Dortmund ends with three draws and a win

by Johannes Fischer
7/18/2016 – After six rounds Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was certain to win the Grandmaster Tournament in Dortmund, but four of the eight participants still wanted or had to fight in the seventh and last round. Ruslan Ponomariov and Fabiano Caruana drew in 18 moves, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu and Rainer Buhmann in 27. Leinier Dominguez Perez tried to beat Vachier-Lagrave but without success. Vladimir Kramnik was the only winner of the round. He defeated Evgeniy Najer with energetic play.
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A serious Maxime Vachier-Lagrave before his game against Leinier Dominguez.
But "MVL" had every reason to smile.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave showed good form in Dortmund an won convincingly. Scoring 5.5/7 he was 1.5 points ahead of Vladimir Kramnik, Fabiano Caruana and Leinier Dominguez Perez who shared places two to four. In Dortmund Vachier-Lagrave even climbed to place two on the virtual world ranking list. With 2810.8 points he is narrowly ahead of Kramnik (2808.3) and Caruana (2806.5).

But even though the French grandmaster had won the tournament with one round to go, he could not take it easy in the seventh and last round as his opponent Leinier Dominguez showed no intention to settle for a quick draw. But despite all aggression the Cuban grandmaster never had any serious winning chances and the game finally ended in a draw.

Six draws and one win: Leinier Dominguez Perez had a solid and good performance

After six draws Vladimir Kramnik finished the tournament with a win.

Kramnik had again and again tried to win in the first six rounds but had to settle for six draws. But against Evgeniy Najer he finally succeeded. In a complicated game he put Najer under constant pressure until Najer cracked.

Evgeniy Najer - four losses, two draws and one win. The winner of the
Aeroflot Open in Moscow 2016 will not be too happy about his result in Dortmund.

Ruslan Ponomariov and...

...Fabiano Caruana settled for a quick peace in the final round. 18 moves, and the game was over.

Rainer Buhmann

As the lowest-rated player German grandmaster Rainer Buhmann had a difficult tournament. It did not become any easier when he had to play with Black against the Elo-heavyweights Kramnik, Caruana and Vachier-Lagrave. With 1.5/7 he finished last but all in all showed a respectable performance.

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, the German number one, did not win in a single game in Dortmund
Thus, in his last 59 games he has not suffered a single loss.

Results of the seventh and last round

Leinier Dominguez Perez - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 1/2-1/2
Ruslan Ponomariov - Fabiano Caruana 1/2-1/2
Rainer Buhmann - Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 1/2-1/2
Vladimir Kramnik - Evgeniy Najer 1-0

All games

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.g3 Nc6 7.Bg2 e5 8.d5 Ne7 9.0-0 a6 10.a3 Bc5 11.Bg5 Ne8 12.b4 Ba7 13.e4 h6 14.Be3 f5 15.Bxa7 Rxa7 16.exf5 Bxf5 17.Qd2 Nf6 18.Nh4 Bh7 19.f4 exf4 20.Rxf4 g5 21.Rf2 gxh4 22.Qd4 Ra8 23.Rxf6 Nf5 24.Qg4+ Kh8 25.Re6 hxg3 26.hxg3 Rg8 27.Qf4 Rxg3 28.Ne4 Rg6 29.Rf1 Qh4 30.Rxg6 Qxf4 31.Rxf4 Bxg6 32.c5 Rd8 33.Nc3 Kg7 34.c6 b5 35.a4 bxa4 36.b5 axb5 37.Nxb5 a3 38.Ra4 Ne3 39.Nxc7 Kf6 40.Bf3 Rc8 41.Rxa3 Rxc7 42.Rxe3 Re7 43.Rc3 Bf5 44.Kf2 Ra7 45.Kg3 Kg5 46.c7 Bc8 47.Rc6 h5 48.Rxd6 h4+ 49.Kf2 Rxc7 50.Rc6 Rxc6 51.dxc6 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nisipeanu,L2674Ponomariov,R2706½–½2016E3244th GM 20161
Najer,E2687Buhmann,R26531–02016C1144th GM 20161
Caruana,F2810Vachier Lagrave,M27980–12016B9044th GM 20161
Dominguez Perez,L2713Kramnik,V2812½–½2016C6744th GM 20161
Buhmann,R2653Dominguez Perez,L2713½–½2016E9744th GM 20162
Caruana,F2810Nisipeanu,L2674½–½2016B1244th GM 20162
Ponomariov,R2706Najer,E26871–02016D1944th GM 20162
Vachier Lagrave,M2798Kramnik,V2812½–½2016C6744th GM 20162
Najer,E2687Caruana,F28100–12016B1244th GM 20163
Nisipeanu,L2674Vachier Lagrave,M2798½–½2016D8544th GM 20163
Dominguez Perez,L2713Ponomariov,R27061–02016B9044th GM 20163
Kramnik,V2812Buhmann,R2653½–½2016C1144th GM 20163
Vachier Lagrave,M2798Buhmann,R26531–02016C9544th GM 20164
Nisipeanu,L2674Najer,E2687½–½2016D0244th GM 20164
Caruana,F2810Dominguez Perez,L2713½–½2016C4244th GM 20164
Ponomariov,R2706Kramnik,V2812½–½2016D4144th GM 20164
Dominguez Perez,L2713Nisipeanu,L2674½–½2016B1244th GM 20165
Buhmann,R2653Ponomariov,R27060–12016E1744th GM 20165
Najer,E2687Vachier Lagrave,M27980–12016B9644th GM 20165
Kramnik,V2812Caruana,F2810½–½2016B4844th GM 20165
Caruana,F2810Buhmann,R26531–02016A0844th GM 20166
Najer,E2687Dominguez Perez,L2713½–½2016D3744th GM 20166
Vachier Lagrave,M2798Ponomariov,R27061–02016C6744th GM 20166
Nisipeanu,L2674Kramnik,V2812½–½2016E1044th GM 20166
Ponomariov,R2706Caruana,F2810½–½2016E1044th GM 20167
Buhmann,R2653Nisipeanu,L2674½–½2016D0244th GM 20167
Dominguez Perez,L2713Vachier Lagrave,M2798½–½2016D8344th GM 20167
Kramnik,V2812Najer,E26871–02016A2044th GM 20167

Final result

The playing venue

Tournament director Stefan Koth

Photos: Georgios Souleidis

Tournament page...

 

Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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