Dortmund 2010: Mamedyarov and Ponomariov score

From Thursday July 15 to Sunday, July 25, 2010 the 38th edition annual Sparkassen Chess-Meeting is taking place in Dortmund, Germany. It is a six-player round robin, in which each player has to play two games against each other, one with white and one with black pieces. Draw offers are not allowed – a game can only be declared a draw, by the arbiter, if there is no possible win for one side, or if a position is repeated three time. The winner of this tournament will be determined after ten rounds. Games start at 15:00h = 3 p.m. local time (CEST, = 17:00 Moscow, 14:00 p.m. London, 9:00 a.m. New York). All games will be broadcast by the official web site's "Live Games" page and on the Playchess.com server, with live audio commentary, in German, by Dennis Breder (July 15-18), Niclas Huschenbeth (19-21), Merijn van Delft (22, 24, 25) and Julian Zimmermann (July 23).

Participants

Before play started, it was hard to know what to expect from this year’s Dortmund, though the line-up is certainly not without interest. At the top of the Elo ladder, we have Kramnik, who is knocking once more on the 2800 door, and the all-time record holder of win in this event. Then there is Mamedyarov, a fascinating player whose games are rarely dull. Leko and Ponomariov tend to be ultra-technical players, though Ponomariov can easily swing into quite crazy positions, if the mood suits him. This is followed by the top German player, Naiditsch, who is also in hot pursuit of magic 2700. Completing the group is the 19-year-old Vietnamese prodigy, Le Quang Liem, who after tying for first in the Moscow Open, followed it up with a spectacular win in the Aeroflot Open, thus granting him a spot in the Dortmund event.

Round one

The first round set the tone, and it seems a quiet event is not in the cards. In his first Super GM tournament, Quang Liem drew Kramnik, with black no less, and it was up to him to show he was ready for this level of competition. He played his customary Slav, and while Kramnik tried to outsmart his opponent, he was unable to create anything tangible, leading to a draw after 64 moves.

Vladimir Kramnik at the start of his round one game in Dortmund 2010

Naiditsch-Mamedyarov was a surprising affair. They played a well-known Najdorf position made famous in 1996, when in the first round of the Amsterdam VSB Super-GM event, Topalov had beaten Kasparov in a famous game. Remarkably, two rounds later, Topalov repeated the opening, only to run into a fantastic novelty by Short as Black, losing the game, and pretty much burying the line into the annals of opening theory. For fourteen years, this position has not been played by a single GM, so the question was whether Naiditsch had found something that might revive the opening. Unfortunately, it would seem not, and after leaving theory he had a difficult position that he eventually lost.

Naiditsch,A (2684) - Mamedyarov,S (2761) [B90]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (1), 15.07.2010
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 Nbd7 8.f4 Nc5 9.0-0 Nfxe4 10.Nxe4 Nxe4 11.f5 e5 12.Qh5

12...d5! Nigel Short's refutation of this line. Two rounds earlier Kasparov had played 12...Qe7 and got buried: 13.Qf3 Nc5 14.Nc6 Qc7 15.Bd5 a5 16.Bg5 Ra6 17.Nd8 f6 18.Nf7 Rg8 19.Be3 g6 20.Ng5 Rg7 21.fxg6 Rxg6 22.Bf7+ Qxf7 23.Nxf7 Kxf7 24.Bxc5 dxc5 25.Rad1 Be7 26.Rd5 Bg4 27.Qe4 Kg7 28.Rfd1 Bxd1 29.Rxd1 Re6 30.Qf5 Kf7 31.Re1 b6 32.h4 Rg7 33.Kf1 Bd6 34.Kf2 Bc7 35.Kf3 Ke7 36.Re4 Kf7 37.Rg4 Re7 38.Ke4 Rxg4+ 39.Qxg4 Bd8 40.a4 Kf8 41.c3 Rg7 42.Qc8 Ke8 43.Qe6+ Kf8 44.g4 Rf7 45.h5 Rg7 46.h6 Rg6 47.Qd5 Be7 48.Kf5 Rxh6 49.Qb7 e4 50.Qb8+ Kf7 51.Qxb6 e3 52.Qe6+ Ke8 53.Qxe3 Rg6 54.Qe4 Rg5+ 55.Kf4 Kd7 56.Qb7+ Ke6 57.Qc8+ Kf7 58.Qc7 h5 59.gxh5 Rxh5 60.Qxa5 Bd6+ 61.Ke4 f5+ 62.Kd5 Be7 63.Qc7 Rh6 64.a5 Rd6+ 65.Ke5 Rf6 66.Qc8 1-0 Topalov,V (2700)-Kasparov,G (2775)/Amsterdam 1996/CBM 052

13.Re1 Bc5 14.Rxe4 Bxd4+ 15.Kh1 [15.Be3 0-0 16.Rxd4 exd4 17.Bxd4 f6 18.Bc5 Re8 19.Rd1 Kh8 20.Rxd5 Bd7 21.h3 Re5 22.Rxe5 fxe5 23.Bf7 Be8 24.Bg6 h6 25.Bxe8 Qxe8 26.Qxe8+ Rxe8 27.Bd6 Rd8 28.Bxe5 Rd5 29.Bc3 Rxf5 30.Bd4 b5 31.c3 h5 32.Bf2 Kg8 33.Kf1 Kf7 34.Ke2 Ke6 35.Bd4 g6 36.Bb6 Kd5 37.Bc7 Ke4 38.Bd8 Rd5 39.Bh4 Rd3 40.Bf2 a5 41.Be1 a4 42.Bd2 Rd7 43.Bh6 Rd5 44.Bc1 Rc5 45.Be3 a3 46.Bc1 b4 0-1 Topalov,V (2700)-Short,N (2665)/Amsterdam 1996/CBM 052]

15...Qf6 16.Re1 Bxf5 17.c3 Ba7 18.Bxd5 0-0 19.Rf1 Qd6 20.Rxf5 Qxd5 21.Rxe5 Rae8 22.Bf4 Rxe5 23.Qxe5 Qxe5 24.Bxe5 f6 25.Bc7 Re8 26.Rd1 Re2 27.b3 Rxa2 28.g3 Ra3 29.Rb1 h5 30.Bd6 Ra2 31.Re1 Rd2 32.Bb8 Bxb8 33.Re8+ Kf7 34.Rxb8 Rd7 35.Kg2 Ke6 36.Kf3 Kf5 37.h3 Rd3+ 38.Kf2 b5 39.Rc8 h4 40.gxh4 Rxh3 41.Rc7 Kg6 42.Rc6 b4 43.cxb4 Rxh4 44.Rb6 Re4 45.Kf3 Kf5 46.Rb7 g5 47.b5 a5 0-1. [Click to replay]

If there was any fear that the two most technical players, Leko and Ponomariov, would lead to a boring game, both clearly had other plans, and after the initial struggle in a Scotch, Ponomariov was able to use his greater piece activity to enter a much superior endgame and eventual win.

Schedule and results

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN 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 the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!

Previous reports

• ChessBase reports on Dortmund 2010
• ChessBase reports on Dortmund 2009
• ChessBase reports on Dortmund 2008
• ChessBase reports on Dortmund 2007
• ChessBase reports on Dortmund 2006
• ChessBase reports on Dortmund 2005
• ChessBase reports on Dortmund 2004
• ChessBase reports on Dortmund 2003