Chess Informant 121: Midnight Sun

by Various, Sam Shankland, Wesley So

Just as chess fans all over the world were excited by the goings-on at the recent Chess Olympics, so were the staff at Chess Informant excited at the prospect of preparing for readers a Midnight Sun edition, primarily devoted to reporting on this same gigantic sporting event. The aptly named ‘Tournament of All Nations’ took place in the Norwegian city of Tromso, situated within the Arctic Circle, and, perhaps inspired by the spirit of the northern lights, our authors, most of them Olympiad participants, sent us bright games, brilliant ideas and breathtaking insights from this wonderful eleven round competition. It’s high time to mention our leader column which takes one rather special Olympiad game as a starting point for all further analyses! There is a mystique about him; he is a top-class player with an original style, and highly regarded by his colleagues as one of the world’s leading trendsetters for opening innovations. The variations which GM Alexander Morozevich is playing are being met by inevitable questions such as “Why haven’t I figured this out by now?” or “This is so far out. Am I dreaming?” His writing style is unique, his imagination fantastic – are you prepared to take up the challenge and learn all about the B12 Blockade the Caro-Kann line 4.h4 h5 5.Bd3, that was successfully tried and tested by Ivan Saric first in the 2014 Poikovsky super-tournament and then three months later in the Tromso Olympiad? Caro-Kann players you have been warned. You can no longer be assured of a peaceful life if you are faced with an opponent armed with the latest high-grade weaponry supplied by Alexander Morozevich from his Midnight in Moscow storehouse! By the way, in our enthusiasm, we forgot to mention that Moro is the guy who won the Poikovsky tournament... Where Great Minds Meet is a collection of 24 deeply annotated games – encounters that attracted the attention of our ‘Magnificent Seven’: GM Sarunas Sulskis, 1st board of Lithuania, GM Rafael Leitao, 1st board of Brazil, GM Julio Sadorra, 1st board of Philippines, GM Bassem Amin, 1st board of Egypt, GM Aleksandar Colovic, 2nd board of Macedonia, GM Nikola Sedlak, gold medallist on the 4th board of Serbia and GM Emanuel Berg, 5th board of Sweden. And no, it’s not a coincidence that Informant 121 includes perspectives on the Olympiad from representatives of five continents, gathered together in harmony in full accord with the FIDE motto Gens Una Sumus (‘We are one family’). American GM Sam Shankland was most definitely one of the Tromso Chess Olympiad’s sporting heroes! His opening sprint of 7 wins out of 7 games, so reminiscent of his fellow-American, the late and great Bobby Fischer, was really something extra special and in fact, caused a big sensation in the playing hall. A star is born! Sam duly won the gold medal for best individual performance on Board 5 but even more than that, with a final tally of 9/10 he claimed the highest percentage result of the entire Olympiad. Then, before going back home to San Francisco, the modest 22-year-old grandmaster was a guest of Chess Informant in Belgrade where he also played in rapid and blitz tournaments held under our auspices. Now, in the pages of this Informant, you can read his own inside story of how he made 7/7 – and then 9/10! Another exclusive column in Informant 121 is the Olympiad Diary by GM Wesley So, the team coach for the United States, Though Wesley is ranked 12th in the world, because of the rules and regulations for changing his federation from the Philippines to the USA, where he now lives, he was not yet eligible for inclusion as a player in the American team. ...

Kindle Edition

Published March 23, 2020

About the author

Various is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).

If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.

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