Five leaders after first German League weekend

by Klaus Besenthal
11/29/2019 – Last weekend the new season of the German League began with team matches in Bremen, Deizisau, Augsburg and Speyer-Schwegenheim. In the top match, Bremen Werder met Solingen. Perennial favourites OSG Baden-Baden played their season openers against Berlin and Dresden, winning both matches easily. Results, games and video. | Photo: Grenke Chess YouTube

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German league 2019/20 season

The chess Bundesliga, one of the jewels in German chess, began its  season last weekend with matches in four cities. The German Women's League kicked off already in mid-September.

Bundesliga logoShortly before the start of last season, the DJK Aufwärts Aachen withdrew from the league, leaving the 2018/19 season with only 15 teams. OSG Baden Baden won their 13th title ahead of Hockenheim and Solingen. Dusseldorf, Hofheim and Zugzwang Munich were relegated.

This year four teams have moved up from the second league: Aachen SV, Bayern München, SV Lingen and Speyer-Schwegenheim. And since no clubs have withdrawn at short notice, so the season will be played again with a full complement of 16 teams.

The newcomers from Aachen enter with a pure amateur team and the weakest average rating by some margin. 

The Bavarians from Munich are of course "old acquaintances". The past multiple-German Champion team has, in recent years always struggled against relegation, narrowly avoiding that fate thanks to another team's bowing out after the season. This tine around Bayern have significantly strengthened their squad. The ambitious Niclas Huschenbeth has moved from the Elbe to the Isar (rivers of Hamburg and Munich for those not familiar with German geography) and man's board one. Huschenbeth is always good for a surprise and can also be dangerous for the any top player. With Sebastian Bogner and Miguel Santoz, there are two more new players with strong prospects. 

An interesting newcomer to the league is SV Lingen. With Maxim Matlakov (2715), the team has a very strong first board and is also more than well staffed on the remaining boards. They should have to trouble staying in the premier league. 

Speyer-Schwegenheim was safely amonst the field of the first league in the prior season, but will probably have to fight against relegation this year.

Schachbundesliga in Deizisau 2019 Impressions Day 1 | Grenke Chess

The front runner's for the title is of course OSG Baden-Baden. With an average rating of 2752 on the first eight boards, the champions still have a clear edge over the competition. However, Hockenheim is also above the 2700 mark at 2715. Hockenheim has strengthened its team with the addition of Ian Nepomniachtchi and Vidit Gujrathi. Solingen and Viernheim also present serious hurdles for the two top teams. 

The 2019/20 season is scheduled to culminate once again with the magnificent central final round, brining all teams together in Berlin next Spring. For now, we'll focus on the results of Round 2.

Standings after Round 2

  Team Sp MP BP BW
1. OSG Baden-Baden 2 4 11½ 50
2. Schachfreunde Deizisau 2 4 11 44
3. Hamburger SK 2 4 10½ 50½
4. SV Hockenheim 2 4 10½ 41
5. SV Werder Bremen 2 4   9½ 43½
6. SG Turm Kiel 2 3   9 36½
7. SV Lingen 2 3   8½ 36
8. SG Speyer-Schwegenheim 2 2   9½ 45
9. SC Viernheim 2 2   8 39
10. BCA Augsburg 2 1   7 33
11. SV Mülheim Nord 2 1   7 32
12. SG Solingen 2 0   7 32½
13. FC Bayern München 2 0   5½ 24
14. SF Berlin 2 0   5 24
15. USV TU Dresden 2 0   4½ 26
16. Aachener SV 2 0   4 19

Speyer

Viernheim against Hockenheim battled at almost an even level, judging by ratings. Ultimately, the matter was decided on board 8, the only GM vs IM clash with a 200+ Elo edge to Hockenheim. There David Baramidze had to work hard before he could finally convert a passed pawn in the rook endgame.

SC Viernheim 3½ − 4½ SV Hockenheim
3 GM 2683 Yuriy Kryvoruchko ½ : ½ Nikita Vitiugov 2751 GM 3
4 GM 2670 Anton Korobov ½ : ½ Vladimier Fedoseev 2672 GM 7
6 GM 2685 Dr. Bassem Amin ½ : ½ David W L Howell 2701 GM 8
8 GM 2621 Sergey A. Fedorchuk 1 : 0 Ernesto Inarkiev 2665 GM 9
9 GM 2541 Sebastien Maze ½ : ½ Ruslan Ponomariov 2648 GM 10
12 GM 2564 Konstantin Tarlev ½ : ½ Ivan Saric 2650 GM 11
13 GM 2503 Ilja Zaragatski 0 : 1 Dennis Wagner 2573 GM 13
15 IM 2372 Maximilian Meinhardt 0 : 1 David Baramidze 2593 GM 15

The other clash in Speyer was the duel of two up-and-comers, but the advantage was with the home team and Speyer scored a safe victory. Top board for Speyer, IM Christian Seel has begun analysing his games on his YouTube Channel, both this loss to Abasov and his draw against Nikita Vitiugov in the first round.

Aachener SV 2 − 6 SG Speyer-Schwegenheim
1 IM 2485 Dr. Christian Seel 0 : 1 Nijat Abasov 2655 GM 2
2 IM 2474 Thomas Koch ½ : ½ Antonios Pavlidis 2556 GM 5
4 IM 2354 Tom Piceu 0 : 1 Adam Horvath 2487 GM 6
5 FM 2333 Felix Klein 0 : 1 Miklos Nemeth 2487 IM 8
6 IM 2346 Oscar Lemmers ½ : ½ Dr. Luca Shytaj 2483 GM 9
8 FM 2234 Rudolf Meessen 0 : 1 Gabor Kovacs 2457 IM 10
9 IM 2293 Norbert Coenen ½ : ½ Oleg Boguslawski 2391 IM 11
10 FM 2279 Nikolaos Begnis ½ : ½ Tomislav Bodrozic 2363 IM 12

Bremen

A mild upset of the opening weekend was of Solingen. In both of the first two rounds it was GM Vladimir Epishin, who played the longest game for the team of SV Lingen — and won both!

SG Solingen 3½ − 4½ SV Lingen
6 GM 2629 Aryan Tari ½ : ½ Viktor Laznicka 2667 GM 3
7 GM 2632 Jorden van Foreest 1 : 0 Andrej Volokitin 2633 GM 4
8 GM 2601 Mads Andersen 0 : 1 Falko Bindrich 2602 GM 5
9 GM 2610 Loek Van Wely ½ : ½ Ivan Ivanisevic 2598 GM 6
10 GM 2621 Borki Predojevic ½ : ½ Milos Perunovic 2578 GM 7
11 GM 2596 Jan Smeets 0 : 1 Vladimir Epishin 2551 GM 8
13 GM 2543 Alexander Naumann ½ : ½ Felix Levin 2467 GM 13
14 GM 2529 Dr. Florian Handke ½ : ½ Danilo Milanovic 2455 GM 14
 

The SV Werder assembled a strong team for the first home weekend of the new season and managed to reap the benefits in the form of two victories.

SV Mülheim Nord 3 − 5 SV Werder Bremen
1 GM 2703 David Navara ½ : ½ Laurent Fressinet 2633 GM 1
2 GM 2548 Thai Dai Van Nguyen ½ : ½ Luke J McShane 2675 GM 2
4 GM 2627 Daniel Fridman 0 : 1 Tamir Nabaty 2639 GM 3
5 GM 2588 Pavel V. Tregubov ½ : ½ Zahar Efimenko 2601 GM 5
8 GM 2471 Michael Feygin 0 : 1 Romain Edouard 2635 GM 6
9 IM 2469 Valentin Buckels ½ : ½ Zbynek Hracek 2559 GM 9
12 GM 2480 Daniel Hausrath ½ : ½ Vlastimil Babula 2572 GM 11
13 IM 2445 Patrick Zelbel ½ : ½ Alexander Markgraf 2483 IM 12

Deizisau

No surprises for OSG Baden-Baden in the chess Bundesliga thus far. Hou Yifan played for the first time since June, and won both her games. In the first round she calculated a nice combination against Jan Michael Sprenger:

 

White's last move was a blunder; can you find the sequence Hou used to refute it?

23...♝xb2+ 24.♔b1 (or 24.♔xb2 ♛f6+ 25.♔c1 ♝xf5) ♝xf5 25.♕xf5 ♝c3 with a winning attack.

Here it is in real-time: 

Hou Yifan Checkmates a Grandmaster | Grenke Chess

In the second round, Baden-Baden dominated the lower boards where the rating differentials were the largest: 

USV TU Dresden 2 − 6 OSG Baden-Baden
3 GM 2623 Grzegorz Gajewski ½ : ½ Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2777 GM 2
4 GM 2636 Mateusz Bartel ½ : ½ Richard Rapport 2752 GM 7
5 IM 2459 Roven Vogel 0 : 1 Michael Adams 2692 GM 8
8 GM 2516 Uwe Bönsch 1 : 0 Arkadij Naiditsch 2630 GM 10
9 GM 2443 Jens-Uwe Maiwald 0 : 1 Yifan Hou 2659 GM 12
11 IM 2392 Paul Hoffmann 0 : 1 Rustam Kasimdzhanov 2660 GM 14
14 FM 2370 Hans Möhn 0 : 1 Sergei Movsesian 2640 GM 15
15 WIM 2225 Filiz Osmanodja 0 : 1 Jan Gustafsson 2645 GM 16

The Deizisau team starts the new season again among the top contenders. They certainly have the potential to be an unpleasant surprise for one or the other championship contenders later in the season. We can already look forward to these upcoming top shelf fights! But Berlin was no match for them.

SF Berlin 2½ − 5½ Schachfreunde Deizisau
3 GM 2664 Alexey Sarana ½ : ½ Peter Leko 2666 GM 1
6 GM 2581 Martin Krämer ½ : ½ Gata Kamsky 2684 GM 2
8 IM 2489 Szymon Gumularz ½ : ½ Andreas Heimann 2617 GM 3
9 GM 2495 Marco Baldauf ½ : ½ Georg Meier 2628 GM 4
10 GM 2492 Dr. Jan Michael Sprenger 0 : 1 Matthias Blübaum 2641 GM 6
11 IM 2453 Peter Schreiner ½ : ½ Alexander Donchenko 2650 GM 7
12 IM 2434 Felix Blohberger 0 : 1 Vincent Keymer 2518 IM 8
14 IM 2449 Thore Perske 0 : 1 Dmitrij Kollars 2580 GM 11

Augsburg

It was a successful start into the new season for Hamburger SK: Even without Niclas Huschenbeth (now on board 1 at Bayern) and Jonathan Carlstedt (recently appointed coach at SV Werder Bremen) the Hanseatic heros scored two wins on the weekend. 

Hamburger SK 5½ − 2½ FC Bayern München
2 GM 2681 Nils Grandelius 1 : 0 Niclas Huschenbeth 2628 GM 1
3 GM 2594 Rasmus Svane 1 : 0 Sebastian Bogner 2572 GM 2
6 GM 2576 Robert Kempinski 0 : 1 Valentin Dragnev 2550 GM 4
8 IM 2519 Luis Engel 1 : 0 Nicolas Georgiadis 2529 GM 5
9 IM 2532 Jonas Lampert ½ : ½ Noel Studer 2541 GM 6
12 GM 2501 Thies Heinemann ½ : ½ Klaus Bischoff 2511 GM 7
14 IM 2452 Dirk Sebastian 1 : 0 Linus Johansson 2475 IM 8
16 FM 2377 Felix Meißner ½ : ½ Philip Lindgren 2353 IM 13

IM Luis Engel's win against Swiss GM Nico Georgiadis was praised by IM Lawrence Trent in The Weekly Show:

Lawrence is live most Tuesdays at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET / 12 Noon EST)

Rasmus Svane won both his games, one of which was analysed by IM Merijn van Delft as the Game of the Week:

Merijn is live on Wednesdays at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET / 4 PM EST)

Svane

Rasmus Svane | Photo: Peter Baudrexel

SG Turm Kiel also started well in their second year in the "big league", beating Munich and battling Augsburg to a 4:4 tie.

SG Turm Kiel 4 − 4 BCA Augsburg
2 GM 2654 Anton Demchenko 0 : 1 Evgeny Postny 2615 GM 2
3 GM 2545 Igor Khenkin ½ : ½ Gabor Papp 2589 GM 3
5 GM 2582 Marcin Dziuba ½ : ½ Nikola Nestorovic 2458 GM 4
6 GM 2550 Jakob Vang Glud ½ : ½ Michael Prusikin 2522 GM 5
9 IM 2529 Jonas Bjerre ½ : ½ Eduardas Rozentalis 2547 GM 6
10 IM 2454 David Gavrilescu ½ : ½ Milos Stankovic 2468 IM 7
12 GM 2501 Zbigniew Pakleza ½ : ½ Frank Zeller 2363 IM 11
17 IM 2448 Ashot Parvanyan 1 : 0 Andreas Rupprecht 2390 IM 13

All games of Rounds 1 and 2

 

Full schedule

Round 1 + 2
Host: SG Speyer-Schwegenheim Date Time
Sa 23.11.19 14:00 SG Speyer-Schwegenheim − SC Viernheim
Sa 23.11.19 14:00 SV Hockenheim − Aachener SV
 
So 24.11.19 10:00 SC Viernheim − SV Hockenheim
So 24.11.19 10:00 Aachener SV − SG Speyer-Schwegenheim
Host: SV Werder Bremen    
Sa 23.11.19 14:00 SV Werder Bremen − SG Solingen
Sa 23.11.19 14:00 SV Lingen − SV Mülheim Nord
 
So 24.11.19 10:00 SG Solingen − SV Lingen
So 24.11.19 10:00 SV Mülheim Nord − SV Werder Bremen
Host: Schachfreunde Deizisau    
Sa 23.11.19 14:00 Schachfreunde Deizisau − USV TU Dresden
Sa 23.11.19 14:00 OSG Baden-Baden − SF Berlin
 
So 24.11.19 10:00 USV TU Dresden − OSG Baden-Baden
So 24.11.19 10:00 SF Berlin − Schachfreunde Deizisau
Host: BCA Augsburg
Sa 23.11.19 14:00 BCA Augsburg − Hamburger SK
Sa 23.11.19 14:00 FC Bayern München − SG Turm Kiel
 
So 24.11.19 10:00 Hamburger SK − FC Bayern München
So 24.11.19 10:00 SG Turm Kiel − BCA Augsburg
Round 3 + 4
Host: Hamburger SK    
Sa 07.12.19 14:00 Hamburger SK − SC Viernheim
Sa 07.12.19 14:00 SG Turm Kiel − Aachener SV
 
So 08.12.19 10:00 SC Viernheim − SG Turm Kiel
So 08.12.19 10:00 Aachener SV − Hamburger SK
Host: USV TU Dresden    
Sa 07.12.19 14:00 USV TU Dresden − BCA Augsburg
Sa 07.12.19 14:00 SF Berlin − FC Bayern München
 
So 08.12.19 10:00 BCA Augsburg − SF Berlin
So 08.12.19 10:00 FC Bayern München − USV TU Dresden
Host: OSG Baden-Baden    
Sa 07.12.19 14:00 OSG Baden-Baden − SG Solingen
Sa 07.12.19 14:00 Schachfreunde Deizisau − SV Mülheim Nord
 
So 08.12.19 10:00 SG Solingen − Schachfreunde Deizisau
So 08.12.19 10:00 SV Mülheim Nord − OSG Baden-Baden
Host: SV Lingen
Sa 07.12.19 14:00 SV Lingen − SV Hockenheim
Sa 07.12.19 14:00 SV Werder Bremen − SG Speyer-Schwegenheim
 
So 08.12.19 10:00 SV Hockenheim − SV Werder Bremen
So 08.12.19 10:00 SG Speyer-Schwegenheim − SV Lingen
Round 5 + 6
Host: FC Bayern München    
Sa 08.02.20 14:00 FC Bayern München − SC Viernheim
Sa 08.02.20 14:00 BCA Augsburg − Aachener SV
 
So 09.02.20 10:00 SC Viernheim − BCA Augsburg
So 09.02.20 10:00 Aachener SV − FC Bayern München
Host: SG Turm Kiel    
Sa 08.02.20 14:00 SG Turm Kiel − OSG Baden-Baden
Sa 08.02.20 14:00 Hamburger SK − Schachfreunde Deizisau
 
So 09.02.20 10:00 OSG Baden-Baden − Hamburger SK
So 09.02.20 10:00 Schachfreunde Deizisau − SG Turm Kiel
Host: SV Werder Bremen    
Sa 08.02.20 14:00 SV Werder Bremen − USV TU Dresden
Sa 08.02.20 14:00 SV Lingen − SF Berlin
 
So 09.02.20 10:00 USV TU Dresden − SV Lingen
So 09.02.20 10:00 SF Berlin − SV Werder Bremen
Host: SG Speyer-Schwegenheim    
Sa 08.02.20 14:00 SG Speyer-Schwegenheim − SG Solingen
Sa 08.02.20 14:00 SV Hockenheim − SV Mülheim Nord
 
So 09.02.20 10:00 SG Solingen − SV Hockenheim
So 09.02.20 10:00 SV Mülheim Nord − SG Speyer-Schwegenheim
Round 7 + 8
Host: Aachener SV    
Sa 22.02.20 14:00 Aachener SV − USV TU Dresden
Sa 22.02.20 14:00 SC Viernheim − SF Berlin
 
So 23.02.20 10:00 USV TU Dresden − SC Viernheim
So 23.02.20 10:00 SF Berlin − Aachener SV
Host: SV Mülheim Nord    
Sa 22.02.20 14:00 SV Mülheim Nord − Hamburger SK
Sa 22.02.20 14:00 SG Solingen − SG Turm Kiel
 
So 23.02.20 10:00 Hamburger SK − SG Solingen
So 23.02.20 10:00 SG Turm Kiel − SV Mülheim Nord
Host: SV Hockenheim    
Sa 22.02.20 14:00 SV Hockenheim − BCA Augsburg
Sa 22.02.20 14:00 SG Speyer-Schwegenheim − FC Bayern München
 
So 23.02.20 10:00 BCA Augsburg − SG Speyer-Schwegenheim
So 23.02.20 10:00 FC Bayern München − SV Hockenheim
Host: SV Lingen    
Sa 22.02.20 14:00 SV Lingen − OSG Baden-Baden
Sa 22.02.20 14:00 SV Werder Bremen − Schachfreunde Deizisau
 
So 23.02.20 10:00 OSG Baden-Baden − SV Werder Bremen
So 23.02.20 10:00 Schachfreunde Deizisau − SV Lingen
Round 9 + 10
Host: SC Viernheim    
Sa 14.03.20 14:00 SC Viernheim − OSG Baden-Baden
Sa 14.03.20 14:00 Aachener SV − Schachfreunde Deizisau
 
So 15.03.20 10:00 OSG Baden-Baden − Aachener SV
So 15.03.20 10:00 Schachfreunde Deizisau − SC Viernheim
Host: FC Bayern München    
Sa 14.03.20 14:00 FC Bayern München − SV Werder Bremen
Sa 14.03.20 14:00 BCA Augsburg − SV Lingen
 
So 15.03.20 10:00 SV Werder Bremen − BCA Augsburg
So 15.03.20 10:00 SV Lingen − FC Bayern München
Host: Hamburger SK    
Sa 14.03.20 14:00 Hamburger SK − SV Hockenheim
Sa 14.03.20 14:00 SG Turm Kiel − SG Speyer-Schwegenheim
 
So 15.03.20 10:00 SV Hockenheim − SG Turm Kiel
So 15.03.20 10:00 SG Speyer-Schwegenheim − Hamburger SK
Host: SG Solingen    
Sa 14.03.20 14:00 SG Solingen − USV TU Dresden
Sa 14.03.20 14:00 SV Mülheim Nord − SF Berlin
 
So 15.03.20 10:00 USV TU Dresden − SV Mülheim Nord
So 15.03.20 10:00 SF Berlin − SG Solingen
Round 11 + 12
Host: Aachener SV    
Sa 04.04.20 14:00 Aachener SV − SG Solingen
Sa 04.04.20 14:00 SC Viernheim − SV Mülheim Nord
 
So 05.04.20 10:00 SG Solingen − SC Viernheim
So 05.04.20 10:00 SV Mülheim Nord − Aachener SV
Host: USV TU Dresden    
Sa 04.04.20 14:00 USV TU Dresden − SV Hockenheim
Sa 04.04.20 14:00 SF Berlin − SG Speyer-Schwegenheim
 
So 05.04.20 10:00 SV Hockenheim − SF Berlin
So 05.04.20 10:00 SG Speyer-Schwegenheim − USV TU Dresden
Host: SG Turm Kiel
Sa 04.04.20 14:00 SG Turm Kiel − SV Werder Bremen
Sa 04.04.20 14:00 Hamburger SK − SV Lingen
 
So 05.04.20 10:00 SV Werder Bremen − Hamburger SK
So 05.04.20 10:00 SV Lingen − SG Turm Kiel
Host: OSG Baden-Baden
Sa 04.04.20 14:00 OSG Baden-Baden − BCA Augsburg
Sa 04.04.20 14:00 Schachfreunde Deizisau − FC Bayern München
 
So 05.04.20 10:00 BCA Augsburg − Schachfreunde Deizisau
So 05.04.20 10:00 FC Bayern München − OSG Baden-Baden
Round 13 + 14 + 15
Host: SF Berlin
Do 30.04.20 16:00 SC Viernheim − Aachener SV
Do 30.04.20 16:00 SV Werder Bremen − SV Lingen
 
Fr 01.05.20 14:00 SC Viernheim − SV Werder Bremen
Fr 01.05.20 14:00 Aachener SV − SV Lingen
 
Sa 02.05.20 10:00 SV Werder Bremen − Aachener SV
Sa 02.05.20 10:00 SV Lingen − SC Viernheim
 
Host: SF Berlin
Do 30.04.20 16:00 OSG Baden-Baden − Schachfreunde Deizisau
Do 30.04.20 16:00 SG Speyer-Schwegenheim − SV Hockenheim
 
Fr 01.05.20 14:00 OSG Baden-Baden − SV Hockenheim
Fr 01.05.20 14:00 Schachfreunde Deizisau − SG Speyer-Schwegenheim
 
Sa 02.05.20 10:00 SV Hockenheim − Schachfreunde Deizisau
Sa 02.05.20 10:00 SG Speyer-Schwegenheim − OSG Baden-Baden
 
Host: SF Berlin
Do 30.04.20 16:00 BCA Augsburg − FC Bayern München
Do 30.04.20 16:00 SV Mülheim Nord − SG Solingen
 
Fr 01.05.20 14:00 BCA Augsburg − SG Solingen
Fr 01.05.20 14:00 FC Bayern München − SV Mülheim Nord
 
Sa 02.05.20 10:00 SG Solingen − FC Bayern München
Sa 02.05.20 10:00 SV Mülheim Nord − BCA Augsburg
 
Host: SF Berlin
Do 30.04.20 16:00 SG Turm Kiel − Hamburger SK
Do 30.04.20 16:00 USV TU Dresden − SF Berlin
 
Fr 01.05.20 14:00 Hamburger SK − USV TU Dresden
Fr 01.05.20 14:00 SG Turm Kiel − SF Berlin
 
Sa 02.05.20 10:00 USV TU Dresden − SG Turm Kiel
Sa 02.05.20 10:00 SF Berlin − Hamburger SK

Translation from German and additional reporting: Macauley Peterson

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Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.

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