Dortmund 04: Kramnik, Caruana win

by Alejandro Ramirez
7/1/2015 – Two decisive results today in Dortmund, though in two very different ways. Caruana played a great positional game against Naiditsch, putting pressure all over the board and eventually crashing through the German's defenses with his passed pawns. Meier had another great position, this time against Kramnik, but again he erred and the Russian took the full point. Kramnik now ties for the lead.

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The 2015 Sparkassen Chess Meeting is taking place in Dortmund from the 27th of June to the 5th of July, 2015.

Round Four

Round 04 – July 01 2015, 15:00h
Caruana, Fabiano 2805
1-0
 Naiditsch, Arkadij 2722
Hou, Yifan 2676
½-½
 So, Wesley 2778
Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2720
½-½
 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 2654
Meier, Georg 2654
0-1
 Kramnik, Vladimir 2783

Caruana, Fabiano 1-0 Naiditsch, Arkadij
Caruana played an excellent game today, giving a masterful lesson to Naiditsch in the Catalan style positions:

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 dxc4 5.Nf3 c5 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Qa4 Bd7 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc3 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 Rc8 12.Bf4 Bc5 13.Qd3 Qb6 14.Nd2 0-0 15.Ne4 Nd5 15...Nxe4 16.Bxe4 double attacks h7 and d7. 16.Ng5!? 16.Nxc5 Qxc5 17.Be5 seemed more natural, simply obtaining the pair of bishops. Caruana is more ambitious. 16...g6 17.Be5!? Be7 17...f6 18.Bxd5 fxg5! 18...exd5 19.Qxd5+ Kh8 20.Qxd7+- 19.Bf3 looks visually ugly for Black, but he does get the open f-file and some pressure on f2. Perhaps this was Naiditsch's best move. 18.Nf3 Bc6 19.Qd2 White retains some pressure thanks to the darksquare weaknesses on the kingside. If f6 is played, the kingside is weakened in the longterm. f6 20.Bd4 Qb7 21.Rac1 Rfd8 22.Bh3 Bd7 23.Rxc8 Bxc8 24.Rc1 Bd7 25.Bc5! Nice timing for this. White retains most of his attacking material while getting rid of the important e7 defender. Bxc5 26.Rxc5 Rc8 27.b4! Rxc5 28.bxc5 Qc7 29.e4 Ne7 30.Qd4 Superb. White's domination came almost out of nowhere. The passed pawn is now strong, while the pressure on f6 is annoying. White's pieces are placed in great positions. Kg7 31.e5! f5 32.Bg2 h6 33.Qd6± The two passed pawns are too strong now, and Black has no choice but give them to Caruana. Qxd6 34.exd6 Nc6 35.Ne1 35.Nd2 was also good. 35...a5?! 35...Kf6 resists longer, but still looks too strong for White. 36.Nd3 b4 37.h4 Nd4 38.Kh2 Bb5 39.Ne5 Kf6 40.c6 Finally the killing blow. Bxc6 41.Nxc6 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Caruana,F2805Naiditsch,A27221–02015E0443rd GM 20154

Caruana's Catalan was impressive today

Hou Yifan ½-½ So, Wesley
The Chinese player found some pressure in the main line Caro-Kann, but So found a fantastic resource to push back Yifan's initiative:

Yifan put some pressure, but So was too resourceful

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1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 e6 11.Bd2 Ngf6 12.0-0-0 Be7 13.Kb1 Qb6 14.Ne4 Rd8 15.c4 0-0 16.Qe2 c5 17.Bc3 cxd4 18.Bxd4 Qc6 19.Nxf6+ Bxf6 20.g4 Bxd4 21.Nxd4 Qc5 22.Nf3 Nf6 23.Ne5 Rd4 24.Rxd4 Qxd4 25.Rd1 Qf4 26.Re1 Qd4 27.Rd1 Qf4 28.f3 White has a bit of pressure in the position. She has a powerful knight on e5 and control over the d-file, for this reason she declines the draw. It is not so fun to make moves for Black, despite the well placed queen on f4. a6 29.a3 Ra8 A mysterious rook move like no other, but I suppose it is Wesley's way to pass 30.Rd6 Re8 31.Ka2?! It is fair to say that finding a way to continue was already something that was not easy, but this gives So a surprising resource to push back all of White's control. 31.Rb6 White is a bit better, but breaking through is another matter entirely. 31...Nxg4! Nicely calculated. So gets rid of the pressure completely. 32.fxg4 f6 the pin on the f4-d6 diagonal means that White must give her material back. 33.Rd7 fxe5 34.Rxb7 It seems that White is better, but in fact Black's activity is just enough. Qd4?! A slip that went unpunished. 34...Rc8! immediately was much better, avoiding the following complications. 35.g5?! 35.Qc2! Qxg4 35...Rc8 36.g5 hxg5 37.h6 Qxc4+ 38.Qxc4 Rxc4 39.Rxg7+ Kh8 40.Rxg5 looks like a difficult endgame for Black. 35...e4! Is best, but not easy to find. 36.Qa4! Rc8 37.Qxa6 Qxc4+ 38.Qxc4 Rxc4 39.Re7 Rc6 the endgame is unclear to me, but White is the one pressing for a win. 36.Qa4 35...hxg5! This is forced, and safe. 36.h6 gxh6 37.Qh5 37.Qc2 e4 is insufficient. 37...Qxc4+ Now the game finishes in a draw. Black is getting mated, but he has a perpetual. 38.Ka1 38.Kb1?? Qe4+ 39.Ka2 Rf8 allows Black to cover everything. 39...Qxb7!-+ is also good. 38...Qc1+ 39.Ka2 Qc4+ 40.Ka1 Qc1+ ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Hou Yifan2676So,W2778½–½2015B1943rd GM 20154

Nepomniachtchi, Ian ½-½ Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter
An interesting game, with another fighting Caro-Kann structure. Black saw himself having some problems as he lacked space, but he was able to break both on a5 and f6. The position was messy, tactics were abundant, but with strong play Nepomniachtchi put pressure and won a pawn. Nisipeanu was clever in which pieces to trade, and he managed to get a 3v2 rook endgame on the kingside. Despite the Russian's best effort, Nisipeanu held without problems in a long draw.

3v2 rook endgame is not a win, but you can definitely make your opponent suffer!

Meier, Georg 0-1 Kramnik, Vladimir
This really has to feel like Deja Vu for Meier. Very similar to his game against Caruana, he obtained a strong advantage today with white against Kramnik. It wasn't as decisive as his game against the American, but still the advantage was sizeable. He allowed complications he shouldn't have gotten into, and Kramnik regained about equality. Applying pressure up the exchange, which was compensated by two pawns, Big Vlad tried to find an opening. Meier eventually collapsed, blundered and Kramnik scooped up the win.

Meier's positions have been good enough for 2 or 3 points

Standings

Pictures: Dagobert Kohlmeyer

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Schedule

Round 01 – June 27 2015, 15:00h
Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2720
½-½
 Caruana, Fabiano 2805
Meier, Georg 2654
½-½
 Hou, Yifan 2676
Kramnik, Vladimir 2783
0-1
 Naiditsch, Arkadij 2722
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 2654
1-0
 So, Wesley 2778
Round 02 – June 28 2015, 15:00h
Caruana, Fabiano 2805
0-1
 So, Wesley 2778
Naiditsch, Arkadij 2722
0-1
 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 2654
Hou, Yifan 2676
0-1
 Kramnik, Vladimir 2783
Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2720
½-½
 Meier, Georg 2654
Round 03 – June 30 2015, 15:00h
Meier, Georg 2654
0-1
 Caruana, Fabiano 2805
Kramnik, Vladimir 2783
1-0
 Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2720
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 2654
½-½
 Hou, Yifan 2676
So, Wesley 2778
0-1
 Naiditsch, Arkadij 2722
Round 04 – July 01 2015, 15:00h
Caruana, Fabiano 2805
1-0
 Naiditsch, Arkadij 2722
Hou, Yifan 2676
½-½
 So, Wesley 2778
Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2720
½-½
 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 2654
Meier, Georg 2654
0-1
 Kramnik, Vladimir 2783
Round 05 – July 03 2015, 15:00h
Kramnik, Vladimir 2783 - Caruana, Fabiano 2805
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 2654 - Meier, Georg 2654
So, Wesley 2778 - Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2720
Naiditsch, Arkadij 2722 - Hou, Yifan 2676
Round 06 – July 04 2015, 15:00h
Caruana, Fabiano 2805 - Hou, Yifan 2676
Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2720 - Naiditsch, Arkadij 2722
Meier, Georg 2654 - So, Wesley 2778
Kramnik, Vladimir 2783 - Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 2654
Round 07 – July 05 2015, 15:00h
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 2654 - Caruana, Fabiano 2805
So, Wesley 2778 - Kramnik, Vladimir 2783
Naiditsch, Arkadij 2722 - Meier, Georg 2654
Hou, Yifan 2676 - Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2720

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Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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