Arctic chess round 3

The 2009 Arctic Chess Challenge is a wonderful event. There are quite a few Grandmasters and International Masters in the competition. There are approximately 2 dozen countries represented in the 2009 version.

The hotel is located in a picturesque location. The players are being treated very nicely. Everyone is very nice and friendly. The playing hall is bright and spacious. And the chess fighting spirit is quite intense. There are already a number of upsets in the first two rounds.

The biggest surprise for me was the matchup between 2 GMs in round 2! I was explained that GM Simutowe missed his flight and came to Tromsø too late for round 1. Unlike in America, there is no half point bye. Therefore, he received no point for round 1.

The event’s top seed is GM B. Socko. He was held to a draw by a strong local player in round 1. So the joke was Simutowe’s prize for missing the first round is getting Black against a 2656 player 🙂

Full results and pairings are available here. Official website: http://arcticchess.org/2009/

Here is the phantom chess blog: http://sjakkfantomet.blogg.no/