- Auno Siikaluoma

In Finnish

Auno Siikaluoma to World Championship Final !

The Correspondence Chess World Champion Pertti Lehikoinen writes…

Wednesday, September 28^th, 2016, was a remarkable day for the Finnish Correspondence Chess. On that day, GM Auno Siikaluoma (Järvenpää) succeeded confirming his qualification to the World Championships final having won Polish SIM Dariusz Szczepankiewicz in the 34^th Candidates Tournament (4. group). The win assured at least a tie for a second place in a group, which is enough to earn a place in the finals, as from each group the two best players get a place in the finals. The result-tables of this tight tournament can be found here…

GM Auno Siikaluoma is only the fourth Finnish player who has appeared in the Correspondence Chess World Championship Finals (highest level). The other finalists (with results) are:

GM Risto Kauranen (Jyväskylä) (VI WC-final 1968-1971) +3   =8   -4   7/15     9. place tournament table…
GM Risto Kauranen (X WC-final 1978-1984) +5   =7   -3    8½/15   5. place tournament table…
GM Risto Kauranen (XII WC-final 1984 -1991) +7   =5   -2   9½/14 3. place tournament table…
GM Asko Linna (Kokkola) (XVII WC-final 2002-2007) +4   =12   -0   10/16   4. place tournament table...
GM Pertti Lehikoinen (Helsinki/Lohja) (XX WC-final 2004-2011) +4   =10 -0   9/14     1. place tournament table…

So, altogether five Finnish finalists with results +23 =42 -9. Also, the result by percentage 59,5% is internationally top class.

Auno Siikaluoma, who was born in Kuusamo, started his correspondence chess career already in the 1970’s. At that time, he didn’t yet reach the top national players’ level. Return to the correspondence chess happened in ICCF through commercial servers only in 2005 when ICCF had published its current playing format which is played through servers. After this, Auno’s development has been extremely fast. In 2007, Auno won overwhelmingly the National Seniors’ Tournament and, in June the following year, he was the winner of the 58^th National Tournament. In 2010, Auno Siikaluoma received his IM (International Master) and SIM (Senior International Master) titles. At the end of the same year, the win in the first Webchess Open Finals was confirmed, which also meant that the award ceremony of this tournament would be held in his hometown Järvenpää in 2011. Finally, in 2012, Auno received the highest title, Grandmaster (GM). He was the 14^th Finnish chess player in history to receive that prestigious title. The title was confirmed in the South Africa Congress later the same year and Auno went to receive the award personally, acting as the representative for Finland and Estonia at the same time.

Now our ‘chess wizard’ has earned place in the 30^th World Champion Finals which will start in the summer in 2017. At least, Auno doesn’t lack experience, as taking into account his relatively short career (time-wise) he has played twice as many games as the previous Finnish finalists together. Moreover, there are literally hundreds of games that Auno has played in other commercial servers. It’s interesting to see how far Auno’s talents will take him. This will be a real test for him! We wish all the best luck for Auno for these demanding World Championship Finals.

I’m sure this wish is shared by everyone involved in Finnish correspondence chess. After all, this is the first time in 13 years that a Finnish player gets to play in the Finals. It’s good to pass the baton to reliable hands.

Pertti Lehikoinen

World Champion

PS. The most remarkable tournaments…

Grandmaster title was ensured through the following tournaments…

RCCA-Gold 2008 and WS/GMN/028

SIM- and IM-titles were ensured through the following tournaments…

WCCC32SF03 ja 8th Baltic Sea Team Tournament board 5