Dortmund, Rd. 2: Ponomariov wins

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

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

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

AlleGames - Rounds 1 to 2

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...