Before the last round of Uppsala Young Champions Hilmir Freyr Heimisson from Iceland is still in the lead, but only half a point before Jere Lindholm from Finland and another half point before a group of swedes.
Follow the last round live at www.uppsalayoungchampions.se/live/ from 3 pm.