Dortmund 6: All games drawn, Carlsen leads

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 six

After the excitement of yesterday, another day with three draws seems somewhat anti-climatic. The dreary weather outside appears to have been reflected in the play of the competitors, though Jakavenko and Carlsen did show some sparks.

Kramnik-Leko
One win seems to have been enough for Kramnik. Holding the white pieces for the second game in succession, he and Leko entered into the main line Rubinstein of the Nimzo-Indian, previously employed by Leko in the fourth round during a quick draw against Jakavenko. This game followed theory, up until the tenth move, where Kramnik chose 10.dxc5, over the heavily favored Rd1. Gradually, White developed a slight edge, which had dissipated by the 22nd move. From this point, the players made a couple of exchanges, then shook hands.

Vladimir Kramnik vs Peter Leko

Bacrot-Naiditsch
As the only two players without a win, it seems understandable that the two lowest-rated competitors in this super tournament would be weary about exchanging heavy blows. As a result, they played a fairly uneventful game in the old main line of the Queen’s Indian. By transposition, the game followed Ivkov-Jelen (Bled/Portoroz, 1979), which had led to a 58-move victory for White. On the 18th move, however, instead of Jelen’s 18…Rd7, Naiditisch selected 18…f6. Subsequently, the minor pieces from both camps were rapidly exchanged, and a draw was agreed on the 24th move.

Jakavenko-Carlsen
Today’s sixth round saw a rematch between the tournament’s top-seeded players. Jakavenko, an emerging Russian star, fell victim to Carlsen in the opening round, where his endgame technique provided insufficient to hold the draw. Entering this round, he looked determined to return the favour. Playing the Sveshnikov variation of the Sicilian Defence, the game represented a transposition of ten games, including Korneev-Jakavenko (Pamplona, 2006). After Jakavenko gained a clear edge on the 43rd move, Korneev eventually succumbed to the pressure. Today, however, Carlsen soon left charted waters with 18…Rc8. Ultimately, these waters proved choppy, and Jakavenko built up a small positional edge, missing an opportunity for what Fritz evaluated as a tangible advantage, when he opted for 27.Nc3, as opposed to 27.Rfd1. What winning chances there were seemed to belong to the Russian, but Carlsen played tenaciously, and the point was split on the 45th move in a dead-even position.

Center of attention: Magnus Carlsen before the start of round six

Dmitry Jakovenko vs Magnus Carlsen

Trio of GM commentators in Dortmund: Sebastian Siebrecht, Helmut Pfleger, Klaus Bischoff

Organiser and chess manager (of Peter Leko): Carsten Hensel

German wire service journalist Dagobert Kohlmeyer

Michael von Keitz, photos by André Schulz

Kramnik,V (2759) - Leko,P (2756) [E55]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (6), 08.07.2009
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 c5 7.0-0 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Nbd7 9.Qe2 b6 10.dxc5 Bxc3 11.c6 Bb4 12.cxd7 Qxd7 13.Rd1 Qb7 14.b3 Qe7 15.Bb2 Ba3 16.Be5 Bb7 17.Nd4 Bc5 18.Nb5 Bc6 19.Nd4 Bb7 20.Ba6 Bd5 21.Nb5 Rad8 22.Nc3 Ba8 23.Rxd8 Rxd8 24.Rd1 Bd6 25.Bxd6 Rxd6 draw.

Bacrot,E (2721) - Naiditsch,A (2697) [E18]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (6), 08.07.2009
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.Nxe4 Bxe4 9.Nh4 Bxg2 10.Nxg2 d5 11.Qa4 dxc4 12.Qxc4 c5 13.Be3 cxd4 14.Bxd4 Qc8 15.Rfc1 Qxc4 16.Rxc4 Na6 17.Rac1 Rfd8 18.a4 f6 19.Ne3 Kf7 20.Kg2 Nc5 21.Bxc5 Bxc5 22.b4 Bxe3 23.Rc7+ Ke8 24.fxe3 draw.

Jakovenko,D (2760) - Carlsen,M (2772) [B33]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (6), 08.07.2009
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c3 Bg5 12.Nc2 Ne7 13.Ncb4 0-0 14.a4 bxa4 15.Qxa4 Nxd5 16.Nxd5 Bd7 17.Qc2 a5 18.Bc4 Rc8 19.Qe2 Kh8 20.0-0 f5 21.exf5 Bxf5 22.Bd3 Be6 23.Be4 Rb8 24.Qc2 Bg8 25.b3 Rb5 26.c4 Rb8 27.Nc3 Qb6 28.Rab1 h6 29.Bd5 Bh7 30.Be4 Bg8 31.g3 Qc5 32.Kg2 Bd8 33.Rbd1 Qb4 34.Rb1 Bb6 35.Nd5 Bxd5 36.Bxd5 Bd4 37.Be4 Qc3 38.Qe2 Rf6 39.Bd3 Qb4 40.h4 Qb7+ 41.Be4 Qf7 42.Bd5 Qg6 43.Be4 Qf7 44.Bd5 Qg6 45.Be4 draw.

• Click to replay

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