The last few years there has been a boost in Norwegian chess. Magnus Carlsen of course does not need an introduction and probably neither does GM Jon Ludvig Hammer. But guess what? There are more talents coming!  

In the recently finished World Youth Chess Championship in Turkey, Norway made excellent results in many of the age groups. Frode Urkedal, 16 years old, made the best result of the Norwegian players. He has for a long time been considered one of the biggest talents ever in Norway. He reached a very high level at a very young age, but until 2009 he progressed surprisingly slowly. The year 2009, however, has been Frode’s year. He recently made his first IM-norm and he is steadily improving his rating, which is already far above 2400.   

In the World Championship under 16, Frode finished 5^th with 8 points out of 11. His performance in the tournament was 2471 and through the whole tournament he was fighting at the top boards. Unfortunately, he did not face enough titled players to make an IM norm.

Frode has a quite rare approach to chess. He plays the same openings (quite risky ones as well) over and over again with great confidence. He is very strong at calculating and enjoys situations where he can counterattack. He has nerves of steel, and when his opponent is giving seemingly dangerous attacks, Frode sits still and waits for his chance to punish his opponent.

Frode hardly accepts or offers any draws. In the World Championship he played every game (with one exception) to the very end. In equal positions he continued the fight until his opponents did not stand the pressure. Here are a couple of examples of Torture a la Frode.

Frode Urkedal - Rao Prasanna
World Youth Chess Championship 2009

 

Despite the reduced material on the board white has the advantage due to the more active king. Black was undoubtedly hoping for the endgame arising after 55.Kxa5 Qxa2+ 56.Kxb4 when he could be optimistic about a satisfactory defence. However, Frode did not want to give his opponent any hopes. 55.Qh8+! No matter where the black king goes white will manage to fork the king and the a5-pawn. 55...Ke4 55...Ke6 loses to 56.Qe8+ Kd6 57.Qd8+ since the a-pawn falls. 56.Qa8+ Kd3 57.Qxa5 As the a-pawn is gone the b-pawn will be lost as well. 57...Qf5+ 58.Ka4 Qe4 59.Kb5 Qe8+ 60.Kxb4 Black hung on for a few more moves, but the outcome of the game was never really in doubt. 1–0 (70 moves)

 

Javakhadze,Zurab - Frode Urkedal
World Youth Chess Championship 2009

 

Black seems to have a small advantage due to his better pawn structure. However, all rook endgames are drawn, and this should be no exception. White has a choice between two active continuations. Either 39.Re7 with the intention to post the rook on b7 where it will attack the b6 pawn, or 39.Kc4 to march forward with the king. The latter seems to be an easy draw as after 39.Kc4! the only way to make progress for black seems to be 39...Rd4+ 40.Kb5 Rxf4 but after 41.Kxb6 white is not worse. White chooses a third option. 39.Re1? White pins his hopes on passive defence but this is almost always a bad strategy in such situations. 39...Kf6! Black covers the important e6-square. 40.Rf1 40.Kc4 is already too late as 40...Rd4+ 41.Kb5 Rxd3 (the difference between 39.Kc4 and 40.Kc4 is now obvious. The d-pawn is left unprotected.) 42.Kxb6 Rxh3 43.Kxc5 Rb3 and black is clearly better. 40...a4 41.Rf3 Rd4 White is now restricted to defence of the weak pawns. Black, on the other hand, starts searching for other weak spots to attack. 42.Kd2 Ke6 43.Ke2 Kd7 44.Ke3

 

As the white king is protecting both weaknesses, he is threatening to activate his rook on the g-file. 44...Rd6! Black is now ready to occupy the open g-file. 45.Ke2 Rg6 46.d4 Desperation. White realised that the natural 46.Kf2 would be met by 46...Re6 which cuts off the white king from the queenside. White would then be helpless against the centralisation of the black king and the march of the kingside pawns. The pawn endgame arising after 47.Re3 Rxe3 48.Kxe3 is easily winning for black. 46...c4 Black has a deadly majority on the queenside. 47.Kd1 Rg2! Finally the rook breaks through and the game is basically over. Frode needs only a few more moves to finish his opponent off.  48.Kc1 Rg3 49.Rf1 Rxh3 50.Re1 Rf3 51.Kc2 h3 52.Rg1 Kd6 53.Rg5 Kd5 54.Rxf5+ Kxd4 55.Rh5 Rf2+ 56.Kb1 h2 57.Ka2 c3 0–1