Dortmund Rd9 – Caruana wins Dortmund!

by ChessBase
7/22/2012 – While there was no question he was good for it, after the first half it seemed like Dortmund was going to be fought out by Vladimir Kramnik, and a couple of others. Instead, Fabiano Caruana clawed his way back steadily, including a last-round victory, and his total number of wins decided the title in his favor over Sergey Karjakin. Ponomariov was third, and Kramnik fourth. Final report.

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From Thursday July 13 to Sunday July 22, 2012 the 41st edition annual Sparkassen Chess-Meeting is taking place in Dortmund, Germany. It is a ten-player round robin played. Draw offers are not allowed – a game can only be declared a draw, by the arbiter, if there is no possible win for one side, or if a position is repeated three times. The winner of the tournament will be determined after nine rounds.

Games start at 15:00h = 3 p.m. local time (CEST, = 17:00 Moscow, 14:00 p.m. London, 9:00 a.m. New York). All games will be broadcast by the official web site's "Live Games" page and on the Playchess.com server. As in the previous year the moves of the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting will be transmitted on the Internet with a delay of 15 minutes – which means that the moves stay in the playing hall for that period, before they are broadcast to the rest of the world. This is an important anti-cheating measure that has been proposed to FIDE since October 2005 and has the support of most of the top players. We commend the Dortmund organisers for taking the initiative.

Round nine

Round 9: Sunday, July 22, 13:00h
Sergey Karjakin 
1-0
 Jan Gustafsson
Ruslan Ponomariov 
½-½
 Daniel Fridman
Arkadij Naiditsch 
½-½
 Peter Leko 
Mateusz Bartel 
0-1
 Fabiano Caruana
Vladimir Kramnik 
1-0
 Georg Meier

With an impeccable start, Vladimir Kramnik AKA “Mr. Dortmund”, had seemed ready to cruise to yet another title, but the second half turned out to be rocky waters as he drew a number of games allowing several competitors to catch up, and then of course the crucial loss in round eight. Though he managed to finish on a high note, it will nevertheless nag him to know that the title might have been within his grasp.

[Event "40th GM"] [Site "Dortmund GER"] [Date "2012.07.22"] [Round "9"] [White "Kramnik, V."] [Black "Meier, Geo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A16"] [WhiteElo "2799"] [BlackElo "2644"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2012.07.13"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 e6 4. e3 Nc6 5. d4 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bc4 cxd4 8. exd4 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. Re1 Bf6 {0.24/0} 11. Bb3 {0.24/0} Nde7 {0.13/0} 12. Bf4 {-0.24/0} Bxd4 {0.00/0} 13. Nxd4 {0.00/0} Nxd4 {0.00/0} 14. Bc4 {0.00/0} Nec6 { 0.00/0} 15. Rc1 {-0.03/0} Qf6 {0.00/0} 16. Bc7 {-0.39/0} e5 {0.27/0} 17. Nd5 { 0.25/0} Qg5 {0.73/0} 18. f4 {0.50/0} exf4 {0.62/0} 19. Bxf4 {0.69/0} Qh4 {0.50/ 0} 20. Bg3 {0.40/0} Qd8 {0.96/0} 21. Nc7 {1.85/0} Rb8 {2.14/0} 22. Nb5 {1.44/0} Ra8 {1.27/0} 23. Bd6 {1.73/0} Re8 $2 {6.16/0 [#]} 24. Bxf7+ $1 $18 {6.59/0 Although the storm front was there, you can never be sure lightning will strike until it does.} Kxf7 {6.59/0} 25. Qh5+ {3.92/0} g6 {6.03/0} (25... Kg8 26. Rxe8+) 26. Qxh7+ {5.76/0} Kf6 {5.78/0} 27. Nxd4 {6.53/0} Nxd4 {6.46/0} 28. Qh4+ {8.16/0} Kf7 {7.64/0} 29. Rc7+ {7.66/0} Bd7 {14.44/0} 30. Qh7+ {15.83/0} Kf6 {18.06/0} 31. Rf1+ {9.38/0} Ke6 {299.97/0} 32. Qxg6+ Kd5 33. Rc5# 1-0


Edged out only on tiebreak, Sergey Karjakin had a great tournament overall

Nothing can be taken away from Sergey Karjakin, who never let the podium out of sight. He also had a serious scare in round eight against Georg Meier, but his good fortune held out, and the game drew. A final win in the last round assured him a minimum of a share of first but ultimately it was not entirely in his hands. A strong and convincing result for the youngest grandmaster in history.

Ruslan Ponomariov  also had his chance, but a brain hiccup that saw his position collapse against Mateusz Bartel in round six was vital. Despite this, had he won in the final round against Daniel Fridman, he would have come ahead of both Caruana and Karjakin by virtue of tiebreak, but it was not to be and he had to settle for third.


Despite a non-stop playing schedule, the young Italian came
through with flying colors.

One could argue that Fabiano Caruana is the player most in form, considering the sheer volume of classical games he has played in 2012 alone: nearly one hundred. Eventually he may need to slow down to rest and regroup, but one cannot fault his performance in any way or form. After a loss in the second round to Ponomariov, he slowly clawed his way back up the ranks until that key win in round eight against Vladimir Kramnik, thrusting him to the top with his chances. His no-argument win in the final round was all it took to celebrate another fine tournament victory.


The timeless collective picture to record the moment for posterity (and chess news sites)


Standings after nine rounds


Schedule and results

Round 1: Friday, July 13, 15:00h
Daniel Fridman 
½-½
 Jan Gustafsson
Peter Leko 
½-½
 Ruslan Ponomariov
Fabiano Caruana 
½-½
 Arkadij Naiditsch 
Georg Meier 
1-0
 Mateusz Bartel
Sergey Karjakin 
½-½
 Vladimir Kramnik
Round 2: Saturday, July 14, 15:00h
Jan Gustafsson 
0-1
 Vladimir Kramnik
Ruslan Ponomariov 
1-0
 Fabiano Caruana
Arkadij Naiditsch 
½-½
 Georg Meier
Mateusz Bartel 
0-1
 Sergey Karjakin
Daniel Fridman 
½-½
 Peter Leko
Round 3: Sunday, July 15, 15:00h
Peter Leko 
1-0
 Jan Gustafsson
Georg Meier 
0-1
 Ruslan Ponomariov
Sergey Karjakin 
½-½
 Arkadij Naiditsch 
Vladimir Kramnik 
1-0
 Mateusz Bartel
Fabiano Caruana 
1-0
 Daniel Fridman
Round 4: Monday, July 16, 15:00h
Jan Gustafsson 
½-½
 Mateusz Bartel
Ruslan Ponomariov 
½-½
 Sergey Karjakin
Arkadij Naiditsch 
½-½
 Vladimir Kramnik
Daniel Fridman 
½-½
 Georg Meier
Peter Leko 
½-½
 Fabiano Caruana
Round 5: Tuesday, July 17, 15:00h
Fabiano Caruana 
1-0
 Jan Gustafsson
Vladimir Kramnik 
½-½
 Ruslan Ponomariov
Mateusz Bartel 
0-1
 Arkadij Naiditsch 
Sergey Karjakin 
1-0
 Daniel Fridman
Georg Meier 
½-½
 Peter Leko
Round 6: Thursday, July 19, 15:00h
Jan Gustafsson 
0-1
 Arkadij Naiditsch
Ruslan Ponomariov 
0-1
 Mateusz Bartel
Daniel Fridman 
½-½
 Vladimir Kramnik
Peter Leko 
½-½
 Sergey Karjakin
Fabiano Caruana 
½-½
 Georg Meier
Round 7: Friday, July 20, 15:00h
Georg Meier 
½-½
 Jan Gustafsson
Arkadij Naiditsch 
½-½
 Ruslan Ponomariov
Mateusz Bartel 
½-½
 Daniel Fridman 
Vladimir Kramnik 
½-½
 Peter Leko
Sergey Karjakin 
½-½
 Fabiano Caruana
Round 8: Saturday, July 21, 15:00h
Jan Gustafsson 
0-1
 Ruslan Ponomariov
Daniel Fridman 
½-½
 Arkadij Naiditsch
Peter Leko 
1-0
 Mateusz Bartel
Fabiano Caruana 
1-0
 Vladimir Kramnik
Georg Meier 
½-½
 Sergey Karjakin
Round 9: Sunday, July 22, 13:00h
Sergey Karjakin 
1-0
 Jan Gustafsson
Ruslan Ponomariov 
½-½
 Daniel Fridman
Arkadij Naiditsch 
½-½
 Peter Leko 
Mateusz Bartel 
0-1
 Fabiano Caruana
Vladimir Kramnik 
1-0
 Georg Meier

Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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