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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 7: Thursday, July 22, 15:00h | ||
Shak. Mamedyarov |
1-0 |
Peter Leko |
Arkadij Naiditsch |
½-½ |
Le Quang Liem |
Vladimir Kramnik |
½-½ |
Ruslan Ponomariov |
The seventh round continued what has been a great tournament so far, with dynamic fighting chess through and through.
At the start of round seven: Richard A. Conn Jr. (middle), who is on the Karpov team as candidate for Deputy President of FIDE, chats with Alexander Bakh, arbiter in Dortmund (and former president of the Russian Chess Federation, who office was raided in May), while guest-of-honour Anatoly Karpov waits for his ceremonial duty.
...which is to execute the first move to officially start the seventh round game between Vladimir Kramnik and Ruslan Ponomariov. Note that Karpov was the 12th World Champion, Kramnik the 14th, while Ruslan Ponomariov, 4th FIDE knockout world champion.
Kramnik,Vladimir - Ponomariov,Ruslan [E17]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (7), 22.07.2010
Kramnik played a rare line in a Queen's Indian against Ponomariov with reasonable attempts on both sides to wrest the initiative. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Re1 a5 8.a3 Na6 9.Nc3 Ne4 10.Qc2 Nxc3 11.Qxc3 f5 12.Bf4 Bf6 13.Rad1 Nc5 14.Be5 Ne4 15.Qc2 d6 16.Nd2.
16...Bg5 [16...dxe5? 17.Nxe4 fxe4 18.dxe5 Qe7 19.exf6 Qxf6 20.e3+/=] 17.Bf4 Bxf4 18.gxf4 Qh4 19.Nxe4 Bxe4 20.Bxe4 fxe4 21.Qxe4 Rae8 22.e3 e5 23.dxe5 dxe5 24.Qd5+ Kh8 25.Qf3 exf4 26.exf4 Rxe1+ 27.Rxe1 Qf6 28.b4 axb4 29.axb4 g5 30.f5 Qxf5 31.Qxf5 Rxf5 32.Re7 c5 33.Rb7 Rf4 34.Rb8+ Kg7 35.Rb7+ Kh8 36.Rb8+ Kg7 37.Rb7+ 1/2-1/2.
Vladimir Kramnik in a typical working pose
Tournament leader Ruslan Ponomariov going into a Queen's Indian
Karpov and Conn follow the action on the stage
Naiditsch had White against Quang Liem and showed utter disdain for their pawn structures in a Caro-Kann Advance variation. It quickly defused into a double-rook ending with no options for either and a draw ensued.
The game of the round was unquestionably Mamedyarov's comeback at Leko's expense. After losing a game to Ponomariov in the fifth round for making unreasonable demands of his position, and then botching what would have been a contender for best game of the tournament against Naiditsch, many a player might have been demoralized by such tragic turnarounds, but not him.
Mamedyarov ready to put an end to his losing streak at Leko's expense
Down in the dumps: Peter Leko with his shakiest performance in years
... and that in spite of Peter's magic potions
Perhaps in what would have been an excellent application of positive thinking, he concluded that if his desire to win had been a little excessive against Ruslan, he had played an essentially beautiful game in the sixth round, except for that inexplicable blindness that hit him, but that has also hit most every player there is. He was playing very well by all standards, and just needed to get it all under grip.
Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar - Leko,Peter [A15]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (7), 22.07.2010
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.g3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.Nc3 g6 7.d3 Bg7 8.Bd2 0-0 9.0-0 Nc7 10.a3 Bd7 11.Rb1 a5 12.Na4 Ne6 13.Rc1N b6 14.e3 Rb8 15.Bc3 Be8 16.Bxg7 Nxg7 17.Nc3 e5 18.Nd2
18...Nf5 Taking the pawn with 18...Qxd3 would be worse because after 19.Nd5 f5 (White is threatening 20.Nf6+ Kh8 21.Nxe8 Nxe8 22.Bxc6 Winning the piece.) 20.Nc4 Qxd1 21.Rfxd1 b5 22.Nd6 c4 White recovers the pawn with a healthy edge. 23.b3 e4 24.bxc4 b4 25.axb4 axb4 26.Rb1 b3 27.c5+/= 19.Nd5 Kg7 20.Nc4 f6 21.Qc2 Nce7
22.Ncxb6! Rxb6 23.Nxb6 Qxb6 24.Qxc5 Qd8 25.d4 exd4 26.e4 Stronger was 26.Rfd1 d3 27.Rd2 a4 28.Rc3 Qd6 29.Rdxd3+- 26...Nh6 27.Rfd1 Nc6 28.b4 axb4 29.axb4 d3 30.Rc3
Black's position is a mess. His pieces are completely uncoordinated, trying to counter White's heavy pieces, central control, and passed b-pawn. 30...d2 30...Qb8 would do no better after 31.b5 Ne5 32.Qc7+ Bd7 33.f4 Qxb5 34.fxe5 Rc8 35.exf6+ Kg8 (35...Kxf6 36.Qd6+ Kg7 37.Qd4+ Kg8 38.Rxc8+ Bxc8 39.Qd8+ Kg7 40.Qxc8) 36.Qxc8+ Bxc8 37.Rxc8+ Kf7 38.h3 Kxf6 39.Rc3 Nf7 40.Rcxd3+- And once the dust has settled, White is winning. 31.Rc2 Qb8 32.b5 Ne5 33.Qc7+ Bd7 34.Rdxd2 Qxb5 35.f4 Nhf7 36.fxe5 Nxe5 37.Bf1 Qa4 38.Rc4 Qb5 39.Rcd4 1-0. A great effort by Shakhriyar, placing him once more in second, tied with Quang Liem Le, and a half-point behind Ponomariov. The game is afoot.
Round seven under way. We counted around 150 spectators in the theatre
Visitors playing chess in the halls of the Dortmund Schauspielhaus
Karpov and Conn – a press conference with the two running mates for FIDE
presidency
The two had just flown in from Asia, where they had been campaigning for
their ticket
Afterwards a photo op in the Town Hall, were more chess is being played
The two campaigners taking a one-day break in Dortmund
Photos: Frederic Friedel
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LinksThe games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009! |
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