Dortmund: Leinier Dominguez takes the lead

by Johannes Fischer
7/17/2019 – Leinier Dominguez seems to be in good shape at the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund. In round three he won against defending champion Ian Nepomniachtchi with a nice, tactical combination and is now in sole first place with 2½/3. Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu scored the second win of the round, with black against Daniel Fridman. Kaido Kulaots and Radoslaw Wojtaszek drew, as did Teimour Radjabov and Richard Rapport. Live games of round four from 13:15 UTC (15:15 CEST, 9:15 EDT). | Photos: Georgios Souleidis
The Caro Kann is a very tricky opening. Black’s play is based on controlling and fighting for key light squares. It is a line which was very fashionable in late 90s and early 2000s due to the successes of greats like Karpov, Anand, Dreev etc. Recently due to strong engines lot of key developments have been made and some new lines have been introduced, while others have been refuted altogether. I have analyzed the new trends carefully and found some new ideas for Black.

47th Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting

The top pairing of the third round was the meeting between Leinier Dominguez and Ian Nepomniachtchi. In 2018, Nepomniachtchi won the tournament in Dortmund and with an Elo rating of 2775 entered the 2019 edition as the top see. Dominguez is the second highest rated at 2760, while Teimour Radjabov is ranked third with 2759 Elo points.

This year Nepomniachtchi, who has had a busy tournament schedule lately, is still looking for his form in Dortmund. In round one he lost to Richard Rapport, and while he won his second round game against qualifier Kaido Kulaots, in round three he lost again to Dominguez.

Round 3 results

 

Standings after Round 3

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Dominguez is considered a quiet, solid player, but as a top grandmaster, of course, he also masters complicated tactical positions well. He showed this against Nepomniachtchi, winning in just 25 moves from a double-edged line of the Caro-Kann Defence, thanks to a nice tactical trick.

 
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1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 e6 5.Bd3 Bxc5 6.Qg4 Ne7 7.b4 h5!? An interesting novelty that leads to a sharp, doubel-edged position. 8.Qf4 Bb6 9.Nf3 Nbc6 10.Nbd2 a5 11.b5 Nb4 12.Ba3 Nxd3+ 13.cxd3 Bd7 14.Qa4 Nf5 15.Rc1 g5!? 16.h3 Rc8 17.Rxc8 Qxc8 18.Ke2 Qb8?! The wrong side. The engines recommend 18...Qd8 and evaluate the position arising after 19.Nb3 Rg8 as approximately equal. After the text-move Black quickly gets into trouble. 19.Nb3 Qa7 20.Rc1 g4 Black pursues his plan but overlooked a surprising tactical shot by White. 21.hxg4 hxg4 22.Qxg4 Bxf2 23.Nc5 Bg3 After 23...Bxc5 24.Bxc5 b6 White also wins with 25.Rh1‼ 24.Rh1‼ Nice and unexpected. White moves his rook to h1 where it is not protected - and is winning. Rf8 After 24...Rxh1 25.Qg8+ Ke7 26.Nxb7+ Nd6 27.Bxd6# Black's mated. 25.Rh5 Black loses material and resigned. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Dominguez Perez,L2760Nepomniachtchi,I27751–02019B1247th GM 20193.3

Defending champion Ian Nepomniachtchi | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

D. Fridman 0-1 L.-D. Nisipeanu

In the duel of the two German participants, Daniel Fridman was too ambitious. In a balanced position, he weakened his centre with a risky pawn thrust 27.e5? and quickly became worse.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nf3 g6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.Nc3 Nbd7 7.0-0 e5 8.e4 exd4 9.Nxd4 Re8 10.Re1 Nc5 11.Nb3 Ne6 12.Be3 a5 13.h3 Bd7 14.a4 Bc6 15.Nd4 Nxd4 16.Bxd4 Nd7 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 18.Nb5 Bxb5 19.axb5 Nc5 20.Qd4+ Kg8 21.Re3 Qe7 22.f4 a4 23.Rae1 Rad8 24.Qc3 Qf8 25.Kh2 Re6 26.Qa5 Qe7 27.e5? Too ambitious - and in the further course of the game this pawn advance backfires. After a less committal continuation, such as e.g. 27.Qc3 the position remains equal and White has nothing to fear. 27...dxe5 28.Rxe5 b6 29.Qc3 Rd3 30.Qc2 Rxe5 31.Rxe5 Qd6 32.Bd5 Rb3 33.Kh1 White gives material which leads to a quick loss. More tenacious was e.g. 33.Re2 but after h5 Black is still clearly better. 33...Rxg3 34.Qf2 Rxh3+ 35.Kg2 Qd7 36.Rg5 Rd3 37.f5 Rxd5 38.cxd5 Ne4 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Fridman,D2638Nisipeanu,L26720–12019E6847th GM 20193.2

K. Kulaots ½-½ R. Wojtaszek

Radoslaw Wojtaszek is considered an excellent theoretician and also against Kulaots, who started with two defeats in the tournament, he emerged from the opening with a small advantage with the black pieces. In the end, however it was only enough for a draw.

 
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1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 e6 11.Bd2 Ngf6 12.0-0-0 Be7 13.Kb1 Qb6 14.Rhe1 0-0 15.Nf5 Bb4 16.Bxb4 Qxb4 17.c3 Qa5 18.Ng3 The whole line has been tried before. Black has no problems at all and is even slightly better. However, in the further course of the game Wojtaszek could not get anything concrete and the game finally ended in a draw. Rad8 19.Qc2 c5 20.dxc5 Qxc5 21.Rd4 Nb6 22.Qd3 Rxd4 23.Qxd4 Qxd4 24.Nxd4 Nbd5 25.Nb5 a6 26.Nd6 b5 27.Nde4 Rd8 28.Kc2 Ng4 29.Ne2 Rc8 30.a3 f5 31.Nd6 Rc6 32.Nb7 Rc7 33.Nd8 e5 34.Ng3 f4 35.Nf5 Rc8 36.Ne6 Rc6 37.Nexg7 Kf7 38.Rd1 Ngf6 39.Re1 Ng4 40.Rd1 Ngf6 41.Re1 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Kulaots,K2560Wojtaszek,R2737½–½2019B1947th GM 20193.1

Well prepared: Radoslaw Wojtaszek | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

T. Radjabov ½-½ R. Rapport

An unspectacular draw and a repitition after 28 moves — that's the gist of the game between Teimour Radjabov and Richard Rapport.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.Nc3 Ne4 7.Qc2 Nxc3 8.Qxc3 0-0 9.0-0 c5 10.Rd1 Bf6 11.Qb3 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Bxg2 13.Kxg2 Qe7 14.Nf3 d6 15.Bf4 e5 16.Be3 Nc6 17.Qa3 Rfd8 18.Nd2 e4 19.Rac1 Rac8 20.Nb3 Qe6 21.Nd4 Bxd4 22.Bxd4 Ne7 23.Qxa7 Ra8 24.Qxb6 Rdb8 25.Qc7 Rc8 26.Qb6 Rcb8 27.Qc7 Rc8 28.Qb6 ½–½
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Radjabov,T2759Rapport,R2735½–½2019E1947th GM 20193.4

Live games of Round 4

 
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All games

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Qf3 B46: Sicilian: Taimanov: 5 Nc3 a6 7.Bd3 Qc7 8.0-0 h5 9.h3 b5 10.Qd2 Bb7 11.Rae1 Ne5 12.f4 Nc4 13.Bxc4 Qxc4 14.e5 Ne4 15.Nxe4 Bxe4 16.b3 Qd5 17.Rd1 Rc8 0-1 (44) Vachier Lagrave,M (2778)-Kamsky,G (2666) Germany 2019 7...Bb4 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.Bd3 White has an edge. e5 10.Qg3 d6N Predecessor: 10...0-0 11.0-0 Qe7 12.Bg5 Qe6 13.Bc4 Qd6 14.Rfd1 Nh5 15.Rxd6 Nxg3 1-0 (32) Lugovskoy,M (2470)-Belous,V (2566) St Petersburg 2015 11.0-0 Nh5 12.Qf3 Nf6 13.Qg3 Nh5 14.Qf3 Nf6 15.Na4 Ba5 16.h3 0-0 17.Rad1 h6 18.Qg3 Nh5 19.Qf3 Nf6 20.Bc4 Bc7 21.Bc5 Re8 22.Rfe1 Rb8 23.Qa3 d5
23...Be6= 24.Bxa6 d5 24.exd5!± cxd5
25.Bxd5!       Nxd5 26.c4 Ba5 27.Rxd5 Qh4 28.Nc3 Played: Bc5-e7 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Dominguez Perez,L2760Nisipeanu,L26721–02019B4647. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20191
Radjabov,T2759Wojtaszek,R2737½–½2019C9247. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20191
Rapport,R2735Nepomniachtchi,I27751–02019A0447. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20191
Fridman,D2638Kulaots,K25601–02019B2247. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20191
Nisipeanu,L2672Radjabov,T27590–12019C6547. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20192.1
Nepomniachtchi,I2775Kulaots,K25601–02019B9047. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20192.2
Wojtaszek,R2737Fridman,D26381–02019D4547. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20192.3
Rapport,R2735Dominguez Perez,L2760½–½2019A0647. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20192.4
Kulaots,K2560Wojtaszek,R2737½–½2019B1947. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20193.1
Fridman,D2638Nisipeanu,L26720–12019E6847. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20193.2
Dominguez Perez,L2760Nepomniachtchi,I27751–02019B1247. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20193.3
Radjabov,T2759Rapport,R2735½–½2019E1947. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20193.4
Rapport,R2735Fridman,D2638½–½2019C4947. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20194.1
Nisipeanu,L2672Kulaots,K2560½–½2019A1647. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20194.2
Dominguez Perez,L2760Radjabov,T2759½–½2019C6647. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20194.3
Nepomniachtchi,I2775Wojtaszek,R2737½–½2019B8147. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20194.4
Wojtaszek,R2737Nisipeanu,L2672½–½2019D3247. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20195.1
Kulaots,K2560Rapport,R2735½–½2019C6747. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20195.2
Radjabov,T2759Nepomniachtchi,I2775½–½2019B9747. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20195.3
Fridman,D2638Dominguez Perez,L2760½–½2019E0647. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20195.4
Radjabov,T2759Fridman,D2638½–½2019D4447. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20196.1
Nepomniachtchi,I2775Nisipeanu,L26721–02019C4247. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20196.2
Dominguez Perez,L2760Kulaots,K2560½–½2019B9047. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20196.3
Rapport,R2735Wojtaszek,R2737½–½2019A2047. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20196.4
Nisipeanu,L2672Rapport,R2735½–½2019C8447. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20197.1
Kulaots,K2560Radjabov,T2759½–½2019C1847. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20197.2
Fridman,D2638Nepomniachtchi,I27750–12019D8247. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20197.3
Wojtaszek,R2737Dominguez Perez,L2760½–½2019D3547. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20197.4

Translation from German: Macauley Peterson

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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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