I BEAT A SUPER-GM!! | Day #1 of World Rapid & Blitz Team Championship

I'm Vidar Grahn, 18 years old, FIDE-Master and the current Swedish Blitz Champion. Our squad is a mix of good friends, rising talents, and one brave non-chess-playing photographer. Here's who we brought with us:

Our Team: Uppsala SSS

• Vidar Grahn (me), 18 years old, current Swedish Blitz Champion. Born 2006, from Stockholm.
• Alexander Ström-Engdahl (Board 2), FIDE Master from Gothenburg, born 2006. One of Sweden’s strongest juniors and the second-highest rated Swedish player born that year.
• Anton Frank (Board 3), Candidate Master, born 2006, from Uppsala. Sharp, resourceful, and a key part of our team.
• Oliver Nilsson (Board 4), born 2005, from Stockholm, same area as me. Calm, consistent, and always ready for chaos on the board.
• Julia Östensson (Board 5), current Swedish U20 Girls’ Champion, from Uppsala. A strong player, and also essential to meet the event’s gender requirement.
• Tim Letoret (Board 6), from Belgium, and a close friend I met through online chess content. He is around 1900 FIDE and has never reached above 2000, which made him perfect for one of the rating-restricted team spots.
• Edvin Morell (Reserve), longtime Uppsala SSS member who now lives in London. Has also never reached 2000, which allows us to alternate between him and Tim.
• Philemon Wehinger (Photographer), not a chess player, but part of our group and the one behind all the photos in this article.

The Team: Julia Östensson, Anton Frank, Tim Letoret, Alexander Ström-Engdahl, Oliver Nilsson, Vidar Grahn (me) and then Edvin Morell is missing as he came after the first round. Picture taken by Philemon Wehinger

Arrival Day

Four days before the tournament, Tim flew to Sweden and stayed with me in Stockholm. It was his first time traveling outside Belgium and France, so this was a big experience for him. We explored the city, studied chess, and had a lot of fun. The day before our flight, Alexander came in by train and stayed over, so we could head to the airport together the next morning.

We had booked an early flight, so we only got three or four hours of sleep before dragging ourselves out of bed. At the airport we met up with the rest of the team, and thankfully, everything went smoothly. Once we landed in London, we took the underground to Hammersmith and dropped off our bags at the Airbnb. We couldn’t check in yet, so we decided to kill time the fun way.

We went full tourist mode. Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, the whole list. When we finally got back, we cooked spaghetti bolognese and played blitz late into the evening. It was a perfect way to settle in before the tournament started.

Anton Frank taking a picture of Big Ben while I'm clueless in the background

Day #1 Begins

Our first round match was against a strong Polish team from Katowice. We were clear underdogs, and I was especially excited because I was playing the strongest opponent I had ever faced over the board. David Navara, with a peak rating of 2751.

I somehow managed to win, which felt surreal. Tim also picked up a point. Even though we lost the match 4–2, Anton and Julia both had promising positions. The score did not reflect how close the match actually was. It was a solid result against a team that, on paper, should have dominated.

After the game, Navara came over to me and said I had played really well. We discussed some lines, and it quickly became clear that he was in a completely different league. He had calculated variations so deep that I could barely follow just trying to visualize them. Then he told me he had read one of my blogs and liked it. So if you're reading this, David: Hey! :)

The next round, he went on to absolutely destroy Nodirbek Abdusattorov. That made my win feel even crazier.

David Navara thinking intensely against me

Round 2

In round two we were paired against the Berlin Chess Federation. I was up against German International Master Ilja Schneider. What I didn’t realize at the time was that he had prepared extensively for me after seeing my game against Navara. His prep forced us into a dry, drawish line. I ended up blundering in a position where there wasn’t much play left, and that was that.

Luckily, the team picked me up. Despite being underdogs once again, we pulled off a 4–2 win thanks to some excellent performances on the lower boards. It was one of those matches where everything just seemed to click for the rest of the guys, and I couldn’t have been happier with the result, even after the loss.

Round 3

In round three, things took an unexpected but fun turn. We were paired against none other than ChessbrahTV, with Eric Hansen leading the team. As cool as that was, they were also clearly stronger, and this time the underdog magic didn’t show up. I got completely outplayed, which honestly wasn’t too surprising.

Me shaking hands with Eric Hansen

The one bright spot was Oliver. He came super prepared and rolled out a sharp line in the Scotch Gambit that caught his opponent off guard. His point kept us from getting completely blanked.

Oliver Nilsson in deep concentration against Patryk Cieslak in round 1

Round 4

In round four we finally got matched against a team closer to our level: Noval Group Kyrgyzstan. I played against an international master my age and quickly steered the game into a safe draw, which I was perfectly fine with. Julia and our secret weapon Edvin Morell both won cleanly, giving us a strong start.

Unfortunately, things went south after that. Anton and Oliver both lost their games from solid positions. And Alexander, who had been struggling to find form, ended up drawing a completely winning game. The match ended 3–3, which was disappointing given how close we were to taking it.

We went back to the Airbnb to regroup and naturally ended up playing more blitz instead of sleeping. Typical. Our place was as budget as it gets. We didn’t even have enough blankets for everyone, so I had to get creative with a truly cursed sleeping setup. I’ll let the photo speak for itself.

A solid 8 hours of sleep...

Tomorrow, we’re playing against “The MongolZ.” If we win, we’ll be in the running for the under-2200 prize, which would be huge. It would also mean we might have the budget to pull off another trip like this one. That’s the dream.