Sagt frá sigri Héðins á Ítalíumótinu

Á erlendri skák-blogg-yfirlitssíðu var að birtast skemmtileg grein um mótið í Porto Mannu á Ítalíu, þar sem Héðinn Steingrímsson fór með sigur af hólmi. Þar sagði einn keppandinn frá mótinu og birti nokkrar myndir.

Hér að neðan birtum við umfjöllun hans um Héðin. Þótt þetta sé á ensku, ættu flestir að geta skilið þetta.

“So let’s speak about the tournament. Besides Aagaard, Marin and Rowson there were the GMs Matamoros, Naumkin, Djuric, Efimov, Godena and lots of strong IMs. One of those dominated the whole tournament. International Master Hedinn Steingrimsson from Iceland was the player you would see playing on board one every day, clinching victories round after round, and always in the same physical position. For now, I will consider Steingrimsson the synonym for concentration. I’ve never seen a player so focussed as he was, day after day, hour after hour, all alone with the board, the pieces and his opponent. His face would be almost invicible, resting within his hands, leaving the spectators wondering whether he could see the board at all. But he could, of course. He almost collapsed in the last round, when Rowson had a possibly winning advantage with White against the Iceman. A victory by the Scotchman would, by the way, have assured the incredibly talented Italian IM Fabiano Caruana (just 14 years old) the sole victory! But Steingrimsson held the draw and of course he was declared the winner of the tournament on tiebreak.”