The second round also contained some eventful games. Once the dust had settled it became clear that the third round would contain an early final between the tournament favourite Nigel Short and the young Swedish talent Nils Grandelius.
Playing Black against Tomi Nybäck, Short faced the Catalan. The position looked equal but when the Englishman played 17...a5, Nybäck failed to react in the best manner. 19.b5 looked better than 19.Rab1 and when the Finnish player miscalculated (he thought 25...Rxd4 was impossible because of 26.Qb7 but this was not the case) Short took control of the game and could steer it to victory.
Ivan Sokolov took huge risks with the black pieces against Nils Grandelius in an attempt to get some winning chances. The most clearcut example was 34...Kh7 to prevent White from exchanging rooks with Ra6-a8. As on many previous occasions, this tactic simply backfired. According to Fritz, Grandelius missed the promising continuation 49.Qc3+ Kg8 50.Qc6 but when he got a second chance after Sokolov played the weak 57...h5+ (57...Qc8+ with the idea 58.Kh5 Qe8 holds the position) he showed no mercy.
The longest game of the day was the encounter between the top two Swedish players, Emanuel Berg and Tiger Hillarp Persson. Berg played the unusual 8.Qd3 and a few moves later (after 12.Rf1) Hillarp sunk into deep thoughts. He didn't manage to solve all his problems and ended up in an uncomfortable endgame. Despite serious timetrouble, Hillarp managed to reach forty moves in a position that looked, at least to me, drawish. But all the hard work was wasted by the blunder 65...Rd6 which cost him the pawn on c5. After this, Berg had no problems in securing the full point.