Dortmund 06: More Caruana!

by Alejandro Ramirez
7/5/2015 – He seems unstoppable now, Caruana converted yet another win, this time against Hou Yifan in a sort of Nimzo-Indian defense. The Chinese sacrificed a pawn, but Caruana gobbled it up and defended precisely, eventually pushing Yifan back and taking over the initiative. Kramnik pushed hard against Nisipeanu but couldn't break the German, while Nepo did beat Naiditsch. Caruana is clear first.

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The 2015 Sparkassen Chess Meeting is taking place in Dortmund from the 27th of June to the 5th of July, 2015.

Round Six

Round 06 – July 04 2015, 15:00h
Caruana, Fabiano 2805
1-0
 Hou, Yifan 2676
Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2720
1-0
 Naiditsch, Arkadij 2722
Meier, Georg 2654
½-½
 So, Wesley 2778
Kramnik, Vladimir 2783
½-½
 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 2654

Caruana, Fabiano 1-0 Hou Yifan
Hou Yifan was a little overconfident with her pawn sacrifice, while Caruana's technique was spot on. Another excellent win from America's newest addition. Again, Sagar Shah analysis:

Streaky Fabi! This is his fourth win in a row!

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1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Bb4 4.a3 Caruana is in an attacking mood today as he goes for the a3 variation in the Nimzo. One cannot really say that this is a Nimzo because the knight is still not on f6 and the pawn is on d5. But after a few moves it transposes into the Nimzo. Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 Nf6 6.e3 c6!? This line is not played very often. Just around 70 games in the database. But this is one of the favourite lines of Yu Yangyi and was also played by Hou Yifan against Lin in 2010. The main idea for Black is 0-0 and then follow it up with b6-Bb7 or Ba6. 6...0-0 is the main line and readers will recall the famous Botvinnik-Capablanca game that was played in AVRO 1938. 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Bd3 c5 9.Ne2 b6 10.0-0 Ba6 with a complex and interesting battle. 7.a4!? A wise move by Caruana. Not only can he develop his bishop to a3 but a move like b6 can be met with a5 putting pressure on the black queenside. 7.Bd3 was nicely countered by Yu against Aleksandrov with the move e5! 8.dxe5 dxc4 9.Bxc4 Qxd1+ 10.Kxd1 Ng4 11.Ke1 Nxe5 12.Be2 Bf5 When black had already equalised comfortably. 0-1 (91) Aleksandrov,A (2554)-Yu,Y (2675) Dubai 2014 7...0-0 8.Nf3 b6 9.cxd5 exd5 This is a much better recapture than taking with the c-pawn because later Black can break with c6-c5. 9...cxd5 optically looks much better but after 10.Ba3 Re8 11.Bb5 Bd7 12.Bd3 Nc6 13.0-0 White is just better. 10.Bd3 Ba6 11.0-0 c5 12.Ne5 Re8 13.a5 Bxd3 14.Nxd3 Nc6?! An odd move by Hou Yifan. She could have comfortably developed her knight to d7 but instead she chooses this square in order to clarify the situation with regards to the a5 pawn. 14...Nbd7= was very comfortable for Black. 15.axb6 axb6 16.Rxa8 Qxa8 17.dxc5 bxc5 18.Nxc5 Black has some compensation because the c1 bishop doesn't have a good square to go to but Hou Yifan has to play very accurately now. Ne5?! 18...Ne4!? 19.Nxe4 19.Qxd5?! Re5! 20.Qxe4 Rxe4 21.Nxe4 Qa5 19...dxe4 20.c4 Ne5 21.Qd4 Qc6 22.Bb2 Qxc4 23.Rc1 Qxd4 24.Bxd4 Nd3 would have been the best way to play for Black. 19.Nd3! A strong move in order to relocate the knight to f4 and put pressure on the d5 pawn. Nc4 20.Nf4 20.Nb4 was also possible. 20...h6 21.Qd4 Re4 22.Qc5 Re5 23.f3! Taking away the crucial e4 square from the rook so that the queen cannot be disturbed on d4. Qa2 24.Qd4 This is a clear case of reaching maximum activity and seeing no real way to improve your already well placed pieces. Black has her pieces well stationed but what next? Qa4 25.h4! The logical plan now is to expand on the kingside. Look how the f3 pawn does a wonderful job of limiting the black pieces. Qb5 26.g4 Hou Yifan would be under tremendous pressure here. She is a pawn down and unable to improve her position, while Caruana is slowly but steadily taking over. Nd7 27.Nd3 Re6 28.Kg2 Ndb6 The knight has wandered away a little too far away to b6 from the kingside. Caruana now tries to attack the kingside and the weakest point i.e g7. 29.Nf4 Re5 30.Nh5 The knight is so menacingly placed on h5 that Black will have to give up her rook for it. Threats include moves like f4 but maybe stronger is Nxg7 followed by f4. Qb1 31.e4! Hawk eyed Caruana does not let the opportunity slip by. He forces a black pawn to the e4 square so that later he can play f4 and there would be no Qe4+. 31.f4?! Qe4+ 32.Kf2 Qxd4 33.cxd4 Re6 gives black some hopes to defend the inferior endgame. 31...dxe4 32.f4! Rxh5 Black is forced to give up an exchange but she doesn't have enough compensation for it. The rest is really a matter of technique for Caruana as he quickly wraps up the game. 33.gxh5 Qc2+ 34.Kh1 Qe2 35.Rg1 Qf3+ 36.Rg2 g6 37.hxg6 Qf1+ 38.Kh2 Qxc1 39.Qf6 One could say that Hou Yifan's play was not up to the mark in this game but what I found amazing was Caruana playing extremely accurate chess. His manouevres of Nc5-d3-f4, and expansion on kingside with h4 followed by g4 and the central break e4 coupled with f4 were supremely high level concepts. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Caruana,F2805Hou Yifan26761–02015D3143rd GM 20156

Nepomniachtchi, Ian 1-0 Naiditsch, Arkadij
A positionally nice game from Nepo, clearly outplaying the German in this game:

Nepo, with a nice win, escapes from the basement

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1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 One of the main reasons why Black players have started playing Be7 before Nf6 is exactly the line that happened in this game where the knight is developed on e2. 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.Qc2 Be7 7.e3 Nbd7 8.Bd3 0-0 9.Nge2 Re8 10.0-0 h6 11.Bf4 Nf8 12.a3 a5 preventing the intended expansion with b4. 13.f3 Nh5 14.Be5 f6 15.Bg3 Nxg3 16.Nxg3 Bd6 17.Rae1 Qc7 18.f4 Be6 19.Nf5 Bxf5 20.Bxf5 Re7 21.h4! A powerful move by Nepomniachtchi in order to fix the kingside black pawns. This position reminds me of the 4th game of the match between Karpov-Kasparov where Karpov played a beautiful attack on the light squares and Kasparov who had a dark squared bishop could do nothing about it. Rae8 22.Rf3 b5 23.h5 b4 24.axb4 Bxb4 25.Re2 Qd6 26.Qd3 Rd8 Black is trying to break free in this position with the move c5. 27.Na4 c5 28.Nxc5 Bxc5 29.dxc5 Qxc5 30.Rc2! Now in addition to the weakend light squares, White also has the weak d5 pawn to attack. Also the bishop on f5 is clearly superior to the f8 knight. All in all this is a clear advantage to White. Qb6 31.Kh2 Ne6 32.Rg3 Kh8 33.Qa3 Qb4 34.Qxb4 axb4 The queens are off the board, hence the danger of a kingside attack is averted for Black but he is still struggling with all these weak pawns in the endgame. 35.Rc6 Nc7 36.Rf3 Nb5 37.Rc5 Nc7 38.Bg6 38.Rf1 Activating the rook while the the c7 knight is defended by the e7 rook would have been a good idea. Na6 39.Ra5± 38...Kg8 39.Rc6 Kf8 40.b3 Ne8?! 40...Rb8 defending the b4 pawn would have improved black chances for a draw quite drastically. 41.Rb6 Rc7 42.Rxb4 White has won a pawn and kept complete control over the position. Nd6 43.Rf1 Ke7 44.Rd1 Rc5 45.Rb6 Rb5 46.Rxb5 Nxb5 47.Kg3 Ke6 47...d4 48.Kf3± 48.Kg4 Nd6 49.e4! Just like in the Caruana game, Kramnik game and now in Nepomniachtchi game the move e4 was played when black had a pawn on d5! Quite a co-incidence! dxe4 50.Bxe4 Rb8 51.Bd5+ Kd7 52.Ra1 With an active bishop, rook and an extra pawn it's all over for Black. f5+ 53.Kh3 Ne8 54.Ra7+ Nc7 55.Bc4 Kd6 56.Ra5 Rf8 57.Kg3 Rf6 58.Kf3 Kc6 59.g3 Ne8 60.Re5 60.Ra6+ Kc5 61.Rxf6 Nxf6 Would not be such a great idea as the h5 pawn hangs. 60...Nd6 61.Bd3 Rf7 62.b4 Rb7 63.Rc5+ Kd7 64.b5 Ke6 65.Re5+ Kf6 66.Ke3 Ra7 67.Kd4 Ra3 68.Bc4 A pretty one sided affair. Naiditsch was never really able to equalise. Nepo pressed well and was able to take the full point home. 68.Bc4 Nxc4 69.Kxc4 Rxg3 70.b6 Rg1 71.b7 Rc1+ 72.Kd5 Rb1 73.Kc6+- 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nepomniachtchi,I2720Naiditsch,A27221–02015D3643rd GM 20156

Meier, Georg ½-½ So, Wesley
A solid draw between these players. So's Slav defense held up easily against Meier's attempts for an advantage. The German went for a strategy of obtaining a quick pair of bishops, but at no point was So's position really in danger. With accurate simplifications the American obtained a relatively effortless draw.

Not too many complications here today

Kramnik, Vladimir ½-½ Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter
Nisipeanu was trying to hold on to his lead, but Big Vlad was hungry for a victory after yesterday's loss to Caruana. He came close to it, but he was unable to convert his chances in the rook endgame up a pawn. Sagar Shah with more analysis!

The longest game of the round, but Kramnik couldn't topple his opponent

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Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu was leading the tournament with 3.5/5. But he had to face Kramnik in round six and Caruana in the final round. Not the easiest of opponents to maintain your lead against! 1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Kramnik continues his strategy of playing off-beat systems against players who are not the absolute elite. Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.b3 Usually Kramnik likes to play a doubled fianchetto system with his pawns on b3 and g3 but today he prefers to develop his light squared bishop on the f1-a6 diagonal because he has already played e3 on the second move. c5 5.Bb2 Nc6 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Bb5 Bd6 Nisipeanu plays in classical fashion, developing his pieces to the best possible squares. 8.d4 cxd4 9.Nxd4 0-0 10.0-0 10.Nxc6?! bxc6 11.Bxc6 Bg4! 12.f3 Rc8 13.Ba4 Qe7! 14.0-0 14.Kf2 Ne4+! 15.Ke2 Qg5-+ 14...Qxe3+ 15.Kh1 Qh6!-+ 10.Bxc6 bxc6 11.Nxc6 Qc7! 12.Nd4 Ba6 And Black has just ample compensation for the pawn as the white king cannot 0-0. 10...Qc7 11.h3 Bh2+ 12.Kh1 Be5 13.Qc2 Bd7 14.Nf3 Bxb2 15.Qxb2 Rac8 16.Rc1 Qd6 17.Nc3 Ne5?! I somehow find this move to be a little suspect. Nisipeanu tries to exchange pieces which is not a good idea when you have an isolated pawn. 17...Rfe8 18.Rd1 Bf5= would have been more in the spirit of the position. 18.Be2 18.Nxe5 might have been more accurate. Qxe5 19.Bxd7 Nxd7 20.Rc2 d4? 21.exd4 Qxd4 22.Rd1+- 18...Nxf3 18...Ng6 or Nc6 retaining more pieces was an option. 19.Bxf3 These are the type of technical positions that Kramnik loves to milk although they maybe objectively equal. Qe5 20.Qd2 Be6 21.Nb5 Bd7 21...Ne4! 22.Bxe4 dxe4 23.Nd4 23.Nxa7? Ra8-+ 23...Bd7 22.Qd4 Qxd4 23.Nxd4 a5 24.g4! Gaining space on the kingside and giving the g2 square for the king. h6 25.Kg2 Rxc1 26.Rxc1 Rc8 27.Rb1 Kramnik realises that he wont have enough resources to put pressure on Nisipeanu if he exchanges the rooks. Hence he decides to retain them. Ra8 28.Ne2! Blockading an isolated pawn is good but winning it is better. The knight decides to go to the c3 or f4 square in order to put pressure on d5. g5 29.Nc3 Be6 30.Rd1 Rd8 31.e4! Forcing the d5-pawn to advance. d4 32.Kg3! Kramnik makes use of every little opportunity to improve his position. 32.Nb5 d3 33.e5 Nd5= And now White cannot take on d3 because of a check on f4. This little detail was noticed by Kramnik as he improved the positioning of his king from g2-g3. 32...Rc8 33.Nb5 Nd7 33...Rc2 might have been better as after 34.Nxd4 Rxa2 35.Nxe6 fxe6 36.Rd8+ Kf7 37.Rb8 Nd7 38.Rxb7 Ke8 White is a pawn up and better but his bishop is not so active because of the number of pawns standing on the same colour as itself. 34.Nxd4 Ne5 35.Be2 Rc3+ 36.f3 Kg7 37.Rd2 Kf6 38.Nf5 Bxf5 39.exf5 Ke7 How shall we assess this position? White is a pawn up but the knight on e5 is pretty well placed there. After Black goes f6 and consolidates his knight it won't be easy to win but fortunately for Kramnik the a5 pawn is also undefended and he is able to exchange the minor pieces. 40.Rd5! Nc6 41.Bb5 b6 42.h4 f6 43.Bxc6 Eliminating the knight before it can settle down on e5. Rxc6 44.hxg5 hxg5 45.a4 Rc3 46.Rb5 Rc6 Mihail Marin in his excellent book "Learn from the legends" says that in such rook endings, every extra pawn counts for one point and better positioning of the rook counts for one. If you have two extra points then you can be confident about converting your position. Here, the white rook is definitely better placed than its counterpart which gives him one point. But the extra pawn is double and not so easy to create a passer. Hence you cannot really claim a full point for it. Maybe half. So White has 1.5 points. Objectively it may not be enough. 47.f4 Kramnik realises that the only way in which he can prove something here is if he creates a passer on the kingside. Rc3+ 48.Kf2 gxf4 49.Rxb6 Kf7 Nisipeanu finds the g5 square to be the perfect home for his king. 50.b4 50.Rb5 Kg7 51.Rxa5 Rxb3 52.Ra6 Preventing Kh6. Ra3 53.a5 Black's defensive task is very difficult here because he is almost in a zugzwang. Kf7 54.Ra7+ Ke8 55.Ra8+! Kf7 56.a6 Ra2+ 57.Kf3 Ra4 58.a7 Kg7 59.g5! fxg5 60.f6+ Kf7 60...Kxf6 61.Rf8++- 61.Rh8!+- 50...Rc2+ 51.Kf3 Rc3+ 52.Kf2 Rc2+ 53.Ke1 Rc1+ 54.Kd2 f3 55.Ke3 55.Kxc1? f2 And the pawn cannot be stopped. 55...Rc3+ 56.Kf2 axb4 57.Rxb4 Kg7 58.Kg3? 58.Rb8!? Rc4 58...Kh6 59.Rg8+- 59.Ra8 Rxg4 60.Kxf3 Rg1 61.a5 Rf1+ 62.Ke4 Re1+ 63.Kd5 Kh6 64.a6 Ra1 and it is unclear how White will make progress here. 58...Ra3 59.Rb7+ Kh6 60.Ra7 f2+ 61.Kxf2 Kg5 Black has the perfect blockade and it's impossible to win from here. 62.Ke2 Kxg4 63.Ra5 Kf4 64.Kd2 Ke4 65.Kc2 Kd4 66.Ra6 Rc3+ 67.Kb2 Rc4 68.Ra5 Rb4+ 69.Ka3 Kc4 70.Ra6 Rb3+ 71.Ka2 Rb4 72.Ra8 Kc5 73.Ka3 Rf4 74.Rb8 Rf1 75.Rb5+ Kc4 76.Kb2 Rf2+ 77.Kb1 Kc3 78.a5 Kc4 79.Rb7 Rxf5 80.a6 Ra5 81.a7 Kc5 82.Rf7 Kb6 83.Kc2 Kramnik had his chances to convert his extra pawn. But in the rook endgame, he made some mistakes and Nisipeanu defended very well to take home a half point. ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Kramnik,V2783Nisipeanu,L2654½–½2015A1343rd GM 20156

Standings

Pictures: Dagobert Kohlmeyer

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Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

Schedule

Round 01 – June 27 2015, 15:00h
Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2720
½-½
 Caruana, Fabiano 2805
Meier, Georg 2654
½-½
 Hou, Yifan 2676
Kramnik, Vladimir 2783
0-1
 Naiditsch, Arkadij 2722
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 2654
1-0
 So, Wesley 2778
Round 02 – June 28 2015, 15:00h
Caruana, Fabiano 2805
0-1
 So, Wesley 2778
Naiditsch, Arkadij 2722
0-1
 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 2654
Hou, Yifan 2676
0-1
 Kramnik, Vladimir 2783
Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2720
½-½
 Meier, Georg 2654
Round 03 – June 30 2015, 15:00h
Meier, Georg 2654
0-1
 Caruana, Fabiano 2805
Kramnik, Vladimir 2783
1-0
 Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2720
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 2654
½-½
 Hou, Yifan 2676
So, Wesley 2778
0-1
 Naiditsch, Arkadij 2722
Round 04 – July 01 2015, 15:00h
Caruana, Fabiano 2805
1-0
 Naiditsch, Arkadij 2722
Hou, Yifan 2676
½-½
 So, Wesley 2778
Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2720
½-½
 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 2654
Meier, Georg 2654
0-1
 Kramnik, Vladimir 2783
Round 05 – July 03 2015, 15:00h
Kramnik, Vladimir 2783
0-1
 Caruana, Fabiano 2805
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 2654
½-½
 Meier, Georg 2654
So, Wesley 2778
1-0
 Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2720
Naiditsch, Arkadij 2722
½-½
 Hou, Yifan 2676
Round 06 – July 04 2015, 15:00h
Caruana, Fabiano 2805
1-0
 Hou, Yifan 2676
Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2720
1-0
 Naiditsch, Arkadij 2722
Meier, Georg 2654
½-½
 So, Wesley 2778
Kramnik, Vladimir 2783
½-½
 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 2654
Round 07 – July 05 2015, 15:00h
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 2654 - Caruana, Fabiano 2805
So, Wesley 2778 - Kramnik, Vladimir 2783
Naiditsch, Arkadij 2722 - Meier, Georg 2654
Hou, Yifan 2676 - Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2720

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Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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