Radek rocks Dortmund final round

A clutch win

One can assume that a top player like Radoslaw Wojtaszek brushed up on the somewhat complicated tiebreak scenarios in the event of a draw, while preparing for his game against Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. Even during the round, he must have realized early on that Vladimir Fedoseev vs. Wang Yue was quite likely headed for a decicive result. It turns out that if either of them won, the tiebreaks of "most black" and then "most wins" was not in the Polish GM's favour.

Results of Round 7

In the end, Radek took his fate into his own hands:

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (left) and Radoslaw Wojtaszek. The gentleman who made the ceremonial first move was Dortmund-based FM Jerzy Konikowski, a former trainer of the Polish national team | Photo: Georgios Souleidis 

Vladimir Kramnik made a powerful impression in his victory against Matthias Bluebaum. One almost gets the feeling was that the Russian had been a little annoyed at his tournament so far, and was determined not to leave Dortmund in last place. He threw caution to the wind, sacrificed an exchange, then a piece, and in the end was rewarded when Bluebaum buckled under pressure:

Here only 31...Nd5! stays in the game, but it's hard to calculate 32.Bxd8 Qd6! 33.gxf7 Kxf7! 34.Qxh5 Kg7, and for instance 35.Bh4 Qe6 and it's actually White who may end up searching for a perpetual check.

Instead with 31...h4? Black bets the farm on a perpetual himself, but with a little fancy footwork (35.Bf1!) White gets out of check and is simply poised to deliver mate.

Kramnik ends on a high note and stays in the 2800 club. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

No repeat for the Frenchman-with-two-names | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave also had an outside shot at reclaiming the Dortmund title if the cards fell just right, but of course he too needed to win. Once Fedoseev's game was over, however, there was no chance for MVL, since he played four times with White, but even so, the Frenchman finally defeated his stubborn opponent Dmitry Andreikin.

Vladimir Fedoseev took his best shot with a strong win | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

All games from round 1 to 7

Final standings

Rk.		Name		Rtg.	Nt.	Pts.	n	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	TB	Perf.
1	GM	Wojtaszek,R		2736		4.5	7		½	½	½	½	½	1	1	14.75	2826
2	GM	Fedoseev,V		2726		4.0	7	½		½	1	0	½	½	1	13.75	2775
3	GM	Vachier-Lagrave,M		2791		4.0	7	½	½		½	½	1	½	½	13.50	2766
4	WCH	Kramnik,V		2812		3.5	7	½	0	½		1	½	½	½	11.75	2713
5	GM	Bluebaum,M		2642		3.0	7	½	1	½	0		½	½	0	11.25	2687
6	GM	Andreikin,D		2712		3.0	7	½	½	0	½	½		½	½	10.50	2677
7	GM	Nisipeanu,L		2683		3.0	7	0	½	½	½	½	½		½	10.25	2681
8	GM	Wang,Y		2699		3.0	7	0	0	½	½	1	½	½		9.75	2679
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger

Links

• Official site