Dortmund R7– Svidler, Bacrot and Naiditsch win

Round seven report

One of the first games to finish was the Peter summit: Svidler vs Leko (Peter the Swede vs Peter the Lake). It started of with ambitious attempts by Black to gain a clear advantage, an endeavour that never quite succeeded and ended in disaster for the Hungarian GM.

The two Peters analysing in the press room after their game. We recorded the session with our new state-of-the-art video camera (up front on a tripod) and will provide it in full resolution in a future edition of ChessBase Magazine. Here is a one-minute low-resolution sampler.

The second decided game was Bacrot vs Adams, in which the French top-ten player traded down to a winning endgame for a second win (vs two losses) in this tournament.

Key game: Etienne Bacrot vs Michael Adams

Bacrot,E (2729) - Adams,Mi (2719) [E15]
It Dortmund GER (7), 15.07.2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Bg2 c6 8.Bc3 d5 9.Ne5 Nfd7 10.Nxd7 Nxd7 11.Nd2 0-0 12.0-0 Rc8 13.e4 b5 14.Re1 dxe4 15.Bxe4 bxc4 16.bxc4 c5 17.d5 exd5 18.Bxd5 Nb6 19.Ba5 Bf6 20.Rb1 Rb8 21.Qf3 Qd7 22.Bxb6 axb6 23.Ne4 Bd4 24.Qf4 h6 25.a4 Rbe8 26.Rxb6 Qxa4 27.Reb1 Bxc4 28.Bc6 Qa5 29.Bxe8 Rxe8 30.h4 Be5

31.Nf6+ Bxf6 32.Qxc4 Qc3 33.Qxc3 Bxc3 34.Rb8 Kf8 35.h5 Rxb8 36.Rxb8+ Ke7 37.Kf1 Kf6. White has a rook for a bishop and a pawn. Etienne Bacrot used it to pick up the full point in fine style. 38.Rb7 Bd4 39.Ke2 Kg5 40.Rxf7 Kxh5 41.Kf3 Kg6 42.Rf8 Kg5 43.g4 Bf6 44.Kg3 Kg6 45.f4 h5 46.g5 Be7 47.Re8 Kf7 48.Rc8 Ke6 49.Kf3 Bd6 50.Ke4 g6 51.Rh8 Be7 52.Rh6 Kf7 53.Rh7+ 1-0.

Vladimir Kramnik played for a win against Loek Van Wely's Sicilian Kan Variation. He destroyed his opponent's pawn structure and tried to use his perfectly tidy pawns to win a double rook ending, but the Dutchman held out and the game ended after 37 moves in a draw.

Start of the game Emil Sutovsky vs Veselin Topalov

Emil Sutovsky vs Veselin Topalov was a Sicilian Scheveningen that lasted just 28 moves and ended in a draw. But it was interesting enough for both players to analyse for an hour afterwards in the press room.

Postgame analysis in the press room, with Topalov and Sutovsky

The nail-biter was the game between Danish GM Peter Heine Nielsen and German talent Arkadij Naiditsch. The latter quickly gained the advantage with the black pieces and Nielsen found himself fighting for a draw. He did not succeed and Naiditsch picked up his third victory in this tournament.

Peter Heine Nielsen, who lost to German hopeful Arkadij Naiditsch

After the game Naiditsch came to the press room and told us, with a tremble in his voice, that he thought that he had almost ruined the game.

Nielsen,PH (2668) - Naiditsch,A (2612) [E04]
It Dortmund GER (7), 15.07.2005
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.d4 dxc4 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.Qa4 Nd7 7.Qxc4 Nb6 8.Qb5 Bd7 9.Qb3 Na5 10.Qc2 Rc8 11.0-0 c5 12.Nc3 cxd4 13.Nxd4 Bb4 14.Qe4 Bxc3 15.bxc3 0-0 16.Rd1 Bc6 17.Qg4 Bxg2 18.Kxg2 f5 19.Qh5 Qd5+ 20.Qf3 Rfe8 21.Qxd5 Nxd5 22.Nb5 Nc4 23.Rd4 a6 24.Na3 Nxa3 25.Bxa3 Rxc3 26.Bd6 Rc2 27.Kf1 Rec8 28.a4 Rc1+ 29.Rxc1 Rxc1+ 30.Kg2 Kf7 31.e4 fxe4 32.Rxe4 b5 33.axb5 axb5 34.Re2 b4 35.Ra2 b3 36.Ra7+ Kf6 37.Rb7 Rc6 38.Ba3 Rb6 39.Bb2+ e5 40.Rd7 Rb5 41.Kf3 Nb6 42.Rb7 h5 43.Ke2 Kf5 44.h4 Ke4 45.f3+ Kd5 46.Kd3 g6 47.Rb8

47...Ke6. After playing this move Naiditsch saw the following forced win, which he says his opponent had also seen before the move had (not) been played: 47...Kc6 48.Rg8 Na4 49.Rxg6+ Kd5 50.Ba3 Nc5+ 51.Kc3 b2 52.Bxb2 Na4+ 53.Kd3 Nxb2+. But missing this opportunity simply meant that Naiditsch had to work a little longer, and in the end he had the point and joined van Wely in the lead in this tournament. 48.g4 Kd5 49.Rb7 hxg4 50.fxg4 e4+ 51.Ke2 Rc5 52.Rxb6 Rc2+ 53.Ke3 Rxb2 54.Rxg6 Rb1 55.Rg5+ Ke6 56.Rb5 b2 57.Kd2 e3+ 58.Kc2 e2 0-1.

Peter Svidler analysing with Oliver Reeh for TV ChessBase

Remember that our regular TV ChessBase live broadcasts ("the real thing") will be conducted every evening at around 19:30h Central European Time. If an important game ends earlier the postgame session with the winner may be conducted earlier.

The games of the last three rounds are being covered live on Chessgate, the official Sparkassen Chess Meeting home page, and on Playchess.com, where the live TV post-game coverage is also being conducted. ChessBase bid for and got the rights for this live co-transmission, and will be doing live audio and possibly video commentary during the games. Come and enjoy.

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