By Thorbjørn Rosenlund
With an average rating close to 2500, Nordkalotten’s 10th anniversary tournament was the best that Danish chess has to offer in 1990. The North Zealand club has an unusual number of energetic and capable people in its ranks, and back in 1984 it organised the successful women’s IM tournament, the Finlux Ladies Cup. In 1988 the club followed this up with a women’s GM tournament, the Politiken Cup, but this year it took the leap to a “proper” GM tournament.
Through individual sponsorships, among other things—adopting players along the lines of the Politiken Cup/Vejstrup model—it proved possible to bring both Danish grandmasters and several of our best IMs to the starting line, together with colourful foreign players in search of GM norms. The women’s world champion, Chiburdanidze of the USSR, had originally been invited, but at the last moment she was replaced by the 56-year-old veteran Soviet GM Evgeni Vasiukov, who was to prove just as interesting an acquaintance.
As at Nordkalotten’s previous tournaments, conditions for players and spectators alike were first-rate. The club’s playing coach, Andreas Bang, commented on some of the most exciting games in the analysis room, and there was no need to sit staring fixedly at the demonstration boards to enjoy some good days of chess at Græsted School.
The Danes disappointed...
Bent Larsen had an uneven tournament, with good performances alternating with depressing mistakes. The back-rank mate in round two against Hector and the loss of a pawn in round six against Vasiukov were ugly cases of chess blindness, while his defeat by Curt Hansen in round eight was due to carelessness.
Curt Hansen played one of his—very rare—completely unsuccessful tournaments, while the other Danes fought admirably and, with a little wind in their sails, would have finished above 50%. But the six points required for a GM norm would have needed a small hurricane.
A popular victory...
As early as the first round, against Davies, Vasiukov showed that he had come to Denmark to play for more than draws. An original pawn sacrifice followed by precise attacking play put him ahead of the eventual runner-up, who also suffered a loss to Erling Mortensen in the following round.
Vasiukov continued his uncompromising play, which brings success in concrete positions but also unnecessary defeats—although in this tournament only against Lars Bo Hansen—and his tournament victory was both deserved and popular.
Nigel Davies lived in North Zealand for a time and still makes guest appearances for Espergærde’s First Division team. In 1984 he won the club’s accompanying coastal championship and, three years later, shared first place in Espergærde’s IM tournament. With two GM norms, he is still improving.
The Swede Jonny Hector also needs only one more GM norm and a few rating points to become a grandmaster. He may well overtake Thomas Ernst, who already has three norms, in the race to become Sweden’s fifth grandmaster after Andersson, Karlsson, Hellers and Schüssler.
Hector has a reputation, not entirely undeserved, as an unorthodox romantic, but in most cases his sharp play is based on thorough home preparation. In round eight, one such prepared line led to a fine win over Erling Mortensen, a performance that was later awarded the tournament’s brilliancy prize.