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Tony is 43 years old, still single, and works as a webprogrammer/designer. He doesn't play over-the-board chess anymore, enjoying the slower and more contemplative aspects of correspondence chess. Several of his correspondence chess exploits are as follows. He has played in the Swedish correspondence championship in 1995 where he scored a very respectable (+3 =8 -3). He represented Sweden in the Nordic 5-team match in 1997 (+1 =2 -1) and a 5-team e-mail match (+2 =2 -0) the same year. In the EU team championship he is off to a very good start and presently has compiled a score of 8.5 - 4.5 (+5 =7 -1). Not surprisingly, Tony has a strong interest in computers and reads extensively. But, he does have a passion that would be difficult to guess; he loves to run the marathon and has completed 33 of them! According to my calculations that’s approximately 8,844 miles (14,150 kilometers) or slightly over 1/3 the circumference of the Earth. And that’s not counting the numerous miles he has logged during training. Needless to say he has run around the globe at least once, and probably several times more. So, it’s probably not a wise decision to try to wear Tony down in a very long chess match. For the Game of the Month Tony submitted his win over Osman Kosebay of Turkey. Faced with the Grunfeld defense, Tony selects the popular and strong 8.Rb1 variation that has recently caused much anguish to the Black side. Valery Pankratov’s fine win over GM Peter Leko with this variation was featured in the inaugural game of the ICCF Game of the Month column. With 9....b6 Kosebay deviates from the Pankratov-Leko game, but later accepts a pawn 13.d5 Bxe2 14.Qxe2 Bxc3!? as compensation for his somewhat inferior position. After 15.e5! Rd8 16.Bg5!, he is faced with White’s strong center and lead in development. The defense is difficult and Kosebay is not able to solve his problems losing an exchange to a nice combination. A fine win by Tony Hedlund over a dangerous opponent who recently scored 9.5-0.5 in the 1st E-mail World Championship semifinals. The 8.Rb1 variation seems destined to torment the practitioners of the Grunfeld defense for a while longer. Annotations are by Tony Hedlund (TM), Osman Kosebay (OK), and by the author (VVP). . |
This month’s featured game is a win by Tony Hedlund of Sweden over
Osman Kosebay of Turkey in the 6th European Team Championship. The
game once again shows why the 8.Rb1 variation is so effective and
popular against the Grunfeld, and why it has cast a somber mood
on the advocates of this defense.|
Hedlund, Tony (Sweden) - Kosebay, Osman (Turkey) |
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Rb1 |
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Shamkovich's move and the sharpest one. Often played by Kasparov. The popular 8.Be3 Qa5 9.Qd2 cxd4 10.cxd4 Qxd2+ is not as straightforward (TH) |
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8...0-0 9.Be2 b6 |
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9.-Qa5 or 9.-Nc6 are sharper moves that Black can play if he/she wants to go for a victory (TH) 9...cxd4 10.cxd4 Qa5+ 11.Bd2 Qxa2 12.0-0 Nd7 (12...Bg4 Hedlund-Leif Karlsson, Swedish corr-ch 1995.) 13.Bb4 Nb6 14.Ra1 Qe6 15.Qb1 Bd7 16.Ra5 Nc8 17.d5 Qb6 18.e5 a6 with a slight edge for White (Valery Pankratov-Peter Leko, ICCF Olympiad 1999). This fine win by Valery Pankratov was presented January 2000 in the first ICCF Game of the Month column. (VVP) |
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10.0-0 Bb7 11.Qd3 Ba6 12.Qe3 Qc8 13.d5 Bxe2 |
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Now I am fully convinced that 13..Bxe2 line is almost losing by force. (OK) |
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14.Qxe2 Bxc3 15.e5! |
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The idea behind this pawn sacrifice is to keep Black's Bishop from the defense of the kingside. (TH) |
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15...Rd8 |
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Better than 15...Qf5?! when White's kingside attack works flawlessly. 16.Rb3 Ba5 17.Nh4 Qd7 18.Bh6 Qxd5 (18...Rd8 19.e6+-) 19.Bxf8 Kxf8 20.Rd3 Qb7 21.Rd8+ Kg7 22.Nf5+! gxf5 23.Qe3 Qc6 24.Qg5+ Qg6 25.Qxe7 1-0. Khalifman-Lau, EU Cup, Rotterdam, 1988. (VVP) |
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16.Bg5! |
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Very strong. (OK) Much better than 16.Qc4 Qf5 17.Bb2 Bxb2 18.Rxb2 Nd7 19.Re2?! (19.Re1) 19...Nf8 20.Rd1 Rac8 21.a4 Ne6-+ Myc-Malisauskas, Warsaw Open, 1993. (VVP) |
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16...Qf5 17.Rb3 f6 |
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I had been counting on 17...Bxe5 when I later discovered it was not playable because of 18.Nxe5 Qxg5 19.Rg3 Qh4 (19...Qh6 20.d6 Qg7 21.dxe7 Re8 22.Qe4 Na6 23.Rf3+- OK 23...Nc7 24.Rxf7 Qh6 25.f4 b5 26.Qc6 Rac8 27.Qf6 Nd5 28.Qe6 1-0, Sokolin-Kudrin, US 1996. (TH)) 20.Rh3 Qg5 21.Nxf7! Kxf7 22.Rxh7+ Kg8 23.Rxe7 Qf6 24.Qe4 Nd7 25.Re6 Qf7 26.Rxg6+ Kf8 27.Rg3 Nf6 28.Qh4 Ke7 29.Re1+ Kd7 30.Qa4+ Kc8 31.Qc6+ Kb8 32.Rge3+- (OK); Probably better is 17...Bd4 18.Nxd4 cxd4 19.f4 |
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18.Bxf6 exf6 19.Rxc3 Rxd5 20.Qc4 Qe6 21.exf6 Rd6?! |
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21...Nd7 22.Re3 b5 23.Qxb5 Qxf6 24.Qb7 Nb6 25.Re7 Rad8 26.Rxh7±; 21...Nc6 22.Ng5 Qd7 23.Re1 Kh8 24.Qh4± (OK) |
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22.Qh4! |
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Wins a Rook for a Knight. (TH) If one likes endgames, also strong was 22.Qxe6+ Rxe6 23.f7+ Kf8 24.Ng5 Re5 (24...Re7 25.Rf3 Nd7 26.Nxh7+ Kg7 27.Ng5±) 25.f4 Re2 26.Rh3 h5 27.f5± (VVP) |
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22...Qxf6 23.Ng5 h6 |
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23...Rd7 24.Rf3 Qd6 (24...Qd4 25.Ne6) 25.Qh6 Nc6 26.Ne4+- (VVP) |
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24.Qc4+ Kg7 25.Ne4 Rd4 26.Nxf6 Rxc4 27.Ne8+ Kf8 28.Rxc4 Kxe8 29.Re4+ |
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The rooks are much to active for Black to have any hope. (VVP) |
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29...Kf7 30.Rd1 Na6 31.Rd7+ Kf6 32.Rd6+ Kf7 33.Rf4+ Ke7 34.Rxg6 Rd8 35.h4 1-0 |
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The updated table of results for the EU MSM team championships can be found on the ICCF web page. |
