Ulf Andersson celebrates 75th birthday year with Stockholm invitational
By Brian T. · Thu, 29 Oct 2026
Fresh from his induction into the World Chess Hall of Fame, Ulf Andersson will join friends and fellow grandmasters for the Svarta Hästen Invitational in Stockholm on Thursday, 29 October.
Ulf Andersson celebrates 75th birthday year with Stockholm invitational Fresh from his induction into the World Chess Hall of Fame, Ulf Andersson will join friends and fellow grandmasters for the Svarta Hästen Invitational in Stockholm on Thursday, 29 October.The 16-player rapid tournament celebrates the Swedish legend’s 75th birthday year, bringing together established names from Swedish chess and a younger generation represented by chess creator Anna Cramling.Andersson will be joined by grandmasters Pia Cramling, Ferdinand Hellers, Harry Schüssler and Juan Bellon Lopez for seven rounds at Svarta Hästen Chess & Wine in central Stockholm. The event was initiated by Andersson together with Håkan Östling, Carl Fredrik Johansson and Svarta Hästen.The tournament comes just five days after Andersson attended his World Chess Hall of Fame induction in Saint Louis on 24 October. The honour recognised a career that took him to fourth in the world rankings in 1983 and established him as one of Sweden’s greatest players.Renowned for his positional understanding and exceptional endgame technique, Andersson became a grandmaster in 1972 and spent much of the 1980s among the world’s top ten. His ability to extract winning chances from seemingly quiet positions remains a defining feature of his chess.In Stockholm, the emphasis will also be on the friendships built during that long career. According to the Swedish Chess Federation, several participants were invited by Andersson himself. Alongside the grandmasters, the field includes international masters Thomas Engqvist and Nils-Gustaf Renman, as well as other familiar figures from Swedish chess.Pia Cramling, a former women’s world number one and two-time European women’s champion, will compete alongside her daughter Anna, whose videos and streams have brought chess to an international online audience. Their participation adds a family connection to an event spanning generations and different parts of the chess community.Play is scheduled to begin at 10:00 CET, with the final round expected to finish at approximately 16:15 CET. Each player will have 15 minutes per game, with a five-second increment after every move.The tournament will take place without spectators because of limited space at the venue, but fans can follow the games online.Follow the games live on Chess.com. Full participant information and the schedule are available on the official tournament website.