Dortmund R2: Kramnik and Alekseev win

The Sparkassen Chess Meeting will take place from June 23rd to July 1st, 2007, in the Dortmund Civic Theater, with eight players competing in a single round robin. The average rating is 2727, making the event a Category 20 tournament.

Round two report

The world champion won a game typical of his style. The position after 18 moves was similar to a Catalan, with the white bishop on g2 raking Black's queenside. Once the b7 pawn fell, even though Black regained the pawn, the white passed pawn on the c-file gave him a large advantage, and Kramnik's ever-deadly technique did the rest in a long ending.

The start of Kramnik vs Gelfand in round two

Kramnik,V (2772) - Gelfand,B (2733) [D45]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (2), 24.06.2007
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.e4 Nxe4 8.Nxe4 dxe4 9.Qxe4 c5 10.Bg5 Be7 11.Bxe7 Qa5+ 12.Ke2 Kxe7 13.g3 cxd4 14.Bg2 Nf6 15.Qxd4 Rd8 16.Qf4 Bd7 17.Ne5

17...Be8 18.Rhd1 Qb6 19.b3 Rxd1 20.Rxd1 Rd8 21.Rxd8 Qxd8 22.Bxb7 Qa5 23.Qe3 Qxa2+ 24.Kf1 Qa5 25.Bf3 Qb6 26.c5 Bb5+ 27.Kg2 Qc7 28.c6 a6 29.Qc5+ Ke8 30.b4 Nd5 31.Bxd5 exd5 32.Qxd5 Kf8 33.f3 f6 34.Nd7+ Ke7 35.Qg8 Kd6 36.Nc5 Qe7 37.Qc8 Bxc6 38.Qxa6 Qe3 39.Qd3+ Qxd3 40.Nxd3 Be8 41.Kf2 Kd5 42.Nf4+ Kc4

43.Ne6 Kxb4 44.Nxg7 Bf7 45.Nf5 Kc5 46.Nh6 Bb3 47.Ng4 f5 48.Nf6 h6 49.Ke3 Kd6 50.Kf4 Ke6 51.Ng8 Bc2 52.Nxh6 Kf6 53.g4 fxg4 54.fxg4 Kg6 55.Nf5 Bd3 56.h4 Be2 57.h5+ Kh7 58.Kg5 Bd3 59.Kh4 Kg8 60.Nd6 Kg7 61.g5 Bc2 62.Nc4 1-0.

Mamedyarov felt compelled to exchange his light-squared bishop on b3 in a Sicilian structure, but once the enemy bishop arrived on c4, it was so strong that Black then felt obliged to give the exchange for it. Although Black's remaining pieces were active, Alekseev soon consolidated and converted his extra material.

Alekseev,Evgeny (2679) - Mamedyarov,S (2757) [B85]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (2), 24.06.2007
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 d6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Be3 Bd7 9.a4 Be7 10.f4 0-0 11.Nb3 Rc8 12.a5 Nb4 13.Bf3 e5 14.Rf2 Qc7 15.Rd2 Be6 16.Bb6 Qb8 17.f5 Bxb3 18.cxb3 Nd7 19.Be3 b5 20.axb6 Nxb6 21.Kh1 Rc6 22.Be2 Qb7 23.Bf1 Rfc8 24.Qg4 Nd7 25.Bc4 Nf6 26.Qf3 h6 27.Bf2

27...Rxc4 28.bxc4 Rxc4 29.Bh4 Rd4 30.Rad1 Nc6 31.Bxf6 Bxf6 32.Nd5 Bg5 33.Rxd4 Nxd4 34.Qa3 Qc6 35.Qc3 Qb5 36.b4 Qe2 37.Qd3 Qa2 38.Rf1 h5 39.g3 f6 40.Kg1 h4 41.Rf2 Qa1+ 42.Kg2 Kh7 43.gxh4 Bf4 44.Kh3 Kh8 45.Ne7 1-0.

Anand-Leko saw a Marshall Attack. Both sides' 18th moves look slightly unusual, but the speed of the subsequent play suggested that the position had been on both players' analysis boards well before the game. Most, if not all, the moves look like preparation, and the game never looked like being anything but a draw.

Vishy Anand vs Peter Leko in round two

Anand,V (2786) - Leko,P (2738) [C89]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (2), 24.06.2007
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.Be3 Bg4 16.Qd3 Rae8 17.Nd2 Qh5 18.Qf1 Re7 19.a4 Rfe8 20.Bxd5 Qxd5 21.axb5 axb5 22.Bf4 Rxe1 23.Rxe1 Rxe1 24.Qxe1 Bf8 25.Qe4 f6 26.Qxd5+ cxd5 27.Bc7 Kf7 28.Bb6 Bd6 29.Bc5 ½–½.

Vishy with wife Aruna Anand [Photos by Dagobert Kohlmeyer]

Naiditsch-Carlsen saw Black equalize easily in an Exchange Lopez and even take the initiative. 34...Qa2 would be the more ambitious try, but Carlsen clearly did not see any real chances.

Naiditsch,A (2654) - Carlsen,M (2693) [C68]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (2), 24.06.2007
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0–0 Qf6 6.d4 exd4 7.Bg5 Qd6 8.Nxd4 Be7 9.Bxe7 Nxe7 10.Nb3 Be6 11.Nc3 0–0–0 12.Qe2 Kb8 13.Rad1 Qf4 14.g3 Qf6 15.Rxd8+ Rxd8 16.Rd1 Rd6 17.f4 Bc8 18.Rd3 Qe6 19.Qd2 Rxd3 20.Qxd3 b6 21.Nd4 Qd6 22.e5 Qd7 23.b4 h6 24.a3 Nf5 25.Nce2 Ne7 26.Nc1 Bb7 27.Ndb3 Qh3 28.Qd8+ Nc8 29.Qd2 h5 30.Nd3 h4 31.Nf2 Qe6 32.Nd4 Qd5 33.Nb3 Qe6 34.Nd4

 34...Qd5 35.Nb3 Qe6 ½–½.

Full Schedule and Results

Live coverage by Yasser Seirawan on Playchess

Playchess commentator GM Yasser Seirawan

The games of Dortmund 2007, which start at 15:00h local time (CEST), will be broadcast live on the official site and on Playchess.com server. On the latter, starting from Sunday, June 24, there will be daily live audio commentary by GM Yasser Seirawan, with a minimum of three one hour lectures per round, beginning approximately thirty minutes after play has started. For a charge of ten Ducats (about one Euro) a visitor gets a twelve hour pass to listen to the live lectures.

Note that you can also purchase Ducats directly from Fritz or the Playchess client using the menu "Edit – Payments – Fill up account". This takes you to a special purchase page with your account name automatically passed on, to simplify the process.

Links

• Official web site
• All games so far in PGN
• ChessBase reports on Dortmund 2006
• ChessBase reports on Dortmund 2005
• ChessBase reports on Dortmund 2004
• ChessBase reports on Dortmund 2003