Dortmund R7: Leko wins Sparkassen Meeting, Ivanchuk beats Kramnik

The Sparkassen Chess Meeting took place from June 28rd to July 6th, 2008, in the Dortmund Civic Theater, with eight players competing in a single round robin. The average rating was 2695, making the event a Category 18 tournament.

Leko,P (2741) - Naiditsch,A (2624) [C89]
Sparkassen Dortmund GER (7), 06.07.2008
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.d3 Bd6 13.Re1 Bf5 14.Qf3 Qh4 15.g3 Qh3 16.Bxd5 cxd5 17.Qxd5 Rad8 18.Qg2 Qxg2+ 19.Kxg2 Bxd3 20.Be3 Be4+ 21.f3 Bc6 22.Nd2 Rfe8 23.Bd4 Rxe1 24.Rxe1 f6 25.Kf2 h5 26.Ne4 Bf8 27.Re2 Kf7 28.Nc5 Bxc5 29.Bxc5 Rd7 30.Bd4 a5 31.b3. White is a pawn up, but with opposite coloured bishops the position is hardly more than a draw. ½-½.

The winner of Dortmund 2008: Peter Leko of Hungary

She has picked the winner: wife Sofi Leko

Nepomniachtchi,I (2634) - Gustafsson,J (2603) [C77]
Sparkassen Dortmund GER (7), 06.07.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.Nc3 d6 8.Nd5 h6 9.c3 Be6 10.Nxf6+ Qxf6 11.Be3 Bxb3 12.axb3 Bxe3 13.fxe3 0-0 14.0-0 Qe6 15.Nh4 Ne7 16.Nf5 Kh7 17.b4 Ng8 18.Qc2 g6 19.Ng3 c5 20.bxc5 dxc5 21.d4 c4 22.Rf3 ½-½.

Jan Gustafsson and Ian Nepomniachtchi analyse a game in which neither had shown a fanatical interest in trying to catch up with the leading Leko

Van Wely,L (2677) - Mamedyarov,S (2752) [D38]
Sparkassen Dortmund GER (7), 06.07.2008
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.d4 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.Qc2 h6 8.Bh4 0-0 9.e3 c5 10.Bd3 c4 11.Bf5 Nb6 12.g4 g5 13.Bg3 Bxf5 14.gxf5 Ne4 15.Nd2 Qe7 16.Ke2 Nxd2 17.Kxd2 Qe4 18.h4 g4 19.Qxe4 dxe4 20.h5 Kh7 21.Rh4 Rg8 22.Rg1 Nd5 23.Be5 f6 24.Bh2 Rac8 25.Rhxg4 Rxg4 26.Rxg4 Rc6 27.Rxe4 Ra6 28.a3 Bxc3+ 29.bxc3 Rxa3 30.Re6 b5 31.e4 Ra2+ 32.Ke1 Nxc3 33.e5 Ra1+ 34.Kd2 Nd5 35.exf6 c3+

White should be able to hold the draw in this position, but not with: 36.Kd3? Rd1+ 37.Ke2?? The answer is we haven't the foggiest idea. Time trouble? This just hasn't been Loek's tournament. 37...c2 38.f7 Kg7 39.Rxh6 Kxf7 (or 39...c1Q+++–). 0-1.

Ivanchuk,V (2740) - Kramnik,V (2788) [C42]
Sparkassen Dortmund GER (7), 06.07.2008
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 11.Qxf3 Nxd4 12.Qd1 Ne6 13.cxd5 Nxd5 14.Bb5+ c6 15.Nxd5 cxb5 16.Qh5 0-0 17.Nxe7+ Qxe7 18.Qxb5 Rfd8 19.Be3 a6 20.Qb3 Rac8 21.h3 h6 22.Rad1 Rxd1 23.Rxd1 b5 24.Rd3 Rc6 25.Qd5 Qe8 26.Rd2 Qc8 27.b3 Rc3 28.h4 a5 29.Rd1 Rc2 30.Qxb5 Rxa2 31.h5 Nf8 32.Rd4 Qc7 33.Rd1 Rb2 34.Rc1 Qd7 35.Qb8 Rc2 36.Ra1 Qf5 37.Qd8 Qxh5 38.Rxa5 Qg4 39.Ra4 Qd7 40.Rd4 Qb7 41.b4 Rb2 42.Bd2 Rb1+ 43.Kh2 Qb5 44.Qd5 Qe2 45.Be3 Ng6 46.Qf5 Qf1 47.Kg3 Rb3 48.Re4

Black should be able to defend, probably best with 48...Qh1. However at the end of a long battle Kramnik falters: 48...Nf8?? This allows 49.Rf4, which threatens 50.Qxf7, forking the rook and the knight, for which there is no reasonable defence. 1-0.

After a total of eight Dortmund wins a traumatic loss: Vladimir Kramnik [Photos: Dagobert Kohlmeyer]

Final standings

Peter Leko finished at plus two, a score experts predicted would be sufficient to win this event alone. Leko's performance: 2790. In joint second we find Ivanchuk, Mamedyarov, Nepomniachtchi and Gustafsson, all at plus one. Arkadij Naiditsch finished at 50%, which was better than could be expected from his rating. In a startling seventh place with minus one and a 2632 performance we find Vladimir Kramnik, who won Dortmund a record eight times in the past (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2006 and 2007).

Draw statistics

Schedule and results

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• 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