There were no big changes in the tournament table after the sixth round since four of the five games ended in draws. Tiger Hillarp Persson and Daniel Stellwagen are still sharing the lead.
The encounter between Lars Bo Hansen and Daniel Stellwagen never got exciting. Even though Hansen started the day half a point behind the top duo, his play was very cautious (choosing the exchange variation in a Slav game) and after fourteen moves the players agreed to a draw.
Tiger Hillarp Persson won a pawn against Vasilios Kotronias but immediately chose to give it back. It would have been interesting to try 16.Na4 instead of 16.d7, but the d-pawn had probably been impossible to hold on to after 16. - c5. In the game, Hillarp was forced to draw by repetition of moves since Black threatened to play a rook to d4 which would have solved all his problems.
Lajos Portisch chose the English as white against Axel Smith. The game got a Sicilian characteristic (with reverse colours) and there was a lot of slow maneouvring. Once Portisch had a small grip he unfortunately hesitated and the game was equal. Instead of 43.Rd1 (which gave Smith the chance to play 43. - Ba4 followed by 44. - Nc6) he could have played 43.d4 directly. After 43. - Bxe4 44.Rd1 White has good play. Another, and possibly better, continuation would have been 43.f4!? with the intention 43. - exf4 44.Bxf6!. After 44. - gxf6 45.Qxf6+ Kg8 46.Bg4 White seems to be winning. Instead, the game ended in a draw a couple of moves later. Smith now need one and a half point in the last three rounds to secure an IM norm.
Jan Timman chose the more cautious Bb5+ in move five instead of entering some of the more sharper variations of the Sicilian. He tried to create some chances in the ensuing endgame but Evgenij Agrest had no problems in maintaining the balance.
The game between Ralf Åkesson and Kjetil Lie turned into a dramatic one. In time-trouble, the Norwegian managed to create tactical counterplay against White's king's position which compensated for his weak pawns on the queenside. However, after the grave error 36. - gxf5 he could well have lost, had Åkesson found 39.Rd2 and Black's position cannot be saved. Instead, after the time-trouble was over, Lie quite easily obtained a surprisingly unstoppable attack with his queen and knight. Shaken by what had happened in the last few moves, Åkesson did not put up much of a fight and quickly lost the game.