The international match against Norway

The match was played on 25–26 May in the beautiful banquet hall of the Oslo Craftsmen’s Association and resulted in a well-deserved Danish victory by a margin of four points.

Lady Luck may nevertheless be suspected of having had a hand in the proceedings. For example, after mishandling a pawn sacrifice against Myhre, Palle Nielsen unexpectedly had the chance to redeem himself with an exchange sacrifice. This proved the turning point of the battle. Seventeen-year-old Bent Larsen, the youngest member of the team, also escaped the consequences of an oversight brought on by hasty play. By putting all his efforts into it, he managed to repair his position and soon afterwards could chalk up a full point. A fine debut, as one might have expected.

Otherwise, Haahr was naturally the man of the moment with his two victories; his rook ending from the first round was a real treat. Axel Nielsen also scored above 50% and showed that, despite several years’ absence, he is still dangerous. The others were more ordinary; however, in his second game against Vestøl, Jens Enevoldsen had an extra pawn in the endgame, but in his unfathomable kindness traded away this winning chance in exchange for a draw in Verner Nielsen’s adjourned game, in which the latter stood slightly worse. In his game with White against Barda, Chr. Poulsen played like an angel, whereas with Black he mistakenly exchanged his king’s bishop as early as the opening, left a hole on d6, and lost. Harald Enevoldsen and Kupferstich both played energetically but tried in vain to win, although Harald thought at one stage that he had his opponent on the hook. And Johs. Christensen and E. Verner Nielsen should be told that their play is far too ponderous; could we have a little more freshness next time?

The Norwegians were, as usual, hospitable and warm-hearted, and among other things we enjoyed a wonderful outing to Holmenkollen. At the closing communal meal, the Norwegian organiser thanked us for our visit, after which the chairman of the Danish Chess Union, F. K. Villumsen, expressed the Danish participants’ pleasure at the successful trip to Norway in commendably brief terms.

E. Verner Nielsen