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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.
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.
Defending champion Ian Nepomniachtchi | Photo: Georgios Souleidis
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.
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.
Well prepared: Radoslaw Wojtaszek | Photo: Georgios Souleidis
An unspectacular draw and a repitition after 28 moves — that's the gist of the game between Teimour Radjabov and Richard Rapport.
Translation from German: Macauley Peterson
