Dortmund, Rd. 2: Ponomariov wins

by Georgios Souleidis
7/11/2016 – In the second round of the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting in Dortmund only one player managed to win: Ruslan Ponomariov. He beat Evgeniy Najer and with 1.5/2 he now leads together with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who played a bloodless draw against Vladimir Kramnik. Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu neutralized Fabiano Caruana's winning attempts and German GM Rainer Buhmann tried hard but in vain to win against Leinier Dominguez Perez.
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Ponomariov - Najer 1:0

In one of the main lines of the Slav Defense Najer, who was playing with Black, quickly steered the game into a slightly worse endgame which forced him to defend precisely. However, after several inaccuracies he lost in the rook ending.


Ruslan Ponomariov (right) won against Evgeniy Najer

 
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1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0-0 0-0 9.Nh4 Nbd7 10.h3 Bg6 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.Qb3 Qb6 13.Rd1 Rad8 14.Bd2 Ba5 A new move. The engines favor 14...a5 , z.B. 15.Be1 Qc7 16.Qc2 Nb6 17.Bb3 Qe7 18.Rac1 Rd7 19.Qe2 Ra8= Van Wely,L (2643)-Kasimdzhanov,R (2690) Deutschland 2000 15.Rac1 15.Qxb6 Nxb6 16.Be2 Rfe8 17.Ne4 Bxd2 18.Nxd2 with the better pawn structure and a nice bishop is an alternative. 15...c5?! This leads to a worse endgame - which seems to be tenable though. 15...e5 seems to lead to equality, e.g. 16.d5 Qxb3 17.Bxb3 Nc5 18.Bc4 Bxc3 19.Bxc3 Nxd5 20.Bxe5 Nb6! 21.Bd6 Nxc4 22.Rxc4 Rfe8 23.Rcd4 23.Rxc5 Re6= 23...Ne6 24.R4d2 Rd7 25.Bb4 Rxd2 26.Rxd2 Rd8= A long line which, however, is more or less forced. 16.d5 Bxc3 17.Bxc3 Qxb3 18.Bxb3 Nxd5 19.Bxd5 exd5 20.Rxd5 Nb6 21.Rxc5 Nxa4 22.Rc7 Nxc3 23.R1xc3 23.bxc3 is the move the engines prefer. After Rb8 24.Rb1 a5 25.Rbxb7 Rxb7 26.Rxb7 Ra8 27.Kf1 a4 28.Ke2 a3 29.Rb1 they consider White to be better. 23...Rd1+ 24.Kh2 Rd2 25.Rxb7 Rxf2 26.Kg3 Rf6 27.Rxa7 Rb8 28.h4?! 28.b3! is good - Black cannot attack the b-pawn with Rfb6 because White counterattacks with 29.Rcc7± 28...Kh7 28...g5! is an easier way to draw. 29.hxg5 29.h5 Kh7 30.Rcc7 Rb3 31.Rxf7 Rxe3+ 32.Kg4 Kh6 33.g3 Rxf7 34.Rxf7 Rb3= 29...Rf5 30.Kg4 Rbb5= 29.Rcc7 Rxb2 30.Rxf7 Rxf7 31.Rxf7 g5! With this temporary sacrifice Black gets rid of the doubled pawns. 32.hxg5 Rb5 33.e4 Kg6 34.Ra7 Rxg5+ 35.Kf3 Rb5 36.Kf4 Rb6 37.Ra2 Kf6? This loses. Black had to keep the white king under control. 37...Rf6+! 38.Ke5 38.Kg4 Re6 39.Re2 Ra6 40.Kf4 Rf6+! 41.Kg4 Ra6 42.e5 Ra4+= 38...Rb6= and the white king cannot hide from checks. 38.e5+! Ke6 Now White can reach a Lucena position which is theoretically won. 38...Kg6 39.Ra4! with the idea 40.Rd4 followed by 41.Rd6+ also wins. 39.Ra7 Rb4+ 40.Kg5 Rb5 41.g4 Kxe5 42.Rxg7 Ke4+ 43.Kh6 Kf4 44.g5 Kg4 45.Ra7 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ponomariov,R2706Najer,E26871–02016D1844th GM 20162

Vachier-Lagrave - Kramnik 1/2:1/2

As usual Vladimir Kramnik opted for the Berlin against 1.e4 and then had no trouble to equalise the game. After 20 moves both sides had only rook and knight plus a couple of pawns left and the position was pretty drawish. The game lasted went on for another 30 moves but the draw was never really in doubt.


Kramnik and Vachier-Lagrave greet each other at the start of the game

Caruana - Nisipeanu 1/2:1/2

Faced with Nisipeanu's Caro-Kann Defense Fabiano Caruana showed himself well prepared and played a new and strong move but then continued less energetically. Nisipeanu equalised and swapped one piece after the other to reach an endgame in which both sides had no real winning chances.


Fabiano Caruana could not overcome Nisipeanu's defense

 
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1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5 6.Be3 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Ne7 8.0-0 Nbc6 9.Bb5 a6 10.Bxc6+ Nxc6 11.Nxf5 exf5 12.f4! A good novelty. In a previous game Nisipeanu had no problems to equalize: 12.c3 Be7 13.Qd3 Nxe5 14.Qxf5 Nc4 15.Bc1 Qd7 16.Qxd7+ Kxd7= Volokitin,A (2624)-Nisipeanu, L (2668) Bled 2016 12...Qa5 13.Kh1 Another option is 13.Nd2 Bc5 14.Bf2 which seems to promise White a slight advantage. 13...Bc5 14.Bd2 White wants to keep the black-squared bishop on the board but this costs time. Qc7 15.Nc3 d4 16.Ne2 0-0 17.Be1 Rad8 17...f6= seems to be simple and good. 18.Qd3 Qb6 19.a3 Qb5 20.Qxb5 axb5 21.Rf3 b4 22.axb4 Bxb4 23.Bf2 Rfe8 24.Nc1 Be7 25.Rb3 f6 26.Nd3 fxe5 27.fxe5 Bg5 28.Bg3 Re7 29.Rb5 Be3 30.e6 Rxe6 31.Rxf5 Simplifying even further. 31.Rxb7 is a bit more critical. 31...Ne7 32.Rb5 b6 33.Be5 Rc8 34.c3 dxc3 35.Bxc3 Rd8 36.Re5 Rxe5 37.Nxe5 Nd5 38.g3 Nxc3 39.bxc3 Bg5 40.Rb1 Bf6 41.Nc6 Rd2 42.Rxb6 Bxc3 43.Ne7+ ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Caruana,F2810Nisipeanu,L2674½–½2016B1244th GM 20162

Buhmann - Dominguez Perez 1/2:1/2

Rainer Buhmann came close to his first victory in a supertournament. Leinier Dominguez played the King's Indian and Buhmann surprised the Cuban Grandmaster with a rarely played line. Dominguez countered by sacrificing the exchange on move 12 but as a result had to defend a bad endgame. However, both sides had only three pawns left which all were standing on the same side of the board and this made the position difficult to win. Buhmann tried for nearly seven hours to win the game until he agreed to a draw on move 77.


Leinier Dominguez Perez (left, with Black) and Rainer Buhmann
played the longest game of the round

Standings after two rounds

1 Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2706 * . . ½ . 1 . . 1½ 2873
2. Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime g FRA 2798 . * ½ . . . 1 . 1½ 3004
3. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2812 . ½ * . ½ . . . 1 2755
4. Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter g GER 2674 ½ . . * . . ½ . 1 2758
5. Dominguez Perez, Leinier g CUB 2713 . . ½ . * . . ½ 1 2732
6. Najer, Evgeniy g RUS 2687 0 . . . . * . 1 1 2679
7. Caruana, Fabiano g USA 2810 . 0 . ½ . . * . ½ 2543
8. Buhmann, Rainer g GER 2653 . . . . ½ 0 . * ½ 2507

AlleGames - Rounds 1 to 2

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.g3 Nc6 7.Bg2 e5 8.d5 Ne7 9.0-0 a6 10.a3 Bc5 11.Bg5 Ne8 12.b4 Ba7 13.e4 h6 14.Be3 f5 15.Bxa7 Rxa7 16.exf5 Bxf5 17.Qd2 Nf6 18.Nh4 Bh7 19.f4 exf4 20.Rxf4 g5 21.Rf2 gxh4 22.Qd4 Ra8 23.Rxf6 Nf5 24.Qg4+ Kh8 25.Re6 hxg3 26.hxg3 Rg8 27.Qf4 Rxg3 28.Ne4 Rg6 29.Rf1 Qh4 30.Rxg6 Qxf4 31.Rxf4 Bxg6 32.c5 Rd8 33.Nc3 Kg7 34.c6 b5 35.a4 bxa4 36.b5 axb5 37.Nxb5 a3 38.Ra4 Ne3 39.Nxc7 Kf6 40.Bf3 Rc8 41.Rxa3 Rxc7 42.Rxe3 Re7 43.Rc3 Bf5 44.Kf2 Ra7 45.Kg3 Kg5 46.c7 Bc8 47.Rc6 h5 48.Rxd6 h4+ 49.Kf2 Rxc7 50.Rc6 Rxc6 51.dxc6 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nisipeanu,L2674Ponomariov,R2706½–½2016E3244th GM 20161.1
Najer,E2687Buhmann,R26531–02016C1144th GM 20161.2
Caruana,F2810Vachier-Lagrave,M27980–12016B9044th GM 20161.3
Dominguez Perez,L2713Kramnik,V2812½–½2016C6744th GM 20161.4
Buhmann,R2653Dominguez Perez,L2713½–½2016E9744th GM 20162.1
Caruana,F2810Nisipeanu,L2674½–½2016B1244th GM 20162.2
Ponomariov,R2706Najer,E26871–02016D1944th GM 20162.3
Vachier-Lagrave,M2798Kramnik,V2812½–½2016C6744th GM 20162.4

Schedule

Round 1: 9. July, 15.00 h
Caruana – Vachier-Lagrave
Nisipeanu – Ponomariov
Najer – Buhmann
Dominguez Perez – Kramnik

Round 2: 10. July, 15.00 h
Vachier-Lagrave – Kramnik
Buhmann – Dominguez Perez
Ponomariov – Najer
Caruana – Nisipeanu

Round 3: 12. July, 15.00 h
Nisipeanu – Vachier-Lagrave
Najer – Caruana
Dominguez Perez – Ponomariov
Kramnik – Buhmann

Round 4: 13. July, 15.00 h
Vachier-Lagrave – Buhmann
Ponomariov – Kramnik
Caruana – Dominguez Perez
Nisipeanu – Najer

Round 5: 15. July, 15.00 h
Najer – Vachier-Lagrave
Dominguez Perez – Nisipeanu
Kramnik – Caruana
Buhmann – Ponomariov

Round 6: 16. July, 15.00 h
Vachier-Lagrave – Ponomariov
Caruana – Buhmann
Nisipeanu – Kramnik
Najer – Dominguez Perez

Round 7: 17. July, 13.00 h
Dominguez Perez – Vachier-Lagrave
Kramnik – Najer
Buhmann – Nisipeanu
Ponomariov – Caruana

Entry: One hour before the start of the round

Autograph session: 14. July, 15.00 h
with the stars of the Supergrandmaster tournament in the "Kundenzentrum" of the Sparkasse Dortmund, Freistuhl 2–4

Tournament page Sparkassen Chess-Meeting...

 

Georgios Souleidis is an International Master with a degree in media and communication studies. He is an experienced journalist, author, photographer, chess trainer, editor-in-chief for the German Bundesliga, YouTuber, a regular contributor to the chessbase website, German chess magazine SCHACH, and previously blogged on his own site entwicklungsvorsprung.de.

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