Jon Ludvig Nilssen Hammer (born 2 June 1990) is a Norwegian

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

grandmaster and three-time

Norwegian Chess Champion The Norwegian Chess Championship (NM i sjakk) is an annual tournament held in Norway during the month of July, in order to determine the national chess champion. The tournament is held at different venues each year as part of the ''Landsturnering' ...

. He was the main second for

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has h ...

in the

World Chess Championship 2013 The World Chess Championship 2013 was a match between reigning world champion Viswanathan Anand and challenger Magnus Carlsen, to determine the 2013 World Chess Champion. It was held from 7 to 25 November 2013 in Chennai, India, under the auspic ...

Chess career

At the

38th Chess Olympiad The 38th Chess Olympiad (german: Die 38. Schacholympiade), organized by FIDE and comprising an open and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place from 12 to 25 November 2008 in Dresden, ...

in Dresden, Hammer represented Norway as the substitute player (number five on the team). He played in all rounds except the first and scored 6/10 (+4−2=4). In 2007, Hammer completed all requirements for the

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 ...

title. Hammer gained his first

GM norm A norm in chess is a high level of performance in a chess tournament. The level of performance is typically measured in tournament performance rating above a certain threshold (for instance, 2600 for GM norm), and there is a requirement on the leve ...

in the

Cappelle-la-Grande Open The Cappelle-la-Grande Open is a chess tournament held every year in Cappelle-la-Grande, France, since 1985. It is usually played in the second half of February with an accelerated Swiss-system format in nine rounds. It is organized by the chess cl ...

in 2007, the second in Denmark in 2008, and a third in

European Chess Club Cup The European Chess Club Cup is an annual chess tournament for club teams from Europe. It is organised by the European Chess Union. The competition is held with the Swiss system over seven rounds. It consists of two sections, open and women's, with e ...

later that year. The short length of those tournaments, however, meant he needed a fourth norm to gain the GM title. This norm was achieved when Hammer won outright a jubilee tournament at

Gjøvik is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Toten. The administrative centre of the municipality is town of Gjøvik. Some of the villages in Gjøvik include Biri, Bybrua, and Hunndalen. The ...

arranged at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. In the final round against

Mateusz Bartel Mateusz Bartel (born 3 January 1985) is a Polish chess Grandmaster. He won the Polish Chess Championship in 2006, 2010, 2011 and 2012. Career Bartel learnt to play the game at the age of 6 from his father when he and his younger brother were ...

, Hammer secured his Grandmaster title with a

draw Draw, drawing, draws, or drawn may refer to: Common uses * Draw (terrain), a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them * Drawing (manufacturing), a process where metal, glass, or plastic or anything ...

. In spite of this, he eschewed several opportunities for a

perpetual check In the game of chess, perpetual check is a situation in which one player can a draw by an unending series of checks. This typically arises when the player who is checking cannot deliver checkmate, and failing to continue the series of checks gives ...

, and successfully took aim at sole first place. He was awarded the grandmaster title in March 2009. Hammer scored a 2792 rating performance on Norway's top board during the 2009

European Team Chess Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

, where his +4−0=5 score made him one of the top individual scorers. In 2011, Hammer suffered setbacks in the "B" section of the

Tata Steel Chess Tournament The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an annual chess tournament held in January in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. It was called the Hoogovens Tournament from its creation in 1938 until the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Steel ...

, and the

Aeroflot Open The Aeroflot Open is an annual open chess tournament played in Moscow and sponsored by the airline Aeroflot. It was established in 2002 and quickly grew to be the strongest open tournament; in 2013 it was converted to a rapid and blitz event, whil ...

. He rebounded with a good result in the

Reykjavik Open The Reykjavik Open is an annual chess tournament that takes place in the capital city of Iceland. It was held every two years up to 2008, currently it runs annually. The first edition was held in 1964 and was won by Mikhail Tal with a score of 12.5 ...

, where he finished with 7/9, and in 5th place on tiebreaks. As the best Nordic player, Hammer became Norway's first Nordic Chess Champion since

Simen Agdestein Simen Agdestein (born 15 May 1967) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster, chess coach, author, and former professional footballer as a striker for the Norway national football team. Agdestein won eight Norwegian Chess Championships between 1982 an ...

in 1992. Hammer won his first

Norwegian Chess Championship The Norwegian Chess Championship (NM i sjakk) is an annual tournament held in Norway during the month of July, in order to determine the national chess champion. The tournament is held at different venues each year as part of the ''Landsturnering' ...

in 2013 when he scored 7/9 (+5−0=4). Hammer's best result until then had been the 2008 championship, when he finished equal on points with

Frode Elsness Frode Elsness (born June 15, 1973) is a Norwegian chess player who holds the title of International Master, as well as the 2008 Norwegian Chess Championship. Elsness plays for the chess club in Moss. Apart from chess, Elsness is a medical doctor ...

, but he lost the September playoff to Elsness after losing the first game, and acquiescing to a draw in a worse position in the second. In 2013/14, Hammer took a clear first place with 7½/9 in the Rilton Cup. Hammer attended the

Norwegian College of Elite Sport Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

and was coached by Agdestein. Hammer has been described as taking chess very seriously, playing very often online, in tournaments, or practicing. In 2009, Hammer announced he would not pursue a professional chess career and would study economics. In 2012, he switched to journalism, writing for Science Nordic as part of his degree studies. He won the

Xtracon Chess Open The Xtracon Chess Open (formerly the Politiken Cup) is an international chess tournament and the main feature event of the annual Copenhagen Chess Festival. History Organized by the Copenhagen Chess Federation (KSU), it was originally set up to giv ...

in 2018. In 2019, he published the educational video series "1.e4 A Complete White Repertoire".

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hammer, Jon Ludvig 1990 births Living people Norwegian chess players Chess grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors Sportspeople from Oslo