Maxime Vachier-Lagrave wins Dortmund 2016

by Johannes Fischer
7/17/2016 – With a fine game against Ruslan Ponomariov Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting in Dortmund with one round to go. He leads with 5.0/6 and is 1.5 points ahead of his closest rivals Leinier Dominguez Perez and Fabiano Caruana. The other decisive game of round six was Caruana's smooth victory against Rainer Buhmann. Evgeniy Najer and Dominguez Perez drew after 54 moves, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu and Vladimir Kramnik after 146 moves.
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The International Arbiter Andrzej Filipovicz from Poland

The symbolic first move

After playing Vladimir Kramnik and Fabiano Caruana with Black,
Rainer Buhmann also had Black against...

...Fabiano Caruana

Fabiano Caruana avoided a theoretical duel but reached
a double-edged position with good chances to play for a win.

 
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1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.0-0 e5 5.c4 d4 6.d3 Nf6 7.e3 Bd6 8.exd4 cxd4 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bxf6 Qxf6
Caruana plays a Benoni with colors reversed. A good opening to play for a win. 11.Nbd2 Bc7 12.Qa4 0-0 13.b4 Bf5 14.Qb3 Rab8 Objectively the position should be equal but it seems to be easier to play for White who can advance his pawns on the queenside, play against the pawn on e5 and rely on his white-squared bishop. Black, however, has a good position but finds it more difficult to formulate a plan. 15.Rfe1 a6 16.Rac1 Rfd8 17.a3 Qe7?! Maybe 17...Ne7 was more careful to avoid putting the knight on the rim. 18.b5 Na5 19.Qb4 Qf6 20.Ne4
20...Bxe4? During the last moves White has gradually increased the pressure and after this exchange he is clearly better. But it is hard to propose sensible alternatives. The following line which Fritz 15 recommends shows how difficult the position is for Black: 20...Qb6 21.Nh4 Be6 22.a4 and now Fritz 15 gives Qa7 23.Ng6 b6 as best - with a clear advantage for White. 21.Rxe4
Black's knight on a5 is really awkwardly placed - and White now simply threatens 22.Nxe5 winning a pawn. Black is helpless. 21...axb5 22.cxb5 Qb6 23.Nxe5 Bd6 24.Qb2 Rbc8 25.a4 Rxc1+ 26.Qxc1 Qc5 27.Qxc5 Bxc5 28.h4 h5 29.Bf3 g6 30.Rf4 Black resigned. He loses a second pawn because he cannot protect f7. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Caruana,F2810Buhmann,R26531–02016A0944th GM 20166

The top game of round six was the encounter between...

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and...

... Ruslan Ponomariov. With a win Ponomariov would have caught the French grandmaster.

But right from the start Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had the game under control showed a fine display of strategy and tactics that culminated in a mating attack in the endgame.

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nxe5 8.Rxe5 0-0 9.d4 Bf6 10.Re1 Re8 11.Nc3 Rxe1 12.Qxe1 b6 Black refuses to take the offered pawn. After 12...Bxd4 13.Nd5 c6 14.Bf4 Black might not be worse but he is under pressure. 13.Bf4 Bb7 14.Bxd6!?
White gives his black-squared bishop against Black's knight and hopes to exploit the fact that Black's white-squared bishop might easily prove to be a problem. 14...cxd6 15.Qe3 Qe7 16.Qxe7 Bxe7 17.g3 Kf8 It is difficult to suggest a plan for Black that would help his white-squared bishop. If he tries to activate it with 17...Bf3 White plays 18.Bg2 and after an exchange of bishops White gets a strong knight on d5. 18.a4 Bc6 19.a5 bxa5 20.d5!
Shutting the bishop out of the game. 20...Bb7 21.Rxa5 a6 22.Ra3 Bf6 23.Na4 Ke7 24.c4 Kd8 25.Re3 a5 26.Be2 Ba6 27.Kf1 Rb8 28.b3 g5 29.Ke1 Bd4 30.Rf3 Ke7 31.Bd1 h6 32.Kd2 Rb4?! 33.Kd3 Ba7 34.Rf5 f6 35.Nc3 Bc5 36.f4 Rb8 37.fxg5 fxg5 38.Kc2 Bg1 39.Bh5
After lengthy maneuvering White resorts to tactics and initiates a mating attack in the endgame. 39...Bxh2 40.Rf7+ Kd8 41.Bg4 Rb7 42.c5!
Letting Black's bishop out of its cage to mate Black's king. 42...Bxg3 43.Ne4 dxc5 Black has to give the bishop. After e.g. 43...Bf4 44.cxd6 Ke8 45.Bh5 White has a devastating mating attack. 44.Nxg3 Black has three pawns for the piece but White still has a strong attack. d6 45.Rf8+ Ke7 46.Ra8 Rb6 47.Kc3 Bb7 48.Nf5+ Kf6 49.Rf8+ Ke5 50.Ne3 Black's king is caught in a mating net. Ke4 51.Nc4 Ra6 52.Bf3# 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Vachier Lagrave,M2798Ponomariov,R27061–02016C6744th GM 20166

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, who has not lost one of his last 58 games, played against Vladimir Kramnik...

... who tried hard to win this game.

The game lasted for 146 moves and Kramnik tried everything to win but in the end he could not avoid to play his sixth draw in his sixth game in Dortmund. In the seventh and final round Kramnik plays against Evgeniy Najer. Nisipeanu, who also has six draws out of six games in Dortmund, plays against Buhmann in the final round.

Evgeniy Najer...

... and Leinier Dominguez Perez (left) drew an unspectactular game.

Result of round six:

Fabiano Caruana - Rainer Buhmann 1-0

Evgeniy Najer - Leinier Dominguez Perez 1/2-1/2

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave - Ruslan Ponomariov 1-0

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu - Vladimir Kramnik 1/2-1/2

Games from rounds 1- to 6

 
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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

Standings after six rounds

Photos: Tournament page, 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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