Following on the success from last year, the team qualified for the Master's group yet again, seemingly effortlessly. Seppo had a very good Day 1 and was second best player on first board in the group. As a team, we tangoed very well with the other top teams in our group (scored 2½ against EtVaS 1 and 1½ against Gambiiti 2). But the key factor in our success was probably the clinical display of skills against the lower ranked teams.
Day 1
Performance against top 3 teams:
½ vs TuTS 1 (4th best team overall)
- Petr drew against Teemu Topi-Hulmi (2286)
2½ vs EtVaS 1 (9th best team overall)
- Seppo beat Perttu Anttila (2354)
- Ashwin beat Tero Kokkila (2295)
- Petr drew with Henri Koskinen (2227)
1½ vs Gambiitti 2 (19th best team overall)
- Seppo drew with Antti Kahri (2177)
- Ashwin beat Ville Länsimäki (2158)
Individual results (score, performance, rank):
- Aakio Seppo (17/21, 2264, 2nd best)
- Kumar Ashwin (16, 2147, 5th best)
- Kauppala Pekka (15½, 2029, 5th best)
- Vesely Petr (15, 1933, 5th best)
Board results:
- Seppo 2nd, behind Riho Liiva.
- Ashwin 5th, behind Vilka Sipilä, Tero Kokkila, Antti Laato, and Niki Paajala.
- Pekka 5th, behind Jorma Paavilainen, Kimmo Välkesalmi, Kalle Kumpulainen, and Validimir Vinogradov
- Petr 5th, behind Teemu Topi-Hulmi, Henri Koskinen, Marko Elg, and Mikhail Andronov.
There were mixed emotions about reaching the Master's Group. On the one hand, Petr, Seppo, and I were a bit "ehh.." about it, having lived through last year's Master's' Group torture. While on the other hand, Pekka was beaming with joy as this was the first time for him. A day of beautiful chess awaited him, or so he thought...
Day 2
We came last in the Master's group, again, but at least the margin between last and second last was much much smaller this time, so that's good.
Individual results (board, score, performance):
- Aakio Seppo (5½/23, 2170)
- Kumar Ashwin (7, 2142)
- Pekka Kauppala (4½, 1958)
- Vesely Petr (9, 2062)
Commendable results:
- Seppo beat Mikael Nouro (2429), and drew with Riho Liiva (2527), Tomi Nybäck (2523), Jukka Puranen (2420), Jouni Yrjölä (2312), Anttila Perttu (2354), Konsta Kapanen (2268), Hannu Pihlajasalo (2256).
- Ashwin beat Jorma Lehtioksa (2245), Jari Järvenpää (2269), Tero Kokkila (2295).
- Pekka beat Kari Pulkkinen (2288), Johan Lindstedt (2127), Marko Puhtila (2141), and drew with Harri Laakso (2220), Tommi Franssila (2277).
- Petr beat Heikki Syvälahti (2043), Hannu Heino (2089), Jyrki Raki (2085), and drew with Antti Virtanen (2245), Markus Kiili (2201), Jere Huovinen (2199).
Upon interview after Day 2, Pekka was a bit underwhelmed by the quality of the games in the Master's group. He had expected to witness beautiful play, but discovered that there was little beauty to be seen, even at this level. It's all just a chaotic circus.
Memorable Moments for me
- Watching Seppo graciously accept a draw with Tomi Nybäck in a chaotic finish where he was ahead on time.
- Beating Tero Kokkila twice.
- Watching Pekka playing fast, incisive chess to checkmate Marko Puhtila.
- Eating korvapuusti with Petr Vesely, with his money.
- Witnessing Pasi 2.0
- Watching Janne take a swim in a cold swimming pool.
- Learning a new attitude to chess from Kari Valli, "I'm going to move some pieces around, and see what happens!"
Final Word
All in all, we should be very proud of the way we played, both in terms of quality of chess as well as sportsmanship. We're just a small club after all, and here we are, on the big stage, making a lasting impact in the chess world!
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