German league, Round 7: Baden-Baden on top, surprise in Munich

Norderstedt

The city of Norderstedt can be reached from the centre of Hamburg by subway in half an hour. André Schulz had the opportunity to look around.    

Bright, clean, lots of space: SK Norderstedt offers its guests optimum playing conditions

Two Englishmen in Norderstedt: Lawrence Trent (left, IM in the service of SK Norderstedt) managed a draw against Michael Adams

Visiting home: Jan Gustafsson has been playing for Baden-Baden for a long time; but his chess career began in the Hamburger SK

SK Norderstedt — OSG Baden-Baden 1 : 7

World class chess in tranquil Norderstedt: The German league champions OSG Baden-Baden are guests of honour. As is often the case the home team was badly outmatched, but Benedict Krause and Lawrence Trent should still have been very happy about draws against the 250 Elo points favourites Michael Adams and Arkadij Naiditsch. Or maybe not:

That game sums up my career quite nicely

— Lawrence Trent (@LawrenceTrentIM) February 3, 2018

The superstar par excellence this afternoon was certainly Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. See here how the Frenchman did his job on board one:

Ultimately, this fight did not change two already well established facts: Baden-Baden remains first, Norderstedt remains last.

Standings after round seven 

Winning with the Ruy Lopez Vol. 1: Berlin Wall and others

Among the open games the only opening with which White can really fight for an advantage in the long term is the Ruy Lopez. But in order to make this serious effort, he has buckle down and learn a whole series of sub-variations. That is what the professionals do, including of course Viktor Bologan, who now reveals the secrets of his own grandmaster repertoire.

Hamburger SK — SG Speyer-Schwegenheim 3,5 : 4,5

Hamburger SK appeared to have victory against Speyer firmly in hand, as much as that's ever possible. Instead, they ultimately went down in defeat, and the founding member of the Bundesliga edged closer to calamity; closer to team relegation. To make matters worse, tomorrow against Baden-Baden there is little hope for a turnaround.

The following game should not be missed: Jonathan Carlstedt needed exactly sixteen moves to win his gam against Sarah Hoolt. That should be one of the shortest games ever in the long Bundesliga history.

My Black Secrets in the Modern Italian

The Italian Game is considered a sound but quiet opening without early trades, giving rise to rich positions where plans are more important than forced variations. So shows black's plans on this DVD.

At the second table from the foreground of the picture: Jonathan Carlstedt, who was able to shine with a miniature on Saturday

Munich 

FC Bayern Munich - SK Schwaebisch Hall 2 : 6

The chess players of FC Bayern Munich are still on a track to relegation the clear defeat against Schwaebisch Hall. Schwaebisch Hall, on the other hand, holds firm in the top half of the table.

MSA Zugzwang - SF Deizisau 4½ : 3½

The team Munich MSA Zugzwang was the heavy underdog against SF Deizisau, but managed to eke out a win — certainly the surprise of the game day! The conclusions: In "the relegation battle" the people of Munich succeeded in producing an impressive signs of life; The upstart Deizisau, in its first Bundesliga year is strong, but still no championship candidate.

Bremen

SV Werder Bremen — SG Solingen 4 : 4

The top fight between the third and the second teams ended in a draw, further helping OSG Baden-Baden, which has a team point ahead of Solingen after today at the top of the table.

On board three two Bundesliga veterans battled: Loek van Wely from the Netherlands and Laurent Fressinet from France. The point went to the Dutchman:

SV Muelheim Nord — DJK Aufwaerts Aachen 3 : 5

The English Opening Vol. 1

Williams main teaching method behind this set of two DVDs is to teach you some simple yet effective set ups, without the need to rely on memorising numerous complicated variations.

So far, the season has gone well for DJK Aufwaerts ("Upwards") Aachen: Another victory, this time against Muelheim, means they stand in fourth place in the standings! Muelheim, however, is still stuck in a relegation battle.

Dresden

To the east in Dresden, teams from the "no man's land" of the standings were the focus.

USV TU Dresden — SV Hockenheim 4,5 : 3,5

The SV Hockenheim did not field its best squad against Dresden, and promptly went down in a narrow defeat, such that Dresden could catch up in the standings on points. At this point, however, it makes no great difference to either team.

SF Berlin — SV Hofheim 5,5 : 2,5

The "chess friends" of Berlin took on SV Hofheim and scored a clear win, thus enjoying a place in the upper half of the team standings. For Hofheim, however, a downward trejectory remains worrisome.

Games of round seven

Translation from German: Macauley Peterson

Links

• Official Schachbundesliga site