‘He showed world class technique in the endgame!’

Jan Timman lijkt zich thuis te voelen in Malmö. Vorig jaar won hij het Sigeman & Co-toernooi samen met Sasikiran, zodat hij dit jaar volgens de toernooiwebsite beschouwd moet worden als de grote favoriet. Na de eerste ronde sluit ik me daar onmiddellijk bij aan. Als de voormalige WK-kandidaat in vorm is, is er niemand anders dan hij favoriet, en met die vorm lijkt het wel snor te zitten. 

Timman versloeg GM Emanuel Berg (2543) in een aantrekkelijke partij, waarin onze landgenoot eindspeltechniek van wereldklasse liet zien. Ik vroeg Berg om een reactie:

foto: Calle Erlandsson

“The tournament is really nice and the atmosphere is perfect. I had a really tough game today as Black against Jan Timman. I was only prepared for 1.e4 today. So when he went 1.Nf3 I had just no idea about what he would play. I went into a Queen’s Indian Defense later on and he decided to play a very solid line.

However in the middle of the game he gave me the opportunity to complicate matters. I took the chance and sacrificed a piece for two pawns and very nice compensation in form of my active pieces. As he was unable to castle he had a difficult position, allthough it’s possible that objectively he was still slightly better. At one point he decided to force the game into something that looked like unavoidable perpetual checks. However I found a way to continue and play on for the win.

26.Dh4+ Kf8 27.Dh8+ Ke7 28.Dh4+ f6!?

This was maybe the crucial mistake, but as I was unable to find any good defense for him I saw no other option than to go for it. However he found excellent defensive resources and the game was forced into an endgame where I had Rook and four pawns against Rook, Knight and two pawns. Most probably the position should be a draw, but I made some slight mistake in the last moves of my time trouble and then it was already difficult to defend. I must say that he showed world class technique in the endgame!”

Dit jaar doet ook Daniël Stellwagen mee en hij startte in de eerste ronde prima met een zwaarbevochten remise met zwart tegen Suat Atalik.

>> speel de partijen uit de eerste ronde na