Bundesliga: Favorites lead

by Johannes Fischer
2/8/2016 – Germany's first league, the "Bundesliga", is a strong event and a long event. From September to April sixteen teams play a round-robin for the title. This season the 16 teams nominated 150 grandmasters, of which 18 have a rating of 2700 or more. Almost halfway through the season top favorite Baden Baden and co-favorite Solingen lead the table.

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Mode

16 teams meet from September to April on seven weekends to play a 15-round all-play-all tournament. Each match is played on eight boards but each team can nominate 16 players - from any federation. Theoretically, the world's eight or ten or sixteen best players or the best players from China, Russia, France or any other country in the world could start for a German team.

At the end of the season the team with the most team-points is new German Team Champion, the four teams with the least number of points are relegated to the 2. Bundesliga. If two or more teams share the lead on team-points after the end of the regular season, tie-breaks are played. However, if team-points are equal at the lower end of the table, board points decide about relegation.

Rounds five and six

On the weekend from 5th to 6th February rounds five and six were played (though some teams played the seventh round in advance) and the favorites had more problems than expected. On Saturday Baden Baden only narrowly won 4.5-3.5 against SF Berlin, a team that fights against relegation, and on Sunday Baden Baden had to fight again to win 4.5-3.5 win against Hamburg.

In the last ten years the OSG Baden Baden has always won the Bundesliga
and of course they want to win again: Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Etienne Bacrot,
Peter Heine Nielsen, Sergei Movsesian, Francisco Vallejo Pons,
Philip Schlosser, Georg Meier, Arkadij Naiditsch, Captain Sven Noppes.

Danish Grandmaster Peter Heine Nielsen, coach and second of Magnus Carlsen,
plays for Baden Baden. This weekend he had to content himself with two draws.

Georg Meier (Photo: ChessBase)

Georg Meier, member of the German national team at the Chess Olympiad 2014 in Tromso, proved once again how valuable he is for Baden Baden. He won both of this games on the weekend and against Hamburg he was the only player who won his game.

 

Philip Schlosser, Baden Baden

In round five Solingen scored a clear win against Norderstedt but things were more difficult in round six. However, with a narrow 4.5-3.5 win against Hamburg they kept pace with Baden Baden and even lead the table on board points. In two weeks, on 20th and 21st February, when rounds eight and nine will be played, Solingen and Baden Baden will meet directly - it might be a crucial encounter.

Standings after round seven (four teams have only played six rounds yet)

  Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16   Ms MP BP
1. SG Solingen  +        6   6         7   7 14 41
2. OSG Baden Baden    +    6             6 5   7 14 39
3. SK Schwäbisch Hall    +      7     6 5 5   5 6       7 12 37½
4. SV Hockenheim   2    +      6           7 10 34½
5. SV Werder Bremen      +    5         6 7     7 10 31
6. SV Mülheim Nord     1    +                6 8 25½
7. SK Turm Emsdetten     3    +        4   6 5     7 7 27½
8. Hamburger SK          +    6         7 6 27
9. Erfurter SK 2   2          +  4 4   4       7 5 24
10. SC Hansa Dortmund     3 2       4  +          3   6 5 24
11. SG Trier 2   3     4 4    +          7   7 4 27
12. FC Bayern München   2         2        +  2 4 5 4   7 4 20½
13. Schachfreunde Berlin   3   2   2   4     6  +          6 3 20½
14. USV Dresden   2           4    +        6 3 20
15. SV Griesheim   3   1 3     5   3      +      7 2 20
16. SK Norderstedt 1 ½           1 4        +    7 1 13

Games

 

 

Official website of the Bundesliga

Photos: Theo Heinze


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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