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Jon Ludvig Hammer

Jon Ludvig Hammer
Hammer at the 2007 Norwegian Championship at Hamar
Full nameJon Ludvig Nilssen Hammer
CountryNorway
Born (1990-06-02) 2 June 1990 (age 34)
Bergen, Norway
TitleGrandmaster (2009)
FIDE rating2603 (November 2024)
Peak rating2705 (February 2016)
Peak rankingNo. 40 (February 2016)

Jon Ludvig Nilssen Hammer (born 2 June 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster and three-time Norwegian Chess Champion. He was the main second for Magnus Carlsen in the World Chess Championship 2013.[1]

Chess career

At the 38th Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Hammer represented Norway as the substitute player (number five on the team). He played in all rounds except the first and scored 6/10 (+4−2=4).[2]

In 2007, Hammer completed all requirements for the International Master title. Hammer gained his first GM norm in the Cappelle-la-Grande Open in 2007, the second in Denmark in 2008, and a third in European Chess Club Cup later that year. The short length of those tournaments, however, meant he needed a fourth norm to gain the GM title.[3] This norm was achieved when Hammer won outright a jubilee tournament at Gjøvik arranged at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009.[4] In the final round against Mateusz Bartel, Hammer could have secured his Grandmaster title with a draw. In spite of this, he eschewed several opportunities for a perpetual check, and successfully took aim at sole first place.[5] He was awarded the grandmaster title in March 2009.[6]

Hammer scored a 2792 rating performance on Norway's top board during the 2009 European Team Chess Championship in Novi Sad, where his +4−0=5 score made him one of the top individual scorers.[7]

In 2011, Hammer suffered setbacks in the "B" section of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, and the Aeroflot Open.[8] He rebounded with a good result in the Reykjavik Open, where he finished with 7/9, and in 5th place on tiebreaks. As the best Nordic player, Hammer became Norway's first Nordic Chess Champion since Simen Agdestein in 1992.[9]

Hammer won his first Norwegian Chess Championship in 2013 when he scored 7/9 (+5−0=4).[10] Hammer's best result until then had been the 2008 championship, when he finished equal on points with Frode Elsness, but he lost the September playoff to Elsness after losing the first game, and acquiescing to a draw in a worse position in the second.[11] In 2013/14, Hammer took a clear first place with 7½/9 in the Rilton Cup.[12]

Hammer attended the Norwegian College of Elite Sport and was coached by Agdestein. Hammer has been described as taking chess very seriously, playing very often online, in tournaments, or practicing.[4] In 2009, Hammer announced he would not pursue a professional chess career and would study economics.[7] In 2012, he switched to journalism, writing for Science Nordic as part of his degree studies.[13][14]

He won the Xtracon Chess Open in 2018.[15]

In 2019, he published the educational video series "1.e4 A Complete White Repertoire".[16]

References

  1. ^ "Her møtes de endelig etter det unike samarbeidet" [Here they finally meet after the unique collaboration] (in Norwegian). NRK. 24 November 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  2. ^ "Norwegian team line-up for 2008 Olympiad". Chess-results.info. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011.
  3. ^ "IM Jon Ludvig Hammer, Oslo". Gjøvik International Chess Festival 2008-09.
  4. ^ a b "Hammer ble stormester" [Hammer became grandmaster] (in Norwegian). NRK. 6 January 2009.
  5. ^ "Young Norwegian chess success at Gjøvik" (Press release). Gjøvik International Chess Festival 2008-09. 8 January 2009.
  6. ^ "Titles approved at the 1st Quarter Presidential Board 2009". FIDE.com. 10 March 2009. Archived from the original on 13 March 2009.
  7. ^ a b "Verdensstjernene kommer og sier hei" [The world stars come and say hello]. Nettavisen.no (in Norwegian). 31 October 2009. Archived from the original on 3 November 2009. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
  8. ^ Valaker, Ole (15 February 2011). "Bare jammer for Hammer" [Just sorry for Hammer]. Nettavisen.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 25 March 2011.
  9. ^ Valaker, Ole (16 March 2011). "Ingen norske har klart det på 19 år" [No Norwegian has managed it in 19 years]. Nettavisen.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 25 March 2011.
  10. ^ "Landsturneringen NM i sjakk 2013" [The national tournament NM in chess 2013]. Tournamentservice.com (in Norwegian). Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  11. ^ "35-åring tok sin første kongepokal" [The 35-year-old took his first King's Cup]. Nettavisen.no (in Norwegian). 26 September 2008. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2009.
  12. ^ "Rilton Cup 2013/2014". Chess-results.com. 5 January 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  13. ^ "Jon Ludvig Hammer". sciencenordic.com. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  14. ^ "Chess.com Player Profiles: SultanOfKings". Chess.com. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  15. ^ "Sjakk-Hammer slo vidunderbarn (13) og vant turnering" [Chess-Hammer beat prodigy (13) and won the tournament]. tv2.no (in Norwegian). 29 July 2018.
  16. ^ "1.e4 A Complete White Repertoire". Chess24.com. 12 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.