Arkadij Naiditsch wins GRENKE Chess Classic

by Johannes Fischer
9/15/2014 – Arkadij Naiditsch, Germany's number one, is well-known for his aggressive play. In the GRENKE Chess Classic he lived up to his reputation and showed why he is Germany's number one. Despite losing in round two against up-and-coming talent Matthias Blübaum he won the tournament with 5.0/7, leaving David Baramidze and Daniel Fridman one point behind.

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The GRENKE Classic, organized by the OSG Baden Baden, perennial winner of the German Bundesliga, and sponsored by GRENKE Leasing, was a round robin tournament giving eight German players the chance to take part in a top-tournament. With Arkadij Naiditsch, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Daniel Fridman, Georg Meier and David Baramidze the whole German Olympic team played. They wanted to keep the young German talents Matthis Blübaum and Dennis Wagner at bay. They also wanted to qualify for the GRENKE Chess Classic 2015, a strong Grandmaster tournament, in which the top two players in the GRENKE Chess Classic 2014 were promised a spot.

The field was completed by the organizer's wild-card Philipp Schlosser, a strong GM and coach of the German women's team at the Olympiad in Norway.

Tournament favorite was of course Arkadij Naiditsch. However, in round two he suffered a spectacular upset against Matthias Blübaum.

 

 

Matthias Blübaum, one of Germany's most promising talents.

After such a defeat a lot of players would try to recover with a quiet, solid draw. But not Naiditsch. In round three he overran Georg Meier in a bold, brutally brillant attacking game.

 

 

Georg Meier

After this win Naiditsch did not slow down but scored two more wins and two draws. That was enough to win the tournament with 5.0/7, one point ahead of David Baramidze and Daniel Fridman.

A happy Arkadij Naiditsch: He won the tournament and received 7.000 Euros for his efforts.

Second on tie-break was Baramidze. With two wins, four draws and one loss he won one game more than Fridman who did not suffer a single loss but could only win one game. And as the number of won games was the decisive tie-break criteria Baramidze became second and thus qualified for the GRENKE Chess Classic 2015.

David Baramidze

Daniel Fridman

Final Standings

All fotos: Siegried Haußmann, press officer of the OSG Baden Baden

Links

The games were 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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

 

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".