Dortmund 2010: Round six, a moment of madness.

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).

After a rest day, the players resumed battle, and despite a couple of quiet games, one board reserved a significant surprise.

The Aeroflot qualifier, Quang Liem Le, has shown his appearance in a tournament of this caliber is but the first of many as he once again stood his ground against former world champion, Vladimir Kramnik. In fact, not only did he hold his own, but he even managed to put the Russian into a bit of a spot, causing worry among his fans, when he came out of a tussle with a queen for rook and bishop. That said, there were few if no opportunities to press this into anything more, and they drew ten moves later.

Qualifier Quang Liem Le holding his own against former world champion Kramnik.

Le Quang Liem (2681) - Kramnik,V (2790) [E05]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (6), 21.07.2010

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Bd2 Be4 11.Qc1 Bb7 12.Bf4 Nd5 13.Nc3 Nxf4 14.Qxf4 Qd6 15.Ne5 Bxg2 16.Kxg2 Nd7 17.Rac1 Nxe5 18.dxe5 Qb6 19.Ne4 Rad8 20.Rfd1 c5 21.Nd6 c4 22.b3 cxb3 23.axb3 a5 24.Rd3 a4 25.bxa4 bxa4 26.Qxa4 Bxd6.

27.Rb3! This zwischenzug wins the queen for rook and piece, though it is not unlikely that Kramnik had seen it and judged that he could hold comfortably. It also relinquishes any shadow of a chance that he might play for more, which says something about how he judged his position. 27...Qxb3 28.Qxb3 Bxe5 29.h4 g6 30.h5 Bg7 31.Rc5 Rd7 32.Rb5 Rfd8 33.Qf3 Rd5 34.Rxd5 Rxd5 35.hxg6 hxg6 36.Qe4 Bf6 37.Qf3 Bg7 38.Qe4 Bf6 39.Qf3 1/2-1/2. [Click to replay]

Leko and Ponomariov also played a topical Catalan, with Ruslan playing a position with tripled isolated pawns on an open file, something that would have had the hypermodernists of old screaming bloody murder, yet obtaining enough counterplay on the open b-file to make up for the sacrilege. In the end, there really wasn't much venom in the position for either and they drew after 41 moves.

Leko playing Ponomariov in round six.

The only decisive result was also an extremely ugly one. Mamdyarov was playing the Meran as White, against Naiditsch, and had a magical opportunity to rejoin the lead alongside Ponomariov, when an unbelievable disaster struck.

Mamedyarov,S (2761) - Naiditsch,A (2684) [D37]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (6), 21.07.2010

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Nbd7 6.e4 a6 7.Bxc4 c6 8.Qd1 b5 9.Bd3 Bb7

Mamedyarov against Naiditsch before a moment of madness.

10.e5 Nd5 11.Nxd5 cxd5 12.Ng5 Be7 13.h4 Qb6 14.Qg4 h6 15.Nf3 g6 16.Bd2 a5 17.0-0 b4 18.a3 Ba6 19.Bxa6 Rxa6 20.Rfc1 Qb7 21.h5 g5 22.Nh2 bxa3 23.bxa3 0-0 24.Qg3 Qb2.

The Azerbaidjan genius had conducted the game with verve and class, and now had a golden opportunity to finish it off in style. Unfortunately he misses the chance here and plays 25.Nf3? Instead 25.Qd3! Qb6 26.Ng4 Kg7 27.f4 Raa8 28.Kh2 gxf4 29.Bxf4 and White's attack is decisive. Ex: 29...Rh8 30.Rf1 Rh7 31.Bg5!! Bxg5 32.Rxf7+ Kxf7 33.Qxh7+ Ke8 34.Rf1! Be7 35.Qg8+ Nf8 36.Rxf8+! Bxf8 37.Nf6+ Kd8 (37...Ke7 38.Qh7+ Kd8 39.Qd7#) 38.Qxf8+ Kc7 39.Qxa8. 25...Rb6 26.Bc3 Qb5 27.a4 Qa6 28.Bd2 Kh7 29.Rc7 Rb7 30.Rac1 Rxc7 31.Rxc7 Rd8 32.Nh2 Qe2 33.Bxa5 Qd1+ 34.Nf1 Qxa4 35.Qc3 Ra8 After spending the entire game either completely won or just better, he has a moment of madness.

36.Rxd7?? No doubt, Mamedyarov is still wondering what on earth possessed him to play this (36...QxR ends the game). 0-1. [Click to replay]

Current standings

On their rest day, the organizers had an autograph hour, in which all the players gave out autographs to chess fans. Here are some pictures from the event.

Fans line up before the start of the autograph session.

The players at their stations (left to right): Arkadij Naiditsch, Peter Leko, Vladimir
Kramnik, Ruslan Ponomariov, Shak Mamedyarov, Quang Liem Le.

The fans mostly used the handout pamphlets, but some brought their own material.

Vladimir Kramnik.

"No, I asked you to write, 'to the next world chess champion.' It is for my sister."

The square teeming with fans.

Photos: Georgios Souleidis

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