Bundesliga: Defending champions Viernheim struggle in Hamburg

Hamburger SK caused the first surprise right at the start of the new Bundesliga season as they beat the defending champions Viernheim at home on Sunday. The champions had to do without a number of their top players, most of whom are playing in the Global Chess League taking place in London. The top six players on the entry list and Chithambaram VR were missing. Aravindh, originally registered on board seven, took the top board.

The Indian grandmaster could do little more than draw against Frederik Svane, much like David Anton against Rasmus Svane and Anton Korobov against Niclas Huschenbeth. Luis Engel and Julian Kramer scored full points against their opponents Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and Konstantin Tarlev, while the team from Viernheim were unable to win on a single board, even though they had the higher rating on all boards (despite the absence of their top players).

Luis Engel

Middlegame Secrets Vol.5 - The Inner Strength of Kings

In this video course, kings will play a role of strong and active pieces. We will explore how Kings can be helpful in defence and prophylaxis, or even in attack!

Julian Kramer

Julian Kramer won a theoretical duel against his nominally stronger opponent and was lucky that his rival did not take advantage of a few inaccuracies by the Hamburg player at the end.

The previous day, Hamburger SK had defeated Heimbach-Weis-Neuwied, so they are now one of the leading teams with four match points. HSK also started last year with a surprising 4-4 against Baden-Baden, but were unable to keep up the pace over the course of the season and were even in serious danger of relegation.

The strongest pair of brothers in German chess: Rasmus and Frederik Svane

This is unlikely to be the case in the new season, as the club is now supported by patron Jan Henrik Büttner and his Freestyle Weissenhaus Operations GmbH. They have been able to keep stars Frederik and Rasmus Svane and have made strong additions with the return of Niclas Huschenbeth and Leonardo Costa.

Niclas Huschenbeth

Tactic Toolbox Najdorf

The aim of this DVD is to demonstrate the typical tactical themes of the Sicilian Najdorf and to improve your understanding of them, as well as to practice them with the interactive examples.

Leonardo Costa

Due to the last-minute withdrawal of Doppelbauer Turm Kiel, Hamburger SK have lost their travelling partners and gained the right to play additional (real) home matches - as only one match is now played at each of Hamburg's guest matches, the HSK can hold the Bundesliga encounters in their beautiful clubhouse.

However, some matches will be played in the auditorium of the Alter Teichweg district school and a few others at neighbouring St. Pauli. In any case, the league table will be skewed until the end of the season, until all teams have completed their by round against Kiel.

Following the reform of the second division, the relegation battle is a little more relaxed than in previous years, as there are now only three relegated teams instead of four. Since Kiel have already been relegated, only two teams will be affected this season.

In addition to Viernheim, the co-favourites from Düsseldorf and Baden-Baden also suffered from the Global Chess League taking place these weeks, as they missed their highest-rated representatives during the first week of the league. Nonetheless, both teams grabbed wins in both their matches to go into round 3 tied for first place.

Standings after round 2

Links

• Chess Bundesliga website
• All the pairings and results at the German Chess Federation