Dortmund Rd5 – Karjakin joins Kramnik and Ponomariov for lead

by ChessBase
7/17/2012 – The fourth round was such a lukewarm affair, there was nothing to remark on the five draws other than their exercise in symmetry at the end. Round five was another story altogether. While Kramnik and Ponomariov were unable to decide anything, Karjakin beat Daniel Fridman in a powerful game, Caruana outclassed Gustaffson in their encounter, and Bartel lost to Naiditsch. Illustrated report.

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From Thursday July 13 to Sunday July 22, 2012 the 41st edition annual Sparkassen Chess-Meeting is taking place in Dortmund, Germany. It is a ten-player round robin played. 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 times. The winner of the tournament will be determined after nine 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. As in the previous year the moves of the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting will be transmitted on the Internet with a delay of 15 minutes – which means that the moves stay in the playing hall for that period, before they are broadcast to the rest of the world. This is an important anti-cheating measure that has been proposed to FIDE since October 2005 and has the support of most of the top players. We commend the Dortmund organisers for taking the initiative.

Round four

Round 4: Monday, July 16, 15:00h
Jan Gustafsson 
½-½
 Mateusz Bartel
Ruslan Ponomariov 
½-½
 Sergey Karjakin
Arkadij Naiditsch 
½-½
 Vladimir Kramnik
Daniel Fridman 
½-½
 Georg Meier
Peter Leko 
½-½
 Fabiano Caruana


Karjakin might have hoped to take the lead by beating Ponomariov, but it was not to be

The fourth round was at best lukewarm, and while no criticism is being leveled at the players, the fact is that all the games ended in draws, and nearly all resulted in an exercise in symmetry. The upside of all this was that it meant a break in the losing streak by both Bartel and Gustafsson, who faced off against each other.


Neither player came very inspired and who could blame them?


Round five

Round 5: Tuesday, July 17, 15:00h
Fabiano Caruana 
1-0
 Jan Gustafsson
Vladimir Kramnik 
½-½
 Ruslan Ponomariov
Mateusz Bartel 
0-1
 Arkadij Naiditsch 
Sergey Karjakin 
1-0
 Daniel Fridman
Georg Meier 
½-½
 Peter Leko

The fifth round was another story altogether. The joint leaders Vladimir Kramnik and Ruslan Ponomariov clashed, but neither was able to gain anything significant, and while they certainly prodded each other’s position, the draw was no surprise. Georg Meier and Peter Leko also drew, but that is where the peaceful results ended.


Sergey Karjakin took advantage of Daniel Fridman's first mistake and joined the leaders

Daniel Fridman suffered a loss after a decisive mistake allowed Sergey Karjakin to penetrate the 7th with his rooks. He had few chances and was forced to capitulate, allowing the young Russian to join the leaders at the top with 3.5/5.


You'd never think those hunched shoulders of Fabiano Caruana hid a confident predator
just waiting to pounce on his opponent Jan Gustafsson.

The next winner was Fabiano Caruana, who played an impressive game against Jan Gustaffsson, first pressuring him and then bullying his opponent into submission. Finally Mateusz Bartel was unable to find his footing in his game against Arkadij Naiditsch and succumbed after a long defense in the endgame.

Standings after five rounds


Schedule and results

Round 1: Friday, July 13, 15:00h
Daniel Fridman 
½-½
 Jan Gustafsson
Peter Leko 
½-½
 Ruslan Ponomariov
Fabiano Caruana 
½-½
 Arkadij Naiditsch 
Georg Meier 
1-0
 Mateusz Bartel
Sergey Karjakin 
½-½
 Vladimir Kramnik
Round 2: Saturday, July 14, 15:00h
Jan Gustafsson 
0-1
 Vladimir Kramnik
Ruslan Ponomariov 
1-0
 Fabiano Caruana
Arkadij Naiditsch 
½-½
 Georg Meier
Mateusz Bartel 
0-1
 Sergey Karjakin
Daniel Fridman 
½-½
 Peter Leko
Round 3: Sunday, July 15, 15:00h
Peter Leko 
1-0
 Jan Gustafsson
Georg Meier 
0-1
 Ruslan Ponomariov
Sergey Karjakin 
½-½
 Arkadij Naiditsch 
Vladimir Kramnik 
1-0
 Mateusz Bartel
Fabiano Caruana 
1-0
 Daniel Fridman
Round 4: Monday, July 16, 15:00h
Jan Gustafsson 
½-½
 Mateusz Bartel
Ruslan Ponomariov 
½-½
 Sergey Karjakin
Arkadij Naiditsch 
½-½
 Vladimir Kramnik
Daniel Fridman 
½-½
 Georg Meier
Peter Leko 
½-½
 Fabiano Caruana
Round 5: Tuesday, July 17, 15:00h
Fabiano Caruana 
1-0
 Jan Gustafsson
Vladimir Kramnik 
½-½
 Ruslan Ponomariov
Mateusz Bartel 
0-1
 Arkadij Naiditsch 
Sergey Karjakin 
1-0
 Daniel Fridman
Georg Meier 
½-½
 Peter Leko
Round 6: Thursday, July 19, 15:00h
Jan Gustafsson 
   Arkadij Naiditsch
Ruslan Ponomariov 
   Mateusz Bartel
Daniel Fridman 
   Vladimir Kramnik
Peter Leko 
   Sergey Karjakin
Fabiano Caruana 
   Georg Meier
Round 7: Friday, July 20, 15:00h
Georg Meier 
   Jan Gustafsson
Arkadij Naiditsch 
   Ruslan Ponomariov
Mateusz Bartel 
   Daniel Fridman 
Vladimir Kramnik 
   Peter Leko
Sergey Karjakin 
   Fabiano Caruana
Round 8: Saturday, July 21, 15:00h
Jan Gustafsson 
   Ruslan Ponomariov
Daniel Fridman 
   Arkadij Naiditsch
Peter Leko 
   Mateusz Bartel
Fabiano Caruana 
   Vladimir Kramnik
Georg Meier 
   Sergey Karjakin
Round 9: Sunday, July 22, 13:00h
Sergey Karjakin 
   Jan Gustafsson
Ruslan Ponomariov 
   Daniel Fridman
Arkadij Naiditsch 
   Peter Leko 
Mateusz Bartel 
   Fabiano Caruana
Vladimir Kramnik 
   Georg Meier

Links

The 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 a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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