Dortmund 03: All games drawn in sweltering heat

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 three

Introduction to round three by the director of the event Gerd Kolbe

Carlsen – Kramnik
Today, Carlsen and Kramnik chose to employ the Nimzo-Indian. Ultimately – after some seemingly nervous pacing of the stage by Carlsen, and continual disappearances on the part of Kramnik – this game ended swiftly with a three-fold repetition on the 19th move. This was a slight deviation from the Erdos-Saric game (2008), which ended with the same result, in 25 moves.

Magnus Carlsen at the start of his round three game against

...Vladimir Kramnik, former World Champion and many-times winner of Dortmund

Bacrot – Jakovenko
Today’s game between Bacrot and Jakovenko saw the competitors engage in the Berlin Defence of the Ruy Lopez. Up until White’s 11th move, the game followed Florescu-Monus (1999), at which point Jakovenko deviated with 11...Be6. After some quick exchanges and a walk by the black King to his queenside, the game ended in a peaceful 22-move draw. Jakovenko, later exhibiting an upbeat attitude in the press room, seemed especially happy with the result.

French GM Etienne Bacrot at the start of his game against...

Dmitri Jakovenko, currently Russia's top ranked GM

Naiditsch-Leko
In this third round, Naiditsch and Leko plied their trade in the Panov-Botvinnik Attack of the Caro-Kann. The game followed Milonakis-Kulovana (2008) up until White’s 14th move, where Leko favoured 14...Bd7, over the previously explored 14...Rb8. After a series of exchanging moves, in a hard-fought game, a drawn endgame was reached. Naiditsch seemed somewhat stoic after the game, though perhaps slightly disappointed with a draw as White against a player whom he defeated in his bid for victory in this championship, back in 2005.

Arkadij Naiditsch at the start of his game against...

Outside the playing hall Prof. Christian Hesse discusses literature and philosophy (really!) with...

Michael von Keitz, photos Frederic Friedel

Carlsen,M (2772) - Kramnik,V (2759) [E32]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (3), 04.07.2009
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 d5 7.Nf3 dxc4 8.Qxc4 b6 9.Bg5 Ba6 10.Qa4 c5 11.dxc5 bxc5 12.Rd1 Qb6 13.Bxf6 gxf6 14.Rd2 Nc6 15.Qg4+ Kh8 16.Qh4 Kg7 17.Qg4+ Kh8 18.Qh4 Kg7 19.Qg4+ draw.

Bacrot,E (2721) - Jakovenko,D (2760) [C67]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (3), 04.07.2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Nc3 Ke8 10.h3 h5 11.Bf4 Be7 12.Ne4 Nh4 13.Nxh4 Bxh4 14.Ng5 Bf5 15.c3 Bxg5 16.Bxg5 Kd7 17.Rad1+ Kc8 18.Rd2 b6 19.Rfd1 Kb7 20.Rd8 Raxd8 21.Rxd8 Rxd8 22.Bxd8 Bg6 draw.

Naiditsch,A (2697) - Leko,P (2756) [B13]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (3), 04.07.2009
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Nf3 Be7 8.c5 0-0 9.Bb5 Ne4 10.Bxe7 Nxe7 11.Rc1 b6 12.c6 Qd6 13.Qa4 a6 14.0-0 Bd7 15.cxd7 axb5 16.Qxb5 Nxc3 17.Rxc3 Rxa2 18.Ne5 f6 19.Nc6 Qxd7 20.Nxe7+ Qxe7 21.Qxb6 Ra7 22.Rc6 Rb7 23.Rxe6 Rxb6 24.Rxe7 Rxb2 25.Rd7 Rd2 26.Rxd5 Rb8 27.Re1 Rbb2 28.Rd7 h5 29.Rf1 draw.

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Current standings:

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