22.01.2000 Rapid Chess Championship of Helsinki, Finland
During my regular visits to Finland on business I usually check if there are any interesting tournaments I could go and see or play in. Usually I'm not lucky, but this time I happened to be in Helsinki in time for the annual 5+5 minute championship. Back in the good old days I played this tournament every year, and sometimes managed to even win it. This time I thought that I would mainly go and see if any old friends would be there, and enjoy a couple of hours of rapid games just for fun.
To make things even more interesting, I spent the previous night with my close friends. We shared some good food and drinks, and then opened a bottle of single malt whisky. To cut a long story short, I ended up going home very late and woke up very hung over. I even debated with myself whether to participate at all, but decided that the social aspects of the tournament would be worth it so I ended up playing anyway.
Maybe it was a result of the hangover, maybe not, but I ended up playing very relaxed chess. I lost one game against Markku Lahtinen in a ridiculous way, but did not lose any more games and drew only one. This meant I finally finished first, with a one point margin as Markku lost some games towards the end of the day. The complete results can be found here: http://www.kolumbus.fi/shakki.koti/HM-BL.htm and WWW.SHAKKI.NET was kind enough to comment the results.
Top Three:
1. Mikko Kivistö
MatSK 18˝
2. Markku Lahtinen KSY
17˝
3. Eetu Prieur
Garde 15˝