Magnus Carlsen

Yesterday Magnus played IM G.Jones and won a rook end-game to take the lead in the GM-A group.



Today we woke up to new snow again and a thick fog, but yesterday was a wonderful day in the mountains. From the top of Skeikampen there is a marvelous view to Jotunheimen and Rondane, two of the main mountain areas in southern Norway.

In round 5 today Magnus played white against GM Dreev and looked clearly better after the opening. His Nb6 and  e5 combination seemed to win a pawn but Dreev in the end could capture the h-pawn. For a while the d7-pawn was more of a weekness than an asset and Magnus was probably slightly worse in the rook plus opposite bishop ending. As more pawns was removed from the board Magnus again tried to put some pressure on Dreev. With 2 pawns left each the draw was agreed.
IM I.Krush was better after the opening against Nowegian GM Kjetil Lie but in the second time trouble he countered and won. The crux of the round was GM Portisch win with black against Krasenkow  to claim clear 2nd place with 3.5/5 after Magnus' 4/5.

In GM-B IM Bromberger continued his impressive performance to maintain a clear lead with 4.5/5.

A Lahlum speciality at Gausdal is the "famous" Team-talking chess. Teams of 2-4 play 6 games in total in 12 minutes and can talk and work together as they like.
Magnus didn't plan to participate this year, but watching his team loose round 1 was too much of an emotional effort and he joined the team for the next round.



Meanwhile the girls team of Magnus' sister Ingrid tried to work som magic...



Henrik Carlsen
Gausdal, April 22nd 2007