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Licznik odwiedzin

Norwegian Postal Chess Federation 50th Jubilee, „NPSF-50”, 1994-98

Norwegian Postal Chess Federation 50th Jubilee, „NPSF-50”, 1994-98

Rating An Ti vO El Mi FN Ba Pi Ve Be Mc DM Ka Te TOTAL
Ulf Andersson (FIDE) 2620 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 11½
Gert Jan Timmerman 2710 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 10½
Joop van Oosterom 2630 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 10
Hans-Marcus Elvert 2625 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1
Peter Millican 2610 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 8
Nils Jørgen Fries Nielsen 2645 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½
Erik Bang 2680 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1
Zygmunt Pioch 2590 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1
Itzhak Veinger 2585 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1
Wolfgang Häßler 2650 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1
Ivar Bern 2580 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1
Colin McNab 2520 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 ½
Joseph DeMauro 2570 ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½
Pekka Kauppala 2615 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 ½ 1 3
Henk Temmink 2484 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0

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Andersson – Millican, ½-½;   Millican – Bang, ½-½;
Bern – Millican, ½-½;   Millican – DeMauro, ½-½;
Millican – Elvert, ½-½;   Millican – Fries Nielsen, ½-½;
Häßler – Millican, 0-1;   Kauppala – Millican, ½-½;
McNab – Millican, 0-1;   Millican – Pioch, ½-½;
Temmink – Millican, 0-1;   Millican – Timmerman, ½-½;
Millican – van Oosterom, 0-1;   Veinger – Millican, ½-½

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NPSF-50, organised to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Norwegian Postal Chess Federation, was the first „Category 15” tournament ever, and as such gave the prospect of qualifying for the title of „International Grandmaster” with a score of only 50%, or 7/14. In the event I was delighted to come fifth, after four of the strongest players in the world, and ahead of at least one future World Champion (Ivar Bern) and the famous Erik Bang – who prior to this tournament hadn’t lost a game for 20 years. The tournament also brought my only ever internationally rated loss, to Joop van Oosterom, who outplayed me after I had failed to claim a draw by repetition early on (in the hope of winning with the White pieces). This was more than made up for by a draw with Black in a difficult ending against Ulf Andersson, one of the great endgame players of all time and famous for relentlessly grinding opponents down (in his games with White, he scored a frightening 6½/7, so this was his only draw). However the tournament brought home to me just how difficult it is to win at this level. Against both Timmerman and Fries Nielsen I had very promising attacking positions, but was unable to get through against ingenious defence. With the „International Grandmaster” title achieved, and no prospect of finding the sort of time that would be necessary to have a realistic attempt at going further in the World Championship, I retired from correspondence chess for the foreseeable future.

by Peter Millican

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