Dortmund 2010: Le Quang Liem beats Ponomariov

by ChessBase
7/18/2010 – 19-year-old Le Quang Liem earned a place in this tournament by winning the Aeroflot tournament in Moscow, earlier this year. The Vietnamese GM has had a string of very strong events, jumping from practically nowhere into the top 50 in the world. That was no fluke, as he demonstrated today with a fine victory over tournament leader Ruslan Ponomariov. Round four report.

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From Thursday July 15 to Sunday, July 25, 2010 the 38th edition annual Sparkassen Chess-Meeting is taking place in Dortmund, Germany. It is a six-player round robin, in which each player has to play two games against each other, one with white and one with black pieces. Draw offers are not allowed – a game can only be declared a draw, by the arbiter, if there is no possible win for one side, or if a position is repeated three time. The winner of this tournament will be determined after ten rounds. Games start at 15:00h = 3 p.m. local time (CEST, = 17:00 Moscow, 14:00 p.m. London, 9:00 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, in German, by Dennis Breder (July 15-18), Niclas Huschenbeth (19-21), Merijn van Delft (22, 24, 25) and Julian Zimmermann (July 23).

Round 4: Sunday, July 18, 15:00h
Arkadij Naiditsch 
½-½
 Peter Leko
Shak. Mamedyarov 
½-½
 Vladimir Kramnik
Le Quang Liem 
1-0
 Ruslan Ponomariov


The start of round four in the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting in Dortmund

The game of the round was Le Quang Liem vs tournament co-leader Ruslan Ponomariov, who had won two of his first three games. The former FIDE world champion played an Exchange Grünfeld and soon found himself a pawn down.


Countering the Grünfeld


A handkerchief ensures that nothing is smudged in the sweltry summer heat


The young Vietnamese player has shown why we can soon expect him in the top 20

Le Quang Liem (2681) - Ponomariov,R (2734) [D86]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (4), 18.07.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 Nc6 9.Be3 0-0 10.0-0 Qc7 11.Rb1 b6 12.Bf4 e5 13.Bg3 Qe7 14.Bd5 Bb7 15.Qa4 Rfc8 16.dxe5 Nxe5 17.Nf4 c4 18.Rfd1 h5?!

The Vietnamese GM seizes the opportunity: 19.Nxg6 Nxg6 20.Bd6 Qe8 21.Qxe8+ Rxe8 22.Bxb7. White is a pawn up and has clear winning chances. 22...Rad8 23.Bb4 Nf4 24.Kf1 Rxd1+ 25.Rxd1 Nd3 26.Bd5 Rc8 27.Rb1 Nxb4 28.Rxb4 Bxc3 29.Ra4 Rc5 30.Rxc4 Rxc4 31.Bxc4

Black has sought refuge in an opposite colored bishops endgame, but to no avail. His young opponent plays it impeccably and scores his first win in this tournament: 31...h4 32.f4 Kg7 33.e5 f6 34.exf6+ Kxf6 35.g3 Kf5 36.Bd3+ Ke6 37.Kg2 hxg3 38.hxg3 Kd5 39.Kf3 Kd4 40.Ba6 Kc5 41.g4 b5 42.g5 Kb6 43.Bc8 Kc7 44.Bf5 a5 45.Bd3 b4 46.Bc2 Kd6 47.Kg4 Bd2 48.f5 Ke5 49.f6 Be3 50.Kh5 Bc5 51.Kh6 Ke6 52.g6 Kd5 1-0.

Mamedyarov,S (2761) - Kramnik,V (2790) [D37]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (4), 18.07.2010
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.a3 c5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.dxc5 Nxc5 11.Be5 Bg4 12.Be2 Bxf3 13.Bxf3 Bf6 14.Bxf6 Qxf6 15.0-0 Rfd8 16.Rc1 Ne6 17.Qb3 d4 18.Qxb7 Rab8 19.Qxa7 Rxb2 20.Qa6 g6 21.a4 Kg7 22.a5 Qe5 23.Qa7 d3 24.Rb1

Black, who is pressing, could have tried picking up the pawn with 24...Ra2 25.a6 Nc7 26.Bb7 Rd6, but it is unclear if he had any winning chances after 27.e4 d2 28.Qe3. Kramnik chose a different path to the inevitable draw: 27.e4 Nxa6 28.Bd5 Rxd5 29.exd5 Qxd5 30.Ra1 d2 31.Rxa2] 25.Rxb1 Ng5 26.Qb6 Nxf3+ 27.gxf3 Qd5 28.Qd4+ Qxd4 29.exd4 Rxd4 30.Rd1 Ra4 31.Rxd3 Rxa5 ½-½.

Naiditsch-Leko was a fought-out draw in 55 moves, with the German GM unable to make anything more out of his extra pawn in a rook ending.

Photos: Georgios Souleidis

Current standings


Schedule and results

Round 1: Thursday, July 15, 15:00h
Ruslan Ponomariov 
1-0
 Peter Leko
Vladimir Kramnik 
½-½
 Le Quang Liem
Arkadij Naiditsch 
0-1
 Shak. Mamedyarov 
Round 2: Friday, July 16, 15:00h
Peter Leko 
½-½
 Shak. Mamedyarov
Le Quang Liem 
½-½
 Arkadij Naiditsch
Ruslan Ponomariov 
1-0
 Vladimir Kramnik
Round 3: Saturday, July 17, 15:00h
Vladimir Kramnik 
½-½
 Peter Leko
Arkadij Naiditsch 
½-½
 Ruslan Ponomariov
Shak. Mamedyarov 
1-0
 Le Quang Liem 
Round 4: Sunday, July 18, 15:00h
Arkadij Naiditsch 
½-½
 Peter Leko
Shak. Mamedyarov 
½-½
 Vladimir Kramnik
Le Quang Liem 
1-0
 Ruslan Ponomariov
Round 5: Monday, July 19, 15:00h
Peter Leko 
   Le Quang Liem 
Ruslan Ponomariov 
   Shak. Mamedyarov
Vladimir Kramnik 
   Arkadij Naiditsch
GamesReport
Round 6: Wednesday, July 21, 15:00h
Peter Leko 
   Ruslan Ponomariov
Le Quang Liem 
   Vladimir Kramnik
Shak. Mamedyarov 
   Arkadij Naiditsch
GamesReport
Round 7: Thursday, July 22, 15:00h
Shak. Mamedyarov 
   Peter Leko
Arkadij Naiditsch 
   Le Quang Liem 
Vladimir Kramnik 
   Ruslan Ponomariov
GamesReport
Round 8: Friday, July 23, 15:00h
Peter Leko  
   Vladimir Kramnik
Ruslan Ponomariov 
   Arkadij Naiditsch
Le Quang Liem 
   Shak. Mamedyarov
GamesReport
Round 9: Saturday, July 24, 15:00h
Le Quang Liem 
   Peter Leko
Shak. Mamedyarov 
   Ruslan Ponomariov
Arkadij Naiditsch 
   Vladimir Kramnik
GamesReport
Round 10: Sunday, July 25, 15:00h
Peter Leko 
   Arkadij Naiditsch
Vladimir Kramnik 
   Shak. Mamedyarov
Ruslan Ponomariov 
   Le Quang Liem 
GamesReport

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