Dortmund Chess Round 5: Both Kramnik, Adams Win; Extend Lead

Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013

Hi everyone, 

It was an exciting day in Dortmund. Five very entertaining fights left us with three decisive results. Co-leaders Vladimir Kramnik and Michael Adams defeated Peter Leko and Wang Hao, respectively, to increase their advantage at the top of the standings. Yesterday, Wang Hao was half a point behind them, while today, the Chinese and Georg Meier are trailing by a point and a half.

It seems to be a tradition that positional players get better results at this event. The two more experienced elite players from the field won today using their patient and solid styles. The other decisive result was Dmitry Andreikin’s first win of the tournament; the Russian beat Igor Khenkin with white in a Caro-Kann.

It is no coincidence that Michael Adams was part of the top-10 for a long time some years ago. He keeps showing his class in strong events such as the London Classic and the GRENKE Tournament in Baden-Baden, where he faces the very best players without looking like an outsider. Today, he beat Wang Hao with white and did not allow his direct rival, Vladimir Kramnik, to pull away from the field.

Adams used the English opening instead of his more typical 1.e4. The Englishman started to manoeuvre his pieces while Wang Hao tried to gain the initiative. On move 21, the Chinese sacrificed an exchange for a pawn and the bishop pair. The position seemed rather equalized but very complicated. Suddenly, Wang repeated the story from the first round – he blundered decisively with Bg4, giving his opponent an easy win by move 30.

The 2004 World Championship match contenders battled today in Dortmund. Vladimir Kramnik defeated his long-standing rival Peter Leko with the white pieces. The Hungarian has been showing his reliable style both in Beijing – where he finished undefeated – and in Dortmund, where he had drawn all his games until today. However, he could not stop the former world champion in his favorite event.

A very slow Symmetrical English opening presented itself over the board. Kramnik fianchettoed both bishops looking for a long-term fight. Black seemed to have, at least, equalized the position. On move 22, Kramnik offered a sound piece sacrifice that would have led to complicated waters, but Leko rejected it. The position got simplified and everything seemed to be heading to a draw. The computer points at move 36 as the turning point where Leko made a mistake that eventually cost him a pawn. Kramnik converted his advantage with his usual mastery and took home the full point after 47 moves.

Dmitry Andreikin finally won a game in Dortmund. He defeated the lowest rated player of the field, Igor Khenkin. The experienced German grandmaster had been playing solidly, drawing all his games without getting into trouble against his higher-rated colleagues.

The first Caro-Kann of the tournament was seen on the board. Andreikin chose the Advanced variation and used the usual strategy of going for a kingside attack. Khenkin handled the opening correctly until he blundered decisively on move 18. Interestingly, the German allowed his colleague to show a checkmate, which arrived on move 27. On a separate note, today was Fabiano Caruana’s 21st birthday. The organizers congratulated him on the stage.

Standings after 5 rounds:
1 Kramnik, Vladimir RUS 2784 4
2 Adams, Michael ENG 2740 4
3 Meier, Georg GER 2610 2½
4 Wang, Hao CHN 2752 2½
5 Naiditsch, Arkadij GER 2710 2
6 Khenkin, Igor GER 2605 2
7 Fridman, Daniel GER 2629 2
8 Leko, Peter HUN 2737 2
9 Caruana, Fabiano ITA 2796 1½
10 Andreikin, Dmitry RUS 2727 1½

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Dortmund Chess Round 4: Kramnik and Adams Lead

Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013

Hi everyone,

Four rounds have already been played in Dortmund and we have two leaders. Michael Adams and Vladmir Kramnik stand on top with 3/4 points. Wang Hao recovered from his first round blunder and won two out of three games to be the only player half a point behind the leaders. After breaking the 2800-barrier with his first win, defending champion Fabiano Caruana lost twice and needs to recover quickly if he wants to get a shot for the title.

Today’s round saw three decisive games. Vladimir Kramnik beat Georg Meier with black, Arkadij Naiditsch got his first win over out-of-form Dmitry Andreikin and Wang Hao used the white pieces to defeat Fabiano Caruana. The games were very tactical and entertaining for the spectators.

Today’s win by Vladimir Kramnik over Georg Meier showed both the deep preparation and great tactical ability of the former world champion. After the gift he received in the first round, where Wang Hao blundered terribly, the Russian drew two German players. The victory obtained today puts him back in the fight to get his eleventh title at this prestigious tournament.

Meier used one of Kramnik’s weapons, the Catalan. The Russian is known for his great knowledge of this opening with both colors, and proved it today. The fight began on the queenside, where black eventually won a pawn. Meier reacted going for a counterattack against the f7 square, but Kramnik used his queen as an effective defender. When black won a second pawn and closed the possibility of falling against a direct attack, the German decided to give up hopes.

Two strong young players battled today. Wang Hao defeated Fabiano Caruana with white in a 39-moves game. This was Wang’s second win of the event and Caruana’s second loss. With the German players showing that they will not be easy targets, it will be hard for the Italian to recover, but it would be naive to rule him out completely.

The Chinese opened with a Barcza system, and got the pair of bishops by move 13. Caruana activated his knights in the center but had to face his opponent’s counterplay on the kingside. The final blow came over the open h-file, where white put both his queen and rook in line. Caruana did not react correctly and gave up on move 30, when it is unavoidable to lose an important amount of material.

Dmitry Andreikin is not having a good tournament. Today, he lost his third game against Germany’s number 1 Arkadij Naiditsch. The Russian did not show his class at the Universiade event in Kazan and continues his bad run at this strong invitational.

The players went for the Ruy Lopez and the fight for the initiative began from the very first move. Andreikin played a quick g5, leaving his king rather weak, although he already had the advantage of the pair of bishops in exchange. Naiditsch activated his knights in the center and started to pick up black’s loose pawns. The result was an endgame where white has no less than five pawns for black’s bishop. Andreikin resigned on move 49. (www.chessdom.com)

Standings after 4 rounds:
1 Kramnik, Vladimir RUS 2784 3
2 Adams, Michael ENG 2740 3
3 Wang, Hao CHN 2752 2½
4 Khenkin, Igor GER 2605 2
5 Leko, Peter HUN 2737 2
6 Meier, Georg GER 2610 2
7 Naiditsch, Arkadij GER 2710 2
8 Fridman, Daniel GER 2629 1½
9 Caruana, Fabiano ITA 2796 1½
10 Andreikin, Dmitry RUS 2727 ½

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Dortmund Chess 2013 Round 1: Kramnik, Caruana and Meier Start with Wins

Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013

Hi everyone, 

Yet another edition of the long-standing elite Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund has begun. This time it is a single round-robin with ten players. Six international stars are joined by four members of the German team to get a very dynamic lineup. The highlight of the event is, once again, the presence of ex-world champion Vladimir Kramnik, who pretty much “owns” Dortmund, having won the event no less than ten times.

The Russian began with the right foot, beating Wang Hao with white. Replay the game with Chess King. The other two winners of the day were defending champion Fabiano Caruana, who beat Dmitry Andreikin with black, and Georg Meier, who outplayed Germany’s number one player Arkadij Naiditsch. Replay the game with Chess King.

The first result of the day left everyone wondering if there was a mistake in the relay. The game that faced Vladimir Kramnik and Wang Hao began as a very positional affair where a lot of simplifications took place rather quickly. The Russian, as usual, chose a continuation where he got a pawn advantage in a rook endgame. When the grinding was just beginning, the Chinese made a huge blunder and resigned immediately after his opponent played the obvious response. The game only lasted 26 moves.

In last year’s edition, Fabiano Caruana obtained what almost seemed impossible in the past decade: to win Dortmund instead of Kramnik. This result now has a special meaning, given that Caruana also took over Kramnik’s third place in the ratings after having a great first half of 2013. With today’s victory, the young Italian also arrived provisionally to the coveted 2800 mark in the live ratings list. Replay the game with Chess King

The game saw the defending champion using the Gruenfeld. Dmitry Andreikin avoided the main lines and tried to surprise his opponent in slow positional style. Caruana answered accurately, playing actively when needed and defending his king’s position if necessary. An opposite-colored bishop middlegame was reached and black started to gain the initiative. The Russian decided to sacrifice an exchange to avoid a quicker loss, but ended up resigning on move 43 anyway.

Another positional Gruenfeld was seen in the German battle between Georg Meier and Arkadij Naiditsch. However, the final result favored the white side led by the younger grandmaster. These players already faced each other earlier this year in another German super-tournament, in Baden-Baden.

The game was a very technical affair where the key factor was Meier’s dominance of the c-file with his pair of rooks. A slow process of increasing the pressure was handled masterfully by the young German and the players reached a rook endgame where white’s advantage of two pawns proved enough to get the full point. Naiditsch resigned on move 53.

Round 2 pairings:
Leko – Caruana
Naiditsch – Kramnik
Wang – Fridman
Adams – Andreikin
Khenkin – Meier

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Sparkassen Chess Meeting: Vladimir Kramnik Top Seed in Dortmund

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

The 2012 Sparkassen Chess Meeting begins on July 13 and runs until July 22, 2012 in Dortmund, Germany. Ten players are competing in the round-robin event. Former World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia is the top seed. The just-crowned World Rapid Chess Champion, also from Russia, Sergey Karjakin, is the second seed. Four of the five members of the German national chess team that won the gold medal at the recent European Team Chess Championship are also taking part, according to the official website.

Players:

1. Kramnik Vladimir RUS 2799 (Dortmund 2011 winner)

2. Karjakin Sergey RUS 2779 (World Rapid Chess Champion 2012)

3. Caruana Fabiano ITA 2775

4. Leko Peter HUN 2730

5. Ponomariov Ruslan UKR 2726

6. Naiditsch Arkadij GER 2700

7. Bartel Mateusz POL 2674 (winner of the 2012 Aeroflot Open)

8. Fridman Daniel GER 2655 (Reigning German champion)

9. Meier Georg GER 2644

10. Gustafsson Jan GER 2629

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