In today's edition of Sydsvenskan, the biggest newspaper in southern Sweden, Lars Grahn noted that during the opening ceremony Nigel Short mentioned that if he played a single lifeless draw during the five rounds, the organisers should have the right to demand that the starting fee be paid back. Such fighting spirit is always appreciated, although as part of the organising committee I see some possibilities of improving the tournament budget...
The game between Short and Emanuel Berg did not give rise to such claims however. The English player quickly got an edge although the advantage was not decisive. In serious time-trouble Berg was unable to defend accurately and just before the timecontrol his position collapsed. Perhaps Berg's biggest mistake came as early as the 7th move. In Johan Hellsten's excellent book on the Kan variation in the Sicilian, he recommends that Black should play 7...b6 instead of Berg's 7...d6 to prevent White from playing his a-pawn to a5.
The game between Tiger Hillarp Persson and Ivan Sokolov started quietly. The middlegame consisted of slow manoeuvring where Hillarp tried to prove that Black's b4-pawn was weak while Sokolov tried to create chances on the kingside since White's knight on a4 and bishop on b2 couldn't participate in the defence. When Black managed to play e6-e5 in the 40th move, it was apparent that he held the advantage. He finished it off in style with the elegant piece sacrifice 46...Nf4+.
Nils Grandelius defended with the Grünfeld Indian against Tomi Nybäck. The Finn played aggressively with 12.f4 and 14.f5. At first it looked as if White's attack on the black squares would crash through but Grandelius defended well. However, a few inexact moves (both 23...Rg4 and 24...Rxf1+ seems better than what was played in the game) gave the young Swedish player problems and a couple of moves later he felt forced to give up the exchange. Nybäck then seemed to be on his way to victory but it looked like he had completely missed Grandelius' piece sacrifice 37...Bxg2+ which forced a draw. Grandelius should probably view this half point as a gift, which seems appropriate since the first round coincided with his sixteenth birthday.