Dortmund, Rd.5: Vachier-Lagrave and Ponomariov win
7/15/2016 – After a long fight the top game between Vladimir Kramnik and Fabiano Caruana in the fifth round of the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting in Dortmund ended in a draw. But Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Ruslan Ponomariov could win. Vachier-Lagrave played against Najer and showed how well he knows the Najdorf. Ponomariov won against Buhmann. Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu and Leinier Dominguez drew. With two rounds to go Vachier-Lagrave leads with 4.0/5.
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The stage
Fabiano Caruana vs Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik, the 14. World Champion
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is famous for his good knowledge of the Najdorf. But Evgeniy Najer seemed to have his doubts and dared to play the Poisoned Pawn Variation of the Najdorf against the French Grandmaster. But Vachier-Lagrave could rely on his theoretical knowledge and won the game. With this victory he is now number two on the virtual ranking list.
The new number two
Evgeniy Najer lost the theoretical duel
Rainer Buhmann and Ruslan Ponomariov fought a sharp battle in the Queen's Indian Defense. The German sacrificed a pawn in the opening but Ponomariov defended well and had the upper hand. But with a few inaccuracies Ponomariov let Buhmann back into the game - however, the German Grandmaster failed to grab these opportunities and lost.
Missing a draw
Buhmann-Ponomariov
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu drew against Leinier Dominguez and is still unbeaten.
Results of round five
| Title | Name | Country | ELO | Res. | Title | Name | Country | ELO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Leinier Dominguez Perez |
|
2732 | ½ - ½ | GM | Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu |
|
2669 |
| 2 | GM | Rainer Buhmann |
|
2651 | 0 - 1 | GM | Ruslan Ponomariov |
|
2715 |
| 3 | GM | Evgeniy Najer |
|
2681 | 0 - 1 | GM | Maxime Vachier Lagrave |
|
2788 |
| 4 | GM | Vladimir Kramnik |
|
2801 | ½ - ½ | GM | Fabiano Caruana |
|
2804 |
Games - Rounds 1 to 5
Standings after five rounds
| Rg. | Title | Name | Nation | Elo | Perf. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Pkt. | Wtg. |
| 1 | GM | Maxime Vachier Lagrave |
|
2788 | +174 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.0 / 5 | ||||
| 2 | GM | Leinier Dominguez Perez |
|
2732 | +66 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 3.0 / 5 | 7.25 | |||
| 3 | GM | Ruslan Ponomariov |
|
2715 | +62 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 3.0 / 5 | 5.00 | |||
| 4 | GM | Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu |
|
2669 | +75 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 2.5 / 5 | 7.00 | |||
| 5 | GM | Vladimir Kramnik |
|
2801 | -63 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 2.5 / 5 | 6.75 | |||
| 6 | GM | Fabiano Caruana |
|
2804 | -69 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 2.5 / 5 | 5.50 | |||
| 7 | GM | Evgeniy Najer |
|
2681 | -102 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1.5 / 5 | ||||
| 8 | GM | Rainer Buhmann |
|
2651 | -148 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1.0 / 5 |
Photos: Georgios Souleidis
