Breaking news: In August next year Magnus Carlsen will play a rapid match against World Champion Vishy Anand in Kristiansund in Norway. The match will be part of a larger chess festival, with an open weekend tournament at the same time.

Kristiansund is another Norwegian city where chess life is blossoming. The local chess club, led by the very dynamic Aage Sivertsen, spends much time, energy and money on both the elite, hobby players, and children, in order to make Kristiansund one of the leading chess cities in Norway. This year the club’s team qualified for the top division of the Norwegian league. The team is led by Senior World Champion Mihail Suba and Sweden’s great talent Nils Grandelius, and will be a serious contender for the Norwegian team championship next year.

Last weekend Kristiansund hosted a large open weekend tournament, with several strong Grandmasters competing for the first price of 10 000 NOK. Among them were Swedish top player Tiger Hillarp Persson, Bulgarian Grandmaster Vladimir Georgiev and Norwegian GMs Leif E. Johannessen and Leif Øgaard. The tournament was won by Hillarp Persson and Georgiev, who both scored a perfect 5 points. Complete results here.

 
GM Vladmir Georgiev won the Kristiansund Open

Next year this tournament will coincide with the Carlsen – Anand match, and the organizers expect even more and stronger players. Carlsen and Anand will also play against two other young and strong talents, but it is not decided who this will be.

Carlsen and Anand have of course played many times before. Here you can see how Carlsen beat Anand in the Amber Rapid tournament in France last year.

Magnus Carlsen (2733) – Vishy Anand (2799)
Amber Rapid 2008

 

Anand has just played 14...Bg4 and plans to sacrifice a pawn. The following complications favor Carlsen, however. 15.Bxf6 Qxf6 16.b4 Bb6 17.Bxe4 a5 18.bxa5 Rxa5

 

19.Bxh7+! A nice tactic which gives Carlsen an edge. 19...Kxh7 20.Qb1+ g6 21.Qxb6 Rfa8 22.Qd4 Qf3 23.Nc3 Re8 The prophylactic 23...Kg8 might have been better, in order to prevent Carlsen’s strong move in the game. Of course 23...Bh3 does not work now because of 24.Qh4+.

24.h3 Bf5 25.Qf6 Kg8 26.Rab1

 

26...Rxe3 27.Rxb7! Black's last move looked threatening, but Carlsen had this strong reply. Now Carlsen threatens mate, and Anand has to retreat to prevent this. 27...Bc8 28.Qd8+ Kg7

 

29.Qxc8 29.Rxf7+! would have been even stronger. 29...Qxf7 (29...Kxf7 30.fxe3 and the black queen is pinned) 30.fxe3 Bf5 31.Qxa5 and white wins easily. 29...Rxc3

 

30.Rxf7+! Kxf7 30...Qxf7 31.Qxc3+ captures one rook and wins another. 31.Qd7+ Kf6 32.Qd8+ Kf5 33.Qxa5 Rxa3 34.Qb4 The dust has cleared and Carlsen has two extra pawns.

34...Ke5 35.Qd2 Rd3 36.Qg5+ Qf5 37.Re1+ Kxd5 38.Qxf5+ gxf5 39.Kg2 Carlsen shows great technique in the endgame and wins convincingly. 39...Ra3 40.h4 Kd4 41.h5 d5 42.h6 Ra7 43.Kf3 Rh7 44.Re6 Kc3 45.Rc6+ Kd3 46.Kf4 Rf7 47.Kg5 Ke2 48.Rd6 and Anand resigned. Carlsen wins easily after 48…Kxf2 49.Rxd5 Kxg3 50.Rxf5 1-0