Offerspill news - week 18

It's time for another weekly update.

This week we'll have a look at the latest tournaments in the online league and enjoy a new opening, among other things.

Also, General Manager of Offerspill, Jon Kristian Haarr, was interviewed by chess website Chessdom this week where he talked all things Offerspill, Online League, Magnus Carlsen.

As usual, it's enjoyable to hear "JK" talk about Offerspill, and hopefuly it provides some real insight into what the club is trying to achieve going forward.

Enjoy!

Remember to follow Offerspill on social media for frequent updates on club activities, news and other content.

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Offerspill Online League

We have already reached the May season of our Online League. The bulet and blitz tournaments this week were both exciting to follow with many great games, and some surprising results.

The first tournament of the season, the Online League Bullet Arena, was won by world champion Magnus Carlsen (DrNykterstein), closely followed by grandmaster Sergei Zhigalko (Zhigalko_Sergei). Grandmasters Jonas Bjerre (jonasbjerre) and Aryan Tari (recapture) finished 3rd and 4th which showed how strong this tournament was.

The world champion enjoyed himself and berserked his way to a comfortable attacking win against yours truly in the following game.

JoaBN - DrNykterstein (0-1)


The blitz tournament was much closer as the grandmasters took the day off. Papadosor jumped at the opportunity and emerged as the winner followed by TraintoBusan and BybaneTilHop.

In the following game Familiegaffelen dropped a piece early on, but managed to grab enough pawns to turn the game around in the endgame - great fighting spirit!

Seen73 - Familiegaffelen (0-1)


Online League standings are updated and can be viewed here.

Opening of the week

This week's opening is the Ponziani, an aggressive opening that is currently out of fashion but it has been played by world champion Magnus Carlsen.

The Ponziani begins with the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3


White looks to build up a support for a later push of the pawn from d2 to d4, controlling the dark squares in the center of the board.

The Ponziani is not seen at the top level very often and is thought to be equal for black, but there is much to be explored here - you have many opportunities to come out ahead if your opponent is not paying attention.

Whether you are looking to catch your opponent off guard or you want to come prepared for a worthy opponent, the Ponziani opening is a must know for every chess player.

Let's enjoy a couple of games that illustrate how poisonous this variation can be.

Carlsen - Harikrishna (1-0)


The challenger for the world championship title Ian Nepomniachtchi have also played the opening - with success.

Nepomniachtchi - Sargissian (1-0)


Icelandic success

Former member of Offerspill Hjörvar Steinn Grétarsson won the Icelandic Championship recently with a score of 7/9 without playing a single draw.

Hjörvar is a top level grandmaster, so it is no surprise to see him prevail as the rating favourite.

Chessbase wrote an excellent piece on the tournament including some excellent analysis.