Dortmund R05: Kramnik and Adams lead by 1.5

The 41st Sparkassen Chess-Meeting is taking place in the Dortmund State Theatre (Schauspielhaus). It is a ten-player round robin with six international stars and four top German grandmasters. Top seed is Italian GM Fabiano Caruana, rated 2796 and ranked number three in the world, while "local boy" former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, who has won this event no less than ten times (Caruana won it last year).

Round five report

Kramnik, Vladimir - Leko, Peter 1-0
White's completely unambitious setup not only left him with no advantage, it gave Leko the possibility to start pressuring his opponent's position. By move 20 White was completely in the defensive with very little to show for it. Black's pawns were a little exposed but without it being anything special. Sensing how much worse he could potentially be Kramnik sacrificed a piece for two pawns and dubious compensation. The psychological trick must have worked as Leko declined the piece!

Black still held the edge but a bizarre decision to trade queens left him in a hopeless endgame. Kramnik did not return the favor and converted precisely.

Caruana, Fabiano - Naitidsch, Arkadij ½-½
Another questionable opening by White. Caruana's scotch was definitely not up to par as Naiditsch easily equalized and maybe even took a slight initiative with his pair of bishops and space advantage. However his structure was ruined which allowed Caruana just about enough counterplay to hold the draw.

Adams, Michael - Wang Hao 1-0
Yet in another game White's opening was questionable. By move 20 again it was Black that had all the pluses in the position. White's space advantage was meaningless as it actually exposed many of his pawns to pressure from the Black bishops. A quick regrouping of Black's pieces could have potentially posed serious problems to White. However a nearly incomprehensible exchange sacrifice allowed Adams to at least equalize. Wang Hao was in a situation where he had to accurately calculate the consequences of the forced move 25...Bc2. He failed to do so, retreated his bishop to d7 instead and Adams was in control up the exchange. Wang Hao made things easier on his opponent by blundering a bishop soon afterwards.

Andreikin, Dmitri - Khenkin, Igor 1-0
Andreikin scores his first full point of the touranment by taking advantage of a simple blunder by Khenkin. Black's position remained solid despite his lack of space, a typical situation in the Caro-Kann nowadays. However Black played the atrocious 18...Nxe5?? and was killed soon afterwards by the simple discovery combination starting with 20.Ng6! The game could have stopped at that move as the rest was unnecessary.

Fridman, Daniel - Meier,Georg ½-½
Fridman attempted to overcome Meier's defense in a very technical engame. However the German duel ended in a draw as Fridman was simply unable to penetrate Black's fortress. Meier held in adequate fashion.

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Standings

Dortmund 2013 – Schedule, pairings and results

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