Jan Berglund

Eksjö 1976

The fourth international tournament in Eksjö was opened by Birger Öhman, who said, among other things:

“During the past six or seven years, when we in the central chess organization have had to work hard to consolidate chess life throughout our country in every respect, it has been an important necessity that local clubs and regional district associations have taken initiatives and organized various kinds of competitions alongside those arranged by the Swedish Chess Federation. Eksjö Chess Club is one of these bold initiators. As chairman of the Swedish Chess Federation, I would like today to express my heartfelt thanks for this. Three times you have done it successfully; may the fourth time be just as successful! We know that it has demanded an enormous amount of work from the members. From the central level we have mainly been able to assist with financial support. I express my admiration for this distinguished work!”

Jacek Bednarski became a worthy winner of the fourth International Eksjö Tournament. Owing to circumstances beyond his control, he arrived too late for the competition. He had been forced to play a double round on his second day in Eksjö. Despite this, he got off to a veritable cannon start. In succession he defeated Andersson, Spiridonov and Westerinen. He could then calmly coast to the finish, except for a win against Kinnmark.

Always Norms

The Eksjö tournaments have all been successful, because they have always fulfilled their purpose — to give Swedish players norms toward the IM title. The fact that we have many potential IMs in Sweden says something. But it must be possible to hold competitions, many international ones. Just look at England, Holland and Spain. There, numerous tournaments are arranged, and the leading players receive financial support from the state, private companies and their respective national federations. They get so much help that they can devote themselves to chess full-time, which few in Sweden are able to do. Two Swedes in the Eksjö tournament who currently devote themselves to chess more or less full-time are Jaan Eslon, Falköping, and Lars-Åke Schneider, Jönköping. This was also noticeable in their play, as well as in that of the other Swedes who settled near the bottom. Eslon and Schneider fought for the final victory and both achieved an IM norm.

During the four Eksjö tournaments, which have been the only title-qualifying tournaments in Sweden since 1971 (!?!), six Swedes have achieved IM norms. If we had a couple of such tournaments every year, we should without difficulty be able to produce a handful of IMs, probably even more.

Eslon caused a sensation by defeating Westerinen in the second round. The day before, he had won the tournament's miniature against Andersson.

Schneider also began with two wins, but lost in the third round to Westerinen, which made the required 5½ points feel less certain. When he had 5 points after seven rounds, however, it was generally thought that the matter was settled. Playing for a draw with Black against Spiridonov in the final round would not have been the most difficult task. Schneider could instead go all out in the final round and play for a share of first place. Unfortunately his clock fell first, and the tournament's first time-forfeit became a fact. Schneider otherwise played inventively and calmly in that game.

Håkan Åkvist did not have one of his better tournaments. But if we look at his Elo, he scored approximately the number of points that, like last year's Småland master Göran Andersson, he was expected to score. Perhaps the greater disappointment was Ove Kinnmark, whose only chance of becoming an IM probably lies in qualifying for the Swedish Championship and then matching his title requirements. His first norm expires next spring.

Åkvist's norm, like that of the absent Hans Ek, expired this spring. Åkvist can, however, take some consolation from the fact that for the first time he defeated a grandmaster. It happened in the fifth round.