Dortmund R6: Kramnik, Leko win, Kramnik takes full point lead

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.

Current standings (after six of seven rounds)

Round six report

The World Champion assured himself of at least first equal with a round to spare, after his third straight win with the White pieces. His trademark early queen exchange left White with slight pressure, and Naiditsch gradually slipped to defeat. Fritz 10 suggests that he could have drawn with the remarkable defensive idea 32...R3d4 33.a7 Rb4, although further analysis is required to prove or disprove this.

Kramnik,V (2772) - Naiditsch,A (2654) [E04]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (6), 30.06.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 dxc4 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Qa4 Nd7 7.Qxc4 Nb6 8.Qb5 a6 9.Qd3 e5 10.Nxe5 Nb4 11.Qd1 Qxd4 12.Qxd4 Nc2+ 13.Kd1 Nxd4 14.Be3 Nf5 15.Bxb6 cxb6 16.Nc3 Bc5 17.e3 0–0 18.Ke2 Re8 19.Nd3 Rb8 20.Rhc1 Be6

21.Bd5 Bd7 22.Ne4 Bf8 23.Rc7 Rbd8 24.Nc3 Nd4+ 25.Kd2 Be6 26.exd4 Bxd5 27.Nxd5 Rxd5 28.Rxb7 b5 29.a4 Rxd4 30.axb5 Red8 31.bxa6 Rxd3+ 32.Ke1

32...Re8+. 32...R3d4 33.a7 Rb4 = (Fritz 10) 33.Kf1 Rdd8 34.a7 Ra8 35.b4 Re7 36.Rxe7 Bxe7 37.b5 Bc5 38.Rc1 Bd4 39.Rc4 Bxa7 40.Ra4 Rb8 41.Rxa7 Kf8 42.Ra5 Ke7 43.Ke2 Rb6 44.Kd3 Rd6+ 45.Kc4 Rd2 46.b6 Kd6 47.Rb5 Rc2+ 48.Kd4 1–0

Leko finally opened his winning account by grinding down Gelfand, in a long opposite-coloured bishop ending. The Hungarian used Zviagintsev's 8...Bd6 in the Meran to secure a very comfortable position, and eventually reached an ending where his potential outside passed pawn on the queenside was much stronger than White's firmly blockaded passed d5-pawn. Only the opposite-coloured bishops gave White any hope, but with rooks on the board, and his pieces excruciatingly passive, Gelfand was unable to hold.

Gelfand,B (2733) - Leko,P (2738) [D47]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (6), 30.06.2007
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bd6 9.0–0 0–0 10.Ne2 a6 11.e4 e5 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bh4 c5 14.d5 c4 15.Bc2 Nc5 16.Nd2 g5 17.Bg3 Nh5 18.b3 cxb3 19.Nxb3 Bg4 20.Qd2 Rc8 21.Nxc5 Rxc5 22.f3 Nxg3 23.Nxg3 Bd7 24.Nf5 Bxf5 25.exf5 Kg7 26.Be4 Qb6 27.Kh1 b4 28.Qd1 Rfc8 29.Qa4 Kf6 30.Rab1 Ra5 31.Qd7 Qc7 32.Qxc7 Rxc7 33.Rf2 Ra3 34.g4 Rcc3 35.Rfb2 a5 36.Rb3 a4 37.Rxc3 Rxc3

38.Kg2 Bc5 39.Kf1 b3 40.axb3 a3 41.Ra1 Rxb3 42.Ra2 Rc3 43.Ke2 Ke7 44.Kd1 Bd4 45.Kd2 f6 46.Bd3 Kd6 47.Be4 Kc5 48.h3 Kd6 49.Kd1 Bc5 50.Rc2 Rb3 51.Ra2 Bb4 52.Kc2 Re3 53.Kb1 Re1+ 54.Kc2 Re3 55.Kb1 Kc5 56.Rc2+ Bc3 57.Ka2 Kb4 58.Rc1 Re2+ 59.Bc2 Rd2 60.Rb1+ Kc4 61.Rc1 

61...Kb4 62.Rb1+ Bb2 63.Be4 Ka4 64.Rd1 Rf2 65.Kb1 Kb3  0–1.

Anand-Alekseev must have been a disappointment for the world no. 1. He soon established a dangerous-looking attack against the Russian's Russian Defence, but could only reach a position with R+P v two minor pieces. Once the queens came off, Black was in no danger of losing, and indeed, it was White who had to be careful.

Anand,V (2786) - Alekseev,Evgeny (2679) [C42]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (6), 30.06.2007
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Be3 0–0 8.Qd2 Nd7 9.0–0–0 Ne5 10.h4 b6 11.Nd4 Bb7 12.Bg5 Bf6 13.Qf4 Ng6 14.Qf5 Bxg5+ 15.hxg5 Re8  16.Qg4 Nf8 17.Bb5 Re4 18.f4 g6 19.Bd3 Re3 20.f5 c5 21.Ne2 c4

 22.fxg6 cxd3 23.gxf7+ Kxf7 24.g6+ hxg6 25.Qf4+ Qf6 26.Qxe3 dxe2 27.Qxe2 Re8 28.Qc4+ Kg7 29.Rdf1 Qg5+ 30.Kb1 Bd5 31.Qd4+ Re5 32.Rf2 Qe3 33.Qxe3 Rxe3 34.Rd1 Be6 35.c4 Bxc4 36.b3 Be6 37.Rxd6 Bf5 38.Kb2 Nh7 39.Rdd2 Re7 40.Rfe2 Rc7 41.c4 Nf6 42.Rd4 Kh6 43.a4 Kg5 ½–½.

Finally, Mamedyarov-Carlsen was not a game calculated to add greatly to the sum total of human happiness. White's minority attack led only to mass exchanges and an early draw.

Mamedyarov,S (2757) - Carlsen,M (2693) [D38]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (6), 30.06.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bxf6 Qxf6 8.e3 0–0 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Be2 Rd8 11.0–0 a6 12.Rfc1 Rb8 13.a3 Bf8 14.b4 Ne7 15.Qb3 Be6 16.a4 Nf5 17.b5 axb5 18.axb5 c5 19.bxc6 bxc6 20.Qa4 c5 21.dxc5 Bxc5 22.Nb5 Bb6 23.Nbd4 Nxd4 24.Nxd4 Bxd4 25.Qxd4 Qxd4 26.exd4  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