Portisch still going strong at Gausdal Classics

Besides Eric Moskow, the courageuos 2200 player between just titled players, it’s obviously the name of Lajos Portisch that catches the eye at the Gausdal Classics 2007. And after six rounds his play stands out too, because the Hungarian who just turned seventy is doing very well. With four draws and two victories (over GMs Krasenkov and Lie) he’s at a shared second place behind Magnus Carlsen, who’s leading with 4.5 points.

Both wins by Portisch are quite impressive. With White, he put his opponent Lie on the rack and kept the pressure all game. With Black, he seemed to violate an old principle (”never take on b2, even when it’s good”) but after the pawn was snatched, he simply outplayed Dreev Krasenkov. Excellent. Korchnoi would have been proud of the game.

Here a selection. All games can be found here or for download in a nice PGN at TWIC.

Standings after six rounds:

1   Carlsen,M     2693  4.5
2   Portisch,L    2512  4.0
3   Krasenkow,M   2661  4.0
4   Rozentalis,E  2578  3.5
5   Dreev,A       2633  3.5
6   Krush,I       2464  3.0
7   Kulaots,K     2525  3.0
8   Lie,K         2529  2.5
9   Jones,G       2518  1.5
10  Moskow,E      2260  0.5

Magnus Carlsen

Lajos Portisch

Alexei Dreev

Eduardas Rozentalis

Irina Krush

Eric Moskow

Photos: Bjørn Berg Johansen | More photos here.