Dortmund, Rd.5: Vachier-Lagrave and Ponomariov win

by André Schulz
7/15/2016 – After a long fight the top game between Vladimir Kramnik and Fabiano Caruana in the fifth round of the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting in Dortmund ended in a draw. But Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Ruslan Ponomariov could win. Vachier-Lagrave played against Najer and showed how well he knows the Najdorf. Ponomariov won against Buhmann. Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu and Leinier Dominguez drew. With two rounds to go Vachier-Lagrave leads with 4.0/5.

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The stage

Fabiano Caruana vs Vladimir Kramnik

Vladimir Kramnik, the 14. World Champion

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is famous for his good knowledge of the Najdorf. But Evgeniy Najer seemed to have his doubts and dared to play the Poisoned Pawn Variation of the Najdorf against the French Grandmaster. But Vachier-Lagrave could rely on his theoretical knowledge and won the game. With this victory he is now number two on the virtual ranking list.

The new number two

Evgeniy Najer lost the theoretical duel

 

Rainer Buhmann and Ruslan Ponomariov fought a sharp battle in the Queen's Indian Defense. The German sacrificed a pawn in the opening but Ponomariov defended well and had the upper hand. But with a few inaccuracies Ponomariov let Buhmann back into the game - however, the German Grandmaster failed to grab these opportunities and lost.

Missing a draw

Buhmann-Ponomariov

 


Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu drew against Leinier Dominguez and is still unbeaten.

 

Results of round five

  Title Name Country ELO Res. Title Name Country ELO
1 GM Leinier Dominguez Perez
 
2732 ½ - ½ GM Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu
 
2669
2 GM Rainer Buhmann
 
2651 0 - 1 GM Ruslan Ponomariov
 
2715
3 GM Evgeniy Najer
 
2681 0 - 1 GM Maxime Vachier Lagrave
 
2788
4 GM Vladimir Kramnik
 
2801 ½ - ½ GM Fabiano Caruana
 
2804

Games - Rounds 1 to 5

 

Standings after five rounds

Rg. Title Name Nation Elo Perf. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pkt. Wtg.
1 GM Maxime Vachier Lagrave
 
2788 +174       ½ ½ 1 1 1 4.0 / 5  
2 GM Leinier Dominguez Perez
 
2732 +66     1 ½ ½ ½   ½ 3.0 / 5 7.25
3 GM Ruslan Ponomariov
 
2715 +62   0   ½ ½   1 1 3.0 / 5 5.00
4 GM Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu
 
2669 +75 ½ ½ ½     ½ ½   2.5 / 5 7.00
5 GM Vladimir Kramnik
 
2801 -63 ½ ½ ½     ½   ½ 2.5 / 5 6.75
6 GM Fabiano Caruana
 
2804 -69 0 ½   ½ ½   1   2.5 / 5 5.50
7 GM Evgeniy Najer
 
2681 -102 0   0 ½   0   1 1.5 / 5  
8 GM Rainer Buhmann
 
2651 -148 0 ½ 0   ½   0   1.0 / 5  

 

Photos: Georgios Souleidis

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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