Svein Johannessen (17 October 1937 – 27 November 2007) was a Norwegian

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player. He became Norway's second

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

, after Olaf Barda, in 1961. He won four Norwegian Chess Championships, in 1959, 1962, 1970 and 1973. According to

ChessBase ChessBase is a German company that develops and sells chess software, maintains a chess news site, and operates an internet chess server for online chess. Founded in 1986, it maintains and sells large-scale databases containing the moves of recor ...

, Johannessen had a wide opening repertoire. He played most of the regular opening moves with White with some frequency, 1.d4, 1.e4, 1.c4 and 1.Nf3. With Black against 1.e4 he frequently entered the "open" games with 1...e5, but often played the

Sicilian Defence The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the following moves: :1. e4 c5 The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4. The opening 1.d4 is a statistically more successful opening for Whi ...

as well. Against 1.d4 Johannessen also played several things including the

Old Indian Defense The Old Indian Defense is a chess opening defined by the moves: :1. d4 Nf6 :2. c4 d6 This opening is distinguished from the King's Indian Defense in that Black develops their on e7 rather than by fianchetto on g7. Mikhail Chigorin pion ...

and

Queen's Gambit Accepted The Queen's Gambit Accepted (QGA) is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. d4 d5 :2. c4 dxc4 The Queen's Gambit Accepted is the third most popular option on Black's second move, after 2...e6 (the Queen's Gambit Declined) and 2.. ...

References

FIDE rating card for Svein Johannessen
*

Literature

*Øystein Brekke: ''Sjakkmesteren Svein Johannessen'', Norsk Sjakkforlag, Drammen 2009 Chess International Masters 1937 births 2007 deaths 20th-century Norwegian chess players 20th-century Norwegian sportsmen {{norway-chess-bio-stub