08.08.2009 Hard fight draw on the first table!   
Before the tournament The Chess Phantom blog had a lot of profiles about all the  GM's and even some of the IM's. He could not foresee the happening when and of course he regret of not making a profile on the hottest name of the tournament.

"The game that was on every ones lips was of course US Wonderboy Ray Robson versus GM Monika Socko on first board. Both with 2750+ performances, and they are the true starts of this tourment so far! With a victory one of them even could get a 1 point gap to the rest of the field with a few draws going their way - but quite the opposite happened. IM Ray Robson got what looked like a clear edge to me even though he sacrificed a pawn. He had an advantage in both space and piece activity and white possessed the half open b-file. No doubt white had an advantage but a pawn is a pawn and it wasn't so easy to make progress. Analyses shows at least that it is hard to make progress in this quite closed position with no effective breaks for white. Robson played for an attack with his pieces, but he had to accept the draw when he reached the time control at move 40. Then he had used all his time, and he even was in some time trouble, even though it looked quite controlled. A relevant result in a hard fought game. Our two Stars of the tournament are still unbeaten with 6/7! They share a 3-way tie with IM Petrov with Socko first, Petrov second and Robson third on tiebreaks. It's funny how Monika keeps it in the family when her husband nder performs. She really deserves all the credit in the world being the only player in the field with a 2700+ performance!!!" 

He also is writing:
"I'm extremely impressed by both players so far. Especially by Robson the young that never been in anything close to trouble so far in the tournament! He already met 5 titled players (3 GMs) and his TPR is 2679! This guy is running for a GM-norm and he will fight for tournament victory. The irony is that Robson will face IM Marijan Petrov in the next round of Arctic Chess Challenge Saturday at 12 O'clock Norwegian time (GMT +1). Who could guess that two IM's was going to play first board of such a strong tournament in the penultimate round! ? Monika's performance is also overwhelming and the same you can say about the third player in the 3-way tie for first - IM Petrov. It's actually quite realistic that a 2500- wins ACC and in the preview I delivered Chessbase I wrote "At least eight of the GMs, all with ratings over 2550, have a fair shot at the first prize money". Yeah, right! - and what about the IMs and the women??"

(jsb)

These pictures are taken by Yolandi Yodenal, and you find them some of them on the   and more of them here

07.08.2009 ChessBase report 
A second report from the ACC is now available on the English ChessBase website, read the report here. The German version is available here.

07.08.2009 Round 7 Video 
A video from the start of round 7 has been posted, .

07.08.2009 ACC in Nettavisen 
The Norwegian net-only newspaper Nettavisen is paying close attention to the ACC. Read their reports here (in Norwegian).

07.08.2009 Chessdom is watching ..  
The media around is keeping an eye on us, and we have been to several newspapers, and websites as well as radio. Soon we probably will be on film too! Here is a nice report from Tromsø at Chessdom. The author is our own Sven :) (jsb)

07.08.2009 Remember to sign up for the BLITZ 19:00->   
The blitz-tournament will be played in the cafeteria. Sign up either here on the web or in a list at the cafeteria. This tournament is open to everybody. 9 rounds SWISS. The usual system of payment 50/100 is used.
PRIZES: 1. 300 EUR  2. 200 EUR  3. 100 EUR  4. 50 EUR    +    50 EUR in R1, R2, R3, Junior and Woman. Total prize fund: 900 EUR = 8100 NOK (jsb)

07.08.2009 Round five commentaries   
"The 6th round of Arctic Chess Challenge saw the rise and fall of favorites. IM Ray Robson looks super strong and he has played some excellent chess so far! He is now tied for first together with the big sensation of the tournament - GM Monika Socko (2449) from Poland! If we get a winner in the game Robson - M. Socko Friday he/she can get a full point's lead - that would be amazing! 19 years Jon Ludvig Hammer also won in attack today and he is in the race for tournament victory - this is good news for the host nation Norway! A big upset today was GM Yuri Drozdovskij (2620) losing to IM Kalle Kiik (2620) as white. Also GM Bartosz Socko (2656) gave away points, and now we start to get used to it. The Norwegian FM Kjetil Stokke made a draw and he has excellent chances for an IM-norm now with a 2500+ performance so far." (jsb)

These pictures are taken by Sven, The Chess Phantom, bringing you tournament news

06.08.2009 SOCCER!!   
Today was the day for the second boat-trip, and the the day for the soccerinterested chess players! Simen Agdestein organized a nice Berger-tournament where more than twenty persons participated. The results: Team Koi won all their matches and became the winners of the tournament. On the team: Vegard Koi Gandrud, Lasse Løvik, Espen Forså, Nikolai Getz, Kristoffer Madland and Anders Hagen.

Also participating in the tournament as far as I know: Mats Bergvoll, Benjamin Arvola, Even Thingstad, Johannes Kvisla, Jon Ludvig Hammer, Chatrine Tjølsen, Marianne W. Haug, Eirik Nordbakken, Kjetil Stokke, Nikolai Mikkelsen, Gregor Taube, Frode O. O. Urkedal, Peter Prohl, Marijan Petrov, Sondre Waage Tofte, Øystein A Skaagedal and Harald Groetz. You can see more pictures of this transpirational performance in this gallery.

By the way, at the same time as the chessplayers had their tournament our soccer team from Tromsø won their second match against Slaven Belupo with 2-0. With a total score of 4-1 they will continue in the UEFA Europa League. Yihaaa! (jsb)

06.08.2009 Round five commentaries   
Our  Chess Phantom is impressed by young Ray: "14 years old IM Ray Robson (2491) played the game of the day. He showed a lot of great chess in Tromsø so far, and with aggressive play he gives himself opportunities, and when the tactics show up, Ray is always on alert! Today he played the white side of a main line Caro Kann with 4...Bf5 against Vadim Malakhatko (2570). After a long theoretical line Ray choose a quite new idea of GM Rauf Mamedov, played at GM level in 2006. The direct 14.Nf1!? with the idea attacking g4-g5 has been played in many games the last couple of years and it has served white well. Malakhatko went wrong with 17.Nd5 and Robson got a clear edge. Perhaps the direct 20.h6! was even better since Malakhatko got in a blockade with his 20...Qh6! Robson got in his h6! in move 28 and Malakhatko did blunder on the spot with 28...Rd6?.  He had to try 28...gxh6 29.N3g4 Nxg4 30.Nxg4 f5! 31.Nxh6+ Kf8 and white still has a lot to prove. When Ray first got an attack  with 29.N3g4 he was brilliant! A nice win from the young IM who has great chances for a GM-norm in this tournament." (jsb

These pictures are taken by Sven, The Chess Phantom, bringing you tournament news

06.08.2009 Radio Link   
Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) has now posted the radio report from the mountain trip. Read more and listen here.

06.08.2009 NRK Radio   
A reporter from NRK Radio accompanied the chess players on their mountain trip yesterday. The report will be sent today in the national P1 program "Kveldsåpent", which is on from 7 to 11 p.m. We will post a link to the radio program later.

06.08.2009 Round 6 Video   
Round 6 of the ACC 2009 started at 12 noon local time. We have posted a short video from the start of the round, .

05.08.2009 Round 5 Video   
We have posted a video from the start of round 5, . A lot more photo and video is available here and at Susan Polgar's blog. 

05.08.2009 Only GM Sarunas Sulkis has 4/4   
The third round is usually a though round, since the clashes between the strongest players in the tournament is starting. In the Chess Phantom Blog today you can read about this, and you can see pictures of the democracy(!) in the tournament hall! He is also telling you to keep your eyes wide open for the great talent of 13 year old Peter Flermoen. Susan Polgar is still around here, and many more things .....

"Blue sky and temperatures at mid 20 Celsius. Guest of Honour Susan Polgar and GM Simen Agdestein enjoyed the weather at the playing venue today. Susan is watching parts of the round and it must be inspiring for all the young talents in the tournament to have a former World Champion watching their game! Simen is part of the organization staff and skills as a mini-bus driver is appreciated with so many young players around."

  (jsb)

These pictures are taken by Sven, The Chess Phantom, bringing you tournament news

04.08.2009 100 countries! (an we add more servers!)
Our site is popular these days. Today we saw the country number 100 entering our site to see what's happening here far north. Actually we are so popular that some of the servers providing LIVE and RESULTS are having trouble. To make the situation better for you to see the RESULTS there is now to servers available: and RESULTS 2

04.08.2009 Midnight Fishing
Last night a midnight fishing trip was organised. Susan Polgar has posted some nice photos from the fishing trip, view them here. More photos from the trip (and from round 1 to 4) at sjakk.net.

04.08.2009 Round 3 and 4 Photos
Some photos from round 3 and 4 have been added to our . The new photos are no. 100-141 in the gallery. More photos (and video) are available via our photo and video page.

04.08.2009 Round 4 Video
A new video from the start of round 4 has been posted, . You can find more video and photos here.

04.08.2009 Rough time for the GM's in the tournament
The Chess Phantom Blog is today telling us about the hard time for the GM's in the tournament, and also about the talented young players from our country. A chessgame is a fight, and maybe it is most enjoyable when it is not close to perfect:

"Sondre Waage Tofte (2119) played the Italian IM Fabio Bruno (2455) as white in a Taimanov Sicilian. The 17 years old Junior Champion Tofte played it sharp and castled long. He then launched an attack with f4, f5 and after the strong sacrifice 17.Bb5! Waage Tofte got up a big edge versus the strong IM! After the sober 21.Nxd6+ Ke7 22.Nxc8+ Rxc8 23.Rf1! white would have excellent winning chances in a material unbalanced position. Instead Waage Tofte blundered with 21.Qxd6? and black got gradually better till the moment that he was completely winning. Then Bruno returned the favor with 26...Nb4?? and in time trouble for Bruno white had all the chances in the world to make a draw. But he didn't, and in a far from perfect game white was mated in two at move 38. That brought Bruno to 3/3 and who would believe that two Italian IM's with 2455 was sharing a 4 way tie for first after 3 rounds?"   (jsb)

These pictures are taken by Sven, The Chess Phantom, bringing you tournament news

   

Bjørn Berg Johansen on the fishing trip.
He gave his camera to someone else and suddenly he was captured in a magic moment!

03.08.2009 Side activities
ACC is not only a chess tournament, it is also a gathering to show our city to the rest of the world. Therefore we try to bring our guests out of the playinghall and into the fantastic nature. Here is our program during the days in Tromsø :

	Mon 3/8	Tue 4/8	Wed 5/8	Thu 6/8	Fri 7/8	Sat 8/8
Round	15.00	15.00	15.00	12.00	12.00	12.00
Guided walk downtown	10:30-13:30
Fishing trip	20:00-24:00
Boat trip around the island with M/S Caroline Mathilde		10:30-13:30		18:00-21:00
Mountain trip to Fløya by the cable car			11.00-13.00
Soccer tournament in Skarphallen				19:00-22:00
Blitz					19:00-22:00
Jan Sigmund's Barbecue Party!						19:00-23:00

03.08.2009 Norway's Coming Stars
Peter Flermoen, Gregor Taube and Torgeir Kjøita are all born in 1996, and they are all very promising players. In 2014, they will win the chess olympiad in Tromsø. Read more here.

03.08.2009 The strawberry story!
Started with the HEAT here in the North of Norway! Look!

03.08.2009 Round 3 Video
A video from the start of round 3 has now been posted, . To view more video and photos, go to our photo and video page.

03.08.2009 Photo Gallery
We have posted a gallery with photos from round 1 and 2. Even more photos are available at sjakk.net. These links will be seen in the heading from now on.


03.08.2009 The Grandmasters are dropping points ...
Today you can read more about the GM's dropping points, Amon Simutowe starting in round two, the promising youngsters showing no respect for the elder, and of course Susan Polgar entering the stage.

"14 years old Wonder Boy, and IM, Ray Robson (2491) from the USA has played a lot of strong tournaments in Europe before like Reykjavik Open 2008, Essent 2008 in the Netherlands and Aeroflot Open 2009 in Moscow. In Moscow 2009 f.inc. he beat the strong GMs Van Wely, Bocharov and Akobian in a row in the middle of the tournament! So now you know what this lad is capable of! Today Ray played the white side of a French game versus the local Gunnar Berg Hanssen (2215). In a position where not to much where happening after 16 moves Hanssen blundered by giving Robson a tactical shot with 17.Nxd5!...".

Go to to see the entire report, photos and game analysis (jsb)

These pictures are taken by Sven, The Chess Phantom, bringing you tournament news

02.08.2009 Bjørn Berg Johansen is following us with his camera
Bjørn Berg Johansen is the man bringing you the LIVE-games every day, but he is also making photos all the time. Some of them you can find on his Norwegian website. Take a look at the photos. Some examples below. (jsb)

02.08.2009 Round 2 Results
Like the first round, round two did not bring too many surprises. Two youngsters from Northern Norway gained draws against grandmasters: FM Joachim Thomassen (19) drew GM Igor Khenkin, while Benjamin Arvola (16) drew GM Heikki Westerinen. Another surprise was that 17-year-old Sondre W. Tofte, who recently won the Norwegian Junior Championship, won his game against IM Anna Zozulia.

Results, games and round three parings here. You can download a pgn-file with games here.

More on the ACC:
Sjakk.net photos

02.08.2009 Round 2 Video
A short video from the start of round 2 has now been posted on YouTube.

Also note that Europe Echecs will cover the ACC. Read their first article here.

02.08.2009 The official reports round by round from ACC
Sven Wisløff Nilssen normally writes about chess in the Norwegian language, and especially he follows the big encounters of Magnus. He is famous in Norway for his knowhow about almost everything about chess. During the last three years we have been so lucky to have him to write the reports from what's happening during the rounds, and he has even doing the research of  the masters of the tournament. This time he has written 15 profiles of the players in the ACC. Since he has his own blog, it is most natural to have all his good readings there.

From the first round he bring you pictures and stories about the young players Peter Flermoen and Gregor Taube as well as Frode Bull Jæger and a lot of other persons at the stage. You can even see the game between Bull Jæger and Bartos Socko with comments. Don't ever miss anything of what he is writing! (jsb)

These pictures are taken by Sven, The Chess Phantom, bringing you tournament news

02.08.2009 Round 1
The first round offered few surprises, as almost all higher rated players managed to win their games. There were two notable exceptions, however. Local player Frode Bull Jaeger (elo 2105) drew top seed GM Bartosz Socko (2656), while 13-year-old Gregor Taube, one of the most promising Norwegian youngsters, won against IM Nikolaj Mikkelsen (2389). Play through the games here: Jaeger-Socko and Taube-Mikkelsen.

All results, round two pairings and games are to be found here. You can also download a pgn-file with all games here.

The second round starts today at 3 pm local time. You can follow nine games live here.

More on the ACC 2009:
ChessBase Round 1 Report
Sjakk.net (photo)
Inte bara schack (in Swedish)

01.08.2009 Live Games
In every round of the ACC we will transmit nine games live on the internet. These will not necessarily be the top nine boards. The first round starts at 3 pm Norwegian time, follow the games move by move by clicking on the link below.

Live games here         Pairings and results here

31.07.2009 ACC in the News
Tomorrow at 14.30 Mr Eduardo da Silva, acting mayor of Tromsø, will open the Arctic Chess Challenge. Half an hour later the first round, which you can follow live here, will start. We look forward to a great tournament, and we are confident that all chess fans - both those who come to Tromsø and those who follow the tournament on their computers - will have a great time from August 1st to 9th.

As a major international chess event, the media is paying attention to the ACC 2009. Read more by clicking on these links:
ChessBase
NRK Troms og Finnmark (in Norwegian)
NRK Sjakk (in Norwegian)

We are also pleased to note that IM Ray Robson (14), one of the young stars participating in the ACC, recently won the US Junior Championship with a USCF performance rating of 2751. Read more here.

Finally, do not forget to visit .  

26.07.2009 Politiken Cup
In just six days, the first round of the Arctic Chess Challenge will be played in Scandic Hotel. Quite a few of the players who are coming to Tromsø have played in Politiken Cup in Denmark, which finished today.

The very talented Benjamin Arvola of Tromsø was very close to scoring his first IM norm. The 16-year-old beat GM Yrjo Rantanen and IM Rasmus Skytte, finishing on 6,5 out of 10. The 19-year-old Joachim Thomassen, also hailing from Northern Norway, showed very good form with 7 points against strong opposition. GM Jon Ludvig Hammer, the top Norwegian player in the ACC, beat GM Sune Hansen in the last round, and shared 7th place with 7,5 points.

If you want to look at the complete results and play through some games, go to the Politiken Cup website.

In the coming days, do not forget to visit . There you can find profiles of the strongest players participating in the ACC, including GM Monica Socko and GM Yuri Drozdovsky.

22.7 2009 "The Chess Phantom blog" profiles the masters
Presentations of the GM's is coming every day from . Normally this blog is written in Norwegian, but everything he writes about ACC will be in the most international language, English.

Today we can read about the new Swedish Champion . You will find , , , and here as well.

Also some of the IM's will there be a blog about  and some days ago became the first. Here are some pictures of the strong players profiled so far:

From left corner: , , , , , og (jsb)

 

More GM's and IM's you will find in the days to come. (jsb)

1.7.2009 Two Strong Masters
The top favourites in the 2009 Arctic Chess Challenge are of course the Grand Masters participating, but they are not the only ones who can play spectacular chess. Among the others players, IM Ray Robson of USA and IM Torbjørn R. Hansen of Norway are of special interest. The 14-year-old Robson has been described by Susan Polgar as the new Bobby Fischer, whilst Hansen was the first coach of Magnus Carlsen.

To read more about Robson and Hansen, go to the Tromsø 2014 website. 

16.6.2009 Side Events
The 2009 Arctic Chess Challenge will be something to remember, both on and off the chess board. We are not satisified with simply giving you a great tournament, we want to give you the full arctic experience!

The following side events are planned:
- Boat trip in the surroundings of Tromsø
- Excursion to one of the many mountains around Tromsø
- Fishing in the sea (and also eating the fish on the spot!)
- Barbeque party
- Chess pub in the centre of Tromsø, where 2-3 blitz events will be held
- Guided tour in the centre of Tromsø

10.6.2009 112 players - 32 GMs & IMs - 36 countries
The lineup in the Arctic Chess Challenge just keeps getting stronger. Every day new players and new title holders announce their participation in this year's edition of the ACC.

There are now 112 participants, including 12 GMs and 20 IMs, and we still have a month and a half to go before we kick off! Take a look at the list of participants, and book your flight to Tromsø right away.

25.5.2009 An Event You Do Not Want To Miss
This year’s Arctic Chess Challenge is shaping up to be a truly spectacular event. No less than 12 GM’s and one WGM have confirmed their participation. The top rated player is Polish GM Bartosz Socko (2637), just a few elo points ahead of GM Igor Khenkin, Germany. Norwegian chess fans are pinning their hopes on 19-year-old GM Jon Ludvig Hammer, who has played terrific chess lately and is now ranked as number two in Norway. Complete list of players here.

The great lineup in ACC is not all, however: An African junior team is coming to Tromsø, and so is a squad of promising players from South Africa. It’s almost too much, you say? Not at all, we have even more to offer: Former Women’s World Champion Susan Polgar will visit Tromsø during the tournament! And not to forget: The Tromsø summer with a midnight sun you will always remember.

In short: The ACC 2009 is an event you do not want to miss. Book your flight today, or, if you need more information, contact Chief Organiser .

9.10.2008 Welcome to ACC 2009
For the fourth year in a row Tromsø Chess Club invites to an open international chess during the summertime. As previous years, the prizes are sky high by Norwegian standards. The prize fund is on 11. 000 Euros. (jsb)

Last year all rounds was commented by probably the best Norwegian chess-commentator Sven Wisløff Nilssen and here you can read his comments from the last round:

10.8.2008 Final Results
The last round saw GM Matthew J Turner (2493) drawing GM Igor Kurnosov (2617) as white after only 8 moves on Turners proposal. The stronger player Kurnosov secured tournament victory by the result and Turner a place in the sun. Also at the 2nd board GM Sergey Kasparov and GM Vitaly Kunin played a grandmaster draw. 11 moves in the Queens Gambit Accepted brought Kunin (2532) to an excellent score with 7/9 and a TPR at 2631. Then it was all up to the sportsman GM Simen Agdestein to split the players in the lead.

Agdestein played another Norwegian, IM Bjørn Tiller with the white pieces in a Modern Defence. They was out if book after less than 8 moves and Agdestein got the centre and Tiller pressure against it as in all hypermodern openings. It soon became an original positional struggle where Agdestein gradually got an edge. After a tactical sequence starting out with 18...Nxb3 Agdestein ended up with a strong pass pawn at e5 and the better structure. Then Tiller tried to get life in his light squared bishop by sacrificing a pawn, a plan that backfired and Simen won the game fast. GM Simen Agdestein finished a nice tournament performance with 7/9 and a TPR of 2621 - he became second in this years Arctic Chess Challenge on tiebreak ahead of Turner and Kunin. Agdesteins next tournament is Rising Stars vs Experience in Amsterdam the 20. till 30. of August. This is a team tournament where he will meet players like GM Ivan Cheparinov, GM Wang Yue and GM Fabiano Caruana.

GM Vadim Malakhatko (2612) faced FM Peter J Sowray (2327) as white in a Dutch Defence. They played the same variation with 2.Nc3 that Sowray lost with against Kunin but this time it ended up with castling to the same side. Malakhatko didn't get much out of the opening, but suddenly he won a pawn in the middle game. It still was far from simple and they soon reached a Queens-ending with 5 vs 4 pawns. But then Sowray went wrong with 46...Kc8 and he lost it quickly. A more stubborn defence was 46...Ke8 47.Qg8+ Ke7 48.Qxd5 Qe2+ and whites win is not clear at all even though he has chances.

GM Tomas Likavsky (2485) beat the young Norwegian Daniel Jakobsen Kovachev in a Maroczy Bind as white. Likavsky got the thematic break 12.a5! steering up problems for black at the Queens side. Kovachev didn't meet the threats well and Likavsky won a pawn and soon got the pair of bishops too. The grandmaster won it easily and the Slovakian GM ended up on 6.5/9. IM Amon Simutowe (2459) beat the local player Gunnar B. Hanssen in a slave defence as white. Simutowe played the opening rather original and black must have been more than fine during the early middle game. But when the game became sharp the IM was in his right element and won it clear cut. IM Simutowe ended up with 6.5/9.

Peter S Poobalasingam (2203) needed a win against IM Anna Zozulia (2346) to fulfil his dream of an IM-norm. The game was fought out full blooded and became very complex. Poobalasingam had an edge in the middle game but couldn't get anything substantial from it. He then steered up an attack that looked more dangerous than it really was and at a moment IM Zozulia could have turned the table around with the stunning 34...Re8! winning the queen for not enough compensation! In her time trouble Zozulia also got a second chance with 36...Na5 getting real winning chances a piece up but played it "safe" instead and it ended up with a draw. It looked like IM Anna Zozulia was satisfied with her prize as the best female player of the tournament. Peter S Poobalasingam became the best class 1 player.

The local FM Espen Forså got the last money prize for his 10th place after winning an attacking game in the last round. Forså just performed a bit over his own rating, but drew Agdestein and got attention by the local press. Lasse Østebø Løvik (2143) turned around a double rook ending to win the last round getting 6/9 and a TPR of 2372. Young Even Thingstad (2019) also won the final round doing a fine 2295 TPR. Everything went smooth here in Tromsø and the participant expressed their happiness with the tournament. It wasn't just another chess tournament, but a nice experience of the Arctic City of Tromsø with several social arrangements. (swn)

(From the left we see Turner, Kurnosov and Agdestein. Photo: Bjørn Berg Johansen)

Final standings, 9 rounds:
  1. GM Igor Kurnosov (2617) RUS 7.5
  2. GM Simen Agdestein (2583) NOR 7.0
  3. GM Matthew J Turner (2493) ENG 7.0
  4. GM Vitaly Kunin (2532) GER 6.5
  5. GM Vadim Malakhatko (2612) BEL 6.5
  6. GM Tomas Likavsky (2485) SLO 6.5
  7. IM Amon Simutowe (2459) ZAM 6.5
  8. GM Sergey Kasparov (2486) BLR 6
  9. Peter S Poobalasingam (2203) ENG 6
10. FM Espen Forså (2282) NOR 6