Danish Delight

As promised, we are bringing you a full report from the adventures of our Danish members who have played a couple of tournaments in Italy.

Furthermore, Jonas Buhl Bjerre participated in the strong Polgar Challenge on Chess24. He has provided us with two annotated games which you can enjoy in this article.

Also, the Candidates tournament is resuming after a lengthy break due to the pandemic. World champion Magnus Carlsen will be providing live commentary throughout the tournament.

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Giro d'Italia with Jonas and Ellen

Jonas is a reasonably new member of Offerspill. You have probably heard of him already, but did you know he became a grandmaster at the age of 14? He was the youngest ever Dane to achieve the title - an impressive feat.

The Second Mix Bassano, a fantastisc name for a tournament, was played in the city of Bassano del Grappa in Italy and besides Jonas there was another Offerspill member playing.

The one and only Ellen Fredericia Nilssen.

Unfortunately, the tournament proved difficult for Ellen, but Jonas had an OK showing and finished on a shared 4th place with a 2545 rating performance.

Full results from The Second Mix Bassano are available here.

Have you read this one? Countering the Halloween Gambit

Luckily, both players found their form in the 1st Easter Bassano Festival Open A - another brilliant tournament name.

As mentioned, Jonas has taken the time to analyze one of his best games from the tour of Italy. His chosen game is his round 7 win with white over Austrian GM Valentin Dragnev (2559).

Enjoy Jonas' comments and insight in the game below.

Bjerre - Dragnev (1-0)

Full results from the 1st Easter Bassano Festival Open A are available here.

Polgar Challenge

Chess legends Judit Polgar and Vladimir Kramnik joined forces with the Play Magnus Group to launch a new online tour designed to support talented young players and advance gender equality in the sport.

The first event, dubbed the Polgar Challenge, recently finished with a member of Offerspill finishing in the middle of the table, namely Jonas Buhl Bjerre.

Jonas took the time to pick out his favourite game from the tournament and has provided excellent commentary on his magnificent win against the talented Gukesh who is the second youngest to earn the title of grandmaster in history.

Enjoy!

Bjerre - Gukesh (1-0)

Both Chess24 and Chessbase have written a number of reports from the tournament.

Candidates tournament is back

The already historic Candidates Tournament 2020-21 is back in action. This tournament will probably go down in history as the longest over-the-board chess tournament of all time due to the break caused by the pandemic.

As it started on the 17th of March 2020 a lenghty interruption for more than a year after the virus outbreak it is finally time to resume the tournament - today, the 19th of April 2021. The venue has not changed though and still is Yekaterinburg, Russia.

In the Candidates tournament eight players have qualified and the winner, in addition to claiming a juicy prize of €48.000 with the runner-up receiving €36.000, will get the right to challenge Magnus Carlsen for the World Championship title.

Read this yet? Online League: March

Standings

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Yan Nepomniachtchi lead the event a full point ahead of players like Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Wang Hao and Alexander Grischuk.

Chess24 will provide live commentary of all rounds with a team full of star power, including David Howell, Tania Sachdev and world champion Magnus Carlsen.

Follow the games on Lichess or Chess24.

Schedule

All rounds start at 13:00 CEST.

April 19th: Round 8 Caruana - Vachier-Lagrave Wang Hao - Ding Liren Nepomniachtchi - Giri Alekseenko - Grischuk April 20th: Round 9 Alekseenko - Caruana Grischuk - Nepomniachtchi Giri - Wang Hao Ding Liren - Vachier-Lagrave

April 21st: Round 10

Caruana - Ding Liren Vachier-Lagrave - Giri Wang Hao - Grischuk Nepomniachtchi - Alekseenko

April 22nd: Rest day April 23rd: Round 11

Nepomniachtchi - Caruana Alekseenko - Wang Hao Grischuk - Vachier-Lagrave Giri - Ding Liren

April 24th: Round 12

Caruana - Giri Ding Liren - Grischuk Vachier-Lagrave - Alekseenko Wang Hao - Nepomniachtchi April 25th: Rest day April 26th: Round 13

Wang Hao - Caruana Nepomniachtchi - Vachier-Lagrave Alekseenko - Ding Liren Grischuk - Giri

April 27th: Round 14

Caruana - Grischuk Giri - Alekseenko Ding Liren - Nepomniachtchi Vachier-Lagrave - Wang Hao