For the fifth year in a row, a group of Danish chess players invaded a small village named Bad Zwicshenahn in Northwest Germany, to play the annual NordWest-Cup. The Danish invasion consisted of a number of young players and was firmly led by the Danish youth coach Mads Boe.

Foto: Cara O´Driscoll

Foto: Cara O´Driscoll

Secret Santa
According to tradition, I drove to Bad Zwicshenahn with the Vangsgaard family (Claus, Bjarke and Freja). As always, Freja and I were soundly asleep in the backseat, and Claus was at the wheel going 180 km/h on the German autobahn (which, by the way, is one of the only German words I know beside Krankenwagen and Apfelstrudel). Luckily, we skipped the queue this time, and actually arrived more than five minutes before the first round. I know that you probably wonder why we do not leave with a bit more time to spare. That is basically impossible with the Vangsgaard family. They are always late, no matter what. That is also the only reason why my nickname “the fifth Vangsgaard” is a little misleading, since I prefer to stand outside the tournament hall a couple of hours before they even open. Nevertheless, I have always joined the Vangsgaard family on trips to tournaments, and I consider myself an unofficial part of their family, and Freja my “sister”. She also confirmed this when she spontaneously joined Christmas the 22nd of December with a bunch of my relatives and acted as Santa.

“Good friends are like stars. You don’t always see them, but you know they’re always there”.

Freja Vangsgaard you are a star!🌟

Ein Gulaschsuppe mit Brot, danke
Each year, we all check in at the same hotel, Hotel Copenhagen (quite natural that we should feel at home there), with the lovely owner, an elderly lady named Ellen (great name!), who served us goulash soup and schnitzel mit pommes throughout our stay. I told her that I was moving to Copenhagen later this year, and she eagerly explained that she too had lived in Copenhagen, in 1952, right next to the Tivoli Gardens, and that she loved the city. I simply nodded, and wondered what part of that story might have changed the most during the last 65 years. The restaurant is the centre of attention. This is where we eat, analyse, and, last but not least, where we have Internet. Between every round, and in the evening, you get the chance to analyse your games with help from Mads, and if you are feeling really daring, you can socialise with the rest of the delegation. Otherwise the Internet connection is strongest in the corner (which is my favourite spot). Here you can also save yourself the embarrassment of not being able to recall any of the young players’ names.

hotel-kopenhagen-bad-zwischenahn-ammerland-10620

The one-eyed man is king in the land of the blind
The tournament is separated into three groups: A, B and C, with A being the strongest – an open Swiss for players above 1800 ELO. Even though I strongly considered playing the B group, which allowed players up to a rating of 1900 WLO, Freja eventually convinced me it would be quite embarrassing, even if I won, since I have played the A group the last 3 years. In my defence, I have only made bad results in this tournament, and this was not an exception. Why do I keep coming back then? Well, sometimes the results matter less than the company… thus spoke the happy loser.

Ikke alle morgener er lige gode...

Not all mornings are equally good…

I have a tendency in life to make it harder for myself than necessary. One of the big discussions during this trip was the question of a license. I am not talking about a driver’s license, but a license to play an opening. Chess openings also require knowledge about the theory. Some openings more so than others, and the conclusion was that you do not have a license to play the sharpest line in the Two Knights Defence, where you sacrifice a pawn, if you only know the first 8 moves. My argument was “learning by doing” but it felt more like “get destroyed without playing and realise it is bullshit”. I was not happy with Martin Lokander and his decision that I should play sharp lines, especially when Mads Boe gave me a look if as I were stupid. Luckily, I turn 20 this year, and cannot get picked for the youth events even if he wanted to select me, and I took revenge by forcing Martin to play the delayed exchange KID 🙂

Lokander has annotated his game, and you can see it if you click the link. It is in Swedish though… I hope that is because he was annoyed and/or frustrated: http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2017/2/21/Game2105656.html

He even wrote a lovely poem in Swedish about playing in a solid style. I think he should consider a career swap

“Taktik, angrepp, är jag i tid?

Så slipper man tänka, när man är solid.

Har jag rätt pjäser kvar,

är ställningen ej oklar.

För som Ulf vill jag spela,

och poängen min dela”.

If I lose, you’d better take the trophy!
In the top rows, as far away from the hall of shame (the last three boards are put in a separate area, we called it “the hall of shame”) as you can come, there sits a cheerful redhead among the players who did not fail miserably again this year. The girl is of course Freja Vangsgaard, who once again shone, with an ELO performance of 2238, and a victory against the youth coach’s son. Actually, the whole family did well (except me, I am apparently the black sheep) and they were sitting as far away from me as possible. At least I got to walk a lot, and I had an excuse to leave my miserable positions for an extended period of time. After further consideration, I have concluded that Freja performed even better than usual this time, because we shared a single bed in a 3-square-meter room during the whole tournament. Being so close to me all the time must have inspired her.

Freja som ser glad ud på den enkelt seng som vi delte

Freja looking very happy in the single bad we shared

Better luck next time!
One again it was a nice trip to Bad Zwicshenahn, and I really enjoyed being back on the road with the Vangsgaard family. Sometimes you need a reminder as to why you think chess is fun, and there is no better way than to play a tournament with good friends.

Last but not least, I want to say congratulations to my good friend Jesper Thybo, who made his first IM-norm this weekend. He did not make it with any ladies though… but the party was great and I hope he soon will make another one!