Ingvar you are on fire

great video

Thanks for the games and the video! It was funny that you said I like to play fast because usually I am really slow. I was just playing faster because of the adrenaline of playing a chessvideos.tv hero

Good stuff-thanks! BTW, I saw somewhere that you had 2 IM norms- what do you see as your prospects for the 3rd?

Thanks for sharing these zibbit! Man, under time pressure you play like a machine! I'm in awe.

I've been close to a 3rd several times, and often in tournaments I didn't have any big expectations for. I think 3rd norm will come but the tough part is getting over 2400. That being said if I put in a lot of hard work and can go "on tour" for like 3-4 tournaments in Europe I feel like I should be able to finish the job. I know I have the strength and people I know who have got the title I feel are not that much better than me, if at all.

So the main problem is lack of tournaments and therefore work (because no special tournaments to aim for). This is more or less due to the global financial stuff. Much more difficult to go abroad for a tournament after the fall of the Icelandic currency. Still it's possible and I hope to be able to organise such a "tour" within the next 1-2 years hopefully.

Well, we're all rooting for you- if you ever come to the US for a tournament, I'm sure between me and Mrs. Kamus and the other US players on this site we'd be able to find cheap/free accommodations for you to save a few króna that way.

BTW, the only money I ever lost investing was when we unwisely bought into the Króna. Fortunately, we got out just a bit before the big crash but we still got badly burned. Not as much as you unfortunate Icelanders though .

I hope you leave a message if such a trip includes Germany

ty ty ty both. Would love to visit one of the US Opens one day. God damn Krona though....sorry bout that ;-(
Also Germany I would like to visit. Only driven through it on way to Luxemburg and the other time on way to Austria. So have flown a few times to Germany but never actually stayed there.

Anyway. Just looked at the vid again. Is it just me or is the tempo of the player in the last game (about 37:00ish) a bit strange? You can count..."1-2-3-4-MOVE.." for almost every single move (except 1.e4)...very weird tempo that I am not used to seeing and gives me suspicions like I said in the vid. Not maybe the most hard to find moves but 10-19 are computer 1st choice moves.

btw, gentlew...do you like handball?

Yea, it's strange. For the most obvious theoretical moves it takes him around the same time it did for some critical and rather forcing moves. Although I couldn't ever prove it, but from my experience, people playing like this get quickly into a time disadvantage but regain it just as quickly back in early-mid game because of the soundness of their moves. If he had at least blitzed out the opening.... he didn't.

If I could chime in, handball is quite popular in Iceland, no? I usually follow it when Croatia plays

There's definitely something fishy about that guy. Why would someone that strong take so long over moves like e5 and a3 and build up a crushing position in no time?

What's that last player's bullet rating? If its very low, you have another hint... Not the proof, for sure, since bullet might just not be someone's cup of tea, but it's hard to imagine a 2400+ 5 minute player with 1500 bullet rating. It's much harder (if not impossible) to cheat at bullet compared to long games.

Yes, handball is incredibly popular in Iceland. Last two tournaments, we won medals. Bronze in Olympic games and Silver in World Championships. Usually during these tournaments I'd say close to 80-90% of the population is watching the games and the streets more or less empty.

I asked GW because I saw he is from Kiel and the most promising Icelandic youngster, Aron Palmason plays for Kiel.

Regarding the last game, I think it's pretty obvious the guy was cheating. All the signs. No strong player, i.e. a player who plays that strong in the middlegame is gonna take 4-5 seconds every move to whip out the Winawer in a 3-minute game. So all the signs, even tempo, perfect moves, high rating, playing for Cubits (althought I don't know much about Cubits I think you can buy them so that makes it rather unethical) etc. I don't really care, I just don't play such people. But with the amount of these people I understand the Chessgym for thinking he could be up against one.

As someone born in Kiel you just can't avoid being part of the THW Kiel fanbase^^
I am not really up to date with handball but I know we regularily win the club stuff ( League, Cup, Champions League)