In the European Team Championship, the Norwegian team in the open section had to do without GM Magnus Carlsen. Nevertheless, Norway had a great result on board one, where GM Jon Ludvig Hammer scored 6,5 out of 9 and made a 2792 performance.

On the advise of his coach Garry Kasparov, Magnus Carlsen withdrew shortly before the start of the championship. This was a big disappointment for all fans of chess in Norway, who were looking forward to the best Norwegian team performance ever. Perhaps even a medal was possible? Magnus’ tough schedule makes his decision easy to understand, but it certainly was a pity for Norway.

GM Jon Ludvig Hammer, the new Norwegian star

GM Jon Ludvig Hammer was born in 1990, the same year as Magnus Carlsen. Hammer has not achieved the same results, but for a long time he has been considered one of the most promising Norwegian players ever. He scored his third and final GM-norm in January, when he won the strong Gjøvik International Open. A bit later he replaced Simen Agdestein as number two in Norway.

Like Carlsen, Hammer has studied under Agdestein at the Norwegian School for Top Athletes. The coach is optimistic about Hammer’s future in chess. ”I definitely think he has the potential to reach 2700”, Agdestein says. ”The most important thing for him now is to work on his opening play.”

The Norwegian team in the open section finished in 24th place, five places better than their seeding. The team won two matches, drew five and lost only two (against France and Poland). GM Leif Johannessen, IM Frode Elsness and FM Joachim Thomassen played for the team in addition to GM Hammer.

The Norwegian women’s team  was seeded as number 27, and this was also their position in the final ranking list. The best perfomance was given by Ellisiv Reppen, the board four, who scored a 2044 performance to gain 21 rating points. The other three players in the team were Marianne Wold Haug, WFM Sylvia Johnsen and Ellen Øen Carlsen.

 
 Top performer on the women's team: Ellisiv Reppen

Hammer won the silver medal for the second best performance on board one. The best performance was shown by Ukrainian super-GM Pavel Eljanov, who scored 6 out of 8 and a 2823 rating performance. His only loss came in round two, when Norway managed a very impressive 2-2 draw against the strong Ukrainian team.

Hammer,Jon Ludvig (2585) - Eljanov,Pavel (2717)
17.ETCC 2009 Novi Sad, Serbia (3), 24.10.2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0–0 Qd6 6.Na3 Be6 7.Qe2 f6 8.Rd1 Bg4 9.h3 Bh5 10.d4 0–0–0 11.Be3 Qe6 12.dxe5 Rxd1+ 13.Rxd1 Bxa3 14.bxa3 Ne7

A quick glance at the position does not give a clear answer as to who is better. Hammer play very forcefully the next moves, however, and shoes that White has a big advantage due to his pawn majority on the kingside. Black's majority on the queenside is not nearly as dangerous. 15.g4! Bf7 16.Qd3 Ng6 17.exf6 gxf6 18.Nd4 Qc4 19.Nf5 Qxd3 20.cxd3 Bxa2

Material is equal, but now the kingside majority comes into play. 21.f4! c5 22.Ng7! A strong maneuvre. The knight is excellently placed at h5. 22...b6 23.Nh5 Rf8 24.Kf2 Ne7 25.f5 Ng8 26.h4 Bf7 27.Nf4 h6 28.Bc1 Rd8 29.Bb2 b5 30.Rc1 c4 31.d4! a5 32.Bc3 Kb7 33.Ke3 Kb6 34.e5!

The white pawns are getting closer to their goal. 34...Bd5 35.Nxd5+ Rxd5 36.Ke4 Rd8 37.g5! A nice pawn sacrifice which decides the game. 37...hxg5 38.hxg5 fxg5 39.f6 Rf8 40.d5 b4 41.Bd4+ Kb5 42.a4+ Kxa4 43.Rxc4 Black resigned. After 43...Rf7 44.Kf5 the white pawns are unstoppable. A great game by Jon Ludvig Hammer. 1–0

More on the European Team Championship can be found at the tournament website and at ChessBase.