Dortmund 2008. Rounds 1-4 by Malcolm Pein

Round 1

The first round of the Sparkassen Chess Meeting at Dortmund was rather low key. Two of the games reached drawn endings very quickly and your correspondent was having chess déjà vu as they unfolded. Sure enough, when I consulted the database it confirmed that Kramnik, who was black, had played virtually his whole game with white against Peter Svidler in last year’s Amber tournament.

Kramnik does not want to reveal his openings before his match against Anand and so he played the Gruenfeld Defence and Jan Gustafsson, as the lowest rated player obviously did not want to take too many risks, yet I can’t help feeling that the spectators were short-changed.

Dortmund only has four games per day so if a couple end early then there is a problem. Mamedyarov and Leko played a variation of the Nimzo - Indian that leads to total equality but at least Leko had to demonstrate some good preparation. Loek Van Wely’s defence was also sound and he forced  perpetual check against Vasily Ivanchuk.

It was left to the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi to provide the entertainment and he played some bold moves with black in the Sicilian Defence. His opponent, local GM Arkady Naiditsch was not to be outdone and sacrificed a knight but as we shall see, he could do no better than repeat moves.

Naiditsch,A (2624) - Nepomniachtchi,I (2634) [B86]
Sparkassen Dortmund GER (1), 28.06.2008
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 Nbd7 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 [9...Nxf6 10.Qe2 (or 10.f4 Gives White chances to attack) ] 10.0-0 g5! Black uses his dark square control to create counterplay 11.Nde2 [11.f4 Bg7 (11...gxf4 12.Qd2 Bg7 13.Nde2 Qe5 was perhaps the intended improvement over) 12.e5! dxe5 13.f5! e4 14.Nce2 e5 (14...exf5 15.Rxf5 Qb6 16.Rxf7 Bf6 17.Qd2 Ne5 18.Rxf6 Qxf6 19.Rf1 Qb6 20.Nc3 Nc6 21.Bf7+ Kd8 22.Qf2 Qxd4 23.Rd1 Qxd1+ 24.Nxd1 Ke7 25.Ne3 Be6 26.Bxe6 Kxe6 27.Qf5+ Ke7 28.Qxe4+ Kd6 29.Qd3+ Ke6 30.Qg6+ Kd7 31.Nc4 Rad8 32.Qd6+ Ke8 33.Qe6+ Kf8 34.Qf6+ Kg8 35.Qg6+ Kf8 36.h3 Rg8 37.Qf6+ Ke8 38.Nd6+ 1-0 Nisipeanu,L (2695)-Grischuk,A (2719)/Foros UKR 2006/The Week in Chess 607) 15.Ne6 Nisipeanu-Grischuk Foros 2006] 11...Rg8 12.f4 gxf4 13.Nxf4 Qg5 14.Kh1 Ne5

Nisipeanu,LD (2695) - Grischuk,A (2719) [B86]
Aerosvit GM Foros UKR (8), 25.06.2006
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 Nbd7 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 10.0-0 g5! 11.f4 [11.Nde2 Rg8 12.f4 gxf4 13.Nxf4 Qg5 14.Kh1 Ne5 15.Na4 Bd7 16.Nb6 Rd8 17.Qe2 Bb5 18.c4 Bc6 19.Rae1 Bg7 20.Bd1 Ng6 21.Nh5 Be5 22.Nd5 exd5 23.exd5 Bd7 24.Nf6+ Ke7 25.Ne4 Qh4 26.g3 Qh3 27.Nf2 Qf5 28.Ne4 Qh3 29.Nf2 Qf5 30.Ne4 1/2-1/2 Naiditsch,A (2624)-Nepomniachtchi,I (2634)/Dortmund GER 2008/The Week in Chess 712] 11...Bg7 12.e5! dxe5 13.f5! e4 14.Nce2 exf5 [14...e5 15.Ne6!] 15.Rxf5 Qb6 16.Rxf7 Bf6 17.Qd2 Ne5 18.Rxf6! Qxf6 19.Rf1 Qb6 20.Nc3 Nc6 21.Bf7+ Kd8 22.Qf2 Qxd4 23.Rd1 Qxd1+ 24.Nxd1 Ke7 25.Ne3 Be6 26.Bxe6 Kxe6 27.Qf5+ Ke7 28.Qxe4+ Kd6 29.Qd3+ Ke6 30.Qg6+ Kd7 31.Nc4 Rad8 32.Qd6+ Ke8 33.Qe6+ Kf8 34.Qf6+ Kg8 35.Qg6+ Kf8 36.h3 Rg8 37.Qf6+ Ke8 38.Nd6+ 1-0

Round 2

At any level of chess most games are decided by mistakes and there were plenty in the second round of the Sparkassen Chess Meeting at Dortmund as three players of the black pieces overlooked rather important details. Vladimir Kramnik was a major beneficiary as his training partner Loek Van Wely left his kingside completely open while defending a quiet variation of the Slav Defence which turned out to have concealed venom. Vassily Ivanchuk put his knight on a terrible square against Peter Leko and was never able to recover it. An injudicious check rendered Arkady Naiditsch's position immediately lost against fellow German Jan Gustafsson.

Kramnik,V (2788) - Van Wely,L (2677) [D30]
Sparkassen Dortmund GER (2), 29.06.2008
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Saving the sharp stuff for Vishy ? 4...e6 5.b3 Nbd7 6.Bb2 b6 7.Bd3 Bb7 8.0-0 Bd6 9.Nbd2 0-0 10.Ne5 White has a marginal advantage in that his bishop on b2 controls e5 but the bishop on b7 is passive. Add this to the advantage of the first move and we can see why this line has some concealed venom

The latest Fide rating list has stirred controversy in the chess world. After conflicting statements from the governing body, the recent Aerosvit tournament held at Foros in Ukraine was excluded from the calculations thus depriving Magnus Carlsen of the number two spot. The event was dominated by the 17 year old Norwegian prodigy and although the tournament ended a few days after the deadline for the submission of results, exceptions have been made before. Instead Carlsen is number six.

The top twenty is

Compare this with the  live list which includes Foros but excludes the first two rounds of Dortmund and is unofficial having been compiled in Norway.  Figures show latest rating, change since April and number of games played.

A few things stand out. Azerbaijan has three players in the top twenty as does Ukraine and Russia just four. Vasily Ivanchuk gained an astonishing fifty points in three months and Alexander Morozevich’s fine performances at Sarajevo and the Russian Team Championship propelled him to number two.

After two rounds of the Sparkassen Chess Meeting at Dortmund  the scores are:

Scores: 1-3 Kramnik (Russia), Leko (Hungary), Gustafsson (Germany) 1.5; 4-5 Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), Nepomnachtchi (Russia) 1; 6-8 Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Naiditsch (Germany), Van Wely (Holland) 0.5

White’s sixteenth move is new and very strong with a deeply concealed tactical point, see the note to move 17.

Gustafsson,J (2603) - Naiditsch,A (2624) [D39]
Sparkassen Dortmund GER (2), 29.06.2008
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bg5 c5 7.Bxc4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Qa5 10.Bb5+ Bd7 11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.Bxd7+ Nxd7 13.0-0 a6 14.Rb1 Qc7 15.Qh5 Ke7 16.f4! New [16.Rfd1 Rad8 17.Rd3 Ne5 18.Rg3 Ng6 19.Qd1 Rd7 20.Qb3 Rc8 21.Re1 Qc4 22.Qb1 Rc5 23.h3 Ra5 24.Nb3 Rg5 25.Rxg5 fxg5 26.Qc1 h6 27.g3 Kf8 28.Kg2 Kg7 29.Re3 Ne5 30.Qc2 Qc6 31.Na5 Qc7 32.Nb3 Qc6 33.Na5 Qc7 34.Nb3 b5 35.Qe2 Qc4 36.Qc2 Qc6 37.Qe2 Qc4 38.Qc2 Qc6 39.Qe2 Nc4 40.Rd3 e5 41.Rxd7 Qxd7 42.h4 gxh4 43.gxh4 Qc6 44.Qg4+ Kf8 45.Qf5 Ke7 46.h5 Qf6 47.Qh3 Qg5+ 48.Kf1 Qf4 49.Qd3 Qh4 50.Qf3 Kf8 51.Ke2 Qg5 52.Nc5 Qd2+ 53.Kf1 Qd6 54.Nb3 a5 55.Qf5 Ke7 56.Qc8 Qd3+ 57.Kg1 Qxe4 58.Qc5+ Kf6 59.Qxb5 Qg4+ 60.Kf1 a4 61.Nc5 Qd1+ 62.Kg2 Qd5+ 63.Kg3 Kg5 64.Qb4 Kxh5 65.Nxa4 Qd3+ 66.f3 Qe2 67.Qe7 Qe1+ 68.Kh3 Qh1+ 69.Kg3 Qg1+ 70.Kh3 Kg6 71.Nc5 Ne3 72.Qd6+ Kh7 73.Qxe5 Qg2+ 74.Kh4 Qxf3 75.Qe4+ Nf5+ 0-1 Schmidt,W (2436)-Tukmakov,V (2557)/Koszalin POL 1999] 16...Qxc3 17.Rfd1 Rab8 [17...Qe3+ 18.Kh1 Qxe4 19.Nf5+! Qxf5 20.Rxd7+ Kxd7 21.Qxf7+ Kd6 22.Rb6+ and mate in twelve] 18.e5 Qe3+ [18...Rhd8 19.exf6+ Nxf6 20.Qe5 Nd5 21.Re1 Qc5 22.f5 f6 23.Qxe6+ Kf8 was the only chance but looks grim] 19.Kh1 Rhd8 20.exf6+

Round 3

Vladimir Kramnik will have mixed feelings about his crushing defeat at the hands of Arkady Naiditsch in the third round of the Sparkassen tournament at Dortmund. Although he hardly ever loses in this, his favourite event, if he is going to have one of his main lines of defence to 1.e4 refuted then at least it has happened before his world title match against Vishy Anand and not during it.

This was a fine piece of home analysis by Naiditsch who found a clever new wrinkle on move 19 in what was a known rook sacrifice. Kramnik will be disappointed not to have found the best defence but the practical problems the defender faces when confronted with a new idea in such a sharp position are considerable. Naiditsch’s novelty might have made an appearance in 2000 during Kramnik’s title match against Garry Kasparov. Kasparov revealed that he looked at an enhanced version of the same idea in 1999 but Kramnik avoided his analysis by defending 1.e4 with the Berlin Defence to the Ruy Lopez.

Naiditsch,A (2624) - Kramnik,V (2788) [C42]
Sparkassen Dortmund GER (3), 01.07.2008
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7 8.Re1 Bg4 9.c4 Nf6 10.Nc3 Bxf3 [Black can avoid the argument with 10...0-0 ] 11.Qxf3 Nxd4 12.Qd1 [12.Qh3 dxc4 13.Bxc4 Nc2 14.Bg5 Nxe1 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Rxe1+ Kf8 17.Nd5 has also been tried but is a bit speculative to play against a world champion] 12...Ne6 [12...dxc4!? 13.Bxc4 0-0? 14.Rxe7 Qxe7 15.Qxd4 Qe1+ 16.Bf1+/-; 12...dxc4 13.Bxc4 c5 14.Qa4+ Qd7 (14...Kf8!?) 15.Qxd7+ Kxd7 16.Bg5©] 13.cxd5 Nxd5 14.Bb5+ c6 15.Nxd5 cxb5 16.Bf4 [16.Qb3 0-0 17.Nxe7+ Qxe7 18.Qxb5 a6 19.Qb3 Rfd8 20.Be3 Rac8 21.Rac1 h6 22.h3 Nd4 1/2-1/2 Kasparov - Karpov, Moscow 1985.; While spectating Garry Kasparov revealed that he had analysed in 1999 16.a4!? b4 17.Bf4 This is clearly better than Naiditsch's line as the b4 pawn is en prise with check in the critical variation, see below. 17...Nxf4 18.Rxe7+ Kf8 19.Re5 Qd6 20.Qd2 Qxe5 21.Qxb4+ Ke8 22.Re1 Ne2+ 23.Kf1 Rc8 24.f4 Qxd5 25.Rxe2+ Kd7 26.Rd2 Qxd2 27.Qxd2+ Kc7 28.Qc3+ Kb8 29.Qxg7 Rhd8; 16.a4 0-0 Doesn't seem much for White so maybe Naiditsch's plan is best after all ] 16...Nxf4 [16...0-0? 17.Nxe7+ Qxe7 18.Bd6] 17.Rxe7+ Kf8 18.Re5 Qd6 19.Qd2N

Scores: 1-2 Leko (Hungary), Gustafsson (Germany) 2/3; 3-6 Kramnik (Russia), Naiditsch (Germany), Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), Nepomnachtchi (Russiasia) 1.5; 7-8 Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Van Wely (Holland) 1

Round 4

Ian Nepomniachtchi who qualified for the Sparkassen tournament at Dortmund by winning the Aeroflot Open in Moscow joined the leaders after a comfortable win over Loek Van Wely of Holland in round four. The Dutchman played sharply and sacrificed rook for bishop and pawn but then immediately blundered - see below - and was in a lost endgame before he could think of making a fight of the game. There was a pawn race as the time control approached but there was only ever going to be one winner.

Vladimir Kramnik’s chances of scoring a morale-boosting tournament victory in his last outing before the WCC match in the autumn receded further when he repeated moves against Peter Leko. The lowest rated player Jan Gustafsson played an interesting idea in the opening which put Vasily Ivanchuk under early pressure but the game ended in a draw.

Kramnik,V (2788) - Leko,P (2741) [E15]
Sparkassen Dortmund GER (4), 02.07.2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qc2 c5 6.d5 exd5 7.cxd5 Bb7 8.Bg2 Nxd5 9.Qb3 Nf6 10.Ne5 d5 11.Nc3 Be7 12.Qa4+ [12.Bf4 0-0 13.Rd1 Qc8 14.Nxd5 Nxd5 15.Bxd5 Bxd5 16.Qxd5 Na6 17.a3 Nc7 18.Qd7 Bf6 19.Ng4 Bd4 20.Qxc8 Raxc8 21.Be5 Ne6 22.e3 Bxe5 23.Nxe5 Rfd8 1/2-1/2 Karavade,E (2331)-Sachdev,T (2413)/Pune IND 2007/The Week in Chess 679] 12...Nbd7 13.Nc6 Bxc6 14.Qxc6 Rc8 15.Qa4 d4 16.Nb5 0-0 17.0-0 Ne5 18.Qxa7 Nc6 19.Qb7 Na5 20.Qa7 Nc6 21.Qb7 Na5 22.Qa7 Nc6 23.Qb7 1/2-1/2

Nepomniachtchi,I (2634) - Van Wely,L (2677) [B90]
Sparkassen Dortmund GER (4), 02.07.2008
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.0-0-0 Be7 10.f4 Ng4 11.g3 Nxe3 12.Qxe3 b5 [12...0-0 13.Kb1 Nf6 14.f5 Bd7 15.Rg1 h6 16.h4 Ne8 17.Nd2 Rc8 18.Nd5 Nf6 19.Nxe7+ Qxe7 20.g4 h5 21.gxh5 Nxh5 22.Qh6 Ba4 23.Bd3 1-0 Amonatov,F (2564)-Tihonov,J (2492)/Moscow RUS 2006] 13.Kb1 Qb6 14.Qe2 b4 15.Na4 Qc6 16.f5 Bxf5 17.exf5 Qxa4 18.Bg2 0-0 19.Bxa8 Rxa8 20.g4 Qc6 21.Na5 Qc7 22.Nc4 a5

How did White clarify his advantage here ?

Answer:

23.Nxd6! Bxd6 24.Qd3 winning a pawn and after 24...Nf6 25.Qxd6 Qxd6 26.Rxd6 Nxg4 27.Rg1 Nxh2 28.f6 g6 White's two rooks took control 29.Rg2 Nf3 30.Re2 h5 31.Re3 e4 32.Rxe4 g5 33.Rd3 g4 34.Rd5 Ra6 35.Rf4 Re6 36.a4 Re1+ 37.Ka2 Rh1 38.Rxa5 Kh7 39.Rd5 Kg6 40.a5 Re1 41.a6 Re8 42.a7 Ra8 43.Ra5 Nh2 44.Rxb4 g3 45.Rb8 Rxa7 46.Rg8+ Kxf6 47.Rxa7 Ng4 48.Ra3 1-0

Gustafsson,J (2603) - Ivanchuk,V (2740) [D37]
Sparkassen Dortmund GER (4), 02.07.2008
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bg5 b5 7.a4 c6 8.e5 h6 9.exf6 hxg5 10.fxg7 Rg8 11.g3 g4 12.Nh4 Bb7 [12...c5 13.Bg2 cxd4 14.0-0 dxc3 15.Qxg4 cxb2 16.Rad1 Qc7 17.Bxa8 bxa4 18.Qe2 a3 19.Bd5 Ba6 20.Bxe6 Qe7 21.Bxf7+ Kxf7 22.Qh5+ Kxg7 23.Nf5+ Kf8 24.Nxe7 Bxe7 25.Rfe1 1-0 Tyomkin,D (2516)-Gonzalez de la Torre,S (2245)/Andorra AND 2000/The Week in Chess 295] 13.Bg2 Rxg7 14.axb5 Qb6 15.bxc6 Nxc6 16.0-0 Ne7 17.Qe2 Rc8 18.Qe5 Kf8 19.Na4 Qc7 20.Qxc7 Rxc7 21.Bxb7 Rxb7 22.Rfc1 Rc7 23.Nc5 c3 24.bxc3 Bxc5 25.dxc5 Rg5 26.Ra4 Nc6 27.Kg2 Rb7 28.Rc2 Rb5 29.f3 gxf3+ 30.Nxf3 Rgxc5 31.Nd4 1/2-1/2

Round 1 (June 28, 2008)
Gustafsson, Jan	- Kramnik, Vladimir	½-½	29	D85	Gruenfeld Defence
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	- Leko, Peter	½-½	24	E25	Nimzo Indian Saemisch
Naiditsch, Arkadij	- Nepomniachtchi, Ian	½-½	30	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Ivanchuk, Vassily	- Van Wely, Loek	½-½	39	B84	Sicilian Scheveningen
Round 2 (June 29, 2008)
Gustafsson, Jan	- Naiditsch, Arkadij	1-0	23	D37	QGD 5.Bf4
Leko, Peter	- Ivanchuk, Vassily	1-0	57	B46	Sicilian Paulsen
Nepomniachtchi, Ian	- Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	½-½	40	C84	Ruy Lopez Centre Attack
Kramnik, Vladimir	- Van Wely, Loek	1-0	29	D11	Slav Defence
Round 3 (July 1, 2008)
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	- Gustafsson, Jan	½-½	27	D43	Anti-Meran Gambit
Naiditsch, Arkadij	- Kramnik, Vladimir	1-0	42	C42	Petroff's Defence
Ivanchuk, Vassily	- Nepomniachtchi, Ian	½-½	19	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Van Wely, Loek	- Leko, Peter	½-½	31	E15	Queens Indian
Round 4 (July 2, 2008)
Gustafsson, Jan	- Ivanchuk, Vassily	½-½	31	D37	QGD 5.Bf4
Nepomniachtchi, Ian	- Van Wely, Loek	1-0	48	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Naiditsch, Arkadij	- Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	½-½	41	B46	Sicilian Paulsen
Kramnik, Vladimir	- Leko, Peter	½-½	23	E15	Queens Indian