Dortmund 10: Kramnik wins Dortmund for the ninth time

From 2nd to 12th July 2009 six of the world's strongest grandmasters are taking part in the annual Sparkassen Chess-Meeting – the 37th edition. Each player has to play two games against each other, one with white and one with black pieces. The winner of this tournament will be determined after ten rounds. Games start at 15:15 = 3:15 p.m. local time (CEST, = 17:15 Moscow, 14:15 p.m. London, 9:15 a.m. New York).

All games will be broadcast by the official web site's "Live Games" page and on the Playchess.com server with live audio commentary (by FM Valeri Lilov, with a 10 Ducat charge per evening). As in the previous year the moves of the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting will be transmitted on the Internet with a delay of 15 minutes – which means that the moves stay in the playing hall for that period, before they are broadcast to the rest of the world). This is an important anti-cheating measure that has been proposed to FIDE since October 2005 and has the support of most of the top players. We commend the Dortmund organisers for taking the initiative.

Round ten

With this final round over, the smoke has cleared, allowing Kramnik to emerge as the winner of this year’s edition of the Sparkassen Chess Meeting. He did so in fine fashion, with a final round victory leaving a one point gap between him and the chasing group.

Carlsen-Bacrot
In a likely must-win situation, Carlsen entered into the Classical Nimzo-Indian with Bacrot, following a transposition of four games. Of these, a winning effort by White in Bocharov-Smirnov (FIDE World Cup, 2005) stands out. Today, Bacrot left known theory with 12…dxc4, where the alternate pawn capture, 12…cxd4, had been tried before. In notes to the reference game, however, it is suggested that perhaps “this quick relief of pressure in the center is [not] good for Black.” White enjoyed an active position, but no substantial chances emerged, and, when it became clear the result would be of no consequence, the players split the point on the 39th move in a relatively level position.

Leko-Jakavenko
For these members of the chasing group, a win for either would have meant a potential share of first, or possibly even sole first, in the unlikely event that Kramnik suffered a loss. With that in mind, they chose to engage in the Marshall Attack of the Closed Ruy Lopez – not the first time this opening has reared its head in this event. For a time, the moves followed the text of two games, including Caruana-Sargissian (2008), in which a repetition was spurned, ultimately seeing Caruana falter and lose. The deviation came with Leko’s 17.Qxh3, where 17.Rxe8 had been seen in both games previous. White enjoyed an edge in the position, but, as in the Carlsen-Bacrot game, no clear opportunities for victory came to light; thus, with the conclusion of Kramnik’s game, Leko and Jakavenko shook hands on their 44th move.

Kramnik-Naiditsch
Coming into this final round, Kramnik led the field by a half-point, and had the fortune of a pairing with the luckless Naiditsch to cap off his tournament. Having defeated the German GM in the first half of this event, and holding the white pieces in this encounter, Kramnik was certainly hoping for victory. That said, Naiditsch had played more solidly in this half of the tournament, having gone undefeated since his defeat in the fifth round. Up until Black’s 16th move, the game followed a number of games, most importantly including a white win by Tkachiev in Tkachiev-Balogh (World Cup, 2007). Kramnik changed course on his 17th move, playing 17.Qh6, where 17.Qh4 had been tested on a few occasions. Everything was going fairly smoothly, when Naiditsch allowed his position to derail with 38…Rc2?? 38…Qa3, providing further coverage to the critical e7-square, was suggested by Fritz as the best try for holding the position. Unfortunately, the text allows the e-pawn to head to the promoting square, more or less, unimpeded. Thereafter, the game wrapped up quickly, with Naiditsch resigning on the 42nd move.

Michael von Keitz

Kramnik,V (2759) - Naiditsch,A (2697) [D37]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (10), 12.07.2009
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 Nc5 16.Rb4 Qe5 17.Qh6 Rc8 18.Nf3 Qxc3 19.Rd4 Ke7 20.e5 Nd7 21.Qh4 Rhg8 22.Kh1 b5 23.h3 Rc4 24.Rxd7+ Kxd7 25.Qxf6 Qd3 26.Qxf7+ Kc6 27.Qxe6+ Kb7 28.Re1 Rg6 29.Qf7+ Rc7 30.Qf4 Rc4 31.Qf8 Rc8 32.Qe7+ Rc7 33.Qh4 Qc4 34.Nd4 Qxa2 35.Qe4+ Kb6 36.Qe3 Kb7 37.Qf3+ Kb6 38.Nb3

The position, which had been objectively drawn for a while, has, after the pawn sacrifice on move 34, begun to slip into White's favour. Now comes the decisive error Kramnik has been waiting for: 38...Rc2?? 39.Qe3+ Kb7 40.e6 Rxf2 41.Qe4+ Kb6 42.Qd4+ 1-0.

Leko,P (2756) - Jakovenko,D (2760) [C89]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (10), 12.07.2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.d4 Bd6 13.Re1 Qh4 14.g3 Qh3 15.Qe2 Bd7 16.Qf1 Rae8 17.Qxh3 Rxe1+ 18.Qf1 Rfe8 19.Bd2 Rxf1+ 20.Kxf1 Nb6 21.Be3 Nd5 22.Bd2 Nb6 23.Be3 Nd5 24.a4 Nxe3+ 25.fxe3 Rxe3 26.axb5 axb5 27.Ra6 Bf8 28.Kf2 Re8 29.Nd2 c5 30.Nf3 c4 31.Bd1 f6 32.Nd2 Rd8 33.Bf3 Be8 34.Bc6 Rd6 35.Bxe8 Rxa6 36.Bxb5 Ra1 37.Bxc4+ Kh8 38.Ke2 g6 39.Bd5 Bh6 40.Nc4 Rc1 41.Kd3 Rd1+ 42.Ke2 Rc1 43.Kd3 Rd1+ 44.Ke4 draw.

Carlsen,M (2772) - Bacrot,E (2721) [E32]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (10), 12.07.2009
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 d5 7.e3 b6 8.Nf3 Bb7 9.b3 Nbd7 10.Be2 c5 11.0-0 Rc8 12.a4 dxc4 13.bxc4 Qc7 14.Rd1 Rfd8 15.Bb2 cxd4 16.exd4 Qf4 17.Qe3 Qxe3 18.fxe3 a5 19.Nd2 Ne4 20.Nxe4 Bxe4 21.Rdc1 Nc5 22.Ra3 Bc6 23.Bc3 Nxa4 24.Be1 Be8 25.Rb1 e5 26.Bh4 f6 27.dxe5 b5 28.cxb5 Nc3 29.Rb2 Nxe2+ 30.Rxe2 Rd1+ 31.Re1 Rcc1 32.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 33.Kf2 g5 34.Bg3 Bxb5 35.e4 fxe5 36.Rxa5 Rb1 37.Bxe5 Bc6 38.Bc3 Rb5 39.Rxb5 draw.

• Click to replay

Final standings:

Statistics

A relatively high total of 77% of the games were drawn; White won seven games (=23%) and Black one game (=3%). The most hardworking player was Dmitry Jakovenko, who played a total of 470 move, i.e. an average of 47 moves per game. He won two games and lost one. The winner Vladmir Kramnik played a total of 316 moves, winning three games and losing none. Magnus Carlsen played 373 moves, winning two and losing one; Peter Leko played 274 moves, winning one game and drawing the rest (it is interesting to note that Jakovenko played more move, 296, in the second half of the tournament). Etienne Bacrot played 378 moves, losing two games and winning none, while Arkadij Naiditsch played 415 moves, losing four games and winning none. Here the statistics in a table:

The shortest game was 17 moves long (Bacrot-Leko, round nine, draw), the longest 81 moves (Jakovenko-Bacrot, round eight, 1-0). Thirteen games were finished in less then 30 moves – three in less than twenty – and eleven games lasted longer than 40 moves. Three games lasted for more than sixty moves, and Dmitry Jakovenko was involved in all three (winning two and drawing one).

Schedule and results

Links

• Official web site
• ChessBase reports on Dortmund 2008
• ChessBase reports on Dortmund 2007
• ChessBase reports on Dortmund 2006
• ChessBase reports on Dortmund 2005
• ChessBase reports on Dortmund 2004
• ChessBase reports on Dortmund 2003