Emanuel Berg
Encyclopedia
Emanuel Berg is a Swedish chess
player with the title Grandmaster.
and World Youth Championships
. Surprisingly, he did not manage to secure a medal, but came very close in 1996, at Rimavská Sobota
, finishing the European Under-16 contest with a share of 2nd-5th places and missing the silver and bronze medals only on tie-break.
As Berg received his chess education in the shadow of national legend Ulf Andersson
, it might be expected that his playing style would mirror that of Sweden's most successful player of the modern era. However, the styles of the players are almost polar opposites, the younger man showing a distinct preference for aggressive, dynamic chess.
1999, Skellefteå
2001 (shared with Jonny Hector
) and Bermuda
2002 (after a play-off).
Since 1998, he has regularly entered the national championship
, finishing runner-up on no fewer than five occasions (2001, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008) and winning the event in 2009 and 2010. His consistent, strong performances have helped his Elo rating to edge past 2600.
There have been other notable results in international competition; he was joint winner of Stockholm
's Rilton Cup in 2004/5 (with Sergei Volkov and Evgeny Gleizerov), won outright at Sóller
in 2006 and was fourth behind Ivanchuk, Karpov
and Kasimdzhanov
at the Keres
Memorial the same year. In 2007, he came third at Wijk aan Zee
's Corus 'C' event (after Michał Krasenkow and Ian Nepomniachtchi
), having featured in a five-way tie for first place at the Politiken Cup (with Krasenkow, Sargissian, de Firmian
and Malakhov). At the 'Politiken' event of 2008, he finished just a half point behind the leaders.
Elsewhere in 2008, he scored 7/10 to finish 10th= at the Gibtelecom Masters in Gibraltar
and the same score brought him a creditable share of fifth place at the EU Championship
in Liverpool
. At the Najdorf
Memorial in Warsaw
, he placed joint second with Tomi Nyback
, after Krishnan Sasikiran
.
s of 1999, 2003 and 2007. At the Dresden 2008 Olympiad
, he had a disastrous result, winning no games at all, for a lowly score of 1½ points from 9 games. In stark contrast, his team-mates did exceedingly well, keeping Sweden in contention round after round, and thereby ensuring that Berg had to endure a barrage of top-class opponents, including two ex-world champions.
Berg is a close friend of Sweden's latest grandmaster and Olympiad team-mate, Pontus Carlsson
. They played league chess together for the successful Sollentuna SK club. In 2009 he joined Burgsvik SK, currently playing in the third division in Sweden.
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
player with the title Grandmaster.
First moves and playing style
As a youngster, he made solid progress and was consequently selected to represent his country in the various age categories of the European YouthEuropean Youth Chess Championship
Since 1991, the European chess union organises the European Youth Chess Championship in the groups under 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 year. Until 2002, there was also a tournament for the under 20, see European Junior Chess Championship.-Boys winners:...
and World Youth Championships
World Youth Chess Championship
The World Youth Chess Championship is a chess competition for girls and boys under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18.The first predecessor of the youth championship was the Cadet Championship. It started off unofficially in 1974 in France for players under 18. The 1975 and 1976 editions were also...
. Surprisingly, he did not manage to secure a medal, but came very close in 1996, at Rimavská Sobota
Rimavská Sobota
Rimavská Sobota is a town in southern Slovakia, in the Banská Bystrica Region, on the Rimava river. It has 24,374 inhabitants . The town is a historical capital of the Gömör-Kishont county .-Geography:...
, finishing the European Under-16 contest with a share of 2nd-5th places and missing the silver and bronze medals only on tie-break.
As Berg received his chess education in the shadow of national legend Ulf Andersson
Ulf Andersson
Ulf Andersson is a leading Swedish chess player. FIDE awarded him the International Master title in 1970 and the Grandmaster title in 1972 .-Career:...
, it might be expected that his playing style would mirror that of Sweden's most successful player of the modern era. However, the styles of the players are almost polar opposites, the younger man showing a distinct preference for aggressive, dynamic chess.
Tournament record
Now a family man and father of four children, Sweden's youngest grandmaster spent several years making slow, but assured progress. He established his GM title in 2004, following a number of tournament successes, including wins at BudapestBudapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
1999, Skellefteå
Skellefteå
-Industry:*Boliden AB, a big mining and smelting company*Alimak*Natural User Interface Technologies AB - NUITEQ, a promising emerging technology start-up company-Sports:*Skellefteå AIK, an ice hockey team in the highest Swedish league, Elitserien....
2001 (shared with Jonny Hector
Jonny Hector
Jonny Hector is a Swedish chess grandmaster.Born in Malmö, Sweden, Hector has lived in Denmark for many years. He learned chess at the relatively late age of 14, but quickly became a very strong player...
) and Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
2002 (after a play-off).
Since 1998, he has regularly entered the national championship
Swedish Chess Championship
The first Swedish Champion was Gustaf Nyholm who won two matches against winners of national tournaments: Berndtsson in Göteborg and Löwenborg in Stockholm in 1917. Until 1931 Swedish Chess Championships decided by match play. In the 1930s, Gideon Ståhlberg held the title in spite of results of the...
, finishing runner-up on no fewer than five occasions (2001, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008) and winning the event in 2009 and 2010. His consistent, strong performances have helped his Elo rating to edge past 2600.
There have been other notable results in international competition; he was joint winner of Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
's Rilton Cup in 2004/5 (with Sergei Volkov and Evgeny Gleizerov), won outright at Sóller
Sóller
Sóller is a town and municipality near the north west coast of Mallorca, in the Balearic Islands of Spain. The town is some 3km inland, from the Port de Sóller, in a large, bowl-shaped valley that also includes the village of Fornalutx and the hamlets of Biniaraix and Binibassi. The combined...
in 2006 and was fourth behind Ivanchuk, Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...
and Kasimdzhanov
Rustam Kasimdzhanov
Rustam Kasimdzhanov is an Uzbekistani chess Grandmaster, best known for winning the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004. He was born in Tashkent, in the former Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic...
at the Keres
Paul Keres
Paul Keres , was an Estonian chess grandmaster, and a renowned chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s....
Memorial the same year. In 2007, he came third at Wijk aan Zee
Wijk aan Zee
Wijk aan Zee is a small town on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk in the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel chess tournament formerly Corus chess tournament and before that called Hoogovens tournament takes place there every year.Due...
's Corus 'C' event (after Michał Krasenkow and Ian Nepomniachtchi
Ian Nepomniachtchi
Ian Aleksandrovich Nepomniachtchi is a Russian chess grandmaster and the chess champion of Russia in 2010. , he was listed by FIDE as having an Elo rating of 2730....
), having featured in a five-way tie for first place at the Politiken Cup (with Krasenkow, Sargissian, de Firmian
Nick de Firmian
Nicholas Ernest de Firmian , is a chess grandmaster and three-time U.S. chess champion, winning in 1987 , 1995, and 1998. He also tied for first in 2002, but Larry Christiansen won the playoff...
and Malakhov). At the 'Politiken' event of 2008, he finished just a half point behind the leaders.
Elsewhere in 2008, he scored 7/10 to finish 10th= at the Gibtelecom Masters in Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
and the same score brought him a creditable share of fifth place at the EU Championship
EU Individual Open Chess Championship
The EU Individual Open Championship was first contested in Cork, Ireland in 2005, under the auspices of organising body, the European Chess Union . The event is open to members of chess federations within the European Union...
in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. At the Najdorf
Miguel Najdorf
Miguel Najdorf was a Polish-born Argentine chess grandmaster of Jewish origin, famous for his Najdorf Variation....
Memorial in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, he placed joint second with Tomi Nyback
Tomi Nyback
Tomi Nyback is a Finnish chess Grandmaster and poker player.-Chess career:He won the Finnish Championship in 2008. In 2009 he tied for 9th-11th with Mikhail Kobalia and Boris Grachev in the European Individual Chess Championship...
, after Krishnan Sasikiran
Krishnan Sasikiran
Krishnan Sasikiran is an Indian chess Grandmaster. Among Indians, he is second, after Viswanathan Anand, No. 6 in Asia & ranked 56th in the world in FIDE rating as on September 2011....
.
Team events
Berg is regularly selected to represent his country at major team events and following a significant upswing in his rating, nowadays plays on board one. He has participated in all of the Olympiads between 2002–2008 and the European Team ChampionshipEuropean Team Championship
The European Team Championship is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9...
s of 1999, 2003 and 2007. At the Dresden 2008 Olympiad
38th Chess Olympiad
The 38th Chess Olympiad, organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between 12–25 November 2008, in Dresden, Germany and was won by Armenia.The 2010 Olympiad is...
, he had a disastrous result, winning no games at all, for a lowly score of 1½ points from 9 games. In stark contrast, his team-mates did exceedingly well, keeping Sweden in contention round after round, and thereby ensuring that Berg had to endure a barrage of top-class opponents, including two ex-world champions.
Berg is a close friend of Sweden's latest grandmaster and Olympiad team-mate, Pontus Carlsson
Pontus Carlsson
Pontus Carlsson is a Swedish chess player and became the country's 16th grandmaster.- Early life :When Carlsson was one year old, his entire family died in tragic circumstances...
. They played league chess together for the successful Sollentuna SK club. In 2009 he joined Burgsvik SK, currently playing in the third division in Sweden.
Notable games
- Emanuel Berg vs Evgeny Bareev, 15th EU Team Ch 2005, French Defense: Classical, Burn Variation (C11), 1-0
- Suat Atalik vs Emanuel Berg, Sigeman & Co 2006, Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto, Check Variation (E15), 0-1
- Nadezhda Kosintseva vs Emanuel Berg, Corus Group C 2007, French Defense: Normal Variation (C10), 0-1
- Stephen Gordon vs Emanuel Berg, Hastings 2009, Queen's Gambit Declined: Albin Countergambit (D08), 0-1