Dortmund R6: Kramnik zaps Jobava in 15 moves with black

The Dortmunder Sparkassen Chess Meeting is taking place in the State Theatre (Schauspielhaus) in Dortmund, Germany, from July 29th to August 6, 2006. It is a single round robin tournament with eight players, averaging 2720 Elo and making for a category 19 event.

Round six report

Peter Leko vs Boris Gelfand was a Sicilian Scheveningen, which ended after multiple exchanges in a 24-move draw. Michael Adams vs Arkadij Naiditsch saw the British GM on the attack, but his German counterpart defending well and finally liquidating to a 32-move draw.

Levon Aronian vs Peter Svidler was a Grünfeld, in which the experienced St Petersburg GM wrapped everything up to an endgame with an extra pawn and same-colored bishops, enough to force the resignation of his Armenian opponent on move 47.

Baadur Jobava vs Vladimir Kramnik was the talk of the day. On move 14 the classical chess world champion, playing with the black pieces, sprung a little trap, and one move later his young Georgian opponent resigned. Stunning!

Jobava,Baadur (2651) - Kramnik,Vladimir (2743)
Sparkassen Chess-Meeting Dortmund (6), 05.08.2006
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Nc3 Bb7 5.a3 d5 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Bd2 Nf6 8.Qc2 c5 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.b4 Be7 11.e4 Nc6 12.Bf4 0-0 13.Rd1 Qc8 14.e5.

White's last move allows Kramnik to spring a little trap: 14...Nxb4! 15.axb4 Ne4 and now, to the amazement of the kibitzers on Playchess.com (and, we assume, Dortmund, Paris, New York and the rest of the world) Jobava resigned. Black is clearly better after this piece sacrifice, though we cannot quickly explain why it justifies White's resignation. Much more lopsided positions have been played out by GMs of this calibre. Here, for what it is worth, is part of the discussion that took place on Playchess.com, with the spectators all equipped with the latest and fastest chess engines.

15...Ne4 Deep Junior 10: 1) 16.Rd3 (Deep Junior 10: 2) 16.Bd2 Bxb4 17.Rc1 Nxd2 18.Qxd2 Qc5 19.Ng1 Rfd8 20.Qe3 Qxe3+ 21.fxe3 Rac8 22.Nge2 Rc4 -1.55/16 ; Deep Junior 10: 3) 16.Rc1 Bxb4 -1.48/6 ; Deep Shredder 10: 1) 16.Rd3 Bxb4 17.Bd2 Qc5 18.Re3 Rfd8 19.Bd3 Nxc3 20.Bxh7+ Kf8 21.0-0 Rac8 -2.09/15 ; Deep Shredder 10: 2) 16.Rd4 Qxc3+ 17.Qxc3 Nxc3 18.Bd2 Ne4 19.Bd3 Nxd2 20.Kxd2 Rfd8 21.Rxd8+ -2.26/15 ; Deep Shredder 10: 3) 16.Bd2 Bxb4 17.Rc1 Nxd2 18.Nxd2 Qc5 19.Be2 Rac8 20.Ndb1 Qd5 21.Bf3 Qxe5+ 22.Qe2 Rxc3 23.Nxc3 Bxc3+ 24.Kf1 Bxf3 25.Qxf3 Rc8 -2.24/14 ) 16...Bxb4 17.Bd2 Qc5 18.Re3 Nxd2 19.Nxd2 Rac8 20.Ndb1 Rfd8 21.h4 Bd5 22.Rhh3 -1.24/16. [Click to replay].

In the women's match Irina Krush of the US drew first blood by defeating Elisabeth Pähtz with the black peces.

Standings after six rounds

• Download all games so far in PGN
• Games from the Pähtz-Krush match

Full Schedule and Results

Links

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