Quick! Name a
Swedish Grandmaster. If you said Gideon Stahlberg you probably named
the best known. Stahlberg's highest Chessmetrics rating was 2762 on
the March 1948 rating list which placed him number 3 on the list. If
your more up-to-date, you may have thought of Ulf Andersson who
Chessmetrics rated at 2743 on the October 1983 rating list which also
placed him number 3 on the list. Andersson was a very solid
positional player with a high percentage of his games against fellow
GMs and was known for being a great endgame played, especially R and
P, and is famous for winning seemingly unwinnable endgames, often in
very long games. Boring, boring, boring.
A lesser known
Swedish GM was Pontus Carlsson who was born in Columbia but was one
year old when his family died and he was adopted by a Swedish couple.
His stepfather, Ingvar Carlsson, former chairman of the Swedish
Chess Federation, taught him the game when he was four.
Two lesser known and
under appreciated Swedish players are Gösta Stoltz and Erik Lundin.
Stoltz (May 9, 1904 – July 25, 1963) was rated 2700 on the January
1942 rating list at Chessmetrics, placeding him number 8 in the world
and Lundin's highest Chessmetrics rating was 2661 on the October 1946
rating list making him the 20th rated in the world at the
time.
Stoltz |
Stoltz played a few
matches with strong masters with decent results. In 1926, he lost to
Botvinnik (+0 –1 =1) at a team match in Stockholm and in 930, he
won against Isaac Kashdan (+3 –2 =1) in Stockholm.
In 1930, he lost to
Spielmann (+2–3=1), but in 1931, he won against Salo Flohr (+4 –3
=1) in Göteborg. The same year he lost to Flohr (+1 –4 =3) in
Prague. Also, in 1931, he drew with Ståhlberg (+2 –2 =2). In 1934,
he narrowly lost to Nimzovich (+1 –2 =3) in Stockholm.
Stoltz played for
Sweden in nine Chess Olympiads (1927–1937, 1952,1954) and in 3rd
unofficial Chess Olympiad at Munich 1936.
At the beginning of
his international career Stoltz' best results were:
1930, tied for
2nd-3rd with Bogoljubow, behind Kashdan, in Stockholm.
1932, won in
Swinemünde.
1933, took 2nd,
behind Nimzowitsch, in Copenhagen.
1934, took 3rd in
Stockholm
1935, tied for 1st
with Lindberg in Harnosand.
1936, tied for
2nd-3rd with Böök, behind Vladimirs Petrovs in Helsinki
1936, 3rd in
Helsinki .
1937, tied for
3rd-4th in Stockholm
1938, 1st in
Stockholm
During World War II,
Stoltz played in Sweden and Germany. In 1940, he tied for 4-5th in
the Stockholm championship. In 1941, he won, ahead of Lundin and
Alekhine, in the Munich 1941 chess tournament. In 1942, he took 6th
in the Salzburg 1942 chess tournament and in September 1942, he tied
for 9-10th in Munich. In 1943, he tied for 1st with Lundholm in
Stockholm. In 1943/44, he took 4 th in Stockholm and finished 3rd,
behind Stig Lundholm, and Paul Keres, in Lidköping.
After the war,
Stoltz played in a few international tournaments. His best results
included 2nd behind O'Kelly in Beverwijk in 1946,. In he tied for
2nd-3rd in Prague (Miguel Najdorf won). In 1947, he tied for 1st
with Eero Böök in Helsinki (zonal), and drew a play-off match (+1
–1 =6). In 1951 he tied for 3rd-4th in the zonal at Mariánské
Lázně-Prague.
Stoltz won the
Swedish championships at Halmstad 1951, Hålland 1952, and Örebro
1953. He was awarded the International Master title in 1950, and the
Grandmaster title in 1954.
Lundin |
Erik Lundin
(Stockholm, 2 July 1904 – 5 December 1988) was awarded the IM title
in 1950, and the Honorary GM title in 1983. Over the course of his
career, he won games against such world class players as Bronstein,
Euwe, Fine, Flohr, and Najdorf.
Among his best
results were winning Oslo, 1928 and tying for 2nd-3rd in Stockholm
(Quadrangular, Richard Réti won). In 1929, he took 2nd in Göteborg
(Nordic Chess Championship, Gideon Ståhlberg won), and took 3rd in
Västerås.
In 1931, Lundin tied
for 1st-3rd with Salo Flohr and Gösta Stoltz in Göteborg. In 1932,
he tied for 1st with Ståhlberg in Karlskrona. In 1933, he won a
match against Rudolf Spielmann (+1 -0 =5) in Stockholm. In 1934, he
won in Stockholm, and took 2nd in Copenhagen (Nordic-ch; Nimzovich
won).
In 1935, he took
2nd, with a score of 7.5/9, behind Alexander Alekhine's 8.5, in
Örebro, after losing to Alekhine in the final round. In 1936, he
took 4th in Margate (Flohr won), won in Ostend, and won in Helsinki
(Nordic-ch). In 1937, he took 7th in Stockholm (Reuben Fine won), won
in Copenhagen (Nordic-ch) and won a match for the Nordic Champion
title against Erik Andersen 3.5-2.5.
In 1938, he won in
Kalmar, and tied for 2nd-3rd with Henrik Carlsson, behind Ståhlberg,
in Örebro (Nordic-ch). In 1939, he took 4th in Alingsås (SWE-ch;
Ståhlberg won), and tied for 1st with Ståhlberg in Oslo
(Nordic-ch).[3]
During World War II,
Lundin won at Göteborg 1941 (Swedish Chess Championship) and tied
for 2nd-3rd with Alekhine, behind Stoltz, at Munich 1941. In 1942,
he tied for 3rd-4th with Stoltz in Stockholm and finished first in
Östersund (SWE-ch). In 1943, he tied for 2nd-3rd in Malmö (SWE-ch).
In 1945, he finished first in Visby and in 1946, first in Motala
(SWE-ch).
In 1951 he finished
2nd, behind Czerniak in Vienna and in 1952, he won in Zürich ahead
of Euwe. In 1960, he won in Kiruna (SWE-ch). In 1961, he won in
Avesta (SWE-ch). In 1964, he won in Göteborg (SWE-ch).
Lundin played for
Sweden in nine official Chess Olympiads and once in 3rd unofficial
Chess Olympiad at Munich 1936. He won four medals; team silver
(Warsaw 1935) and bronze (Folkestone 1933), individual gold
(Folkestone 1933) and bronze (Buenos Aires 1939).
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