Days 2-4 of the U20 Swedish Championship

Introduction

Hello! My name is Vidar and I'm a 17 year old FM from Sweden. Together with my close friend and chess player, Axel Falkevall, I'm organizing an online chess tournament called Champions Chess League with young players all across europe. The reason this is relevant is that 7 out of the 10 players in the U20 swedish chess championship are participants in the Champions Chess League. We would highly appreciate if you checked out the youtube and if you joined our CCL discord. ️

Day 2

After the surprises of day 1, day 2 was more predictable. I managed to defeat Oliver Nilsson, who had recently been knocked out of the CCL, in a Berlin line he had previously played against Axel Falkevall in another tournament.

https://lichess.org/study/ea4fPVux/P7FJEVIF#0

The closest match-up on paper was between Anton Frank and Jung Hyun Seo, both CCL players. Their game entered an advanced French where Jung mistakenly allowed Anton to push h2-h4. In the end, Anton had an extra rook for a knight, and Jung crumbled under the pressure and lost.

https://lichess.org/study/ea4fPVux/Q6KJWwh1#0

Another interesting game was between Axel Falkevall and Arvin Rasti. Axel used the same setup against his pet opening, the King’s Indian Defense, as in his recent CCL match against Simon Salgovic. After getting a great position against Arvin’s benoni setup, Axel slowly managed to outmaneuver him on the king’s side and won the game.

https://lichess.org/study/ea4fPVux/m2f4A6gl#0

Day 3

Day 3 was filled with draws on every board except one. The highly anticipated match between Axel and Adrian Söderström, the number 1 and 2 seeds, opened with a Catalan. Axel played an unorthodox approach to avoid Adrian's preparation against the King’s Indian. Adrian maintained a small advantage, and it wasn’t until move 37 that Axel made a mistake. This led to a rook endgame where Adrian had two pawns versus one. While technically a draw, it was likely not practically holdable.

https://lichess.org/study/ea4fPVux/joxhb61m#0

Day 4

I had a satisfying victory against Arvin Rasti, who has had a tough event so far. Knowing I had prepared against the King’s Indian, he opted for the Benko Gambit. However, I was more familiar with that line, and his choice backfired. He made a desperate attempt to open up the position, which led me to sacrifice a rook and end the game decisively.

https://lichess.org/study/ea4fPVux/uln6uGDL#0

A surprising game was between Jung Hyun Seo and Adrian Söderström. Adrian was the clear favorite, having just won against Jung’s arch-nemesis. Once again, Adrian chose the Catalan, but this time it became more exciting with an early pawn sacrifice. On move 10, Adrian sacrificed another pawn, but Jung retaliated by sacrificing a piece! This turned out to be the best move, eerily similar to Oliver’s piece sacrifice in his CCL match against Adrian. However, this time Adrian returned the piece but then blundered completely after a brief three-minute think.

https://lichess.org/study/ea4fPVux/wQOzkASg#66

Here is the link to the Day 1 article on the Champions Chess League website.

To finish this article, let's have a quiz on what Axel played in this position against Alexander Ström-Engdahl: