Full name Ralf Akesson Role Chess master Country Sweden | Title Grandmaster Name Ralf Akesson | |
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Born 8 February 1961 (age 63)
Oxelosund, Sweden ( 1961-02-08 ) | ||
Garry Kasparov vs Ralf Akesson - Historical Match
Ralf Åkesson (born 8 February 1961 in Oxelösund) is a Swedish chess grandmaster.
He was awarded by FIDE the titles of International Master (IM) in 1981 and Grandmaster (GM) in 1995.
Åkesson won the 1980/1981 European Junior Chess Championship (U20) in Groningen. In 1985 and 1999 he won the Swedish Chess Championship. Tournament victories include the Grandmaster Group in Gausdal in 2001, 2003/04 Rilton Cup in Stockholm, GM B Group of the Gausdal Classics tournament and the Open of the Marx György Memorial in Paks in 2005. He tied for first place in the 18th Vienna Open in 2013 with Stanislav Novikov, Batuhan Dastan, Hagen Poetsch, Jonathan Hawkins and Kacper Drozdowski. In 2015 Åkesson won the Malmö Open, which consists of four rounds of rapid chess and three of standard chess, with a score of 6.5/7.
He took part in three Chess Olympiads for the Swedish national team (1996, 1998 and 2000) with altogether 15 points in 28 games (+9, =12, −7). He achieved his highest rating, 2535, in July 1999.
In Sweden he plays for the club Västerås SK and for the club Södra SS, in Belgium for Leuven Centraal.