Category 19 Super-GM starts in Baden-Baden with Caruana victory

by ChessBase
2/7/2013 – This tournament, with six players and an average rating of 2714, started in the famous German spa city, where in 1870 the world's first really strong chess tournament was held – and where counting draws for the final results made its debut in tournament play (read our report). The current event started with Fabiano Caruana drawing first blood with a win over German GM Georg Meier. Round one report.

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Baden-Baden GRENKE Chess Classic

Category 19 GM tournament: February 7th–17th 2013

For the first time ever the Baden-Baden Chess Centre (Schachzentrum Baden-Baden) is hosting a Category 19 GM tournament. This event continues the tradition of great chess tournaments that the well-known southern German spa town has established over the last two centuries. The first great event in this town was played in 1870 (July 18 – August 4). It was a double round robin, with nine players, and won by the great Adolf Anderssen.

As Adolivio Capece pointed out, in this tournament for the first time in history draws were counted and valued at half a point. In previous matches and tournaments they were not considered and drawn games were replayed.

The participants in the 2013 tournament are:

Viswanathan Anand India World Champion 43 years
Fabiano Caruana Italy No. 5 in the world 20 years
Michael Adams England No. 23 in the world 41 years
Arkadij Naiditsch Germany No. 37 in the world 27 years
Daniel Fridman Germany No. 78 in the world 36 years
Georg Meier Germany No. 108 in the world 25 years

The venue is the historical halls of Kulturhaus LA8 (House of Culture) in the center of Baden-Baden. Here's a promotional video of the famous spa city.

Round one

1st round on 07/02/2013 at 15:00
Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
½-½
Fridman Daniel 2667
Adams Michael 2725
½-½
Anand Vishy 2780
Caruana Fabiano 2757
1-0
Meier Georg 2640

There was one decisive result: Fabiano Caruana defeated German GM Georg Maier, while the other two games were drawn, in 48 and 43 moves.


The start of the only decisive game in round one

The hero of the round was the Italian/American prodigy Fabiano Caruana. He started 2013 with a disastrous tournament in Wijk aan Zee, no doubt a shock to the system after a phenomenally successful 2012. In Baden-Baden he bounced straight back, winning a fine game against Georg Meier. Fabiano blitzed out his first 19 moves, featuring two pawn sacs to keep Meier’s king in the centre, while his German opponent was soon struggling over the board.

Chess players have a reputation for iron logic, but in their press conference after a dazzling game both World Champion Viswanathan Anand and England’s no. 1 Michael Adams revealed that logic only takes you so far. When commentator IM Lawrence Trent started by asking the players how they were Adams replied, “Good… confused by the game”. The confusion started on move 16 (see commentary in our JavaScript game replay above)


World Champion Viswanathan Anand drew his first game against Michael Adams


The playing hall in the Kulturhaus LA8 (House of Culture)

To complement the main event, several side tournaments – each limited to 80 players – will take place:

  • Chess Classic Elo Open (9 rounds, 9 days, only for players ELO 1800+) 7th–15th Feb 2013
  • Chess Classic Fasching (6 rounds, 3 days, open to all) 9th–11th Feb 2013
  • Chess Classic Ferien (6 rounds, 3 days, open to all) 14th–16th Feb 2013

Schedule and results

1st round on 07 February 2013 at 15:00
Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
½-½
Fridman Daniel 2667
Adams Michael 2725
½-½
Anand Vishy 2780
Caruana Fabiano 2757
1-0
Meier Georg 2640
2nd round on 08 February 2013 at 15:00
Fridman Daniel 2667   Meier Georg 2640
Anand Vishy 2780   Caruana Fabiano 2757
Naiditsch Arkadij 2716   Adams Michael 2725
3rd round on 09 February 2013 at 15:00
Adams Michael 2725   Fridman Daniel 2667
Caruana Fabiano 2757   Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
Meier Georg 2640   Anand Vishy 2780
4th round on 10 February 2013 at 15:00
Fridman Daniel 2667   Anand Vishy 2780
Naiditsch Arkadij 2716   Meier Georg 2640
Adams Michael 2725   Caruana Fabiano 2757
5th round on 11 February 2013 at 15:00
Caruana Fabiano 2757   Fridman Daniel 2667
Meier Georg 2640   Adams Michael 2725
Anand Vishy 2780   Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
6th round on 13 February 2013 at 15:00
Fridman Daniel 2667   Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
Anand Vishy 2780   Adams Michael 2725
Meier Georg 2640   Caruana Fabiano 2757
7th round on 14 February 2013 at 15:00
Meier Georg 2640   Fridman Daniel 2667
Caruana Fabiano 2757   Anand Vishy 2780
Adams Michael 2725   Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
8th round on 15 February 2013 at 15:00
Fridman Daniel 2667   Adams Michael 2725
Naiditsch Arkadij 2716   Caruana Fabiano 2757
Anand Vishy 2780   Meier Georg 2640
9th round on 16 February 2013 at 15:00
Anand Vishy 2780   Fridman Daniel 2667
Meier Georg 2640   Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
Caruana Fabiano 2757   Adams Michael 2725
10th round on 17 February 2013 at 13:00
Fridman Daniel 2667   Caruana Fabiano 2757
Adams Michael 2725   Meier Georg 2640
Naiditsch Arkadij 2716   Anand Vishy 2780

Links

The games are 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.


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